No Scone Unturned (4 page)

L
exy had tried
to get out of taking Nans and the ladies to the Kingsleys’, but Nans had nipped her protests in the bud by giving her “the look.” The one she’d been giving Lexy since she was a little girl. The one that Lexy couldn’t say no to.

So she picked them up at four p.m. and drove over to the Castle Heights neighborhood, parking on the same intersecting street at Ida’s request. Ida wanted an opportunity to scan the Pendletons’ yard for the drone as they walked down the street.

When they got out of the car, Ruth made it a point to canvass the neighborhood. Lexy thought maybe she was trying to be discreet, but her jagged movements and the way she was craning her neck, whirling around, and peeking over the top of the car made it pretty obvious she was looking for something.

“What are you doing, Ruth?” Nans asked.

“I’m looking for the neighborhood busybody.” Ruth zeroed in on something, her eyes narrowing. “And I think I found her.”

Across the street was a brick house with black shutters and trumpet vines climbing up the chimney. It wasn’t as stately as the others but still bigger than the average house. It sat on a moderately landscaped lot. The window shades were drawn, but in one window they could see two fingers had pried the louvers apart. Someone was looking out at them. As they watched, the louvers snapped shut.

“Well, I think she’s on to us,” Helen said.

“That’s okay. Those types always like to talk. She’ll welcome us when we show up at her door.” Ruth hitched her purse up on her shoulder and started toward the Kingsleys’.

“
If
we show up at her door.” Lexy fell into step behind Ruth. “Now I want you guys to just keep quiet. Don’t say anything. I told Kingsley I might be bringing some…err…assistants. You don’t need to open your mouths at all.” Lexy fixed them with a stern glare. Even though they nodded in agreement, she had a feeling they weren’t going to follow her instructions.

The ladies stood silently behind Lexy as she knocked on the Kingsleys’ door. The Kingsley house was in much better repair than the Pendletons’. It was almost as large but a more elegant style that dated from the 1920s, with weathered cedar shingles and crisp white trim. The landscaping was not overdone, the shrubs were meticulously trimmed, and there were window boxes on the lower windows, overflowing with purple and white petunias.

The door was answered by Caspian Kingsley, whose personal appearance was as meticulous as that of his house. He wore a crisp blue-and-white pinstriped Oxford shirt and linen slacks. His tanned face radiated a healthy glow and made him look a decade younger than the mid-sixties that Lexy knew him to be.

“Lexy. How lovely to see you again.” Caspian held his hand out, and Lexy shook it. His questioning gaze drifted over her shoulder to Nans and the ladies.

“This is my grandmother, Mona Baker, and her friends. They may be assisting me when I cater.” Lexy leaned closer to Kingsley and whispered, “They’re elderly, with not much excitement in their lives, so I brought them along.”

Behind Lexy, the four ladies gasped.

“Well, I would hardly say that we’re—” Nans started but snapped her mouth shut when Lexy pinned her with a steely glare. Lexy turned back to Kingsley, unable to help the smile that tugged the corners of her lips. She knew the ladies wouldn’t like being portrayed as bored and elderly, but it served them right. She wanted to show them that insisting on tagging along with her came with its drawbacks.

“The venue will be set up out in back.” Kingsley turned, indicating for them to follow. They walked through a marble foyer into a lemon-cleaner–scented living room done elegantly in creams and blacks and then out one of the triple sets of French doors to the backyard that they had seen from the street the other day.

“I’ll be having a tent set up, and I think this spot will be perfect.” Lexy pointed to the one section of yard that was fairly level. Then she turned and pointed at the other side, which sloped down toward the Pendletons’. “And I was thinking about setting up a little bar with mimosas over here, but with this slope, I don’t know…” She let her voice trail off as she looked out over the Pendletons’ yard. She already knew what she was going to do about the slope, but she wanted to pretend she was thinking so she could have more time to scope out what was going on at the Pendletons’.

Her eyes immediately flew to the cement patio. From this angle, a larger section of patio was visible than she’d been able to see from the street. Smack dab in the middle was a dark stain. And if she wasn’t mistaken, that was exactly where Olive Pendleton had fallen to her death.

“…and I was wondering if we could have some of those cupcake tops.” Kingsley’s words jerked Lexy’s attention back to the real reason she was here.

“Yes. Of course. And quiche and the usual eggs, bacon, sausage, and toast, right?”

