Lexy sat at the counter in the back of the bakery sorting through the mountain of mail which had accumulated over the past few days. When she got to an envelope with red edges, she felt her heart freeze. It was from the appliance vendor. She ripped it open letting the envelope drift to the floor.

It was due in seven days!

Lexy looked around the kitchen, she couldn't risk having that payment held up by the Toliver murder any longer. She needed to get down to business and catch Chastine's killer. The only problem was, she still had no idea who might have done it.

She reached into a drawer, pulling out a pen and paper. Mentally running through the list of suspects, she tried to figure out who would be most likely. The people from Texas were a long shot, although, if Bob's daughter could be found, and she was here at the time of the murder, she would be a likely candidate.

She wrote Bob's daughter down on the paper with an asterisk next to it. Then below it wrote Dinty Carter with a dash next to his name.

Lexy had her doubts about Xavier discovering Chastine had a lover and killing her over it - he seemed genuinely upset about her death. She wrote his name down on the paper and lightly crossed it out.

Chastine's lover was another suspect. Lexy wondered if she actually did have one or if it was just a rumor. It seemed foolish for the woman to jeopardize her upcoming marriage by cheating on Xavier, but Lexy added "Chastine's lover" to the list just in case.

Trixie could have done it. She certainly was taking advantage of Chastine's death to rekindle her relationship with Xavier. The incentive of marrying into all that money could easily justify murder in some peoples eyes. Lexy wrote Trixie's name down on the list under Xavier's and put an asterisk next to it.

Finally, her thoughts turned to Bronson and Blake. Either one of them could have done it. They had means, motive and opportunity so she added their names at the bottom.

She studied the list. Seven suspects. They all had a motive. She figured she could narrow down the list by crossing off the ones who had an alibi for the time of the murder.

Of course, she had no idea who two of the suspects even were, which could make it a little difficult. Maybe she should focus on the ones she did know. The question was which one to focus on first.

Her thoughts were interrupted by the trilling of her phone. It was Nans.

"Hi, Nans," Lexy chirped into the phone.

"Morning!" The older woman bubbled."We have some information about some of the suspects. I wanted to let you know right away."

Lexy felt her heart grow lighter - she was already making progress!

"Ruth checked with the local hotels. Your friend Dinty Carter and his posse from Texas, arrived only yesterday. She also found out they flew in on a private jet - apparently Dinty has some money. But since the jet only flew in yesterday they couldn't have murdered Chastine."

"Great!" Lexy gingerly crossed Dinty Carter's name off the list.

"And there's more," Nans continued, "Trixie couldn't have murdered her either because she was seen at an after party by hundreds of people. Her picture was even in the paper."

"An after party?"

"Yes Trixie is an actress in the theater downtown - she plays a small role in their rendition of A Midsummer Nights Dream, which just opened this weekend. It's common for them to have a party after the play, which tends to go on until all hours of the night. Ida knows the director and some of the other people in the play - she checked with them - Trixie was there, enjoying herself fully, at two-thirty in the morning."

Lexy felt overjoyed - two down and only five to go! She crossed Trixie's name off the list.

"Thanks a bunch Nan's, this really narrows down my suspect list. Now I've only got to whittle it down to just one person - the killer."

"We did find out one other thing which might help you with that. Helen sent a description of the brooch you said Chastine usually wears - the one you think was ripped from her blouse - out to the local pawn shops and we got a bite. AtoZ Pawn over on Chestnut Street said a man brought a brooch in which sounded similar to what you described. It didn't have a big stone in it though, in fact all the stones had been removed. The man wanted to sell it for the melt value of the gold.

"Did he describe what the man looked like?" Lexy felt her heartbeat speed up.

"Helen tried to pump him for information but all he could remember was that the man was tall, dark and seemed like he was in a bad mood. He also said the man was in a hurry which made him a little suspicious, so he didn't take brooch."

Tall, dark and in a bad mood? That sounded a lot like Bronson. Suddenly Lexy knew exactly who to start focusing on first.

Lexy raced out to the front of the store. "Cassie!"

Cassie, who was halfway in the display case straightening out a tower of eclairs turned, looking at Lexy over her shoulder with raised eyebrows.

"Want to go for a ride?" She asked, keys dangling from her fingers.

Cassie straightened up "What? Why?"

"Come on, it's the slow part of the day. Haley can watch the bakery for the rest of the afternoon and then lock up - we have a murderer to catch."

