8 Scones, Skulls & Scams Read online

  Helen gasped. “That scammer! I knew her stuff didn’t have that home-baked taste of a small bakery!”

  “But why would she do that? And why break in here?” Ruth asked.

  “Well, they went through the cookbooks and recipe files, so I assume they were after recipes.” Lexy shrugged. “Great-grandma’s scone recipe is still there, thankfully.”

  “Wait a minute; if she’s buying the pastries at the grocery and putting them in her case, then why would she need recipes?” Ida asked.

  “That’s a good question,” Helen said to Ida as she picked out an herbal tea from the self-serve station. “There’s something funny going on in Denmark.”

  “Denmark?” Ruth looked at Helen. “What’s that got to do with anything?”

  “Just an expression, dear.”

  “So, how about we try out some of those scones?” Nans said to distract Ruth and Helen from the argument they were teetering on the brink of.

  “Oh, right. I baked some yesterday and I’m trying a variation this afternoon.” Lexy stood and started toward the kitchen. “It would be great if you guys could try both and let me know which you prefer.”

  In the kitchen, Cassie had already cleaned up the recipes and was busy mixing up the dough for peanut butter cookies. Lexy inhaled the comforting, sweet, nutty aroma that hung in the air as she piled some scones on a platter for Nans and the other ladies.

  “I figure I’d do some baking and keep the cases stocked with fresh cookies … for when the customers come back,” Cassie said.

  “Yeah, I’m sure sales will be back to normal as soon as the sewer project is done and people can actually get to the store,” Lexy said. “I’ll watch the front room and you can bake, then this afternoon we’ll switch.”

  “Sounds good.” Cassie returned to her mixing. “Oh, and I called someone to fix the lock.”

  “Perfect. Thanks.” Lexy shot Cassie a grateful smile, then took the platter out front and placed it on the table in front of the ladies. She grabbed a coffee while the women each picked a scone and loaded it on their plate.

  “I made these scones to put in the bakery case, but I don’t think too many customers will be coming in to buy them,” Lexy said ruefully.

  “Oh now, dear, I’m sure that’s not true,” Nans said. “Once the big sale is over at the other bakery and the people get a taste of how stale her baked goods are, they’ll be back here.”

  “Especially after they read my article,” Helen said.

  Lexy pulled a chair up to the table and sat. Wrapping her palm around the warm mug of coffee, she reveled in the refreshingly bitter aroma steaming up from the mug and glanced across the street at the line of customers in the other bakery.

  “I sure hope so.” Lexy turned her back to the window and leaned her elbows on the table. “Let’s talk about something else.”

  “We’re making great headway on our display for the bicentennial,” Nans said scooping a chocolate chip out of her scone with her fork. “In fact, we’ve dug up the most fascinating piece of town history.”

  “That’s right. It’s got everything one could want—interesting characters, illegal doings, money, greed, robbery and even a romance.” Ida ticked the items off on her fingers.

  “Really?” Lexy’s brows shot up. “Do tell.”

  Ida leaned in, lowering her voice even though no one was in the shop to overhear her. “Well, you see, back in 1948 the Second Regional Bank here in town was robbed. By Brook Ridge Falls’ very own band of gangsters.”

  “Brook Ridge Falls had gangsters?”

  “Yep,” Nans answered. “And they had cool names too … like ‘Midas Mulcahey’ and ‘The Bomb’.”

  “Anyway,” Ida continued, “they made off with almost a million dollars in bills and gold bars.”

  “And there was a mysterious woman involved, too.” Ruth winked.

  “Almost like Bonnie and Clyde, except these guys got away with it,” Helen added.

  “They were never heard from again.” Nans’ green eyes danced mischievously over her cup of tea.

  “Probably off spending the money,” Ida said. “Don’t you think that will make a great display for the historical commission table?”

  Lexy nodded. “Sounds like fun.”

  “Of course, we still have more research to do, but we don’t want to spend all our time on that when we have the murder of the skull to solve,” Nans said.

  Lexy looked out the window where the sewer workers were busy doing their job. “How is that going?”

