Starting down the hill, she tried to push the image of Chef Dugasse with a knife sticking out of his chest from her mind. Instead, she focused on the scene in front of her.

The dining lodge was at the top of a hill with panoramic views of the rest of the resort. Lexy looked out over the pristine lake which was dotted with kayaks and canoes. Sunlight glinted off the deep blue waters. The peaceful sound of chirping birds filled the air and the smell of pine permeated her nostrils adding to the tranquil scene.

The resort was all about nature and relaxation. The roads were dirt, more like paths and people rarely drove cars on them-only to get to their cottages and to leave the resort. Most people walked or drove small golf carts inside the complex and the absence of the drone of car engines added to the peaceful feeling.

Quaint, rustic cottages painted in reds, blues, whites and greens-their shutters with cutouts of pine trees sat along the roadways. Most of them had porches complete with rockers and the yards were bursting with colorful displays of flowers. Lexy could see hammocks swinging in the breeze and wished she had time to relax in one.

Turning left on Aspen Lane, she headed toward Nans' cottage which was one of the largest in the resort. It sat at the very end of the street and had a huge front porch on which Nans and her three friends, Ruth, Ida and Helen were waiting.

"Lexy, are you okay?" Ruth hugged her.

"Come inside dear, we made some tea." Helen held the door to the cottage open and ushered Lexy inside.

"Tell us all about finding the body." Ida scooted a chair out from the wide pine table that sat next to a large window on one side of the room, indicating for Lexy to sit.

Ruth appeared at her side with a steaming cup of tea and then all four ladies took their seats around the table, staring at Lexy with wide, excited eyes.

Lexy sipped her tea and looked around the room. It resembled the squad room from an episode of Castle. There was a giant white board with a picture of Chef Dugasse on it and different columns of information. Papers were piled up on a nearby desk. Nans' iPad was charging on the coffee table.

"Where did you guys get that?" Lexy waved at the white board.

"Oh, Norman brought us to Staples and helped us with it," Ida said referring to her fiance who had accompanied her on vacation. They had a small cottage near the lake while Nans, Ruth and Helen shared this one. Lexy and Jack had their own cottage a few streets over, which they shared with Lexy's white Poodle mix, Sprinkles.

The thought of her dog made Lexy smile and she glanced at her watch. She'd better hurry, she wanted to take Sprinkles for a walk before dinner and she should spend some time with Jack ...

"Tell us everything you know about the murder." Nans interrupted Lexy's thoughts.

"There's not much to tell. I went out to talk to Chef Dugasse-I had seen him go outside earlier. When he wasn't outside the door, I looked a little further and I saw his shoes on the other side of the dumpster, toes up. I ran over and there he was with a knife in his chest."

"You didn't see anyone else, or hear anything?"

Had she?

"I'm not sure, I was so distraught at finding him like that, I really wasn't thinking."

"So he was already dead?" Helen went over to the white board.

"Yes, I think so."

"And what time was that?"

Lexy gnawed on her bottom lip. "I'm not sure, I didn't look at my watch or anything, but it was probably about five or ten minutes before I called 911."

Lexy pulled her cell phone out of her pocket and looked through the sent calls. "The 911 call was sent at eight twelve."

Helen wrote the time on the white board.

Nans got up from her chair. "So, you went out the door and looked for the chef?"

"Yes, I already said that."

Nans held up her finger. "When you didn't see him, you looked around the dumpster." Nans mimed looking around an imaginary dumpster in the middle of the room.

"Yep." Lexy nodded.

Helen scribbled something on the board.

"Then you saw his shoes and ran around to the other end of the dumpster?"

"Yeees ..."

Nans ran around the imaginary dumpster, threw her hands up in mock surprise and then knelt on the ground. "Like this?"

Lexy nodded and sipped more tea.

Ida went over beside Nans and looked down at the imaginary body. "You checked his pulse-he was dead. What else did you do?"

Lexy shut her eyes, trying to remember exactly what happened. "I checked his pulse-his neck and wrist and then I leaned over to see if he was breathing ... and that's when Sylvia came out."

"Sylvia, the sous-chef?" Ruth wrinkled her brow at Lexy.

Lexy nodded.

"She was out there?" Ruth asked.

Lexy nodded again.

"Won't she get the head chef position, now that Dugasse is dead?"

Another nod.

"Then she could be our killer!" Ruth went over to the white board and added Sylvia's name under the Suspects' column.

"Which direction did Sylvia come from?" Ida asked Lexy pursed her lips. "She came from behind me ... I didn't see exactly where, but I assumed she came out the kitchen door."

"But she could have been hiding on the other side of the dumpster after killing the chef," Nans said.

The ladies murmured their agreement.

"She had means, motive and opportunity!" Helen punctuated the last word by jamming the cap onto her white board marker.

"Well now, let's not get too excited," Nans said. "We can't call the case closed without doing a proper investigation."

"Right." Helen took the cap off her marker and posed her hand over the white board. "Who else do we have for suspects?"

Everyone looked at Lexy.

"What?"

"Who else would have wanted your chef dead? Did he have enemies?" Nans asked.

"He was mean to everyone in the kitchen, but I don't think that would be a reason to kill him ... unless he really pissed someone off. He was yelling at Thomas right before he was killed but Thomas didn't leave the kitchen." Lexy's eyebrows mashed together. "But I did see Sylvia heading toward the door after the chef."