Lexy saw Cassie's brows scrunch together, her sideways glare begged for an explanation.

"I've narrowed down the suspect list to a few people. I was hoping we could do some covert surveillance on them to see what turns up."

Cassie shrugged. "That doesn't seem like something we should be getting ourselves into, does it?"

Lexy felt confused. Since when did Cassie not want to do something dangerous and, possibly stupid that might get them into trouble with the police?

She walked over to Cassie putting the back of her hand on her friends forehead in an exaggerated manner. "Are you feeling okay? It'll be an adventure - you're always up for an adventure."

Cassie laughed. "Yeah, I guess so, I don't know what came over me. Let me just finish up this case and I'll grab my jacket."

"Great, we have to swing by my house to pickup Sprinkles first. I'll explain more in the car."

Twenty minutes later the girls were loaded into the car with Sprinkles balancing contentedly on the console in between them. Lexi absently patted the dog's silky fur while she told Cassie what she had learned from Nans.

"But, what do you think you will find out from following Bronson?"

"I'm just hoping we'll get lucky. Maybe today will be the day he tries to dispose of the murder weapon. It still hasn't been found, you know." She glanced sideways at her friend. "I got the bill for the kitchen equipment today - it's due in seven days. I'm kind of in a hurry to help get this case closed up."

Lexi felt Cassie put her hand reassuringly on her arm. "Don't worry Lexy, even if you don't get the payment we'll work something out. You will eventually get paid for this job."

"I know, but I don't want to be delinquent on that bill - it could cause a whole lot of problems for us."

The girls fell silent as they got closer to the Toliver mansion. Lexy let off the gas, driving past the house slowly. The Toliver mansion sat next to a nature preserve with walking trials. Lexy pulled her car into the small parking lot for the preserve. She grabbed a pair of binoculars from the backseat.

"It's such a beautiful Indian summer day, I was thinking we could go for a walk in the woods - you know, under the guise of walking the dog, and doing some bird watching with these binoculars. No one needs to know the birds we are watching are the ones in the Toliver house."

Lexy snapped on Sprinkles dog leash. Jumping out of the car, she left the door open for the little dog to follow. Cassie was already out. Removing her jacket, she tossed it in the back seat.

"It's so warm out, almost like summer!" She stretched turning her face up to the sun.

Sprinkles tugged at the leash, eager to explore. The girls followed her lead, heading down the path.

They walked in silence, enjoying the sounds of the birds, the earthy smell of the woods and the sounds of dry leaves crunching under their feet. They stopped to let Sprinkles explore and sniff along the way. Every so often, they got out the binoculars and trained them on the Toliver house.

The path was close to the Toliver property. Now that the leaves had mostly fallen from the trees, Lexy didn't need binoculars to see into the yard, but she used them to look at the house itself and the various out buildings to try to pick out anything unusual.

After twenty minutes, Lexy sighed with frustration. "There's nothing going on...we should head back."

The path had wound around to the back of the house. They turned to head back towards the car. About halfway back, Lexy noticed the path cut in right near the edge of the Toliver property, where they were building the new cabana. Lexy paused, looking at the construction site through the trees. She was so close, she didn't need binoculars to see they were setting up forms to pour cement.

She felt Sprinkles tugging on the leash. Looking down, she noticed it was wrapped around various sticks and vines, leaving the dog only about a foot of leeway. Lexy squatted down. "How did you do that, girl?" She was always amazed at how the dog could get her leash tangled in an impossible mess. This time was no different - somehow Sprinkles had weaved the leash in and around a cluster of thick vines. Lexy swore under her breath as she tried to unknot the mess.

"Hey, there's a truck idling out front with someone in the passenger seat!" Cassie, who had continued up the path, was now rounding the corner which had a view of the front of the house.

Lexy worked harder at the leash.

"It's Bronson - he's getting in the truck!" Cassie started jogging for the car.

Lexy felt panic rise up in her chest. They had to follow him! Giving up on the leash, she unhooked Sprinkles harness, scooped the dog up in her arms and ran for the car.

Chapter Fourteen.

Lexy peeled out of the parking lot, leaving a cloud of dirt in her wake. Bronson had a good head start, but the road didn't have many intersections so Lexy figured she could catch up to him if she drove fast enough.

"I wonder where he is going...and who is with him?" Cassie rolled down the window, the crisp air circling through the car.

