Mummified Meringues (5 page)

“Oh, thank goodness. I was afraid something was wrong with her,” Lexy said. “Did she say when she’d be back?”

“Nope.” Ida raised a brow at the box. “What have you got there?”

Lexy set the box on the table, untied the string and flipped open the lid. Ida craned her neck to peer inside.
 

“Meringue cookies?”
 

“Yes, but I didn’t bring any plates or napkins,” Lexy said.

“Oh, no worries.” Ida pulled her giant beige patent leather purse from the back of her chair, rummaged inside for a few seconds, then pulled out a stack of napkins and passed them around.

Lexy slipped into the empty seat as the ladies gingerly picked cookies out of the box and set them on their respective napkins. She’d baked three different kinds—a rich, brown coffee flavor, an orange and white striped that had a slight orange tang, and her favorite, a plain vanilla meringue that was piped over a chocolate kiss so that the kiss acted as a surprise chocolate center.

“I’m trying to find the perfect recipe to enter in the Brook Ridge Falls annual dessert contest. Maybe you guys can help me decide which one to use.” Lexy smiled at the ladies, but her smile faded when she noticed them staring at her, wide-eyed, instead of attacking the cookies with their usual gusto. “What’s wrong?”

“Did you say you were entering the annual dessert contest?” Ida asked.

“Yeah. It’s the first time I’ve entered and I’m very excited about it.” Lexy wondered why the ladies did not seem to be sharing her enthusiasm—they were usually quite supportive of her.

“Oh, you might want to rethink that,” Ruth said.

“What? Why?”

“Because you’ll be going up against Violet Switzer,” Helen answered.

“Who?”

“Maybe you haven’t heard of her, but we have and she’s not one to be trifled with.” Ida shook her head.

Lexy’s brow wrinkled. “What do you mean?”

“She’s ruthless and cunning. She’ll do anything to win a contest. Some say she’d just as soon kill you as give up the blue ribbon.” Helen thrust her chin out at Ida. “Just ask Ida.”

Lexy raised a brow at Ida.

Ida nodded. “Yep. I went up against her in the Old Home Day pea-shooting contest back in fifty-five … or was it fifty-six? Well, whatever year it was, she was mean as a stuck toad and I’m sure the passing decades haven’t made her any nicer.”

“Pea-shooting?” Lexy stared at Ida.

“Yeah. You know, you take a hollow tube and put a pea in, then blow. I used to be the champion shooter. Won every contest for decades.” Ida’s chin tilted up proudly. “I have very good lungs.”

“But then Violet showed up and blew Ida out of the water. No pun intended.” Helen giggled.

Ida sighed. “She sure can shoot far, but it was the way she went about it. Following me and sizing me up. Then she would try to intimidate me into bowing out.” Ida pressed her lips together. “But I do have to admit she won fair and square. ‘Course they don’t have that contest anymore.”

“Right, I think they replaced that with the cherry pit spitting contest,” Ruth said.

“She wins that one, too.”

“And she bakes, too?” Lexy asked.

“Bakes, gardens, knits.” Ida picked a cookie up from her napkin. “You name it and Violet is into it.”

“Well, I’m not afraid of some old lady that can shoot a pea through a straw,” Lexy said.
 

“No? You just wait. Anyway, we know that’s not the main reason you came.” Ruth leaned toward her and lowered her voice. “Our informant down at BRFPD told us about the mummy and we figured you’d be coming by.”

“Been sitting here waiting on ‘ya,” Ida added.

“Oh, good,” Lexy said. “I called Nans last night first thing, but I guess we had a bad connection. I’m surprised she’s not here waiting, too. I’m sure she must have heard about the mummy by now.”

“Yeah, her new boyfriend must be more interesting,” Ida cackled.

“We can get started without her,” Helen said. “Tell us what you know.”

Lexy glanced around the room. The other tables were empty, but two gray-haired men sat in the lounge chairs, watching the big screen TV that was turned up to an annoyingly high volume.
 

