3 Bodies and a Biscotti (8 page)

“Ida called us and we came right away,” Nans said.

“And you, Lexy?” Lexy felt her stomach flutter as Jack directed his gaze toward her.

“I just happened to be visiting Nans.” She shrugged.

“Okay, well I have to get to work, but I want you ladies to be very careful. I have a hunch about this case and, if I’m right, we could be dealing with someone desperately dangerous.” Jack’s face was grim as he looked at each of them. “I don’t want any of you to get hurt.”

He bent down and kissed Lexy’s forehead. “And that goes double for you,” he said, then strode out of the room.

Lexy’s stomach groaned, her mouth watered as Nans set the spinach omelet in front of her.

“Eat this dear, it will give you some energy.”

She dug into the egg before Nans even finished the sentence. She ate ravenously, stopping only long enough to jab at her eye which was still twitching.

Helen sat across from her, watching her eat. “You know I can stop that twitching with some simple hypnosis.”

“Yeah, I’ve been thinking about that … it
is
pretty annoying, but I’m not sure I believe in hypnosis.”

“Nonsense. I hypnotized you before, remember?”

It was true. When Lexy had stumbled across the body of a client, Helen had hypnotized her to remember the details of the crime scene. It had been easy and painless.

“Well, it would be nice to get rid of the twitch.” Lexy narrowed her eyes at Helen. “No funny stuff, though.”

“Of course not, I never do anything like that, right girls.” Helen looked back at Nans and Ruth, who were listening while putting the pictures from the camera glasses up on the computer.
 

Nans and Ruth mumbled in agreement, then the pictures flashed on the screen and captured everyone’s attention.

Lexy polished off the omelet, put her dish in the sink and joined them over at the computer. The pictures didn’t reveal much. The body, the disarray of the bedding and a few personal items on the bedside table.

“I don’t see any clues in there,” Lexy said.

“Me either,” Nans replied. “Anyone else see anything?”

Ruth and Helen shook their heads.

“Maybe once we have time to think about it, something will stand out,” Nans made her way over to the coffee machine and poured coffee for everyone.

Lexy took hers gratefully, the mug warming her hands. She breathed in the welcoming, bittersweet aroma of the coffee and took a sip.

“Ahhh…,” she said, poking at her eye.

“Okay, now to take care of that eye twitch.” Ruth pulled a chair up beside her, took her hand and started to murmur soothing words. Lexy felt relaxed and almost laughed thinking that her eyelids really were getting heavy.
 

The next thing she knew, she was putting down her cup of coffee amidst laughter from the three women on the other side of the table.

Lexy felt her cheeks grow warm. “What are you laughing at?”

“Oh nothing dear. You shouldn’t be bothered by that eye twitch ever again,” Ruth said, patting her knee.

“Thanks.” Lexy rubbed at her eye. It
had
stopped twitching, which was good, but what was up with all the laughing?

Nans turned to look at the pictures on the computer screen. “Now that the police believe us, maybe we’ll be able to solve this faster.”

“Lexy, I assume you’ll be seeing Jack tonight?” Ruth raised an eyebrow at her.

“I’m not sure, maybe.”

“You should make it a point to. Find out what he knows about the investigation so far. That will really help us. And, of course, you can share the clues we have found with him too,” Nans said.

Lexy bit the inside of her cheek. She’d have to tread very carefully with Jack, but she felt a renewed determination to get him to give in and let her investigate these murders.
 

“Maybe I’ll make his favorite dessert at the bakery today and surprise him with it tonight.”
 

“The way to a man’s heart is through his stomach … maybe it’s also the way to get him to give up clues and information,” Ruth said, causing them all to laugh.

Lexy felt a renewed vigor and energy, which made her a little suspicious when she remembered how Alma at Sunny Acres had a renewed sense of energy after Helen had hypnotized her. She wondered what else Helen might have done during her hypnosis session.
 

She glanced over at the other woman with narrowed eyes. Helen looked back with an innocent smile. Lexy did a mental head-shake. Of course Helen hadn’t hypnotized in any “extras”, that was ridiculous. The energy was probably from the eggs, after all she hadn’t been eating well lately so it was no wonder a good meal would make her feel invigorated.

She glanced at her watch and felt a zing of adrenalin. “I better get going, Cassie is expecting me at the bakery.”

“Okay, dear. Can you come here tomorrow before you go to the bakery and fill us in on what you heard from Jack? I’ll fix you a nice breakfast.” Nans knew the bribe of a hot meal was just the thing to get Lexy out of bed early.

“You’ve got yourself a deal.” Lexy said, then drained the last of her coffee.

Cluck!

“Did you hear that?” Lexy asked.

“Hear what?” Nans replied.

“I didn’t hear anything,” Ruth offered.

“Me either,” Helen said.

“I thought I heard a duck or some bird.” Lexy narrowed her eyes at the three women. Three sets of innocent eyes stared back at her.

“Must have been outside,” Nans said.

Lexy shrugged and put her coffee mug in the sink. Grabbing her jacket from the coat rack beside the door, she bid the women good-bye. As she shut the door, she could have sworn she heard the three ladies laughing on the other side.

Lexy slipped the form-fitting black cashmere sweater over her head and turned sideways to inspect herself in the mirror. It looked perfect with her faded jeans. She had to admit, she looked pretty good—casual but sexy, and the best part was the outfit was comfortable.
 

Now all she had to do was sweeten Jack up with dinner, dessert, and wine, and he’d be primed to spill all his secrets about the case.
 

She raced down the stairs, two at a time and into the kitchen. The salmon was marinating in a lime and honey concoction, and potatoes were baking in the oven. Sprinkles sat in front of her bowl, expectantly.

