3 Bodies and a Biscotti (5 page)

“Do you have any idea what style you want?” She asked over her shoulder at Cassie, unable to peel her eyes away from the dresses.

“Actually, I have a few set aside I want to try on, but I’m waiting for the others to get here.” Cassie turned from the rack with a beaded mermaid style dress in her hand. “This one would be perfect on you.”

Lexy spun around and gasped, holding her hand out for the dress. It was a slightly off white color which created a dramatic contrast to the thousands of hand-beaded pearls and crystals.
 

She held it up in front of her and turned to the mirror. The strapless top tapered into a tiny waist which continued tight against the hips then flared out down around the knees. It was gorgeous. Lexy looked down nervously at her hips and tried to pull the dress flat across them. Too tight.

“I don’t think I’ll be needing a wedding dress anytime soon." Probably a good thing too, since she clearly needed time to lose a few pounds.

The bell over the door jangled and Cassie swiveled towards the sound. “Here they are.”
 

Lexy turned to see two women heading in their direction.

“Lexy, these are my cousins, Justine and Sam.”

Lexy shook hands with the women, her gaze lingering on the short blonde Cassie had introduced as Sam.

“You look familiar, do I know you?” Sam echoed her thoughts.

“I’m not sure. You look a little familiar too. Maybe I’ve seen you at my bakery,
The Cup and Cake
?”

Sam pursed her lips and narrowed her eyes. “I don’t think so.”
 

A sales clerk joined the group. “Are you girls ready?”
 

“Yes. I put a dress on hold out back to try on,” Cassie said.

“Of course, come this way.”
 

Cassie followed the clerk leaving Lexy, Sam and Justine to engage in small talk.
 

“What do you think her dress choices look like?” Justine asked.

Lexy raised her eyebrows. “It’s hard to say. I’ve never even seen her in a dress before. I’m surprised she’s wearing one for the wedding.”

Sam and Justine giggled.
 

“I don’t think she’d go for strapless. And nothing too girly.” Sam looked through the dresses on the rack, then pulled one out. “Something plain like this maybe.”

Justine made a face at the plain white silk sheath. “Boring.”

“Maybe something simple, in an ivory color,” Lexy said.

“That you can wear a black leather jacket over.”
 

They all laughed at Sam’s joke. Cassie’s taste in clothing was more biker than chic. She usually wore jeans, tee-shirts and black leather. Lexy couldn’t even imagine her in a white wedding dress but the thought brought a smile to her lips.

“What do you guys think?” Cassie had snuck up behind them and the three girls spun around.

Lexy felt her eyes grow wide and her mouth open in a big O. Her gasp of surprise echoed those of Sam’s and Justine’s.

Instead of the traditional white wedding dress they were all expecting, Cassie stood in front of them in a gorgeous deep red silk dress that flowed down to the floor, puffing out at the bottom and tapering to a long train in the back. The whole thing was accented with black-beaded decoration.

“You look stunning!”

Lexy saw Cassie’s cheeks turn red. “Really?”

“Yes,” All three girls said at once.

“I love it. It’s so … you.”

Cassie looked at herself in the mirror, turning to check out each side. She touched the pink spiked hair on the top of her head. “I’ll have to dye this red to match, but I think this is the one.”

Lexy felt a rush of warmth for her friend. Judging by the smile on her face, Cassie was truly happy. She’d found the right man and the right dress. Dismissing the nagging, petty jealousy that tried to creep into her thoughts, she gave Cassie a hug.
 

“I’m so happy for you.”

“Thanks,” Cassie said, then turned to the others. “I’ve picked out a bridesmaid dress I want you guys to look at. If you don’t like it, we can look for something else, but I think it will be perfect.”

As if by magic, the clerk appeared holding a slinky black sheath. The sleeveless dress had a plunging V-neck and clung tight all the way down. Lexy eyed it dubiously, while sizing up the other two girls who were rail thin. She felt her stomach clench, wondering how her “muffin top” would look in the dress and cursed Jack for mentioning it, even if he was only joking.

“What size would you like?” Lexy started realizing the clerk was looking at her.

“Size six.” Lexy could have sworn the clerk looked down at her hips and raised her eyebrow in a question, but she turned so quickly Lexy couldn’t be sure.
 

While the clerk disappeared to find the dresses in the proper size, Lexy turned her attention back to Sam.
 

“It’s still bugging me that I can’t place where I know you from.” She tapped her index finger on her front tooth.

“Oh, you probably saw her when you were visiting Nans. Sam works at the Brook Ridge Falls Retirement Center,” Cassie offered.

“You do?”

Sam nodded.

“Oh, which part?”

“In the nursing care facility,” she answered. Then her eyes narrowed. “Hey, was that you the other day that caused such a ruckus when Mavis died?”

Lexy felt her cheeks grow warm. “Well, umm … now that you mention it, that was me. I wouldn’t say it was a ruckus, though.”

Sam raised her eyebrows. “Nurse Rothschild was fit to be tied. Who were those women you were with.”

“My grandmother and her friends.” Lexy debated telling Sam about their investigation, but decided it was best to keep quiet and get all the information she could out of her while she had the chance. “They knew Mavis and wanted to pay their respects.”

“Really?” Sam wrinkled her brow. “How did they even know she had died?”
 

“Oh word gets around quick over there.” Lexy shifted on her feet uncomfortably, suddenly feeling like she was being interrogated when
she
was the one that wanted to do the interrogating.

 
“Nurse Rothschild doesn’t seem very nurturing.”

Sam laughed. “Yeah, she’s not known for her bedside manner.”

“Seems like she would be mean to the patients … does she even like them?” Lexy probed.

