Brownies, Bodies and Bad Guys Read Online Free Page B

Lexy straightened up from filling the pastry case in the front of The Cup and Cake and turned to face Cassie who was just coming out of the doorway to the kitchen with a tray of fresh, steaming turnovers.
    “That sounds like a nice idea. You don’t want to do it?”
    “Well, you know Nans. She’s only doing it so she can pump the relatives for information, to figure out who the killer is.”
    “Cool! She can have them gathered in one place and then blurt out the name of the murderer like Columbo.”
    Lexy narrowed her eyes picturing Nans, Ruth, Ida and Helen in beige trench coats with cigars. She noticed Cassie’s eyes light up a second before she heard the bell over the door and quickly turned to see who it was.
    John Darling stood in the doorway. Of course, she could have guessed who it was judging by the look on Cassie’s face. But she never would have guessed he’d have a linebacker with him. At least, that’s what the guy standing beside him looked like.
    He stood about six and a half feet tall and looked almost three feet wide. Lexy could tell from where she stood that he was solid muscle. His expensive looking dark blue suit must have been custom made—she didn’t think you could get tree-trunk sized arms like that on suits off the rack.
    “Hi honey!” Cassie bubbled.
    “Hi.” John smiled at Cassie, and then turned to Lexy. “Hi, Lexy.”
    “Lexy?”
    “What? Oh. Hi.” Lexy’s cheeks burned. She’d been too busy staring at the other guy to pay attention to John’s greeting.
    “This is Braxton Daniels from the F.B.I. He’s in town working on a case with us.” John gestured to the giant beside him, then continued. “This is my wife Cassie, and this is Lexy.”
    “Please call me Brax.” The linebacker stuck out a beefy, but well-manicured hand and Lexy watched hers disappear inside it. She looked up into his face. Square jaw, green eyes, smile like a toothpaste model.
    She murmured a greeting, and her stomach did a flip when his gaze traveled from her eyes, to her mouth and down the rest of her body, then came to rest on her engagement ring. Right … she was engaged. No harm in looking though. Lexy withdrew her hand and did her best to send out “not available” vibes.
    “So, what kind of case are you working on?” Cassie asked.
    “Organized crime. But nothing for you ladies to worry about.” Brax tore his gaze from Lexy and looked at Cassie.
    “Organized crime? Does that have anything to do with Nunzio Bartolli?” Lexy’s radar immediately perked up.
    Brax raised an eyebrow at her. “Why would you say that? Do you know something?”
    “Well, no. It’s just that he was just murdered, and there were rumors about him being connected to organized crime, so …” Lexy let her voice trail off.
    “You made the connection,” Brax filled in for her, turning up the wattage on his smile. “So, I guess there’s more than just a pretty face under that apron.”
    Lexy felt her cheeks grow warm and busied herself by taking the turnovers from Cassie and arranging them in the pastry case.
    “So you think he was rubbed out by gangsters or something?” Cassie asked.
    John and Brax both laughed.
    “Well, it’s something we are looking in to,” John said, then lowered his voice even though no one else was in the bakery to overhear them. “His family isn’t above suspicion, either. We are looking at them very closely. In fact, Jack— ”
    John stopped talking abruptly and Lexy jerked her head in his direction.
    “Jack what?”
    “I really shouldn’t say … it’s part of the case … he’s just keeping the family under surveillance. He’s going to be very busy with that.”
    “Oh. Okay.” Lexy narrowed her eyes at John, her stomach sinking. It was more than just surveillance, she could tell. What was it that John had stopped himself from saying?
    Brax cleared his throat and Lexy looked over at him.
    “John tells me you have the best cinnamon buns in the area. I think I’ll take