"It looks like a substitution cypher," Ida squinted at the small pictures, scribbling something down on a notepad. "But it could take a long time to figure out the code without the key. Did you get anything else with the notebook?"

"No, there was nothing else in the envelope."

"Well this proves one thing," Nans said. "Kevin must have been blackmailing someone."

"Yeah, but who ... and what about."

"The answer to that," Ida said, tapping the smart phone with the tip of her pencil. "Is right here in the book. We just need to figure it out."

"Lexy, you need to get this book to the police right away." Nans mouth was set in a grim line, her eyes deadly serious. "It looks like Kevin got killed for this information - for what he knows. And now you know it too. You could be in grave danger."

Lexy was jittery. She didn't want to go home, so she opted for a trip to the mall. Shoe shopping always made her feel better, plus she could use the distraction to clear her head and help her think better.

She knew Nans was right about the book. Paging through the caller list on her phone she found Jacks number. She clicked on it, listening to the hollow ring on the other end, her stomach a jangle of nerves. He didn't answer. Now what? She left a short message asking him to call her.

Zipping into a parking spot at the front of the mall, she hopped out of her car, making a beeline for her favorite shoe store. Staring at the racks of designer shoes soothed Lexy's mind. She picked out a purple suede platform pair, a black and rhinestones dressy stiletto pair, and a couple of lower heeled sandals to try on.

Sexy red shoes caught her eye. She thought back to the woman at the wake - Kevin's girlfriend. Did she have something to do with it?

Ruth was right, those shoes sold for $500 - $1000 and an assistants salary didn't allow for such luxuries.

Of course, Kevin could have bought them for her with his blackmail money.

Or she could be the embezzler ... or the blackmailer.

For all she knew, Kevin was the embezzler and someone was blackmailing him.

And why did Jason ask if Kevin had contacted her? Was he involved too, did he know Kevin was going to send the book?

Who was the grungy man that had warned her off? Maybe he was in on it with the embezzler and didn't want her to find out the truth.

How would she ever figure out who the real killer was? Lexy sat down hard on the bench to try on her shoes. She needed a good solid lead pointing to one of the suspects. That, and a nice new pair of shoes would make everything all better.

After trying on what seemed like a hundred pairs, Lexy was exhausted. A glance at her watch told her it was nearing suppertime. Jack still hadn't returned her call.

Dragging several packages along with her, she navigated the nearly full parking lot to her car. The hell with Detective Jack Perillo, if he didn't think her phone call was important, then he could wait to find out she had the notebook. Sprinkles needed to be fed and let out so she headed home, danger or no danger.

At her front door, Lexy balanced her packages while she searched the key ring for her key. Damn! It wasn't there! She remembered how the ring had gotten stuck under the radiator earlier that morning. The front door key must have fallen off in the struggle.

Remembering there was a spare key for the kitchen door under the planter in the back, Lexy set off around the side of the house. She could hear Sprinkles barking inside - the poor dog wasn't used to Lexy walking around to the back. Sprinkles probably thought she was an intruder. Lexy felt herself smile with pride that her little watchdog was trying to protect the house.

In the back, Lexy put down her packages. Bending down she lifted the planter with both hands. It was almost dark, but the key glinted in the fading sunlight. She balanced the planter against her hip, grabbed the key with one had, then replaced the planter gently.

Turning to the door, she put the key in the lock, twisted the knob and pushed the door open. A sudden rustle of movement to her right caught her attention. She turned to see what it was. A sharp, hard pain exploded in the back of her head. For a split second, she felt the sensation of falling .... and then there was nothing but darkness.

Chapter Twelve.

Lexy dug her toes in the sand. She was laying on the beach, the warm water lapping at her cheek. Jack was next to her holding her hand. She had the feeling he was about to ask a very important question.

"Lexy..."

"Umm hmmm..." She mumbled, not wanting to disturb her perfectly positioned, bikini clad body. She turned her head to face Jack. He looked good with no shirt on. Very good.

