"Hi, Jack!" Nans yelled into the phone.

"Mona, what's going on?" Jacks face turned from concerned to amused.

"I have some important evidence for you in the Regis Banks case."

"Case? There's no case. We determined it was an accidental death due to his food allergy."

"Oh, I know, but once you hear what we've found, I think you'll change your mind."

Jack's heavy sigh blared out from the phone. "Okay. But be quick. I have a call to go on."

"We found out that a member of his family has some gambling trouble. Big trouble. And they needed money to get out of that trouble. Money that they'd get when Regis died."

"That's not enough to prove he was murdered."

Nans continued on, "This person switched ice creams at the birthday party. We think the switch might have been captured by the photographer, Harry Wolf. Tell me, did you find the Banks folder in Harry Wolf's studio?"

"No," Jack's face took on a more interested look. "It never turned up."

"I thought so."

"That's still not enough to prove murder," Jack said.

"No, but this might be." Nans pointed the iPhone screen at the pictures laid out on the table so Jack could see them. "That's the killer right there, meeting with Clubs McGinty and handing over a large briefcase, presumably filled with money. Money he got from killing his own father."

"Those pictures are hard to see ... who is that?"

"Winston Banks," Nans announced. "Are you going to arrest him?"

Another sigh from the phone. "I'm afraid I can't."

"Nans scrunched up her face and whipped the iPhone back to face her. "Why the heck not?"

"Because Winston Banks was found dead less than an hour ago."

Chapter Twelve.

"Heart attack, my patootie," Nans said after Jack explained what he knew about Winston's death. They'd called for him to come on the scene only because Winston had died at the office, but all evidence indicated he'd had a heart attack.

"It sure sounds like one," Lexy replied. "Jack said the people that were in the meeting with him reported that he complained about a tingling and numbness in his arm, then he slumped over. He died before the ambulance arrived."

Nans narrowed her eyes at Lexy. "Doesn't it seem rather odd to you that two members of the same family die within the same week?"

"Yeah, but we thought Winston was the killer."

"I know." Nans tapped her finger on her lips. "It sure did seem like he was. I guess our investigation got thrown off track."

"His death does complicate things." Ida peered into the pastry case. "Lexy, can you get me a Whoopie pie?"

"Do you think the same person killed both of them?" Helen asked Nans as Lexy moved behind the pastry case. "Oh, and I'll have a Snickerdoodle while you are back there."

"Of course. It has to be the same person," Nans replied to Helen, then turned to Lexy at the bakery case. "Put me in for a Snickerdoodle, too."

"Winston could have killed Regis and died of a heart attack. He was under a lot of stress what with being a murderer and owing money to gangsters," Lexy pointed out as she piled pastries onto a tray.

"I'll take a brownie if you don't mind," Ruth chimed in and Lexy added a brownie to the tray.

Nans pulled out chair and slumped into it. "He could have died naturally, but my instincts tell me he didn't."

Ruth, Ida and Helen nodded their agreement and joined Nans at the table. When it came to murder, Nans' instincts were almost always right on the button.

"But he died in the middle of a meeting with witnesses and the EMT's said it looked like it was his heart," Lexy said. She put the pastries on the table and then moved over to the coffee center to pour coffees. "Surely someone would have seen something if anyone in the meeting killed him."

"Maybe not," Ida cut in, "if he was poisoned before the meeting. Maybe someone put something in his coffee or the food they served."

"I hope Jack's thought of that," Nans said. "We should call him and make sure he tests anything Winston ingested."

"But he already said they don't suspect foul play."

"Better to be safe than sorry." Nans picked up her phone. "I'll just text him."

"There is another explanation, too." Ruth offered. "Maybe there are two killers. Winston killed Regis and then someone else killed Winston."

"Who would want to kill Winston?" Lexy brought the coffees to the table and passed them out, then took a seat herself. "He'd already paid off his gambling debt, so it wasn't the gangsters. Plus, they'd use a more direct method, I assume."

Ruth nodded. "Yeah, it wasn't Clubs McGinty. He'd use guns."

Nans stood and paced back and forth in front of the table. "We know that Winston was going to carry on with the development project. That's what he and Regis have in common. Maybe it was someone who wants that project stopped."

"It could be," Helen said. "Who will be in charge of the company now that Winston is gone?"

Everyone looked at each other in silence.

"We need to find that out," Nans said. "We already know there are plenty of people who didn't want the development. Wasn't Norman getting us a list of people who opposed it?"

Lexy nodded. "I'll text him and see if he has that yet."

"This is getting stranger and stranger." Ida bit into her Whoopee pie. A dollop of cream squirted out the side and she licked it away. "If Regis and Winston were killed for the same reason, it has to do with the company ... or the family money."

"Or maybe it has nothing to do with either," Helen shrugged. "We went down the wrong trail before."

"It bears looking into, but you know what the number one rule is when investigating a murder." Nans bit into her Snickerdoodle.

"Follow the money," Ida, Ruth, Helen and Lexy chorused.

"And who would have benefitted financially from Winston's death?" Ida asked.

"It's usually the spouse," Nans replied. "But, since we don't know what's in Winston's will, we can't say for sure."

"That's right, Winston's widow, Evelyn." Ruth sipped her coffee. "If he was poisoned, she'd have had access to him before he went to the office. She might have done it then, or put it in a bagged lunch. Some of those poisons have a delayed effect."