  “Ruth looked at the police records going way back, but didn’t find any missing persons who haven’t been located,” Nans said. “So we don’t have much to go on.”

  “Maybe the police have found out more about it since they went down into the sewers.” Ruth looked at Lexy hopefully. “You could ask Jack.”

  “Sure, I can ask him tonight,” Lexy said. “But, I think he said it’s not a big priority, so I don’t know if I’ll be able to get any useful information.”

  “All the more reason for us to look into it ourselves,” Nans said. “But we’d better hurry. If they’re closing off all the entrances to the old sewer pipes with this new project, we may not have much time left until our access is cut off.

  Chapter Seven

  The rest of the day was uneventful and not very profitable even though they did manage to get a handful of customers. Lexy immersed herself in perfecting the scone recipe and, by the time the day ended, she was more than ready to get out of the kitchen.

  She’d made plans with Jack to meet at his house. There was still a lot of work to do before they could put it up for sale, so she grabbed some frosted brownies from the case and aimed her car toward The Burger Barn to pick up take-out before heading home.

  Parking at her own house, she ran inside, her heart flooding with warmth at Sprinkles’ enthusiastic greeting, which she wasn’t exactly sure was for her or the white take-out bag full of burgers and fries.

  “Hi, Sprinkles.” Lexy put the box of brownies and take-out bag on the counter, and then bent down and ruffled the dog behind her ears while trying to dodge the pink tongue that insisted on licking Lexy’s face. “We’re going to go over to Jack’s and eat, okay?”

  Sprinkles spun in circles, and then ran to the back door. Lexy picked the white bag off the counter, opened the door and stepped out onto her frosty patio, then made her way across her back yard, through the fence and across Jack’s back yard to his kitchen door.

  Lexy gave a quick tap on the window and opened the door. The kitchen was empty, but the basement door stood ajar and Lexy could see the lights were on downstairs.

  “Hello?” Lexy yelled down.

  “Down here!” Jack’s voice answered from below. Sprinkles let out a yelp then bounded down the stairs. Lexy put the takeout bag on the counter and followed.

  Jack’s house was small and, even though the basement ran the whole length of the house, it seemed smaller because of all the boxes, old furniture and piles of junk that were crammed into every inch of space. The low ceiling made it seem even smaller. A few bare bulbs had been placed in white ceramic sockets that hung from the ceiling to provide light that added to the cave-like feel. Lexy’s lungs itched as she breathed in mildew, dust and cobwebs.

  Jack stood in the middle of a pile of boxes, his shirt smudged with dirt. Sprinkles was busy sniffing around his feet.

  “How on earth did you amass this much stuff?” Lexy gestured toward the towering piles. “You’ve only been living here for seven years.”

  Jack puffed out his cheeks. “Actually, most of it is from the previous owners. It was all here when I moved in.”

  Lexy picked her way toward him. “I remember Nans said they lived here since it was built in 1940.”

  “Yeah, they were a sweet old couple,” Jack said. “They were going to senior living and didn’t know what to do with all this stuff, so I told them just to leave it. Figured maybe I’d have a use for some of it someday.”


  Lexy peeked inside a box loaded with vintage turquoise kitchenware. “Jeez it’s like a time capsule from the 1950s in here.”

  “Yeah, they saved everything.” Jack stepped sideways and motioned to several piles of newspapers and magazines.

  “Sheesh.” Lexy bent over to examine one of the piles. “Hey, these are local papers from the 1940s … I wonder if they have the papers from 1948.”

  “Feel free to take a look.” Jack gestured to the pile before turning his attention back to the old tools he had been unpacking from a box.

  Lexy squatted and flipped through the yellowed newspapers. Some of the pages were brittle and the edges flaked off in her fingers. The piles were stacked in chronological order, so it didn’t take long for her to find the ones from 1948. She pulled them out of the stack.

  “Can I take these for Nans?”

  Jack looked up at her, his right brow rose a fraction of an inch. “For Nans? What is she up to now?”

