Brownies, Bodies and Bad Guys Read Online Free Page A

the usual reasons.”
    “Was there any tension in the family?” Helen asked Ruth. “Did anyone hate him?”
    “I don’t think so. He never mentioned it. Although he did say some of his relatives didn’t live up to his expectations. And he was very disappointed in a few of them.” Ruth’s brow creased. “Seems to me there were a couple that were always looking for money.”
    “Aha! That could be a reason for killing him and searching his condo!” Ida said.
    “I suppose, but that seems rather drastic—especially during a big family reunion week,” Ruth said.
    “We need to talk to the family. Feel them out. Try to figure out if anyone would have killed him,” Helen said.
    “Maybe we should have a little memorial here for Nunzio and invite them!” Nans’s eyes lit up and she clapped her hands together.
    “That’s a great idea!” Ida said. “Lexy could cater it.”
    Lexy’s stomach felt queasy. “Oh no,” she said holding up her hands, “I don’t want anything to do with this.”
    “Lexy we wouldn’t dream of having anyone but you cater it,” Nans said. “Think of how good it will be for business.”
    Lexy wrinkled her brow. She was always looking for ways to get new customers. But ending up on the radar of the person who killed Nunzio Bartolli didn’t seem like a good way to go about it. On the other hand, she found it almost impossible to say no to Nans.
    “I’ll think about it.”
    “Great!” Nans beamed at Lexy.
    “We also shouldn’t forget about considering the organized crime angle,” Ida said.
    “Yes, we should put out some feelers to our informants and see if anyone suspicious has come to town in the past few days,” Nans added.
    They had informants? Lexy narrowed her eyes at Nans. She was about to ask what kinds of informants they had when a police siren outside the window caught her attention.
    “What’s that?” Ida said getting up to look outside. “Looks like someone’s car got broken into.”
    Everyone rushed to the window. Below, Lexy could see a late model black Lincoln Continental sitting in the parking lot with the front door open. A police cruiser was parked at an angle to it.
    A tall, round woman with flashy jewelry and a flowing leopard print top over tight black Capri pants stood next to the car gesturing wildly with her arms. Lexy cast an admiring glance at her impossibly high platform shoes.
    “What’s she saying?” Helen asked.
    Nans unlocked the window and pushed it open so they could hear what was going on.
    “This is my father’s car. Look at the window—it’s been smashed! God only knows what’s been taken. I want to know what you are going to do about this!” The woman yelled loudly, standing only inches from the police officer, her hands on her hips.
    “Ma’am, please calm down.” The officer tried to steer the woman away from the car while the rest of the crew looked inside and performed various tasks that Lexy assumed entailed looking for fingerprints and evidence.
    “Hey wait a minute.” Ruth pushed Ida and Nans aside so she could get a better look. “That’s Nunzio’s car!”
    Ida narrowed her eyes, craning to see out the window over Ruth’s head. “And apparently that must be his daughter.”
    “This is wonderful news,” Nans said, rubbing her hands together.
    “It is?” Lexy, Ruth, Ida and Helen all asked at once.
    “Of course,” she replied. “This means that whoever killed Nunzio and searched his condo is still around. They didn’t find what they wanted the first time so they looked in his car. Hopefully, they didn’t find it in there either.”
    “Why do you say that?” Lexy furrowed her brow, her stomach roiled knowing she wasn’t going to like Nans’s answer.
    “Because that means they will keep looking and all we have to do to catch them is figure out where they are going to look next.”
     

Chapter Six
     
    “Nans wants me to cater a memorial service for Nunzio Bartolli at the Retirement Center tomorrow.”