She felt a light slap on her cheek, the sand feeling unusually hard under her, the smell of pine permeating her nostrils. Pine? Wait a minute, shouldn't she be smelling the salty sea air?

"Lexy!"

She opened her eyes, but instead of seeing a beautiful tropical beach, she saw her kitchen from an odd angle. Sprinkles face hovered over hers, her little tongue enthusiastically lapping at her cheek.

"Wha...?"

"Lexy, are you OK?" Jack's voice broke through her confusion. She turned to face him, her head pounding, her beach dream evaporating into reality.

"Yes... I think so. What happened? Why am I on the floor?"

"I don't know, I happened to notice you laying here like this from my window." Jack pointed over to his house where his living room window had a clear view to Lexy's back door.

Lexy started to sit up, but it felt like she was glued to the floor. Jack slipped an arm around her to help her. She leaned against him. It felt nice to have someone to take care of her. For a split second she felt content ... until she looked around her kitchen. It was ransacked!

"Oh my God! What happened?" She felt her eyes narrow as she looked around the room, then at Jack.

"That's what I was going to ask you," he said, "it looks like someone was looking for something."

Lexy looked around, her heart dropping in her chest at what she saw. Drawers were pulled out, cabinets opened, stuff thrown on the floor. She must have been out like a light not to have heard the commotion.

"Do you know what they might have been looking for?" Jack persisted.

The notebook!

Lexy pushed herself away from Jack. She jumped up. Fighting off a wave of nausea and dizziness, she ran to the dog bed. Throwing the cushion on the floor, she jammed her hand inside the hole in the lining. It was still there!

She pulled her hand out clutching the book.

"I assume it was this." She thrust the book at Jack who had stood and taken a few steps towards her. Reaching out, he took the book from her.

Jack leafed through the book, his eyes growing wider at each page. "Where did you get this?"

"It came in the mail ... from Kevin."

"How long have you had this? Why didn't you tell me about it?" Jack stared down at her, his eyes dark with anger.

Lexy felt her cheeks grow warm, she looked away. Her surge of embarrassment at keeping the book was short lived when she remembered she had tried to tell Jack about it, but he never answered her call.

"I called you about this earlier today. I got it last night, but it might have been in the mailbox a day or two. You never returned my call." She stared him down, her annoyance hanging in the air between them.

"This is important evidence in the case." Jack held the book up.

Duh. Lexy stared at him. Did he think she was stupid?

"This book could hold the key to who the killer is." Jack stated the obvious. "And you could be in a lot of danger if the killer knows you have it. Clearly he or she already suspects you might. They've gone to a lot of trouble here to try to find it." He spread his arms indicating the mess in her kitchen, his anger turning to concern.

His concern diffused her annoyance and Lexy felt a sigh escape her lips. "I know." She felt her heart beat a little faster. This was serious business, after all someone had knocked her out!

"Did you get a look at who hit you?"

"No." Lexy's hand went up to the back of her head. She felt a big lump starting to from. "They hit me from behind."

Jack stepped closer. Moving behind her, he gently touched her hair, feeling the back of her head. Moving her hair aside he inspected the wounded area. "That's a nasty lump, you should have it looked at. You might have a concussion. Do you want me to call an ambulance?"

Lexy shook her head. She knew that even if she did have a concussion, there was little they could do about it. An ambulance would just be a waste of time and money.

She saw Jacks eyes soften. He reached for her, tentatively pulling her in for a hug. For a split second, she let herself relax, letting out a soft sigh. Then, remembering the curly haired woman in his window, she felt her body stiffen.

Jack broke the embrace. Clearing his throat he said, "I better get this book to the station so we can decipher it." He held the book up.

"Right." Lexy nodded. She felt a whirlwind of emotions. Part of her wanted to rush into Jacks arms and beg him to protect her, but the other part was sending up warning signals about his girlfriend. She straightened her spine, willing herself to be strong and independent. She tried to keep a cool, nonchalant look on her face, even though she was a little spooked that someone had knocked her out and tossed her house.