  “The ladies are doing some historical society project for the bicentennial and it has something to do with some big robbery that happened in 1948.”

  Jack shrugged. “Take whatever you want. It’s all gotta go somewhere.”

  Lexy set the papers aside and wiped her dirty hands on her jeans. Looking around the basement at all the junk they had to go through made her feel overwhelmed. She needed food.

  “Let’s take a break and eat,” she suggested. “I brought take-out from The Burger Barn and it’s getting cold on your counter.”

  “Sounds good.” Jack smiled at her. “But first … I think you look a little too clean.”

  She squealed as he reached over to pull her close, his hands leaving dirty handprints on the sleeves of her shirt. He smudged his finger on her nose, then his warm lips descended on hers almost making her forget they were in the dirty, dingy, spider-filled basement.

  Until something rubbed against her leg.

  Lexy screeched and jumped back. Looking down expecting to find a giant spider, she breathed a sigh of relief to see it was only Sprinkles. Jack laughed then bent down to pet the dog. “Come on you two, let’s go eat.”

  The three of them went up the stairs. Lexy pulled plates, glasses and silverware out of the cabinets and drawers, then plopped a burger on each plate and set them on the table. Taking the fries out of the bag, she divvied them up between the plates and gave one teensy piece to an overjoyed Sprinkles.

  Jack poured milk into the glasses and they settled down at the old Formica kitchen table.

  “Did you find out anything more about the break-in at the bakery?” Jack asked as he lifted the burger to his mouth.

  “You won’t believe this.” Lexy poured ketchup on her burger. “Davies brought the ring over to Caraleigh and she admitted it was hers, but said it had been stolen!”

  “Caraleigh is the lady that owns the other bakery?” Jack asked.

  “Yes. She said she had an alibi for last night and actually had the nerve to accuse me of stealing the ring from her, then faking the break-in and planting the ring!”

  “Seriously? What did she think your motivation for doing that would be?”

  “Beats me.” Lexy bit into the burger and then licked the ketchup that had oozed out of the side from her lip and started chewing.

  “Did you get the door fixed?”

  Lexy nodded, still chewing.

  “And you didn’t find anything missing?”

  Lexy swallowed the bite of burger and went for a french fry. “Nope. The only thing I found was someone had messed with the cookbooks and recipes, but I don’t think they took any of those either.”

  “Why do you think someone would do that?” Jack asked.

  “I have no idea. The only thing I can figure is Caraleigh wanted my scone recipe, so she could make a batch and try to win the contest.”

  “You seem pretty sure it was this Caraleigh person.”

  Lexy felt a stab of panic. She couldn’t tell Jack why she felt sure it was Caraleigh, because she couldn’t tell him about the conversation she’d heard out by the dumpster. Not only would he frown on her dumpster-diving activities, but even worse, he’d know she’d lied to him about going out to dinner with Cassie and she didn’t want him to lose trust in her.

  “Well, I can’t think of anyone else and her ring was there.” Lexy shrugged then changed the subject. “Nans and the ladies wanted me to ask if you guys found out any more about the skull they dug up in the sewer.”

  “We didn’t find anything,” Jack said. “Those old sewer tunnels are a mess. Big sections have caved in and blocked off the entire tunnel. It’s dangerous down there, which is why they are putting in new tunnels and blocking off the old ones. Those old tunnels could flood at any time and half the concrete would go with it.”

  “So that’s it? You’re not going to do any more investigating down there?”

  Jack drained his glass of milk. “Nope. It’s an old cold case and no one really cares about it, especially since we have so many current matters that need attention. Plus this whole bicentennial celebration is taking up a lot of our time. Which reminds me, I have to work the evening before and morning of the bicentennial. We’re so shorthanded even we detectives have to pull a detail. But I’ll be there in the afternoon to see you win a blue ribbon for your scones.”

  Lexy’s heart swelled at his confidence in her as he cleared the empty dishes from the table, taking them to the trash and scraping before loading into the dishwasher. He turned to look at Lexy.

