Read Online Scones, Skulls & Scams by Leighann Dobbs - Free Book Online Page A

sewer work should be all tied up the day after tomorrow. I hear they have a mandate to finish it before the practice parade on Friday night.” Davies made to leave, reached for the doorknob, then turned back. “If you think of anything else that might shed light on the robbery, let me know.”
    With a jingle of the bells over the door, the detective disappeared out onto the street.
    “Well that sure is strange,” Nans said.
    “What? That her alibi checks out?” Lexy asked.
    “Yes. Did you ever think maybe it isn’t her doing all this?”
    Lexy shook her head. “That doesn’t make any sense. It has to be her. I found her ring right in the pile of recipes!”
    “Lexy’s right,” Ida chimed in. “She has a strong motive. Besides if it’s not her, who else would go to all this trouble … and why?”

Chapter Ten

    The next day, Lexy got to the bakery early to work on another variation of the scone recipe. She avoided the morning paper because she didn’t want to see the review from Edgar Royce.  
    The morning had been productive with Cassie helping her to bake a batch of cupcakes, chocolate cream pies and Snickerdoodles in-between waiting on customers and chatting. They were just now getting around to trying out the scone recipe variation.
    “I don’t know how she could have tampered with that scone,” Cassie said as she rolled dough onto the marble counter.
    “I know. None of the other scones had hair on them. It’s just so strange.” Lexy broke and separated an egg, expertly pouring the white into a small bowl, then added a dash of cream and started beating it with a fork. “Unless she broke in. The scones were sitting out in the case all night.”
    Cassie cut the dough carefully into triangles. “But the bakery was locked up tight as a drum the next morning, right? How would she pick the right piece to sabotage, anyway?”
    “I know. Only one piece had the hair on it.” Lexy brushed the egg white mixture over each triangle of dough then sprinkled a cinnamon and sugar mixture on top.
    “It’s strange that the contaminated piece ended up being the exact piece you gave Edgar Royce.”
    “Very.” An image of Victor’s cat came to mind. Had she been petting the cat before or after she served Edgar? Was it possible the cat hair had been on her sleeve and she had actually been the one to contaminate the piece?  
    Lexy’s stomach twisted—it couldn’t be. She tried to be so careful about stuff like that. “Maybe someone paid him off to plant it himself?”
    Cassie scrunched up her face. “I doubt it. I don’t think someone like him would take a payoff. People like that have to work too hard to build up their reputation.”
    “True.” Lexy said as Cassie picked up the pan with the scones and headed to the oven.  
    “Oh, and one other thing,” Lexy said. “We need to get our stories straight about the night of the break-in. Davies asked where I was. I told her that you and I were at The Glenview . Just in case she asks.”
    Cassie cocked an eyebrow at Lexy. “Jeez, now you want me to lie to the police?”
    Lexy flushed. “Well, we can’t very well tell her we were hanging around Caraleigh’s dumpster!”
    “I know. No problem. I have lots of practice lying to the police.”
    Lexy laughed. Cassie had always been a bit on the wild side and never trusted anyone in authority, including the police. In their younger days, she’d been in quite a few scrapes, which had necessitated not being truthful to law enforcement on several occasions. The irony of Cassie being happily married to a police detective now was not lost on Lexy.
    The bell on the front door jingled. To Lexy’s delight, the day had brought a slow but steady trickle of customers and she and Cassie had taken turns waiting on them. It was Lexy’s turn now. She peeled off the clear, thin food service gloves she’d worn to apply the cinnamon mixture and tossed them in the trash as she headed to the front of the bakery.
    Nans, Ruth,