Sam looked at her sideways. “I’m not sure what you’re getting at.”

“Well, we were just wondering, I mean with all the deaths lately…” Lexy let her voice trail off.

Sam hesitated before she answered, her brow knit together and Lexy saw a cloud pass over her face. “Well, she does seem cold and uncaring. I did hear her say something about one less old person being fine with her when Mavis died.”

Lexy felt her stomach flip.
Now
she was getting somewhere. She was just about to dig a little deeper into Nurse Rothschild’s personality and motive when the clerk returned with three dresses, the hangers clacking as she doled them out to each girl.

“You can change over there.” She pointed towards a row of doors.

Lexy took her dress into the room. Staring at it on the hanger, she did have to admit it was stunning and would look fabulous on the right body. But, did she have the right body?

She stripped down to her bra and underwear and slid the dress off the hanger. Her fingers reveled in the soft silk material as she unzipped the back.
 

Slowly she slid it over her head and arms. The dress bunched around her waist and she went about straightening it out, pulling and tugging. It felt like putting on a girdle.
 

Her frustration growing, she pinched the material and tried to situate it around her hips so it didn’t ride up. She managed to smooth it down, but it was so tight she had images of the dress ripping open if she tried to sit down. To make matters worse, she could only zip the back up halfway.

Lexy opened the door to her dressing room. Her heart plummeted when she saw Sam and Justine already in their dresses and looking stunning. She tried to push down the anger she felt.
Obviously the dresses must run small.

She felt her cheeks flame when everyone turned to look at her standing in the open doorway holding the back of her dress together, the material around her hips and stomach so tight, it was practically bursting at the seams.

The sales clerk tilted her head to one side, raised an eyebrow and said, very loudly, “a larger size, then?”

 
Lexy nodded, then backed up into the room, shut the door and waited for the clerk to return.

It turned out the wait was worth it. Even though Lexy hated the thought of putting on a size eight dress, it did fit her perfectly and looked amazing. Her spirits renewed, she opened to door to show the others.

Cassie stood alone in the dress room. Her face lit up when she saw Lexy.
 

“It looks gorgeous on you!”

“Thanks.” Lexy glanced around the room. “Where’s everyone else?”

“Oh they had to get back to their jobs, but they loved the dress too … so is it a go, then?”

Lexy nodded. The dresses were beautiful and she was happy everything was going so well for Cassie, but she couldn’t help but feel a bit deflated as she went back into the dressing room to change out of the dress.
 

An avid clothes horse, she’d looked forward to the excursion to the dress shop, but now she’d just felt depressed. Not only had she screwed up the opportunity to pump Sam for more information on Nurse Rothschild but she’d also gone up a dress size. Lexy wasn’t sure which one made her feel worse.

“What the
hell
are you doing?”

Lexy stood frozen in front of the food processor, a cup of black beans in her hand. She turned to see Cassie in the doorway looking like she just drank sour milk.
 

“I’m making some healthy brownies.”
 

“With beans?” Cassie cocked an eyebrow, venturing closer and peering into the food processor.

“Well, you’re always saying we should start a healthier line of pastries, and, well … I do need to start eating better.”

“Does this have anything to do with having to get a larger dress size at the shop?”

Lexy felt her cheeks getting warm. “That, and Jack teased me about having a muffin top.”

Cassie gasped, “He did not!”

Lexy nodded.
 

“Well, you don’t. You look fine. What’s wrong with him? Doesn’t he know better than to say something like that to a woman, even if he is teasing?”

“Clearly not,” Lexy said, pouring agave nectar into a measuring cup.

Cassie leaned against the counter. “So, are you mad at him.”

“I guess you could say that, but not because of the muffin top remark.” Lexy gestured for Cassie to pass over the cocoa powder and eggs, which she added to the food processor along with the agave.

“He told me he didn’t want me to investigate the murders at Nans’s place. Even though he doesn’t think they
are
murders. Anyway, I don’t need anyone telling me what I can and can’t do.” Lexy added coconut oil, vanilla extract, a pinch of salt, and instant coffee to the food processor, slammed on the lid and started it up.

“I absolutely loved your dress. And the bridesmaid dresses.” Lexy changed the subject to a happier one.

Cassie beamed at her. “I’m so glad you liked it. I know its not traditional, but you know me.”

Lexy laughed. “Your cousins seem nice. Isn’t it funny that Sam works at the retirement center. I guess it’s a small world.”

“Yeah. I’m happy to see she has a good place to work and is straightening up her act. She used to be the black sheep of the family—into drugs and all kinds of bad stuff.”

Lexy stopped the food processor and scraped the contents out into a pan. She took a tentative lick from the spatula, expecting it to taste like a chocolate burrito. Instead she found it was quite good.

“Hey this is pretty good. Want some?” She held the spatula out to Cassie, who took a taste.

“Surprising. You can’t even taste the beans.”

“We’ll see how the brownies come out once they are baked. I might take them over to Sunny Acres.” Lexy slid the pan into the oven.

Glancing around the kitchen, she leaned over and whispered to Cassie, “Helen is going to hypnotize some of the residents to make sure we get the dates of the suspicious deaths right, and then we can correlate them to when Rothschild worked there.”

Cassie raised an eyebrow but kept silent.

Thirty-five minutes later, Lexy was staring at a warm brownie on her dish. Grabbing a fork, she cut off a corner. They were moist and rich looking. She took a sniff, breathing a sigh of relief that it didn’t smell like beans. She put the fork in her mouth and was surprised at the rich chocolate taste. Not a hint of beans in there, yet the brownies were healthy, low in calories and rich in fiber. She might be onto something.