  “I hope you and Nans don’t have some harebrained idea about going down into the sewers to investigate the mystery of the skull,” he said. “It’s very dangerous down there and once they are done most of the old exits will be sealed off. Those old tunnels could fill up with water and you could be trapped in there.”

  Lexy could see genuine concern on Jack’s face, but she felt her back stiffen. She hated anyone telling her what to do. Still, he did have a point.

  “So, just where are the remaining entrances?” Lexy asked innocently.

  “When they are done, the only manhole cover will be in the town center. But you can’t open it, so don’t get any ideas. It’s too heavy—you need a special tool.”

  “Wait, I thought you said there were other entrances.”

  “There’s supposed to be a few under the downtown area, but no one seems to know exactly where they are. The old records aren’t that great,” Jack said. “Then again, we didn’t look too hard. And you shouldn’t either.”

  “Of course not,” Lexy said to appease Jack.

  “That’s my girl,” Jack said.

  Lexy smiled. Better to keep the peace now … she was pretty sure she was going to do exactly as she pleased later on.

  Feeling a change of subject was in order, she stood and grabbed Jack’s hand. “Let’s go over to our place. I have dessert.”

  Jack smiled, the glint in his eye telling Lexy his idea of dessert probably consisted of more than the frosted brownies she’d left on her counter.

  “That’s the best offer I’ve had all day,” he said as he followed her out the door.

  Chapter Eight

  Lexy scowled out the window at the WOKQ van parked in front of The Brew and Bake, her fists clenched so tightly the nails bit into her palms.

  So, the television station really is doing a piece on the other bakery, Lexy thought as she watched the camera crew unpack the van. Her heart sank when she compared the front room of The Brew and Bake, bustling with customers to her own empty one.

  A movement on the sidewalk caught Lexy’s eye. A customer? No, it was just the orange tiger cat that lived in Victor Nessbaum’s antique store. He was an indoor cat, but sometimes he slipped out when the door was open. Lexy always tried to herd the cat back to Victor’s whenever she saw him outside.

  She stepped out onto the sidewalk, bending down to try to lure the cat over so she could pick him up and bring him back to Victor.

  “Here, Kitty.” She stuck out her hand to the cat
who eyed her warily.

  Behind her, she heard Victor’s door open.

  “Oh, that’s where you are,” Victor said to the cat. He pushed the door wide and gestured to the interior of the store. “Get back in here.”

  The cat turned, flicked his tail in Lexy’s direction, and then trotted off into the store.

  “He likes to get outside, but then doesn’t know what to do with himself.” Victor laughed. “Say, I’m glad I ran into you … I sure would like to taste whatever it was you were baking yesterday afternoon. It smelled delicious in my store.”

  Lexy stood and crossed her arms over her chest. “Oh, you want to taste my baked goods and not those from across the street?”

  Victor’s brow creased and a sheepish look spread across his face. “Oh, did you see me over there? I was only trying out a sample so I could speak with authority when I said your pastries were the best.”

  Lexy thawed at the sincere look on the man’s face. “Oh, okay, then … come on over and you can try out my great-grandmother’s famous scones. I made a slight variation to the recipe yesterday. That’s what I was baking.”

  “Perfect. I’ll just lock up.” Victor reached inside his shop, grabbed his cane then flipped the lock on the door before closing it tight.

  Lexy held her own door open while Victor shuffled down the walk, nodding to her as he stepped inside The Cup and Cake.

  Behind the bakery case, Lexy pulled out the glass pedestal cake plate on which she’d arranged the scones and placed it on top of the case so Victor could get a better look.

  “Which one do you want?” she asked.

  “Hmm …” Victor frowned at the pile his eyes inspecting each scone. His brows furrowed and he rubbed his chin. “They all look so good.”

  His cane fell to the floor next to the case with a clatter and Lexy bent down to pick it up for him.

  “Thanks,” he said, then pointed to one of the scones on top. “I’ll take that one.”

  Lexy smiled. “If you want, you can take a seat at the table and I’ll bring it over along with some coffee or tea … I’d love to know what you think of it.”