The Saucy Lucy Murders Read Online Free Page A

Braxton. Helen Braxton’s husband.”
    After nearly drooling over the man, Lexie finally noticed the gold gleaming on his left hand.
Brother.
She should have known better.
    With horror, she watched as they approached another man sitting underneath a tree, gut hanging over his belt as he sucked a beer. He, too, was wearing a green polo shirt. He shoved to his feet when he noticed their approach. Lexie noted his shirt was a tad too small, showing his hairy belly button. His grin was positively slimy. Lexie’s dork meter started pinging.
    “I’m gonna kill you,” she muttered to Lucy.
    “Don’t be so quick to judge, my dear. He might clean up good. And some women might consider him cute in a Panda Bear sort of way.”
    “More like a troll sort of way.”
    Lucy jabbed Lexie’s ribs with her bony elbow and Lexie sent one right back.
    Once they were up close to Henry, Lexie’s nostrils flared with the smell of … something. Something strange. And it wasn’t grilled hamburgers, either. Maybe one of the toddlers running around needed their diapers changed. That had to be it.
    He gave that icky grin again. “Hi, ladies.”
    Lucy smiled. “I’d like you to meet my sister,Lexie. Lexie, this is Henry Whitehead.”
    Lucy released her death grip on Lexie so she could shake hands with Sister Lucy’s latest victim.
Did I shave my legs for this?
    Whitehead’s gaze lowered and he stared directly at Lexie’s cleavage.
    Her skin crawled with disgust. But what else could she really expect from a caveman?
    “You two will have to excuse me a minute,” Lucy interjected. “I’ve got to make sure we’re not running out of soda.” With a wink at Lexie, she disappeared.
    Lexie wanted to sprint after her. Run away. Fast. But Lucy would kill her if she did.
    “That sister of yours has got a heart of gold,” Henry said. “Did you know she started the annual Christmas program down at the women and children’s shelter?”
    Lexie nodded, wondering if Lucy considered her sister a charitable endeavor. “Uh, so what do you do? For a living, I mean.”
    Whitehead puffed himself up, making Lexie think of one of those goldfish with the wobbly bubbles on their gills.
    “I’m a sanitation engineer.”
    “Ah, I see.”
A janitor.
    That horrible odor wafted Lexie’s way again and her nose twitched. Looking for the possible source, she noticed a heavyset brunette staring daggers at them. Lexie nodded in the brunette’s direction and asked Whitehead if he knew her.
    “Ah, yeah. Shit. That’s my ex-wife, Violet.” He ran his hand through his greasy black hair. “I swear she’s stalking me. It’s creepy.”
    Ignoring Whitehead’s she-devil of an ex-wife, Lexie took off her bracelet and fiddled with it. She’d purchased the turquoise and silver bauble several years ago at a southwestern jewelry shop, right after she’d found out about Dan and Davina. It cost over two hundred dollars and Lexie would never have considered buying something so expensive. But under the circumstances, she’d decided to splurge.
    Lexie accidentally dropped the bracelet and it rolled toward a tree.
    “I’ll fetch that for you, honey,” Whitehead said.
    Honey?
    As he bent over and picked up the bracelet, giving a loud grunt, Lexie caught a birds-eye view of his plumber’s crack. And also another major whiff of the bad smell.
Gross.
Now Lexie knew where the odor had been coming from. She’d obviously been standing downwind from the definitely
not
cute-butted Henry Whitehead.
    “Here you go.” Whitehead handed over the bracelet. “It’s very pretty. Where’d you get it?”
    Lexie quickly gathered her thoughts, which had been out circling Jupiter. Wondering how a grown man could smell so foul, she slid the turquoise and silver southwestern band back on her wrist. “I got it on a trip to Mexico with my ex-husband about a million years ago.”
    He chuckled. “I like you. And you’re not large at all. Not like I expected you’d