Scones, Skulls & Scams (7 page)

Chapter Nine

“What?” Lexy stared at the scone. “I can assure you there are no hairs in my pastries!”

“You can see it right there,” the man sputtered as he slammed closed the notebook he had open on the table beside him.

Lexy bent down to look closer at the scone and gasped. There
was
some hair there … a small clump of short light-colored hairs.

“What’s this? These weren’t here before,” Lexy said.

Nans, Ruth, Ida and Helen craned their necks to see the hairs.
 

“Oh dear, that does look like hair,” Ida said.

“But how would it get there?” Lexy asked. “I have a very clean kitchen.”

“That’s right, she’s never had any kind of problem with contamination before,” Nans added.

Lexy narrowed her eyes at the man who hastily jammed his arms in the sleeves of his coat. “Wait a minute, how do I know you didn’t plant that in there?”

The man’s faced turned red. “Plant it? Madam, don’t you know who I am?”

Lexy glanced at Nans and the ladies who all shook their heads. “No.”

“I’m Edgar Royce,” the man stated.

Nans gasped.

“The food critic?” Lexy’s brows shot upwards. That would be terribly bad luck to have one of the most influential food critics find a hair in her scone—the very recipe she was planning to enter in the bicentennial contest.

The man nodded. “And you can rest assured I will
not
be giving you a favorable review. In fact, I should probably call the health inspector on you.”

Lexy’s stomach twisted. That was the last thing she needed on top of everything else. The timing of this was unfortunate … too unfortunate not to be suspicious.

“Wait a minute,” she said as the man brushed past her on his way to the door. “What made you decide to come here today?”

“I got a call. Someone raving about your pastries and saying I should try the scones since it was some famous family recipe or something,” he said. “I thought it would make an appealing article as I was told your great-grandmother won contests with that same recipe. I can only assume she omitted the hair.”

“Do you know who called?” Lexy followed him to the door. “A man or a woman?”

“Lady, I have no idea. I just got the message from my editor.” He stepped around her toward the door. “Now, if you’ll excuse me, I’ll be on my way.”

“Of course,” Lexy said. “At least let me give you your money back. I’m so sorry this happened.”

“Never mind about the money. If you want my advice, I think you better go over your kitchen with a fine tooth comb and make sure you have sanitary baking practices,” he barked before turning on his heel and storming out the door.

“Well, I never!” Ruth said. “What was that all about?”

“It appears as if someone is setting me up.” Lexy slid her eyes toward
The Brew and Bake.
“And I think I have a pretty good idea who it is.”

***

The cold air stung Lexy’s face as she flung open the door to
The Cup and Cake
. She didn’t notice it though, despite the fact she hadn’t put on a coat. Her anger kept her warm.

She stormed across the street, past the television crew loading their equipment into the van, and straight into
The Brew and Bake
.

“Just what are you up to?” she demanded.

Caraleigh looked at her in surprise. “Excuse me? Are you referring to the television segment?”

“No. I’m referring to Edgar Royce.”

Caraleigh answered her with a blank stare. The customers who had been in the shop, probably trying to get their fifteen minutes of fame on television, edged their way to the door.

“Don’t play dumb with me.” Lexy stepped closer to the blonde baker. “You know who he is—the food critic.”

Caraleigh fisted her hands on her hips. “I have no idea what you are talking about and I don’t appreciate your tone.”

Lexy got right in Caraleigh’s face. “Don’t give me that. I know you sabotaged my scones and then sent him in to give me a bad review.”

“Like you should talk. What about the article in the Sentinel bashing my pastries? Wasn’t it written by one of your friends sitting in your bakery right now?”

Caraleigh shot her arm out to point across the street. Lexy’s gaze followed noticing Nans, Ruth, Ida and Helen, their faces pressed against the glass window of
The Cup and Cake
looking back at them.

“She did an independent test comparing them!” Lexy said.

Caraleigh’s face started to turn an unhealthy shade of pink. “Independent my ass. First you accuse me of being a thief, and now this? You better watch it or you might find yourself on the business end of a lawsuit.”

Anger bubbled up inside Lexy. She jabbed her finger in Caraleigh’s face. “
You
sue
me
? Ha! That’s a laugh. I’m the one that should sue you!”

“Okay, break it up.”
 

Lexy whipped her head around to see Watson Davies quickly making her way toward them.
 

“What is it with you two?” Davies pushed the two of them apart glaring at each of them in turn.

