"So, did you find out anything about the murder at the retirement center?" she ventured.

"What?" Jack looked up at her with a blank stare, making it clear his thoughts were off somewhere else.

"I was asking about the murder at the retirement center ... did you find any clues?"

"Oh." Jack wrinkled his brow. "Not really. We're looking into the usual suspects--family and people at the retirement center, but we don't have anything concrete."

"Do you think there's anything in common with the other people who died?"

"We haven't looked into the other people because we don't know for sure that they were murdered."

Lexy stabbed a spear of broccoli with her fork and raised an eyebrow at him. "But if they were ..."

"If they were, the only thing they have in common that I know of is that they were in the nursing care section."

Lexy sighed and nibbled off a teensy piece of the broccoli. "Maybe the reason they were in nursing care is what they have in common."

Jack pushed his salmon around. "You might not be too far off. I have a gut feeling that the deaths have something to do with the drug ring investigation I'm in the middle of."

Lexy's eyes went wide. "You think the drugs might be coming from the retirement center?"

Jack shrugged. "Maybe." He went back to pushing his food around on his plate. Lexy realized that he hadn't eaten much. Her stomach felt hollow, and not just from the lack of food ... something seemed off with Jack.

"Is everything okay?" she asked.

Jack's fork clattered onto the plate and and he fumbled with picking it up again. Was that sweat on his brow? Lexy's heart seized with dread-something was wrong.

"Lexy, I have something to say."

A wave of dizziness swept over her at the serious look on his face. Was he breaking up with her? Because she kept getting involved in these investigations? Her mind went back to the kiss they had shared when he first came in. Surely he wouldn't kiss her like that if he was going to dump her?

The room started to swim before her eyes with the combination of nervousness and lack of food. Jack must have dropped something on the floor because she saw him get down on his knees to retrieve it. Lexy looked down at the floor to see what it was and the next thing she knew the floor was rushing up to meet her in the face.

Then everything went black.

Lexy opened her eyes to see Sprinkles looking down at her from an impossible angle. How could the dog be above her? The only way that could happen was if she were laying down, which judging by the hard floor pressed against her back, she probably was.

"Lexy, are you okay?" She heard Jack's voice.

She took a mental inventory of her body. "Yes, I think so. What happened?" She asked, bringing her arms up to fend off the barrage of kisses that Sprinkles bathed her face with.

"I think you passed out. Did you eat anything today?"

"I had an omelet this morning."

"Jesus, Lexy, that's not enough." Jack pulled her up from the floor, brushed off her backside, then put his hands on her upper arms, bending his tall frame to stare into her eyes. "You have to start eating more. You're not fat. In fact, I think you're just perfect."

Lexy's heart jerked in her chest as he bent down and brushed his lips against her forehead, then gently maneuvered her into her chair.

"Now eat." He pointed to her plate, then went over and started the coffee machine on the counter.

Lexy dug into the salmon and potato. She had to admit, she was starving. Jack replaced her wine glass with a coffee mug and sat down on his side of the table watching her eat in silence. She couldn't help the little "nummy" sounds that came out of her mouth.

She finished up and pushed her plate away feeling encouraged that Jack had also devoured most of his meal. The food was doing it's job, she felt a lot stronger and not so dizzy. She took a sip of coffee and closed her eyes.

"Did you just cluck?"

"What?" Lexy furrowed her brow. Did he say cluck?

"I thought I heard you make a strange noise." Jack shrugged, then grabbed both of their plates and dumped them in the sink.

Lexy stood up to liberate the pie from its glass display. Her heart skipped a beat, remembering how Jack had been acting before she passed out. What was he up to?

"It seemed like you were going to say something important before I passed out." She handed him a plate loaded with a thick, tall slice of pie.

Jack smiled and put the pie on the counter, pulling her into his arms instead.

"I was, but it can wait until you're feeling one hundred percent better." He traced the tip of his finger down the side of her neck causing her body to shiver with anticipated pleasure. "Right now, I think we have some other important business to tend to."

Chapter Sixteen.

"Would you guys like to test out another one of my new recipes?" Lexy opened the cardboard bakery box, and produced a tray of aromatic white chocolate biscotti which she placed in the center of Nans's dining room table.

"More biscotti?" Ruth asked as she, Helen and Nans picked a biscuit from the plate. Lexy had already helped herself and bit into the confection, the white chocolate dip coated her tongue with a creamy sweetness, which was the perfect compliment to the dark blend coffee that was sending up spirals of steam on the table in front of her.

She took a sip.

Nans, Helen and Ruth laughed. Lexy louvered her eyes at them. "What's so funny?"

"Nothing," Helen said, her eyes wide. "Did the hypnosis work for your eye tic?"

Lexy realized that her eye hadn't bothered her the previous night when she'd been nervous about Jack's behavior. "Well, it hasn't bothered me, but I think I need more time to know for sure."

"Oh, I'm sure it worked." Helen said, amidst more laughter from the other women.

Ruth finished off her biscotti, adjusted her dentures and brushed the crumbs off her shirt. "That was delicious-I'd say you have a winner on your hands."

Lexy felt a swell of pride when the other women nodded their agreement.

"Now, let's get down to business." Nans put her elbows on the table and leaned across toward Lexy. "What did Jack have to say about the case?"

"Not much, I'm afraid. He's still not convinced the first two were murdered." Lexy's stomach dropped at the disappointed looks on the women's faces. "But he did say he had a suspicion the murder might be tied to the drug ring case he is working on."

"Really?" Helen asked. "How so?"

