The ladies looked at each other, then gave each other the secret nod. Then they looked at Jack, who had returned with the coffee.

"Okay, go ahead." Jack waved his hand to indicate his approval and they spent the next twenty minutes bringing Davies up to speed on what they knew, including the receipt Sprinkles had snatched from the basement.

"That's pretty much what I know, too," Davies said once Ida was done. "I didn't know about the receipt. We can't be sure where the dog grabbed that from, but I will go to the pub and see what I can find out. I talked to Nesbaum already. He doesn't know anything. He claims he was refinishing the McDonalds' basement and they called him halfway through and asked him to stop."

"Why would they do that?"

Davies shrugged. "Either he's lying or the McDonalds were involved. I did verify that the McDonalds were in Europe that summer, though, so I don't see how they could have been the ones to put the body in there."

"Someone else must have done it," Ruth said.

"The stranger," Lexy suggested.

"What if this stranger killed Earl and called Nesbaum pretending to be the McDonalds, then hid the body in the basement and finished it off himself?"

"It seems like the stranger would have had to have known an awful lot about what was going on in the neighborhood, then," Jack said. "And how could he have done that without anyone noticing? Surely, one of the neighbors would have seen something going on. The McDonalds must have had someone looking after their place."

Lexy looked down at her half-empty coffee cup, her stomach swooping. Nans always knew what was going on in the neighborhood-wouldn't she have noticed?

"We need to find out more about this stranger," Davies said. "And there's one other thing. The Feds think a woman was involved."

"Why?" Ida asked.

"They found lavender sachets in with the mummy."

"That's right," Lexy said. "I remember seeing them. At first I thought they were potatoes."

Davies gave her a strange look.

"Why would anyone put sachets in there?" Helen asked.

"We figure it was to hide the smell," Davies replied. "A lot of women used them back in the fifties. They put them in their drawers to make their clothes smell nice. Lexy, did your grandmother use lavender sachets?"

Lexy's heart squeezed. Did Nans use them? The smell from the mummy room, or at least one of the smells, had been vaguely familiar. Had she recognized the scent of lavender because she remembered Nans clothes smelling like that when she was a little girl?

"I don't think so," Lexy said. Was Davies implying that she thought Nans was involved? Lexy made a mental note to check Nans' drawers next time she was at the apartment just to be sure. "Anyway, the people I talked to said the stranger was a man."

"Yeah, I know." Davies said. "A tall man with bushy blond hair."

"Tall with blond hair?" Lexy screwed up her face and looked at the ceiling trying to remember exactly what Floyd Nichols had told her. "No, I'm pretty sure Floyd Nichols told me he was short with a dark beard."

Davies shook her head. "The McDonalds told me he was tall and blond."

"But they weren't home. They just heard about the stranger from other people," Lexy pointed out. "Maybe they got the description wrong ... not to mention they seem to be a little ... unreliable."

"You've got a point," Davies said. "We'll ask Mona. She was around back then, and with her keen eye for detail, she'll be able to describe him. Not only that, but I bet she can help us straighten this mess out. She's pretty sharp about this stuff. Where did you say she is?"

"Busy," Ida said. "But there's one thing that puzzles me."

"What?"

"Everyone agrees the stranger was a man, right?"

"Right."

"Well, then, if that's the case, he probably didn't load that room up with the sachets, which begs the question ... who was the woman who helped him?"

Chapter Sixteen.

Lexy closed the bakery shortly after the meeting. Cassie had baked the meringue cookies to perfection and they sat perfectly lined up on the baking sheet, cooling in the oven. She popped one of the pink confections into her mouth, letting it melt on her tongue.

Did they need more sugar?

She'd eaten so many of them over the past few days, it was impossible to tell. She placed two dozen of them carefully in a white bakery box and headed home ... well, not exactly home. She had made a little bit of a detour to the Sullivans' house, just two houses down from Jack's.

Mary Sullivan answered the door. Intelligent green eyes set wide in a heart-shaped face smiled at Lexy, and Lexy realized Mary was still a beauty even in her late seventies. No wonder Earl had put the moves on her.

"What a surprise. It's nice to see you, Lexy." Despite her words, Mary didn't seem all that surprised.

Lexy held up the box of cookies. "I brought you some cookies from my bakery. It's my new recipe for the Brook Ridge Dessert contest."

"Oh, how nice." Mary took the box from her and gestured for her to come in. "Paddy, look who's here."

Paddy Sullivan appeared in the kitchen doorway, his bald head showing patches of gray on the side. His face was etched with wrinkles, but his eyes were still bright and intelligent. He smiled at Lexy.

"Hi, Lexy. It's nice of you to stop over." He stepped aside, then pulled out a kitchen chair for Lexy and she sat at the pine plank kitchen table, her lips turning up at the corners in appreciation of the gentlemanly gesture.

"I was just telling Mona we don't see enough of you," Mary said as she bustled around the country-style kitchen, getting a plate and arranging the cookies on it.

"Oh, did you see her recently?"

Mary and Paddy exchanged a look.

"Well, not recently." Mary slid the plate onto the table. "I think we saw her at the senior book sale last month. Right, Paddy?"

"Yes, I think that's the last time we saw her," Paddy said, his focus on transferring the cookies to the smaller plate Mary had put in front of him.

