Scones, Skulls & Scams (12 page)

“But why would you do that?” Nans asked.

“I was hoping to put Blondie here in jail,” Victor nodded toward Caraleigh, “so she couldn’t run around looking for the money. Sorry, Lexy, nothing personal.”

“You knew I was here looking for the money?” Caraleigh asked.

“Of course, you look just like
her
.”

“Who?” Nans, Ruth, Ida, Helen and Lexy asked, their heads ping-ponging back and forth between Victor and Caraleigh.

“Rose Cranston,” Victor said wistfully. “You
are
her granddaughter, aren’t you?”

Caraleigh nodded.

“Rose Cranston … that sounds familiar,” Ida’s brows knit together.

“She used to run with Midas Mulcahey!” Ruth exclaimed.

Nans turned to Caraleigh. “So you knew about the money being here all along and that’s why you opened the bakery across the street?”

Caraleigh nodded. “My grandmother said the money was down here somewhere. She’d made several attempts to find it, herself.”

“Wait a minute,” Lexy said. “That doesn’t make much sense. Why didn’t she just think Midas took off with the money like everyone else?”

“She knew he didn’t take off with it … because she’s the one who killed him.”

“Oh well, I see you planned to follow in her footsteps,” Ida snorted.

“Yeah, your grandma and Midas were pretty tight, but what Rose didn’t know was that Midas was fooling around with a pretty little redhead named Scarlet on the side,” Victor said.

Ruth gasped. “The other skeleton!”

“I always wondered what would happen if she found out … Rose sure was feisty.” Victor’s lips curled in a smile. “I figured she took off with Midas and the money back then. Did she confess to you on her deathbed?”

Caraleigh shook her head. “No. In her diary. We read it after she passed. Apparently, she had her suspicions about Midas. She followed him down here, caught the two of them in the act and shot them. She figured Midas hid the money down here, but she never did find it.”

“So once you read that in the diary, you figured you’d come and find it yourself,” Nans said.

“Yep. We rented an apartment in town figuring we’d be able to find a way into the sewer system pretty easily. We didn’t count on the sewer construction screwing stuff up. The blueprints showed the only entrance we could use was below
The Cup and Cake
. All we needed to do was get rid of
you
somehow.” Caraleigh thrust her chin toward Lexy.

“So you sold grocery store baked goods at ridiculous prices, scammed the whole town into thinking you baked them, got a big spot on TV to draw even more people, and sabotaged my scones so that critic would give me a bad review?”

Caraleigh nodded. “Yeah … no wait—I didn’t sabotage the scones.”

“That was me,” Victor said proudly.

“You? Why?” Lexy couldn’t help but feel betrayed by the old man who had been in the neighboring store since before she opened. All this time she’d thought he was just a nice old man … and her friend.

“My other efforts to get rid of Caraleigh weren’t working, so I figured I’d try to pit you against each other. I was hoping if Lexy got good and mad she’d have her police detective husband do something. So, I just sprinkled some cat hair in the scones one day when I came in to buy one. I distracted Lexy by dropping my cane when I was picking out a scone—already had plenty of cat hair from Icharus on my sleeve.”

“So you knew about the money all this time, too?” Lexy asked.

“Knew about it? I was one of the robbers that stole it.”
 

“You were?” Ruth wrinkled her face at him. “We read all about that robbery. I don’t recall your name being mentioned.”

“Oh yeah.” Victor straightened, keeping the guns steadily pointed at them. “Did you hear about ‘The Bomb’? That was me … Victor Ness
baum
.”

“Well, I’ll be …” Ruth said.

“Anyway,” Victor continued, “Midas disappeared a couple of days after we robbed the bank. When Rose picked up and left town too, I figured the two of them took off with the money. Double-crossed the rest of us. I never even knew about his sewer hideout … that is until I saw them dig up the skull. I knew it was Midas right away on account of the two gold teeth. That’s when I put two and two together and figured the money might still be down here.”

“And we led you right to it,” Lexy said.

“Yes.” Victor nodded his head at them. “Thanks, ladies.”
 

“So that’s why you were so interested in what we were doing,” Nans said. “And all this time we thought you were sweet on Helen.”

