Murder, Money & Marzipan Read Online Free Page A

some information. Let her get the dirt from the other bakers. I’ve seen her snooping around - if she’s not the killer, then she might be able to lead us to whoever is.”
    Jake chewed the end of his pencil. “That might work, but how do we get chummy with her?”
    Nik looked down at Jake. His straight white teeth worked the end of his pencil. His baby-blue eyes stared up at her from his handsome, finely chiseled face. A face that exuded honesty and trust but that was dotted with just enough stubble to give him a roguish air. What woman could resist a face like that?
    “Not we , Detective Ryan - you .”

Chapter Five
    Lexy leaned back against the pillows, stretching her legs out on the bed. Her hand absently patted the spot beside her where her dog, Sprinkles, would be lying if she were at home.
    She missed Sprinkles. The little white poodle mix was a big part of her life but Lexy couldn’t bring her to Vegas so she had left the dog with Jack.  
    Jack!  
    She cringed, realizing he’d probably heard about the murder by now. She’d have to call him and downplay her role in it.  
    “…out anything interesting?” Nans’ question interrupted her thoughts.
    “What?”   She looked over at the older woman sitting at the round table in their hotel room. Her iPad sat in front of her with the crossword puzzle and pencil next to it.
    The room was a decent size with two queen beds. Lexy lay on the one nearest the table. She could see into the adjoining room through the open door. She and Cassie had rented two rooms so the three of them would have lots of space. In the next room, she could hear Cassie making showering noises which reminded her that she needed to hit the shower herself to wash off the days accumulation of flour and sugar.
    “I asked if you had found out anything more downstairs - you were going to talk to the other bakers.” Nans raised her eyebrows at Lexy.
    “Oh, right. Actually I found out something very interesting. I talked to Aurea’s roommate - she said Aurea wasn’t in the room at the time Judge Saunders was murdered.”
    Nans’ eyes went wide. “That is interesting. Would she have a motive to kill Saunders?”
    “Her good friend Grace Harvey is one of the replacement judges. If Grace takes Saunders’s spot, she might judge Aurea’s work more favorably and give her a better chance of winning. There’s a lot of money at stake.”
    Nans tapped her lips with her pencil. “Murdering someone is a pretty drastic move to win a contest, even if the prize is $100,000 and a magazine spread. I think the killer must have had a more pressing motive.”
    Nans’ iPad erupted in a sequence of beeps and rings making Lexy jump. “What’s that?”
    “Oh, its FaceTime.” Nans looked down at the tablet. “Ida’s calling.”   She slid something on the screen, then peered down into it.
    Ida’s voice blared out of the tiny tablet. “Good evening Mona. How are things in Vegas?”
    Lexy sat up on the bed leaning forward so she could see the iPad. The wide screen was filled with a closeup of her grandmother’s friend and fellow amateur detective. The angle gave her face a somewhat distorted appearance magnifying her many wrinkles. Lexy stifled a giggle.  
    “Who’s that?”
    “Lexy is here. Say hi.”   Nans held the iPad up toward Lexy.
    “Hi, Ida.” Lexy waved.
    “I hear you have another murder on your hands,” Ida said.
    Lexy nodded. She could see the sparkle of excitement in Ida’s eyes on the screen. Ida, Nans and two of their friends delighted in solving murders and mysteries. They even had a name for themselves: the Ladies Detective Club.  
    The four of them lived in the Brooke Ridge Retirement Center and spent their days gathering clues and solving cases. The funny thing was, they rarely even left the complex because most of their detecting was done on their iPads. They’d been instrumental in helping Lexy solve a couple of murders she had inadvertently gotten involved in and even