“Yes, and I would like some…” His brows drew together as he looked past Lexy’s shoulder. “
What
is your grandmother doing?”

Lexy spun around to see Nans, Ruth, Ida, and Helen scrambling down the back of the yard that sloped toward the pond. For a second Lexy thought they might be about to slide in, but they stopped themselves just short of the edge, where a group of cat-o-nine-tails stuck up out of the water.

“That’s the neighbors’ pond, ladies,” Kingsley yelled to them then turned concerned eyes on Lexy. “Are they senile? They won’t jump in, will they?”

“I wouldn’t put it past them.”

Nans waved from the edge of the pond. “Sorry, I dropped something and it rolled down the hill.”

Kingsley’s lips pursed together. “I do wish the neighbors would clean that yard up.”

“Yeah, why don’t they? Doesn’t the author Olive Pendleton live there?” Lexy asked.

“Yep. They’re eccentric. I mean, just look the yard. It needs work. The pond is a mess. Yet they’re building a new gazebo, and even that is being done in a slipshod manner. As you can see, they have the walls built but still have yet to finish the footing.” Kingsley waved his hand toward the gazebo, where Lexy could see bags of cement lying at the foot of the partially studded wall.

Rupert was actually in the gazebo, apparently working on it, and the voices must have caught his attention. He looked over, his eyes narrowing as he recognized Nans and the ladies.

“Hey, get away from my pond!” He raised his fists in the air and started toward them, but his foot slipped in the mud near the gazebo, and he stopped to right himself. The four Peekapoos, however, had no problem with the mud, and they ran over to the edge of the property, barking and yipping.

Nans and the ladies scrambled up from the embankment.

“Not very friendly, I take it,” Lexy said.

“Like I said, they’re odd ducks. And those dogs, they make a racket,” Kingsley said distastefully.

The ladies had come to join them, and Ruth said, “Must be a lot going on next door with all the women coming and going.”

Kingsley gave her a funny look. “Well, I wouldn’t say there’s a lot of women. Then again, her sister is there a lot. Susan. She always did follow Olive around like a puppy.”

“You know her sister?” Nans asked.

Kingsley nodded. “I know the family. Known them for decades. This was the McMurty family home before their parents died. Olive always was the smart one and Susan was the pretty one. She’s quite a wallflower despite her beauty—so fragile. You know the type. Delicate. Always sick. Funny how two sisters can be so different. As you can see, Olive is wild with money, but Susan is the opposite. Lives frugally. Doesn’t spend it willy-nilly like Olive and Rupert.”

“So the two sisters are close, eh?” Ida slid her eyes over to Kingsley. “And Rupert, does he get along with Susan?”

“I assume so. She’s here all the time, and they appear to get along. Poor Susan doesn’t really have anyone else. Her marriage ended badly. ’Course, Susan always did do everything Olive did. Even got one of those fluffy little dogs. She dotes on that thing, especially since Brent won’t have anything to do with her.”

“Brent?” Lexy asked.

“Her son. They had a falling out…well, it’s really not my place to be airing their laundry.”

“And what about the other women?” Helen asked.

“Other women?” Kingsley frowned. “I don’t know about any other women. Not too many people go over there unless they have one of their raucous parties.” Kingsley glanced disapprovingly at the patio. From this angle, Lexy could see the outdoor kitchen better. It had a stainless steel grill that looked to be in good working order, a giant stainless steel chest that looked like a cooler or freezer, and a large fridge. The stone counters were a little the worse for wear, and the appliances needed polishing but looked to be in good condition otherwise. It also looked well used, but Lexy had a hard time picturing a happy crowd of people holding drinks in their hands and chatting while dour Rupert worked the grill.

Kingsley pressed his lips together thoughtfully. “Oh wait! There is that one woman, I think it’s Olive’s assistant, or maybe she’s the maid, I’m not quite sure. A blonde. Looks similar to Olive and her sister. Quite honestly I don’t pay that much attention to what’s going on over there. I’m not one of those nosy neighbors like Mrs. Jensen.”

“Mrs. Jensen?” Nans said. “She wouldn’t happen to live in the brick house with the trumpet vines, would she?”

“Yes, how did you know?” Kingsley asked.

Nans nodded at the ladies knowingly. “Oh, we are very observant.”

“So the sister and the maid are usually over there. What about other men? Don’t Rupert or Olive have male friends?” Ida asked.