“Helen is a looker, but I’m more interested in the money. Which reminds me … you ladies better start loading that cart before they raise the locks on the river.” Victor motioned with his guns toward the cart.

“Huh? What locks?” Ida looked at Victor.

“Didn’t you know?” he asked. “They do it in the years when there’s been excessive rainfall to lower the level of Lake Humphrey before winter. The excess water swells the river and the runoff comes through the sewer system here. Floods it right out. Hasn’t happened since 1947, so it’s a good thing we got in here to get the money out in time. No telling what might happen once these sewers flood.” He waved his guns at them. “Now hurry!”

Everyone, including Caraleigh, started loading up the cart. Lexy didn’t dare say anything, but she hoped Nans had a plan. Should they rush Victor? She was sure they could overpower him, but with two guns pointed at them, she didn’t know if it was wise to make a move toward him.

Lexy hefted the last brick of gold onto the cart and glanced sideways at Nans, her spirits sinking when she saw the worry on her grandmother’s face.

“Now bring the cart here. Just you, Helen … the rest of you stay back,” Victor commanded.

Helen wheeled the cart over to him.
 

“Drop the handle and get back,” Victor said.

Helen did as asked. Victor picked up the handle and wheeled the cart out into the tunnel.
 

“Well, ladies, this has been fun, but now it’s time to say good-bye.” Victor stuffed one of the guns in his belt and grabbed the door.

“Wait. You’re not going to leave us in here?” Ruth’s voice was edged with panic.

“I’m afraid I must,” Victor said.

“But the water’s coming.” Caraleigh pointed to the bottom of the tunnel, which now had a shallow, but steady stream of water running down it. “We’ll drown.”

“Yes. It’s so sad. But I can’t leave any witnesses to tell that I made off with this money now, can I?”
 

And with that, Victor slammed the door shut and clicked the lock into place.

Chapter Seventeen

The six of them ran to the door, their fists thudding hollowly on the solid wood.

“Hello!”

“Help!”

“Let us out!”

After several minutes, it became obvious they were wasting their energy, so they stopped yelling and banging. Lexy collapsed with her back against the door.

“We need a plan,” she said.

“Don’t you have one?” Nans asked.

“No, I thought you might have one.”

“No.”

“I know!” Ida reached in her purse. “We’ll use our cell phones to call for help.”

She pulled out her phone and pressed a few buttons, then held it to her ear.
 

After a few seconds, her brow creased.
 

She shook the phone and put it back to her ear.
 

A few more seconds and her brow creased even further.

“What the heck?” She pulled the phone away and looked at it. “Darn … no signal!”

She walked to the corner of the room. “Maybe over here …”

“It’s no use,” Ruth said. “We’re underground … the cell phone tower signals don’t come in down here.”

Lexy puffed out her cheeks, her heart sinking as she felt the cold water seeping under the door and soaking her shoes.
 

“Well, we better hurry and come up with a plan, then.” She pointed to the floor. “The water is already rising.”

“Yeah, you people better come up with a plan.” Caraleigh glared at them with her hands fisted on her hips.

“Who are you to demand a plan?” Nans asked. “A few minutes ago you were going to shoot us!”

“Well, I wasn’t going to do the actual shooting.” Caraleigh looked repentant. “My brother was.”

“Still, I don’t think we’ll be including you in our plan,” Lexy said.

“Why not?” Caraleigh whined. “We’re in this together now.”

Lexy’s brows mashed together. She couldn’t believe the nerve of the woman. She took two large strides, getting right in Caraleigh’s face.
 

“Let’s get this straight.” Lexy spat out the words. “We are not, and never will be, in
anything
together!”

Caraleigh straightened her spine and glared down at Lexy.
 

“Don’t be a sore loser just because my bakery did better than yours,” she said poking Lexy in the breastbone with her index finger.

The anger that had been simmering inside Lexy bubbled over. “You’re nothing but a scammer. I bet you never baked even one thing in your life!”
 

Lexy pushed Caraleigh’s shoulder. The other woman stumbled backward, crashing into the wall with the force of Lexy’s anger, causing a large chunk of concrete to come loose from the top of the wall. Lexy watched in horror as the chunk tumbled down, bonking Caraleigh on the head. Caraleigh’s face registered an instant of surprise, right before her eyes rolled back in their sockets and she crumpled to the floor.