“Oh, don’t mind them.” Helen waved her hand toward the two men. “They’re deaf as doornails. Won’t hear a word we’re saying.”

Lexy told the ladies about how they’d found the mummy and Jack’s theory about the builder. Then she went on to describe her visit earlier with the McDonalds. “And, of course, Davies said that Jack is a suspect.”

“Oh, dear! That’s crazy,” Helen said as she bit into the chocolate kiss meringue.

“Well, a dead body
was
found in his basement.”

“But surely they can tell it was put there before he moved in … I mean, that must have been what happened, right?” Ruth asked.

“If Jack is a suspect, that’s all the more reason for
The Ladies’ Detective Club
to investigate and help clear his name,” Ida said.

That’s right.” Ruth pressed her lips together and tapped them with her index finger. “Are you sure the previous owners weren’t hiding something from you? If they’re the killers, they might be very clever.”

“They’re just a nice old couple,” Lexy said. “It couldn’t be them. Plus, they didn’t seem to have a clue of what I was talking about. And anyway, Jack said he figured it would be the builder since he would have had a perfect opportunity to make that secret room and hide the body when he was building the house.”
 

Ida frowned down at her half-eaten meringue cookie. “Wouldn’t the smell of a decaying body hamper the sale?”

Lexy shrugged. “I guess he might have stalled the sale until that smell was gone.”

“What about the other people coming on the job site?” Ruth asked. “Or the neighbors. Surely, someone would notice something.”

 
“Wait a minute,” Helen said. “We’re talking about Jack’s house, and that’s right behind Mona’s. Did she live there then or did she buy the house after the McDonalds?”

“The McDonalds said that she already lived there when they moved in,” Lexy offered.

 
“Nothing gets past Mona, so if she lived there back then, she must have noticed something.” Ida’s forehead creased and she craned her neck to look in the parking lot. “Where
is
she, anyway?”

Lexy turned to follow her gaze, but there was no sign of Ruth’s big, blue Oldsmobile. “Beats me.”

“Did the McDonalds tell you who the builder was?” Helen pulled Lexy’s attention from the window.

“No. I guess I should have asked.”
 

“No worries.” Ruth bent down and picked up a giant black purse from under her chair. She opened a flap, unzipped a compartment, reached in and pulled out an iPad. “Google is a wonderful tool. We’ll just look it up.”

“It would help to know who the victim was, too.” Helen raised her brows at Lexy. “Any idea?”

“No. Sorry.”

“Could you tell if it was a man or woman?”

“I think it was a man,” Lexy said. “It was wearing shorts and what looked like a tank top or white undershirt. That’s not something a woman usually wears.”

“Very good.” Ida nodded at Lexy. “And that’s an important clue.”

“It is?”

“Yes. From the clothing, we know it must have been summer when he was killed.”

“So, now we just need to look for missing persons reports on males that disappeared in the summer.” Helen reached into her giant purse and produced an iPad. “Now, what year was the house built?”

“I’m not sure exactly.” Lexy chewed her bottom lip. “Jack said about sixty years ago.”

“Okay, good enough.”
 

Ruth and Helen alternated tapping away on their iPads and nibbling the meringue cookies. Ida looked over Ruth’s shoulder while nibbling her own cookie. Lexy noticed that they weren’t eating the cookies with their usual gusto. She hoped that was simply because their minds were too busy with investigating to pay much attention to the cookies, and not because the cookies didn’t taste good.

“That’s strange,” Helen said. “I’ve searched several decades and not found anyone reported missing who was never found.”

“Maybe he wasn’t from around here,” Ida suggested.

“Maybe. But it seems like he would be. Otherwise, why did he get killed and hidden here?” Ida asked. “It doesn’t seem like one would bring a body from somewhere else and seal it up in a basement, does it?”

“Well, we can just ask the builder, because I’ve found him,” Ruth announced.

“Really?” Ida craned her neck to look at Ruth’s iPad. “Was he involved in any nefarious activity? Money laundering? Fraud? Murder?”