"This was a lovely gesture to bring us your cookies. Do you need feedback on your recipe?" Mary asked.

"I'd love some," Lexy replied. "But actually, I have a question."

"Oh." Mary shot up out of her chair and headed to the stove, then half turned to look at Lexy. "Tea?"

"Yes, thanks."

"So, tell us about this dessert contest." Paddy took a bite of cookie.

"It's the yearly contest, but that's not why I came."

Paddy stopped chewing and looked directly at Lexy, his brows ticking up a fraction of an inch.

"You probably know about the discovery in Jack's basement," Lexy continued.

Mary blanched as she set a dainty porcelain cup with a teabag on a string in front of Lexy. "Yes, terrible to think that was right under our noses"

"Sure is." Paddy reached absently for another cookie, his eyes never leaving Lexy's face.

"You know it was Earl Schute, right?" Lexy asked.

"We heard."

"I know he lived in the neighborhood for a short time. How well did you know him?"

"Hardly at all." Paddy's reply was abrupt. "He lived down on the other street."

"We didn't associate with him," Mary added.

"No? Sam down at the pub said you had a run-in with him more than once."

Lexy pretended to watch the steam curl out of her cup as the Sullivan's exchanged a startled look.

Mary put her dainty, porcelain-white hand over Paddy's larger, work-scarred one. "I guess we should tell her."

Lexy perked up ... now she was getting somewhere!

Paddy nodded. "It's true, we did have a run-in. You see, Earl took a liking to my Mary and I just couldn't have him pressing his amorous intentions on her, so I had to show him what-not."

"My hero." Mary smiled up at Paddy and he returned the look. Lexy could practically feel true love radiating from them and her heart pinched-she sure hoped she wouldn't have to send the lovebirds to jail for murder.

"Just what, exactly, do you mean by what not?' Lexy asked.

"I told him in no uncertain terms to leave her alone." Paddy's face took on a sheepish look. "And maybe I got a little physical, too."

"How physical?" Lexy asked.

"Well, I didn't kill him if that's what you're asking." Paddy avoided Lexy's eyes by digging for another cookie. "He deserved what he got, though."

Mary nodded solemnly in agreement and Lexy decided not to press them. She figured it wouldn't get her anywhere to accuse Paddy, especially not without solid evidence.

"Is it true the McDonalds were on vacation that summer?"

"You mean the summer Earl died?" Paddy asked.

Lexy nodded.

"They were," Mary said. "I remember because Lois sent us a lovely post card. I dug it out after I heard about Earl on the news to check the year. I have it right here."

She twisted around and grabbed a postcard from atop a pine dry-sink behind her, then read the card to Lexy.

"Having a great time. Wish you were here." Lois pointed to the upper right corner. "And there's the postmark right there. August thirteenth, 1955."

Lois handed the postcard over to Lexy. It was a linen-style card, typical of the nineteen-fifties. The image was of a gondola in a crowded canal. Venice. The back was yellowed with a few stains. The message in blue pen had faded over the years, but the postmark was clear as a bell. Lexy handed the card back to Lois, making a mental note to tell Davies about it. That card was proof the McDonalds couldn't have killed Earl.

"And you didn't notice anything strange going on at their house while they were gone?" Lexy asked.

"We can't really see the house from here," Paddy replied. "It's two houses down and offset from us, but we saw the contractor in the driveway. They were having the basement refinished that summer."

"Yeah, I heard," Lexy said. "You know Earl was found stuffed into a small room in the basement. The room had been sealed up as part of the remodel and no one even knew it was there. How do you think he ended up in there?"

Mary and Paddy looked at each other. "We talked about that and we figure it must have been the stranger."

So, they'd seen the mysterious stranger, too, Lexy thought. Something was fishy about this stranger, but she hoped it turned out that the stranger was the killer or Bobby Nesbaum, because if not, then Paddy Sullivan and Floyd Nichols were the next most likely candidates.

"Some of the other neighbors reported this stranger, too," Lexy said. "I'm not sure I understand. Was he just skulking around the neighborhood or was he doing something? Was he here every day? Did you seem him?"

Paddy and Mary glanced at each other out of the corner of their eyes. Mary got busy digging for a cookie in the bakery box.

"He was just seen lurking around. Mostly at night. I can't say as he ever did anything." Paddy pressed his lips together and looked at the ceiling as if trying to dig up his memories of the stranger. "I saw him a couple of times. And once I heard him in the back yard arguing with Earl."

Lexy perked up. "You saw him argue with Earl?"

"Yes, that's right. Least I think it was them. It was dark out and I couldn't really make out who it was or what they were saying, but it was loud. They were out in the back between the backyards and I thought it was odd, since it seemed to be coming from the McDonalds, but I knew they were out of town."

"Really? When was that?" Could it have been the night Earl was murdered?

"Oh, I can't remember exactly. I know it was hot, though, as we had the windows open and that's how I heard them."

"Did you happen to see this stranger?"

Paddy and Mary glanced at each other.

"I did catch a glimpse," Paddy said.

"What did he look like?"

The two exchanged another glance.

"I ...well ..." Paddy stammered.

"He was a ruffian," Mary cut in. "You know the type, all scraggly with facial hair and an unkempt appearance."

"How tall was he? What color hair did he have?"