“No, I don’t recall any. Like I said, we don’t pay much attention to what goes on over there. It’s usually just Olive and Rupert.”

“So you didn’t hear anything strange over there the other day.” Nans jerked her chin in the direction of the Pendletons’ patio.

“Strange? No. What are you getting on about?” Kingsley’s eyes darted from Nans to Lexy. He seemed like he was starting to get suspicious, so Lexy shrugged, pointed to the four ladies, and twirled her finger around her ear to indicate maybe they weren’t all there.

Kingsley’s eyes turned sympathetic, and he cleared his throat. “Oh, ummm… We try not to pay attention. Too much dog yapping. I only wish our shrubs would grow higher and block them entirely. We hardly come out here anymore.”

“Maybe if her books were doing better, they’d have the money to fix the place up,” Ruth said.

“Her books?” Kingsley waved his hand, “Pfft. She doesn’t need the money from that. She has plenty of money from her folks.” Kingsley frowned as he glanced over at Rupert Pendleton, who had gone back to working on the gazebo. “Unless they’ve already spent it.”

“I hope the yapping dogs won’t be a problem with the brunch out here,” Helen said.

“Me too.” Kingsley looked at Lexy. “They can be a bit obnoxious. I have half a mind to call the cops the next time they get on one of their incessant barking jags. Anyway, do you have enough information?”

“Oh, yes. Thank you so much.”

“And you’ll be here Wednesday morning ready and set up in time for the first guests to arrive at ten a.m.?” Kingsley herded them toward the French doors.

Lexy was about to assure him they would when Nans answered for her. “Oh yes, we will. Don’t worry, we’ll
all
be here and set up and waiting for your guests with bells on.”

As Kingsley led them into the house, Lexy thought she heard him mutter, “I was afraid she was going to say that.”

“
Y
ou ladies are not invited
to the catering event at the Kingsleys’,” Lexy whispered as they left the Kingsleys’ house.

“Oh, now come on, Lexy, you could use some extra help, couldn’t you?” Ruth looked at her with innocent eyes.

“Yes, but somehow I don’t think you guys would be much help.”

“Now, now. We’ll deal with that when it comes,” Nans said as they proceeded slowly down the street toward Lexy’s car. Ida skirted the edge of the Pendletons’ property, her hawklike gaze scouring every inch, looking for her drone. Over at the gazebo, Rupert glared at them, tracking their every move.

The neighborhood was quiet, with no traffic except one Prius that drove slowly past them. The heads of the four senior citizens swiveling toward the Pendletons’ property reminded Lexy of Nans and the ladies.

“Did you guys see anything in the pond?” Lexy asked.

Ruth shook her head. “It’s as murky as the coffee they have in the senior center. We may have to go in.”

Lexy slid her eyes over to Ruth. “Go in?”

“Yeah. You remember when we took those scuba diving lessons last year? I still have my wetsuit, and so does Ida.”

“Well, we have to do that at night.” Helen gestured toward Rupert.
“
Hawkeye over there isn’t going to let us just jump into his pond if he catches us.”

“I’m afraid his alarm system would warn him if we ventured onto the property.” Nans pointed to the four dogs, who were now racing across the yard toward them. Apparently they didn’t like the way Ida was rummaging in the hedges at the edge of the property.

“
Woof!
”

“
Yap!
”

“
Growl!
”

“Hey, you mangy mutt, let go!”

Lexy looked through the thick shrubbery to see Ida in a pitched battle with the black Peekapoo, who had the corner of her purse in his mouth. Ida was holding the handle, pulling back, while the small dog used his back legs to dig into the ground.

“Come on, Ida, you can’t beat a little seven-pound dog?” Nans asked. “I told you you needed to hit the gym more.”

Rip!

The dog ripped a piece of shiny patent leather from the corner of Ida’s purse, and Ida fell back on her butt. The dogs ran off victoriously toward the patio.

“Dagnab it! I just got this purse at Talbot’s!” Ida’s face turned sour as she inspected the bottom of the purse, then her eyes flicked out to watch the dogs as they ran to the outdoor kitchen, presumably to hide their new treasure.

“Looks like you got an excuse to get another new purse,” Lexy said as Ida stood and brushed off the back of her tan polyester stretch pants before elbowing her way out of the hedge.