“No. Nothing.”

“Is he even still alive?” Lexy asked.

“Oh, yes. In fact, he lives right here.”
 

Ida wrinkled her brow. “In the retirement center?”

“Yep. Tommy O’Keefe, 350 Pinewood.”

“Oh? He has one of the single homes. Those are expensive, so he must have money.” Ida’s blue eyes danced with excitement. “Probably got it by being paid off to hide bodies in the homes he built.”

Helen swatted Ida’s arm. “Oh, Ida, you do have an imagination!”

“I think we need to make a visit to him, ladies. What do you think?” Ida asked.

“Definitely,” Helen answered.

They all looked at Ruth for her answer but she was squinting intently at something past Lexy’s shoulder, apparently not having heard them.
 

“Isn’t that Mona?” Ruth asked.

Lexy spun in the direction of Ruth’s gaze. “Yes, she must not see us.”

“Mona! Yoo-hoo. We’re over here!” Ida yelled.

Nans stopped short, then slowly turned toward them. Lexy thought she saw a look of uncertainty cross her grandmother’s face, but then she broke into a smile and headed toward them.
 

“Where have you been?” Ida asked.

Nans face flushed and she looked down at the floor. “Oh, you know, just some errands. What are you all doing?”

“We’re discussing our new case,” Helen said.

“New case?”

“Yes,” Ida nodded enthusiastically. “The basement mummy case. You know, the one Lexy found in Jack’s basement.”

“Oh, right.” Nans waved her hand. “I heard about that. Very unusual.”

“I’ll say!” Ruth pulled a chair over from the next table and indicated for Nans to sit. “So, anyway, tell us what
you
know and we’ll fill you in on what we’ve found out.”

“Know? Why would I know anything?” Nans asked.

“You lived there back then. Surely, you’ve thought back and remembered something that might have been amiss,” Helen prompted.
 

“We don’t even know
when
it happened.” Nans turned to Lexy. “Do we?”

“Not really. I mean, the police haven’t said anything, but Jack thinks it happened when the house was being built.”

Nans raised a brow. “Oh, really? So they can’t pinpoint the time of death?”

“I’m not sure.” Lexy looked around the table at the other ladies. “Can they pinpoint the time of death with a body that’s been mummified?”

The three ladies shrugged.

“You lived there before they built the house, right, Mona?” Ruth asked.

Nans nodded.”So whenever it happened, you
were
living there. You must have seen something,” Helen said. “Think back. Did you notice any strange activity at night? An odd smell? If you want, I can hypnotize you to help you remember.”

“Certainly not!” Nans said. “I mean, I don’t need any
help
remembering. My memory is just fine and I tell you, I never saw anything strange going on.”

“Well, we’ve found the builder and he lives right here in the complex. We intend to pay him a visit. Maybe you could bake one of your apple pies,” Helen suggested. Nans’ apple pies were famous, and the ladies had discovered long ago that bringing pies or pastry to interrogate …err … visit … a suspect was a great way to get them to open up.

“Oh, I don’t know.” Nans grimaced. “I have a pretty full schedule.”

“You don’t know?” Ida gave Nans an incredulous look. “Jack is a suspect and that Watson Davies character could screw things up for him. We
have
to investigate, for Jack’s sake.”

“Davies might be a little hard to get along with, but she does a fine job,” Nans said. “Remember how she uncovered the killer when we had that whole fiasco with your wedding dress, Lexy?”
 

“Sure, but I think we helped her on that one. And on the copycat baker case, too.”

Nans tsked. “Maybe, but she’s perfectly capable of figuring out this old case. Anyway, it happened so long ago, who would even care about it now?”

Lexy squinted at Nans. “I would think you would care.”

“Yeah, aren’t you going to investigate with us?” Ruth asked.

Nans shrugged. “I need to look over the new cases. Maybe if there’s nothing else more interesting. I’m very busy and have to pick my cases carefully. You know, some things from the past are better left in the past.”