Nans stepped back, pointing to an area on the counter top where there was a square section void of the mess that sat on the rest of the counter. "It looks like something is supposed to be here."

"My computer!" Harry looked around the room. "It's gone!"

"Did you have sensitive data on it?" Lexy asked. "I hope you didn't lose something you can't recover."

Harry's shoulders sagged. "I might have. That's where I process all my digital photos. I unload them from the camera and manipulate them on the computer and then I make the prints and file them in that filing cabinet."

Lexy followed his gaze to a gray metal four-drawer filing cabinet that stood in the corner with the top drawer open. She walked over to it, looking in at the manila folders with clients' names listed alphabetically. The top drawer looked to hold A-G.

"Did you already file the pictures from the Banks birthday?" Lexy asked as she flipped through the tabs.

"Yes, there should be a folder in there."

Lexy looked through the tabs twice, then checked the other drawers. "I think I know what the thief wanted."

"What?" Nans asked. Everyone turned to look at Lexy.

"The pictures from Regis Banks' birthday party ... the Banks folder is missing."

The police let Lexy and the gang leave after taking their names, addresses and phone numbers. They all piled into Ruth's Oldsmobile and she aimed it in the direction of Lexy's bakery. Lexy was in a hurry to get back to work. She still had a business to run and this case was taking up a lot of her time.

"Well, that clinches it," Nans said. "Someone switched those ice creams on purpose and wants to destroy any pictures."

"My money is on Winston," Ida said.

"Let's not be too hasty," Helen cut in. "That place was a mess. The folder could have been laying in one of those piles. We don't know for sure that whoever broke in took the Banks' folder."

"That's true," Lexy said. "We don't know for sure, but why else would someone break in? I'll have Jack keep us informed on the case."

"We'll have to see if we can track Winston's whereabouts this morning," Nans said. "Maybe your friend in the candy shop saw him ... or saw someone over at the photography place."

"Good thinking. I'll put a call into her." Lexy made a mental note to call Susan after work.

"If only we could search his place for the pictures ... or catch him disposing of them," Helen said.

Ida pushed forward in her seat, her eyes sparkling with excitement. "We might need to go on a stakeout."

"We could set up near his house tonight," Ruth offered.

"The car is pretty comfortable. It would be like an adventure and Lexy could bring some pastries and a thermos of coffee." Ida turned a hopeful face to Lexy.

"Sorry guys, but I'm taking Sprinkles to agility tonight."

"That's even better," Nans said. "You can pump your new friend, Olivia, for information on her brother."

"If we can just prove he has those photos, we could get this case tied up in no time. I'm sure Jack would accept that as proof and arrest him," Ruth added. "Maybe Olivia knows where he was this morning or saw him with the pictures."

"I'll see what I can do," Lexy said, then looked at Nans with concern in her eyes. "In the meantime, you guys be careful. Olivia said Winston had a temper, and if he is the killer and sees you watching him, there's no telling what he might do."

Chapter Eleven.

Lexy's heart tugged as she looked out the car window at the beautiful scenery on Meadow Road.

"Such a shame this is going to be a retail mall and parking lot soon," she said to Sprinkles who was busy looking out the passenger window.

Her thoughts turned to Nans and The Ladies Detective Club. Before leaving for the agility class, she'd packed them into Ruth's Oldsmobile with a thermos of coffee and a basket of pastries. She hoped they didn't get into trouble on their stakeout.

Sprinkles thumped her tail on the seat, anxious to get out as Lexy pulled into the Fur Fun K9 Center. She could barely wait for Lexy to open the passenger side door, wriggling through the small gap and leaping out before it was even all the way open.

The agility area was setup with a tall ramp and some hoops. Today's training involved running up and down the ramp and jumping through the hoops at various levels. Each activity had a command and Sprinkles was a fast learner and one of the faster and more agile dogs in the class-Lexy, not so much. Once again she felt winded at the end of the lesson, reminding her of how much she needed to get on track with her own exercise program.

After forty grueling minutes, the class broke up and Lexy headed out of the agility stadium. She could use a bottled water ... but she had more important things to do. Like find out what was down that hallway in the back where she'd seen Olivia the other day. She had the distinct feeling something secretive was going on down there and with the news about the land development, it couldn't hurt to check it out.

"Come on, Sprinkles, let's do some detecting." She tugged Sprinkles down the hall, following the path she'd taken before. Luckily, her classmates had gone in the other direction and the halls were mostly empty, so there was no one to stop her.

She paused at the mouth of the hallway where she'd heard Olivia talking to the mystery man.

Should she venture down?

The building was old, probably a warehouse at one time, and the floors were some type of industrial tile. Luckily, she had sneakers on so she wouldn't make any noise. She took a deep breath and started down the dark wood paneled hall, the faint smell of baking dog food tickling her nose.

The back area of the Fur Fun K9 Center was like a maze, with hallways that led to other hallways all peppered with locked doors. Well, maybe they weren't all locked, but the few she'd quietly tried had been.

What was going on back here?

Lexy continued slowly down the hall, noticing that it intersected with a parallel hall about ten feet ahead. She was contemplating whether she should go right or left at the end when she heard voices coming from the left.

"... can't let anyone know ... we're so close," a man's voice whispered.

"... if ... finds out about the food, our efforts will have been wasted." Lexy recognized the upper crust twang of Olivia Banks' voice.

"Don't worry. I've taken care of that." The man again.

Lexy's heart kicked. They were coming her way! She realized she didn't have time to back down the hall without them seeing her, so she did the only thing she could think of.

"Sprinkles! No!" Lexy lunged back on the leash, jerking poor Sprinkles backwards just as the couple rounded the corner.

"Again?" Olivia looked at Lexy, her perfectly plucked brows forming a delicate V' on her forehead.