"Aha! So she was out there," Helen said.

"Well, she said she was in the freezer. The freezer door is next to the door that leads outside. I didn't actually see her open either of the doors." Lexy shrugged.

"But she could be lying," Nans pointed out.

"Sounds like we'll have to do some digging to see if anyone besides Sylvia would have had motive." Ida picked up the iPad and powered it on. "Are there any surveillance cameras in the kitchen? Ones we could use to see exactly where Sylvia did go?"

"I don't think so. The kitchen is pretty old and low tech. But I can ask Thomas, he might have seen where she went," Lexy offered.

"What about the murder weapon?" Ruth asked.

"It was a standard chef's knife," Lexy said. "Thankfully all of mine are accounted for, plus the handle on that knife was different from mine."

"Yours are accounted for, but were anyone else's missing?" Nans wrinkled her brow at Lexy.

"I don't know." Lexy bit her lip trying to picture the kitchen. Most of the chefs had their own personal set of knives, too bad she hadn't thought to look to see if anyone was missing one.

"You should check that out tomorrow," Ruth said. "In the meantime, we'll see what we can dig up online about Chef Dugasse and ask around about any potential enemies."

"What did you think of the detective in charge of the case?" Nans turned to Lexy.

Lexy made a face. "Not much. He seemed more interested in eating pie than finding the killer ... which he seemed convinced might be me."

"Well, don't you worry. We'll find the real killer in no time, isn't that right, girls?" Nans turned to Ida, Ruth and Helen who all nodded.

Lexy stared at the four women, their cheeks flushed with excitement. She had to hand it to them. They were in their 80s and still sharp as a tack. With several successful investigations under their belts, they'd had great success solving murders back home. They'd even given themselves a name-The Ladies Detective Club.

Lexy felt a momentary pang when she realized this was supposed to be a vacation for them and she was causing them to have to work when they should be relaxing on the beach.

"I really appreciate you guys doing this, but I don't want to ruin your vacation," Lexy said taking her tea cup to the sink.

The ladies looked at each other and Nans spoke. "Don't be silly. Vacations are nice and all, but to tell you the truth, we were getting kind of bored."

"Yeah, we need to keep our brains active," Ruth said.

"Who wants to lay on the beach when we could be tracking down a killer?" Ida rubbed her hands together.

"That's right," Helen said. "Now you run along and let us get to work."

Lexy felt her shoulders relax. She smiled at the women. "Thanks, I do feel a lot better knowing you guys are on the case."

She was in the middle of hugging them when the chirping of birds erupted from her pocket. She dug out her cell phone and her heart clenched. It was Jack.

She'd been dreading explaining the morning's events to him. He took a dim view of her getting mixed up in murder cases, and they'd had more than one fight over her investigating cases with Nans and the Ladies Detective Club. This time she was going to have to put her foot down.

She was a prime suspect and didn't want to depend on the bumbling Detective Payne to find the real killer. She hated to do anything that would jeopardize her vacation with Jack ... or their engagement ... but she was determined to investigate this one with Nans and the ladies, whether Jack wanted her to nor not.

Chapter Four.

"... and I seem to be the prime suspect." Lexy studied Jack's handsome face as she steeled herself for a lecture on the dangers of getting involved in murder investigations.

She felt her brows knit together as Jack smiled at her. He'd listened patiently while she'd relayed the morning's events, including the part about how Nans had turned her cottage into a crime investigation center. She'd expected him to be mad, but he was sitting there as calm as could be, changing out the reels on his fishing pole.

"So, you don't trust this detective ... what's his name?" Jack asked.

"Payne. Do you know him?"

As a homicide detective himself, Jack knew a lot of the other detectives in the state. Lexy was hoping that if Jack knew Payne, he might be able to get some information on the investigation.

Jack shook his head. "Never heard of him. But if you and Nans are on the case, I'm sure you'll ferret out the real killer."

Lexy stared at him. "You're not mad?"

"Why would I be mad?"

Lexy narrowed her eyes. "Usually you get mad when I get involved in these types of things with Nans."

Jack put down his fishing rod and came over to her, putting his hands on her upper arms.

"Lexy, I've come to realize that you're going to do what you are going to do no matter what I say. I can't fight it. So, I'll just have to trust that you won't do anything dangerous." He put his thumb on her chin, tilting her face up to look at him. "Right?"

"Right." Her heart melted at the look of concern in his eyes. He bent his head, brushing his lips against hers and her stomach flip-flopped. She snaked her arms around his neck, pressing herself against him.

"Woof!"

Her dog, Sprinkles, jumped at her leg, stealing her attention from Jack. Lexy reluctantly released Jack and bent down to pet the little dog who was pawing at her calf.

"Hi Sprinkles. You want to go for a walk?"

The dog barked, jumped in the air and spun around.

"I guess that's a yes." Jack laughed. "Let's leash her up and take her out. I have a few hours before evening fishing."

Lexy crossed their small cabin and picked Sprinkles' harness and leash off the hook by the door, then put them on the small white dog which was quite a feat considering that Sprinkles was wiggling and jumping the whole time.

"Where do you want to go?" Jack asked.

"Well, if you don't mind, I wanted to check out the trails behind the dining hall. Payne thinks the killer was someone in the kitchen, but the murderer could have come from one of those trails. There are several that lead right to the dumpster area."