"She was also at the birthday party and could have switched ice creams," Helen added.

"And we already know she didn't share a lot of Winston's views." Lexy thought back to their meeting at the Farmer's market.

"But, what motive would she have to kill Regis?" Ida asked.

"That's easy. Winston inherited a lot of money and stock from Regis. If Evelyn is his beneficiary, now all that goes to her."

"If that's the case, she had a very clever plan." Nans spread a napkin out on the table and piled two Snickerdoodles inside it, folded the edges over the cookies and stuck it in her purse.

"And almost got away with it," Ruth added, "by making the deaths look like either accidental or natural."

"We don't know for sure that Winston's death wasn't natural," Lexy reminded them. "Besides, Evelyn doesn't seem like the killer type. She seemed like a nice, caring person when we saw her at the Farmer's Market. I can't picture her killing two people for money."

Nans gave Lexy a look. "That's the thing about killers that almost get away with it-they're always the ones you suspect the least."

Chapter Thirteen.

Lexy kept herself busy the rest of the day with baking and waiting on customers. Sometime in between frosting chocolate brownies and filling cream puffs, Anna had called wanting to know about the case and to have Lexy look over an invoice from the Banks' birthday party. Since Lexy was already planning to stop at Nans' that evening to go over the clues, she arranged for Anna to meet her there.

Anna's catering van was already parked in the back of the lot when Lexy arrived at the retirement center.

Anna jumped out of the van with some papers in her hand. "Hey, Lexy! How is it going?"

"Great. How about you? Has your catering business suffered at all because of the ... ummm ... incident?" Lexy grimaced.

"No. Thankfully, nothing got in the press, so I don't think any customers have been scared off. But I heard about Winston Banks and I'm a bit worried. I thought you guys said he was the killer."

"We thought he was," Lexy said. She started toward the entrance, balancing the coffee cake she'd brought in one hand. Anna fell in step next to her. "We actually have pictures of him handing over the money he owed. But just because he's dead, doesn't prove he wasn't the killer."

Anna scrunched her face up. "True, but it does add a strange twist, doesn't it?"

"It sure does." Lexy opened the glass door and the two navigated the halls to Nan's apartment.

"I brought this invoice from the Banks' birthday party. I've had a heck of a time getting Cora to pay me. But I guess rich people like to hold on to their money for as long as they can."

Lexy laughed. "That's for sure. That's how they stay rich."

"Anyway, I was hoping you could look it over and make sure I have the bakery prices correct."

"No problem. We'll do that first thing and then we can discuss the plan of action with Nans and the ladies."

Lexy's fist tapped on Nans' door, which opened immediately.

"We've been waiting for you." Nans pulled her inside where Ida was ready to relieve her of the bakery box.

Ida smiled as she peered inside the box. "Oh, I love coffeecake."

Ruth and Helen were already seated at the table. The whiteboard sat in its usual place against the wall. Lexy could see the ladies had been busy updating it with new information.

Nans got coffees for Anna and Lexy and they all sat down at the table. Anna slid the invoice over to Lexy. "Let's just get this out of the way."

Lexy looked down the list of items, squeezing her eyes shut and mentally comparing the list to what she'd delivered at the party.

"Looks good." She hovered a pen over the bottom of the invoice where she could see Cora's signature of two scrawls with a large C and S at the beginning of each scrawl. "Should I sign under Cora?"

"If you just initial it that will be fine," Anna said.

Nans pushed her chair out and stood at the whiteboard. "If you ladies are done we can get on with it."

Lexy and Anna nodded and everyone turned their attention to Nans.

"Okay, then, let's recap. Since Winston's death we've been looking at other suspects. His wife Evelyn is high on our list because she would gain the most financially and also because she didn't agree with the company business. But since Regis' had the stipulation in his will that all stock be kept amongst his children, she won't get any of Winston's stock and won't gain a controlling interest in the company."

Anna's eyes widened. "But how do you think she killed him? The paper said he died of a heart attack."

"We figure she probably used some sort of poison. She could have put it in his breakfast, or maybe she gave him a bagged lunch or something. Some toxins don't take effect right away. He died in an early morning meeting at work, so he was most likely poisoned there or shortly after he left home."

"Using poison is a similar method to how Regis died. He died from his food allergy. These types of methods are preferred by women because they are not messy or bloody," Ruth chimed in.

"Do you think she killed Regis, too?" Anna asked.

"She may be a very clever killer." Nans tapped something on the whiteboard under the Motive' category. "She may have planned it out from the beginning. Kill off Regis first so Winston inherits the money, then kill Winston and get it all for herself."

"I did notice at the birthday party that she and Winston didn't seem to get along," Lexy said.

"Gosh, I don't think it could be her." Anna shook her head. "I talked to her quite a bit when planning the party and she was very nice. A kind and loving person. She didn't seem to care very much about money. I can't picture that she planned this whole thing out in cold blood just for financial gain."

Nans smiled. "Like I told Lexy, those are the ones you have to watch out for."

"So what's the plan?" Ruth spread her arms looking at Nans. "How do we prove she's the killer?"

"We need to catch her at something." Nans picked her coffee up from the table and sipped. "If she is the killer, she has something to hide. Maybe the poison she used for Winston ... or the photos from the party."

"And she'll need to dispose of that incriminating evidence," Ida added.