"Apparently the drug ring sells quite a bit of oxycontin. They don't know where it is coming from. You need a prescription for it, so it has to be tied to some place medical. He was starting to think it might be coming from the retirement center because the hospitals and doctors' offices have such strict rules."

"I don't see how they would actually get the drugs to sell them, I mean I'm sure they are carefully watched here too. But that is something we should look into," Ruth said.

"I researched the janitor, Sam Turner. He has some financial problems. That would be motivation for stealing drugs and selling them on the black market. Janitors don't make very much money, you know," Helen said.

"That's very interesting," Nans nibbled on the end of her second biscotti. "I happened to talk to the person who was staying in the room with Bertram Glumm when he was murdered. I asked him who was in there and he didn't remember seeing Nurse Rothschild, but he did say he remembered Sam being there."

Helen and Ruth gasped.

"Wait a minute," Helen said." Who was Bertram's roomie?"

"Willard Stevens," Nans winced.

"Oh, he's practically senile!" Ruth said.

"That explains why he didn't notice a murder happening right in the next bed." Lexy rolled her eyes.

"Well, he is hard of hearing and maybe a little forgetful, but he did say he remembered that night. He said the curtain was drawn around the bed all night which he thought was odd. At least it's something to think about."

"Looks like all fingers point to the janitor, Sam," Ruth said. "And that's good because I found out that nurse Rothschild couldn't have committed the last murder. She wasn't working at the time."

Lexy's eyebrows rose a few notches. "Interesting. So that rules her out? She could still be in on it with Sam ... or maybe she snuck back in to do the murder."

"True. But I think we can put her on the back burner and turn up the heat on Sam," Nans said. "But I still don't understand how the murders would tie in to stealing drugs. I'm not convinced they are related."

A couple of taps sounded on the door and they all turned toward it in time to see Ida bustle in, leading with her left hand, on which sat a new sparkling diamond ring.

"Guess what, girls!"

They all stood and leaned over her hand.

"It's gorgeous!"

"Gigantic."

"He proposed in the nursing care ward?"

Ida giggled like a schoolgirl. "Yes, I guess he was planning on doing it and didn't want to wait just because he was laid up."

Lexy felt her heart squeeze. Was everyone except her getting engaged? She immediately regretted her jealous thoughts. She was happy for Cassie and Ida, heck, she didn't even know if she wanted to get married. Her and Jack didn't always see eye to eye, so maybe it would be a mistake. Still, it would be nice to be asked.

They all got in line to hug and congratulate Ida. Lexy pulled Ida's hand up to her face to admire the ring. It was very similar to Cassie's.

Crap!

She'd forgotten that Cassie's dress rehearsal was tonight. She glanced at her watch, her stomach clenching. She had forty-five minutes to get home, change and then over to the restaurant where Cassie planned to get married. She pushed away from the group.

"I gotta run, I'm late for Cassie's wedding rehearsal!" She said, grabbing her coat and bolting out the door.

Chapter Seventeen.

Lexy rushed into the entrance of the Brook Ridge Falls restaurant. Her hair sat piled on top of her head in an unruly mess, her dress needed adjustment and she sported sneakers on her feet instead of the Manolo Blahnik rhinestone-studded stilettos she planned to wear for the wedding. But at least she'd made it on time ... almost.

The restaurant, an old mill, boasted a gigantic picture window with a spectacular up-close view of the waterfall. Cassie, John, and Jack stood in a huddle in front of it.

Jack turned as she approached, his face blanched and he shoved something into his pocket. Her eyes narrowed as she saw him say something to the others and they whirled around to look at her. Why was everyone acting so strange?

Her disturbing thoughts fled and her eyes widened as she got the full view of Cassie in her deep red gown, hair highlighted to match. She had accentuated the outfit with black rhinestone jewelry and a black veil which hung from the back of her head. Stunning.

"You look amazing!" she said, making Cassie blush.

"You look pretty good yourself," Jack said, his eyes traveling down her body and back up to her eyes. Lexy's heart flip-flopped in her chest as a smile lit his handsome face.

"Oh, well, I kind of got ready in a hurry." She shrugged, reaching up to straighten her messy hair.

"Yeah, you usually have much better shoe choices," Cassie said, causing Lexy's cheeks to grow warm as everyone looked down at her sneakers.

Thankfully, the minister interrupted their inspection of her footwear. "Are we ready to start?"

Cassie looked around the room. "I think everyone is here, so I guess so. We're having a lattice archway made with red roses that we'll stand under." She walked over to the center of the window. "I'd like to put it here. We'll stand facing the waterfall and you can stand here facing us."

Cassie pointed to a spot and the minister obediently stood there. Cassie and John took their places in front of him.

"Wait," Cassie said. "I need a stand in so I can see how this looks." She grabbed Lexy and put her in the bride's spot, then shoved John out of the way and replaced him with Jack. "Stay there so I can see how it will look from the guests' point of view."

Lexy glanced at Jack out of the corner of her eye. He looked impossibly handsome in his tux. When he turned to look at her, she felt a little weak in the knees. Until she noticed how nervous he looked. Was standing at the alter with her that nerve wracking?

"That's perfect." Cassie's voice pulled her from her thoughts and she turned in time to see her friend walking back to take her place, a devious gleam in her eye. "How did it feel for you two to be standing in front of the minister?" She cocked an eyebrow at Jack who shuffled backwards, his hands held up in the air.

"I wouldn't want to steal the limelight from you and John," he said, pushing John back into the groom's spot.

The minister cut in. "Will someone be walking you down the aisle?"

"My brother," Cassie motioned for her brother, Brandon, to join them.