Jack walked to the edge of the kitchen, peeking into the other rooms. "It looks like they've been through your house pretty good. I'm going to station a car outside overnight, just in case they come back. I don't think they will, but you might want to go somewhere else tonight."

Lexy looked around. The house was a mess - she had a lot of work to do. She scooped Sprinkles up in her arms. "Thanks, but I think I'll stay here - I have Sprinkles to protect me." She buried her face in the little dogs fur. Sprinkles wagged her tail, turning her head to lick Lexy's face.

"Promise me you'll take it easy - and call me if anything else happens!" Jack gave her a tender, concerned look that made Lexy's heart do flip flops.

"I promise." She held up her hand, the first two fingers up in the air, the rest folded. "Scouts honor."

Jack gave her one final glance, than disappeared out the back door.

Lexy collapsed into the closest kitchen chair with a sigh. Sprinkles pawed at her legs, blissfully unaware of the goings on.

"You're probably hungry, huh?"

Picking up the dog bowl, she crossed to the counter and pulled out Sprinkles canister of food. She filled the bowl, then put it on the floor. She expected Sprinkles to dig in as soon as she saw it, but something else had attracted the dog's attention.

Lexy watched Sprinkles push a shiny metal object across the floor, batting it from one side to the other.

"What's that, girl?" With the mess the house was in, it could be anything.

Lexy bent down, intercepting the item. She stood up, holding it in front of her face. It was a button. A rather distinctive button, gold in color with a black stone in the middle and greek key scrolling on the outer edge.

Lexy felt her forehead wrinkle as she tried to remember whether she had an outfit with that style button. She didn't.

She felt her stomach drop, a chill ran up her spine when she realized it could mean only one thing - the button belonged to whoever had knocked her out and ransacked her house.

Chapter Thirteen.

Lexy was up at the crack of dawn after another sleepless night. The presence of the police car outside her house gave her some peace of mind, but the real reason for her insomnia was the button.

Finally, she had the clue she had been looking for - the one that would lead her to Kevin's killer. Now all she had to do was figure out whose it was.

She fed Sprinkles, giving her an extra treat for finding the button, then jumped in the shower. She had a full day ahead of her and couldn't waste any time. Her first stop would be Nans so she could show the button to the Ladies Detective Club.

Forty-five minutes later she found herself seated at the usual round table in the retirement center telling the ladies about the previous nights events. The button sat in the center of the table, four blueish grey heads bent forward to inspect it.

"It's a lovely button," Ruth said.

"I can't say if it's a man's or a woman's," Ida added.

"It looks like it would come from an expensive blazer or dress," Helen said.

"Lexy," said Nans, "close your eyes and think back to the wake. Do you remember seeing anyone with a jacket that had these buttons?"

Lexy closed her eyes trying to picture Kevin's wake in her minds eye. Images of people floated through her mind, but she didn't see the button on any clothing. She probably wouldn't have noticed something like that anyway.

"Oh, look." Nans pointed at the big screen television on the other side of the room. "Isn't that Kevins brother, Jason on tv?"

Lexy turned to look. It was Jason, standing at a podium giving some sort of speech. That wasn't anything out of the ordinary. He was the deputy mayor so he was often seen on tv. Lexy was about to turn away, then something on the tv caught her eye.

She stood, running over to the giant television, her eyes grew wide. She turned to the ladies at the table, feeling her cheeks flush with excitement.

"I think I know who the killer is!" She grabbed her purse, gave Nans a quick hug and rushed towards the door.

As she hit the door at full speed, she heard Nans panicked voice calling after her "Lexy, wait ... don't do anything dangerous on your own!"

"Kevin sent me something in the mail... it's a notebook." Lexy whispered into her cell phone.

"Do you have it? What does it say?" The familiar voice on the other end asked.

"It's in code so I don't know what it means, looks like some dates and garbled words."

She heard an audible sigh through the phone. "Can you bring it to me? I'd like to take a look at it." Lexy heard an edge of anxiety creep into the voice.