"That's him up ahead!"

They had come to a long straightaway, the taillights of a big black pickup truck signaling to take a right turn were barely visible about a half mile ahead. Lexy stepped on the gas, praying the police had already met their speeding ticket quota for the month.

She lucked out and the light was green when she got to the intersection. She turned right and saw Bronson's truck about 3 cars ahead.

They followed him straight down the road, taking a left when he did but being careful to stay a few cars behind. Lexy was surprised when he pulled into the upscale condo unit on the edge of town.

"I wonder what he would want here?"

"Don't follow directly behind him - it's too obvious," Cassie said. "Go down this side road. We can keep an eye on where his truck is going by watching between the buildings.

They didn't have to go far. Bronson stopped about a half mile in. Lexy did the same. She held her breath as she watched his passenger door opened.

"That's Candice!" She said excitedly.

The girls watched through Cassie's open window as Candice produced a set of keys from her purse than disappeared from view, presumably making her way to the front door of one of the condos.

"She must live here..." Lexy said staring at the back of the condo unit which Candice had just entered. She noticed a big black cat skulking around in the grass between the two buildings. Unfortunately, Sprinkles must have noticed it too. In a blur of white fur, the little dog launched herself out Cassie's open window, charging full speed after the cat. Lexy jumped out of the car in pursuit.

"Sprinkles, come back!" Lexy felt a jolt of panic when she saw the dog disappear around a corner. She tried to run even faster, her stilettos sinking into the soft ground slowed her down and it took a few seconds before she made it around the corner. Her heart sank - the dog was nowhere to be seen!

Then she heard Sprinkles give a playful bark. She turned towards the sound and saw Sprinkles inside one of the condos. The sliding glass door was opened and Sprinkles must have run in. A woman sat on the couch, her head bent down as she petted the dog.

Lexy stepped partway into the condo. "Sprinkles, you almost gave me a heart attack." She gasped between breaths. Sprinkles saw her and ran over, Lexy bent down scooping the dog up into her arms, her cheeks growing warm with embarrassment for the dogs behavior.

"I'm so sorry..." She started to say, then her breath caught in her throat as the woman looked up and she saw who it was. Candice.

The two women stared at each other for a few seconds.

"Hey, you're that nosy baker. What are you doing here?"

Nosy baker?

"Umm...my dog got away." Lexy pointed to Sprinkles.

"Yeah but what were you doing here in the first place? Were you spying on me?" Candice stood, taking a step forward, her eyes narrowed to slits. Lexy felt her heart clutch in fear.

"No, we were taking Sprinkles," she said, pointing to the dog again, "for a walk and then went for a drive and ended up here." That was mostly true, Lexy thought, mentally crossing her fingers. Candice did not look convinced.

Lexy glanced around the living room of the small condo. It was full of boxes and clutter. "Are you moving?"

Candice snorted, crossing her arms over her chest. "Of course I am, my employer was murdered so now I have no job. So, if you don't mind leaving, I'll get back to packing."

She spat the words out with such hatred that Lexy, backed up a step and stumbled against one of the boxes. It teetered over, the shoes inside threatening to spill out. Lexy put her hand out to stop the box from falling and couldn't help but take a peek at the shoes. She noticed one pair on the top, a gorgeous purple suede with pointy toes. Too bad one of the toes was ruined with a brownish stain. The stain was just on the tip of the toe and extended underneath on the bottom of the shoe where the tan sole showed the true color - red. Red like blood.

Lexy felt a chill trickle up her spine. She clutched Sprinkles closer, putting her finger on her eye to keep it from twitching.

"Why are you still here?" Candice asked, waving her hands at Lexy to shoo her out the door.

Something on Candice's hand caught Lexy's eye. It was a large shiny ring, a ring with a canary yellow cushion cut diamond - just like the one in Chastine's brooch. Lexy backed out the door without a word and bolted for the car.

"I...think...Candice is...the killer!" Lexy could barely get the words out between gasps.

Cassie's eyebrows shot up. "What happened out there?"

Lexy took a few deep breaths. "I ran into Candice - Sprinkles was in her condo! She's packing to move."

"That hardly makes her a killer."

"That's not it." Lexy took another deep breath. "While I was there, I noticed some shoes with blood on the tip and she had a ring on which had the same stones as the brooch that was missing from Chastine's blouse!

"Wow, that does sound convincing. Should we call the police?"