“You want to eat now?”

Sprinkles answered by doing a little dance, her toenails clicking on the tile floor. Lexy fed the dog, then set about cutting up some broccoli for the steamer. Her stomach rumbled, reminding her that she hadn’t eaten since Nans had cooked her the omelet that morning. She felt a little weak and dizzy, but had opted to save all her calories for the meal she was preparing to share with Jack.

She dumped the broccoli into the steamer, pulled the potatoes from the oven and set the salmon under the broiler just in time to hear Jack’s tap at the window of her kitchen door.

“Well, hello gorgeous.” Lexy felt her cheeks grow warm as Jack’s gaze raked her body when she opened the door for him. He put the wine he’d brought down on the counter and pulled her to him.

Lexy melted into him as his lips claimed hers. She felt dizzy from his kiss … or maybe it was from the lack of food. Either way, the kiss was a good sign that Jack wasn’t mad at her for being at the crime scene.

The buzzer on the stove interrupted them, and she pulled away to check the salmon. Lexy noticed that Jack’s hands were a little unsteady as he poured two glasses of wine.

“This smells delicious,” he said leaning over the salmon and inhaling deeply. She saw his eyes cut to the glass topped pie stand on the counter. “Is that a coconut cream pie?”

Lexy beamed. “Yes, I made it for you today at the bakery.” Coconut cream was his favorite—if anything could get him to open up about the investigation, it was a coconut cream pie.

Lexy deftly cut the salmon, buttered the potatoes, and divided the broccoli between two plates, then set them on the table. Jack pulled out Lexy’s chair and they sat opposite each other to eat.

Lexy felt light-headed as she sipped her wine. She wondered if she should have eaten before starting in on the wine, but the alcohol gave her the extra courage she needed to start the conversation about the investigation.

“So, did you find out anything about the murder at the retirement center?” she ventured.

“What?” Jack looked up at her with a blank stare, making it clear his thoughts were off somewhere else.

“I was asking about the murder at the retirement center … did you find any clues?”

“Oh.” Jack wrinkled his brow. “Not really. We’re looking into the usual suspects--family and people at the retirement center, but we don’t have anything concrete.”

“Do you think there’s anything in common with the other people who died?”

“We haven’t looked into the other people because we don’t know for sure that they were murdered.”

Lexy stabbed a spear of broccoli with her fork and raised an eyebrow at him. “But if they were …”

“If they were, the only thing they have in common that I know of is that they were in the nursing care section.”

Lexy sighed and nibbled off a teensy piece of the broccoli. “Maybe the reason they were in nursing care is what they have in common.”

Jack pushed his salmon around. “You might not be too far off. I have a gut feeling that the deaths have something to do with the drug ring investigation I’m in the middle of.”

Lexy’s eyes went wide. “You think the drugs might be coming from the retirement center?”

Jack shrugged. “Maybe.” He went back to pushing his food around on his plate. Lexy realized that he hadn’t eaten much. Her stomach felt hollow, and not just from the lack of food … something seemed off with Jack.

“Is everything okay?” she asked.

Jack’s fork clattered onto the plate and and he fumbled with picking it up again. Was that sweat on his brow? Lexy’s heart seized with dread—something
was
wrong.

“Lexy, I have something to say.”

A wave of dizziness swept over her at the serious look on his face. Was he breaking up with her? Because she kept getting involved in these investigations? Her mind went back to the kiss they had shared when he first came in.
Surely he wouldn’t kiss her like that if he was going to dump her?
 

The room started to swim before her eyes with the combination of nervousness and lack of food. Jack must have dropped something on the floor because she saw him get down on his knees to retrieve it. Lexy looked down at the floor to see what it was and the next thing she knew the floor was rushing up to meet her in the face.

Then everything went black.

###

Lexy opened her eyes to see Sprinkles looking down at her from an impossible angle. How could the dog be above her? The only way that could happen was if she were laying down, which judging by the hard floor pressed against her back, she probably was.

“Lexy, are you okay?” She heard Jack’s voice.

She took a mental inventory of her body. “Yes, I think so. What happened?” She asked, bringing her arms up to fend off the barrage of kisses that Sprinkles bathed her face with.

“I think you passed out. Did you eat anything today?”

“I had an omelet this morning.”

“Jesus, Lexy, that’s not enough.” Jack pulled her up from the floor, brushed off her backside, then put his hands on her upper arms, bending his tall frame to stare into her eyes. “You have to start eating more. You’re not fat. In fact, I think you’re just perfect.”

Lexy’s heart jerked in her chest as he bent down and brushed his lips against her forehead, then gently maneuvered her into her chair.

“Now eat.” He pointed to her plate, then went over and started the coffee machine on the counter.

Lexy dug into the salmon and potato. She had to admit, she
was
starving. Jack replaced her wine glass with a coffee mug and sat down on his side of the table watching her eat in silence. She couldn’t help the little “nummy” sounds that came out of her mouth.

 
She finished up and pushed her plate away feeling encouraged that Jack had also devoured most of his meal. The food was doing it’s job, she felt a lot stronger and not so dizzy. She took a sip of coffee and closed her eyes.

“Did you just cluck?”

“What?” Lexy furrowed her brow. Did he say
cluck
?

“I thought I heard you make a strange noise.” Jack shrugged, then grabbed both of their plates and dumped them in the sink.
 

Lexy stood up to liberate the pie from its glass display. Her heart skipped a beat, remembering how Jack had been acting before she passed out.
What was he up to?

“It seemed like you were going to say something important before I passed out.” She handed him a plate loaded with a thick, tall slice of pie.

Jack smiled and put the pie on the counter, pulling her into his arms instead.