Ida clapped her hands. “Yay, Lexy. You got rid of her!”

Lexy looked down at Caraleigh, her stomach twisting with anxiety. If by “getting rid of her” Ida meant she’d killed her, she certainly hoped not. It was true she didn’t like the Caraleigh, but her dislike wasn’t enough to go to jail for her death.

Nans squatted beside Caraleigh and picked up her wrist, feeling for a pulse.

“She’s not dead, is she?” Lexy asked hopefully.

“No,” Nans said, standing and brushing off her pants. “Just knocked out.”

Lexy breathed a sigh of relief. “Good. I mean I know I pushed her kind of hard … maybe too hard, but I don’t want to go to jail for murder.”

“I wouldn’t say you pushed her too hard,” Ruth said. “I’d say you pushed her just right.”

“Huh?” Lexy turned to see Ruth pointing at where the concrete had come loose. Behind it, there should have been more concrete or dirt. But instead, Lexy saw a hollow darkness indicating a space behind the wall.

“Is that what I think it is?” Nans asked.

“It looks like a space,” Ruth answered.

“Maybe another room,” Ida said.

“Or another tunnel and a way out,” Lexy suggested.
 

The ladies reached into their purses and dug out their Swiss army knives and nail files, then shoved Caraleigh’s unconscious body out of the way and got to work on the concrete. When the hole was big enough to look through, Nans jumped up on the empty cart that had been left in the room and shoved her flashlight into the dark hole.
 

“It’s more tunnels!”
 

She hopped back down and the ladies attacked the wall with renewed vigor. Lexy spotted a thick board in the corner and helped hasten the pace by using it to bang on the wall, thus causing more cracks in the old concrete.
 

After almost an hour of furious work, the hole was big enough for them to walk through.

“Let’s go!” Ida grabbed her purse and scurried through the hole.
 

“What about her?” Nans pointed to Caraleigh.

“Let’s just leave her,” Ruth said. “She was going to shoot us and leave
us
here.”

Nans gave Ruth
the look
. “We can’t just leave her. The water is rising and she’ll drown. We’ll have to take her with us.”

“How are we going to do that?” Ida’s brows knit together. “Carry her?”

Nans sighed and looked around, her eyes coming to rest on the empty cart.
 

“We’ll wheel her on the cart!” Nans said. “Helen, get out your duct tape. We’ll tie her up and tape her to the cart. That way she can’t cause trouble when she wakes up and we’ll be able to deliver her to the police.”

“That’s a great idea,” Helen said, digging in her purse. “We’ll have solved the mystery of the skull, recovered the money stolen in the bank robbery
and
be handing over a criminal.”

“That should get us a write-up in the Police Gazette for sure,” Ruth said as the ladies got busy securing Caraleigh’s wrists and ankles before loading her onto the cart.

“Okay, now help me get this cart out into the tunnel.” Lexy lifted one end of the cart. Ruth and Helen lifted the other and they climbed over the pile of crumbled concrete, lowering the cart to the ground on the other side of the tunnel wall.

“The floor here is pretty dry. I guess the water hasn’t made it this far,” Lexy said.

Nans aimed the beam of her flashlight down one tunnel and then the other. There was nothing to indicate where they were or which way they should go.

“So which way do we go?” Ida asked.
 

Lexy felt a chill run up her spine. She could hear running water near them. How much time did they have before the tunnels filled up?

“I’m not sure,” Lexy said. “But we better pick one and move forward quickly while we still have the chance.”

Chapter Eighteen

“This direction is parallel to the offshoot tunnel we found the money room in,” Nans said pointing straight ahead of her. “So if we go this way, I think it might intersect with the main tunnel.”

“Sounds good to me,” Lexy said.
 

They started in that direction with Lexy bringing up the rear, tugging the cart with Caraleigh strapped on it.

A few minutes later, they were at the intersection. Lexy looked at the larger tunnel, a shiver running up her spine as she noticed the water level had increased to about an inch deep.

“This must be the main tunnel.” Nans aimed the beam of her flashlight to the right and then to the left.
 

“You mean the same one we walked down to get here?” Ruth asked.

Nans nodded.