“Yeah, but this one’s got all nice compartments in it.” Ida opened the purse to show her, and Lexy noticed it was filled to the brim with various household objects, lipstick, and even another scone wrapped in a napkin.

“Forget about that.” Ruth pointed in the direction of the dogs. “We may have just found one of their hiding spots.”

Ida squinted in the direction Ruth was pointing. “You think they hid the drone under that big freezer?”

“I don’t know if it would fit,” Nans said.

“Maybe they have more than one hiding place,” Lexy suggested. “I know Sprinkles has places all over the yard.”

“I know what we’ll do!” Ida said. “We’ll come back, and I’ll bring the controller. Maybe that drone has some life left in it, and if I try to fly it, we’ll see something move somewhere. It might just be wedged under something. Then we can run right in and grab it.”

“Good idea,” Ruth said. “Maybe later tonight when it’s a little darker and Rupert can’t see us so good. There’s no fence around the perimeter, so we can run right in and grab it if we need to.”

“We’ll have to bring some dog treats to distract those dogs,” Ida said. “They’re biters.”

Helen shot Ida a look. “Those sweet little things? I think they’d sooner cuddle you to death than bite you.”

Ida held up her purse. “Really? Look what they did to my purse!”

“Never mind your purse,” Nans said as they came to a stop next to Lexy’s car. “Let’s go over what we learned from Kingsley.”

“Well, we learned that Olive and Rupert were pretty chummy with the sister. Maybe that’s who Rupert’s having the affair with,” Ruth said.

“But we don’t know that it’s Rupert having the affair. It could be Olive,” Helen pointed out.

“No, I don’t think so. Kingsley didn’t see any men coming over,” Nans said.

“Maybe she was discreet about it,” Ida suggested.

“We’ll have to keep that as a possibility until we know more,” Lexy said.

Helen’s eyes flicked over toward the Jensens’. “ Maybe Mrs. Jensen has more information.”

Lexy thought she saw someone watching out one of the windows but couldn’t be sure if it was just a reflection. “We definitely need to put her on our list of people to talk to.”

“But not tonight,” Nans said. “It’s suppertime, and we don’t want to disturb her. Plus I think our visit will be a lot better received if we bring some pastries from Lexy’s bakery.”

“Good idea!” Ida said. “We can pretend we’re bringing sample pastries to all the neighbors on account of the Kingsleys’ party. You know, Lexy could pretend she’s trying to drum up more business.”

“Hey, maybe she even really will get more business!” Ruth said.

“Maybe.” Nans opened the passenger door of Lexy’s car and flipped the seat up for Ruth, Ida, and Helen to contort themselves into the tiny back seat. “One other thing we found out from Kingsley is that Olive didn’t need the money from her books. If what Kingsley said is true, they were living off of Olive’s inheritance.”

“Which gives Rupert an even bigger reason to pretend that she’s alive. He wouldn't get any of that money if she were dead.” Helen ducked her head, stuck her left leg into the car, and folded her body up as she slid into the back seat.

“And with the new book coming out, the royalties will go straight to their bank account.” Ruth followed Helen into the back seat.

“But what about the sister?” Ida asked, pausing at the car door. “If they were close, the sister would notice Olive was missing.”

“Not if the sister was in on it with him,” Nans said.

“Good thinking,” Ida said. “Which means tomorrow we need to take a trip out and talk to Olive’s sister.”

* * *

L
exy dropped
the ladies off at the retirement center, where they rushed in and hurried to catch that night’s bingo game. She had texted Jack about dinner earlier in the day, and they’d settled on Chinese food, which she picked up on the way home.

Jack pulled in just as she was wrestling the takeout bag out of the back seat of her car.

“I’ll get that.” He grabbed the handles of the bag and placed a kiss on the top of her head, sliding his free arm around her as they walked up to the front door. Sprinkles erupted in a chorus of barking as soon as Lexy slipped her key into the lock.

“Hey, girl.” Lexy bent down to pet the dog as she wiggled and shimmied in front of them.

“I’ll set out the plates. I’m starving.” Jack headed toward the kitchen. Sprinkles, smelling the Chinese food, immediately abandoned Lexy to follow him.

Lexy wasn’t far behind and pulled the cardboard containers out of the bag while Jack got plates out of the cabinets. Soon the aroma of sweet-and-sour chicken, beef teriyaki, and jumbo fried shrimp filled the small kitchen.