"What are you doing down here? These are our private offices," the man demanded, then he frowned at Olivia. "You know her?"

"Sorry, my dog ran off and I was just retrieving her." Lexy stuck her hand for the man to shake. "I'm Lexy Baker. My dog, Sprinkles, and I are taking the agility class."

The man eyed her dubiously before clasping her hand in his large calloused paw and giving it a firm handshake. "Steve Warren. I own the place."

"Nice to meet you," Lexy said.

Steve and Olivia continued down the hall, back the way Lexy had come. Lexy walked with them.

Lexy noticed that Olivia clutched a large green hardcover book to her chest-The Book of Herbs. "Nice to see you again. Where's your Pom?"

"Oh, Farfel? She's back there in the-" Olivia broke off, looking at Steve.

"Kennel," he completed for her.

"Oh, maybe that's what Sprinkles was after. She probably smelled dogs. Is there a boarding kennel back there or something?"

"Yes." Steve answered gruffly.

"What's with the herbs book?. Are you into herbs?" Lexy asked Olivia's eyes darted over to Steve. "Yes ... I mean ... I have an herb garden as a hobby."

"Oh." Lexy wondered why she had the book here. "Are you interested, too, Steve?"

"Me?" Steve looked at her out of the corner of her eye.

"No, someone borrowed it from me and just returned it to me here," Olivia said before he could answer.

Lexy cleared her throat. "I just discovered they are planning on developing all the land around here. Some retail mall or something. It's too bad, the land is so pretty."

Steve's face turned hard. "Yeah, that's progress, I guess."

"It sounds like you're not a fan."

Steve shrugged. "I'm not. I like the open spaces, the fields and wildlife. A lot of animals will be displaced with the construction."

Lexy's heart melted a little. Maybe the guy was just a nature lover. "But I would think it would bring in a lot of extra traffic for the K9 Center," Lexy said.

Steve shrugged. "Maybe. But I like being out here in the country. It's more private."

"Well, it might be good for-".

Olivia's phone chirped, cutting off what she was about to say, but not before Lexy noticed Steve shoot her a warning glare.

What was that about? There was definitely something going on between them.

"Hello ... what?" Olivia frowned at the diamond-encrusted watch on her wrist. "Oh, is that today? I'll be right there."

She clicked off and shoved the phone in her Coach purse. "Sorry, I'm supposed to be at a hair appointment right now. I'm so bad with appointments-always mixing up the days. I have to run!"

Olivia clip-clopped away in a pair of purple suede Steve Madden wedges, leaving Lexy and Steve standing in the large entrance foyer.

"Well, I think you can find your way out, Ms. Baker." Steve nodded toward the left where the front door was. "Pleasure meeting you."

Lexy watched Steve walk away. He was tall and broad shouldered and the way he walked niggled something in Lexy's memory.

She was at her car before she remembered what it was. Steve Warren was the man that Lexy had remembered during hypnosis, the one who had blocked her view of Regis' ice cream.

Lexy's suspicions of Steve and Olivia were put to rest the next day when Nans called her at the bakery with news from their stakeout.

"We're on our way over with the proof to nail Winston!"

"What?" Lexy couldn't imagine what proof they had ... had they found him with the pictures from the photography store? "From your stakeout?"

"You'll just have to wait and see." Nans hung up on her.

She hastily put together a plate of Snickerdoodles and Whoopee pies. She'd no sooner put the tray on one of the cafe tables when Ruth's car careened around the corner, grinding to a stop in front of the bakery. The four ladies jumped out, Nans with a pile of paper in her hand, Ida with a camera.

Nans ran into the bakery, waving the papers.

"Look at these." She spread them out on the table.

Thankfully, no customers were in the bakery and Lexy could focus on the pictures. She looked down at them, her heart pumping with excitement as she went through the series. Winston at a park with a large briefcase, then him handing it to a man, then the two men moving away from each other in different directions.

"Those are just some still photos we printed off from this video." Ida shoved the camera in front of Lexy's face. She watched as Winston gave the briefcase to the man, then walked away.

"I can't wait to show this to Jack." Nans green eyes sparkled. "Let's FaceTime him with your iPhone."

Lexy pressed her lips together. The photos did seem suspicious, but what did they prove? Jack didn't like being summoned to talk on FaceTime unless it was critical.

"I'm not sure this is enough evidence to prove Winston was the killer. All it shows is him handing over a briefcase. We don't even know what's in it," Lexy said.

"Why, that thing's obviously loaded with money. Just look at who he's handing it to." Ida jabbed her index finger toward the face of the other man in the photo.

Lexy squinted at it. "Who?"

Ida gave an exasperated sigh. "Don't you recognize him? That's the notorious gangster Clubs McGinty ... tell her, Ruth."

"Yep, that's Clubs. I knew him quite well when I hung around with Nunzio." Ruth ducked her head sheepishly. "He runs most of the illegal gambling around here."

Lexy's eyebrows rose at the mention of Nunzio Bartolli. Ruth had had a fling with the retired mobster and almost been arrested for his murder a while back. Lexy and The Ladies Detective Club had to pull out all the stops to find the real killer and get to the bottom of why Nunzio was murdered.

"Clearly, there's only one reason why Winston would be handing Clubs that briefcase," Nans tapped her iPhone impatiently.

"Okay, I'll FaceTime Jack, but he's probably going to be mad at me for doing so." Lexy pulled out her iPhone and clicked the FaceTime app, then pressed Jack's id, chewing her lip nervously as it rang.

"Lexy, what's going on? Is something wrong?" Jack's concerned face filled her phone screen.

"No. I have Nans here. She has something important for you." Lexy handed the phone over to Nans like it was a hot potato.