“She’s trying to ruin my business,” Lexy complained to Davies.

“No!
She’s
trying to ruin
mine
!” Caraleigh said.

“You sound like two year olds,” Davies replied.

Caraleigh’s brows dipped. “What are
you
doing here, anyway?”

“I was actually on my way to
The Cup and Cake
to talk to Lexy about the break-in and I saw the two of you fighting over here.”

“So, you checked out her alibi?” Lexy thrust her chin toward Caraleigh. “Are you going to arrest her?”

“No. Her alibi checked out just like she said.”

Lexy’s stomach sank. “What? Well, surely you’re not going to believe her brother. He probably lied for her. I mean it
must
have been her—who else would break in?”

“That’s what I wanted to talk to you about.” Davies took Lexy’s elbow and tugged her toward the door. “It would be better if we talked over in your store, though.”

“See … I told you I didn’t do it!” Caraleigh yelled after them. “Hey, I want my ring back and I might want to press ch—”

Davies closed the door, cutting off Caraleigh’s rant. She kept her vise-like grip on Lexy’s elbow, propelling her across the street and into
The Cup and Cake
.
 

Nans, Ruth, Ida and Helen, who had watched them intently as they crossed the street, sat facing the door with questioning looks.
 

“Well, did she do it? Nans asked.

“She denied it, but it
must
have been her,” Lexy replied.

“What are you guys talking about?” Davies forehead creased at Lexy.

“A food critic found hair in Lexy’s scones … so naturally, we assumed that
other
woman planted it.” Nans gestured to the scone on the table, one small bite taken out of the corner.

Davies looked at the plate. “It does have hair on it. But how would she plant it? Was she over here?”

Nans pressed her lips together. “I didn’t see her.
Was
she here Lexy?”

Lexy frowned. “No … but it must have been her.”

“Maybe it was just an unhappy coincidence,” Ruth offered.

“Is that what you were arguing about?” Davies asked Lexy.

“Yes. She’s been out to get me since she opened.” Lexy felt her anger rising again. “I mean just look at how she made her bakery the same colors and design as mine … the sign is almost the same and she’s been undercutting my prices! It just
had
to have been her that broke in! And can you believe she had the nerve to accuse
me
of trying to ruin
her
business?”

“The casual observer might see it that way,” Davies pointed out.

“What? Are you saying you think
I’m
behind all this?” Lexy asked incredulously.

Davies held her hand up to ward off Lexy’s anger. “I said the
casual
observer. If you think about it logically, you have a solid motive because her business is a threat to yours. So, since she has an alibi for the break-in, I should probably get one from you, too.”

“You seriously don’t think I broke into my own bakery, do you?” Lexy fumed.

“No, but it won’t hurt for you to prove you couldn’t have.” Davies whipped out her cell phone and poised her fingertips over the keypad. “So where were you that night?”

“Well, I’m sure I was home with Jack. No, wait. That was two nights ago? I went out with Cassie after work, then home with Jack.”
 

“Okay, great. Where did you go with Cassie? A restaurant or bar? Did anyone see you?”

Lexy’s top teeth worried her bottom lip. She was starting to regret the dumpster dive—now she was getting even deeper into the lie and that was never a good thing.

“We went to
The Glenview
for dinner.” Lexy grimaced at the high pitch of her voice. She’d have to remember to get her story straight with Cassie. Of course, she probably
should
come clean about where they really were, but that would make her look guilty for sure. “We didn’t see anyone we know there though.”

“Did you pay with a credit card? We could verify it that way.”

“No, we paid in cash.” Lexy absently wiped her sweaty palms on her jeans.

Davies sighed. “Okay, well that doesn’t give me much to go on, but at least I can find out when you got home from Jack. If only I could narrow down what time the break-in happened, that would make it so much easier.”
 

“I can’t believe
my
shop was broken in to and now
I’m
the suspect,” Lexy said.

“You’re not a suspect,” Davies answered. “I’m just covering all the angles. You must admit you do seem to have quite the adversarial relationship with Ms. Brewster.”

“Well, she’s not very easy to get along with,” Lexy said.

“Yeah, I know.” Davies slid her gaze across the street. “She got on my bad side too, remember? Honestly, I would be happy to discover it
was
her, but I have to work with the facts.”

“Right. Sorry. I guess this sewer business has me all worked up.” Lexy gestured toward the torn up sidewalk. “No one can even get to my shop and she’s getting all the business.”

“Hang in there. The 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.