They loaded their plates and settled at the small kitchen table, with Sprinkles on the floor between them, eagerly looking up for a handout. Lexy cut off a little piece of broccoli that didn’t have any sauce on it and handed it to the dog, who seemed oblivious that she was getting the least desirable piece of food.

“So what trouble did you guys get yourselves into today?” Jack asked over the piece of teriyaki.

“We didn’t get into any trouble.” Lexy poured some duck sauce on her rice. “Well, Nans and the ladies might have. They insisted on accompanying me to the consultation I had with Caspian Kingsley about the brunch I’m catering for him, and they almost fell into the Pendletons’ pond.”

“Uh huh.” Jack dipped his teriyaki into the puddle of sauce on his plate. “What were they doing near the pond?”

“I’m pretty sure you could make a good guess.”

“Looking for a body?”

“Spot on. But they didn’t find one. It’s too murky.” Lexy chewed sweet-and-sour chicken thoughtfully then ventured a question to Jack. “Did you find out anything more?”

“No calls have come in, so as far as the police are concerned, there was no murder, but I did manage to take a little detour when I was out on a call, and I scoped out the backyard. I did see a big stain on the cement just like you said.” Jack sighed. “Unfortunately, I can’t get out there to test it to see if it’s blood.”

“But you do think it is,” Lexy said eagerly.

“Of course. Based on what you told me. The trick is trying to prove it or find some kind of evidence that gives us probable cause to go in there.”

“I found out a little bit of information on the Pendletons from Caspian Kingsley,” Lexy said.

Jack’s left brow quirked up. “Really? I’ll tell you what I found out if you tell me what you found out.”

“You found something out?” Lexy’s heart warmed at the fact that Jack was investigating the case even though it wasn’t official police business. Their relationship had really progressed. Once he would have scoffed at her. Now he took what she said more seriously and was helping out even though he could get in trouble at work.

Jack nodded. “You first though.”

Lexy relayed the information Kingsley had told them about Olive’s sister and the inheritance. She reiterated their suspicions that Rupert wanted Olive out of the way because he was having an affair, but he didn’t want to lose out on her money, so he’d hidden the body somewhere.

“Since Olive is known to be reclusive at times, it’s not hard for him to pretend she’s just hiding away in her home office, writing,” Lexy said.

“That’s what I was thinking too. I did some more digging because I figured the motive probably has something to do with money. Olive did inherit a lot. Unfortunately, I can’t look into their bank accounts or other finances without a warrant, which I won’t be able to get. I was able to determine that their mortgage is current, and there’s no foreclosure, but there were a couple of late payments and some dings in the collections database. Looks like they have…or
had
money trouble.”

“But don’t they have a lot of money if Olive inherited a bundle?”

“I’m not sure about that. But even a bundle can be spent pretty quickly.”

“But if that money is gone, then why kill her?”

“Well, you did mention something about him having an affair, right? We both know that’s the other reason most murders occur.”

“Yeah, we were thinking maybe it’s the sister, because they are close, and I think she would have said something by now if she’d lost contact with Olive.” Something niggled at Lexy’s brain. Something that Kingsley had said. “Kingsley said he saw another woman over there that he thought was either the maid or Olive’s assistant.”

“That’s right,” Jack said. “The little research I was able to do did come up with an assistant.” Jack scrunched up his face and thought. “I think her name was Connie… yeah, that’s right, Connie Davis. I’m not sure about a maid. Doesn’t seem like they could afford one.”

“Connie Davis. Huh. Never heard of her.” Lexy filed the name away for future use. She’d have Nans and the gang do some research on this Connie Davis. Maybe she was the one Rupert was having the affair with? If not, maybe she would know something about the affair or at least could be questioned about what was going on with Rupert and Olive. She could be a gold mine of information if she was Olive’s assistant. They just had to approach her the right way.

Lexy reached across the table and put her hand on top of Jack’s.
“Thanks for having faith in me and helping us out. I know you’re taking a risk at your job, so I really appreciate it.”

“No problem, cupcake. I’m happy to help you, and besides, if there was a murder in town, I want to solve it even if there isn’t any official evidence right now.”

“Yeah, well, I just hope we
can
solve it.”

“Don’t worry. Either you, Nans, and the ladies will break the case, or some evidence will come to light. Something’s bound to break soon, because you can’t hide a body for very long.
Sooner or later, they always turn up.”