Chapter Sixteen.

"Dugasse was your father?" Lexy stared at Rat. "But I didn't even know he had any kids."

"No one knew. We actually just found out a few months ago ourselves when my mother died. They weren't married and she never told me who my father was until right before she passed. The funny thing is, I always wanted to be a chef ..." Rat let his voice trail off, looking out the window toward the path that led to the dining hall.

"A chef?" Ida sized him up.

"Yeah, you don't think bikers have regular jobs? Snake here is an accountant, Weasel's an architect and Stone owns a coffee franchise," he said waving his hand at the others as he talked about them.

Lexy felt her eyes widen as she looked at the men-dirty, unshaven and loaded in leather and tattoos. She couldn't imagine hiring an accountant named Snake or an architect named Weasel.

"These aren't our real names," Snake said catching her incredulous look. "I'm Arty, and that's Devon, James, Zander, Ricky and Rusty. The other names are just our biker nicknames."

"And we clean up real good," Weasel said looking down at himself.

"So you didn't kill Dugasse?" Ruth said to Rat, aka Ricky.

"No, of course not."

Ida let out a sigh of frustration. "Well if it wasn't the wife, and it wasn't Sylvia Spicer and it wasn't one of you, then who the hell did kill him?"

Rat rubbed his face with his hand. "That's what I'd like to know."

"Did he have any enemies? Did he mention anyone he thought might want to harm him?" Nans asked.

"Well, there was this one other chef that Dad said was threatening him. He wanted to buy Dad's chili recipe for the Chili Battle and when Dad refused, he got pretty mad."

"Chef Marchesi?" Ruth asked.

"Yes, that's him!" Rat narrowed his eyes at her. "How do you know him?"

"We don't." Ruth shook her head. "But we heard he was a rival for the chili contest and Payne mentioned him as a possible suspect."

"Is that who you thought sent us?" Lexy asked.

"Yes. We knew he wanted to get his hands on the recipe and thought he might send someone to try and take it ... but we thought it would be by force, not with pies." Snake chuckled.

"And you guys have the recipe?" Nans raised her brows.

Rat nodded. "Dad and I were going to enter the chili contest together but now that he's gone, I'll enter it myself ... in his honor."

"We're cooking up a test run now." Snake pointed to the stove. "Would you like a taste?"

Nans went over to the stove, lifted one of the lids and stuck her nose in. "Oh, this smells good."

Snake and Weasel handed out bowls and everyone lined up at the stove where Rat proudly ladled out the chili.

Lexy took her bowl over by the window and brought the spoon tentatively to her lips. It was good-sweet and with just enough of a spicy kick.

"This is delicious," Ida said.

"Umm." Helen, Ruth and Nans agreed.

"I don't get why this Marchesi guy would kill Rat's dad over a chili recipe," Snake said.

"Well, everyone seems to think Dugasse's chili would win the contest and winning that contest could be worth millions." Nans slurped the rest of her chili.

"Millions?" Rat's eyebrows mashed together.

"Yeah, your father didn't tell you?"

"No. He just seemed happy that we were working on something together," Rat said looking even sadder than before.

"The good news is that now you might be the one to win that contest," Helen said.

"And the millions," Ruth added.

"Unless Marchesi gets to you first," Nans cautioned.

"We can't be certain he's the killer," Lexy said.

"No, but he certainly had a motive," Nans replied. "And right now he's the best candidate we have. We just have to prove he did it."

"How can you do that?" Rat asked.

Nans shrugged. "We've caught killers before. Usually we just snoop around and something always comes up. I don't see why this would be any different."

Ida turned to Rat. "What time do you start setting up for the Chili Battle?"

"We get our assigned spots tomorrow night and we can setup our tables and canopies then," Rat said.

"The next day, the contest grounds open at noon. We can start cooking then and the general public is allowed in around 4 pm," Snake added.

"Boy, it sure would be great to get in early and snoop around his tent," Ruth said.

Rat looked at her and snapped his fingers. "I know! You can meet us tomorrow night and we'll get you in with V.I.P. visitor passes ... if you want."

"Oh that would be perfect!" Nans put her chili bowl in the sink and started washing the dishes.

"Oh, hey, you don't have to do that ... you're a guest." Snake took over the job of dish washing and Nans raised her brows at Lexy who shrugged.

"I feel much better knowing you guys are helping find out who killed my dad," Rat said. "I didn't have a lot of confidence in that detective Payne."

"Neither do we, actually," Nans replied.

"So he knows about you then." Lexy cut her eyes to Rat.

"Yes, he was here the other day," Rat said. "Weasel's cousin is on the police force here but he didn't know I was Dugasse's son. I guess Payne figured that out on his own somehow."

Lexy raised a brow. Maybe Payne wasn't as much of a bumbling idiot as he appeared to be.

"Well, I guess we better get going." Ida pushed herself up from the table where she'd found a seat in between Stone and Rusty.

Lexy noticed the men exchanging a look and her muscles tensed. What was that about?

Rat raised his eyebrows at Snake and Snake nodded.

"Is something wrong?" Lexy ventured, her nerves on high alert.

"No ... we just ..." Rat looked at the others. "Should we?"

"Should you what?" Nans stood near the door, her hand on the knob.

"Yeah, go ahead." Snake and the others nodded at Rat.

"Well, I was wondering if you ladies would like to go with us to biker bingo tonight ... it's a lot of fun, the biker camps from all around the lake go and tonight's the big game where you can win the grand prize."

"Oh, that sounds like fun!" Nans raised her brows at the other ladies. "Do you want to go?"

Ruth, Ida and Helen nodded. The women loved bingo and never passed up a chance to get in on a big game.

"What's the grand prize?" Ida asked.

Snake's eyes lit up. "A Harley."

"Count me in!" Ruth said. "I always wanted a Harley."

Chapter Seventeen.

Lexy didn't go to biker bingo. Partly because she wanted to spend the time with Jack, but mostly because she didn't want to have to explain to him how they'd befriended a gang of bikers. He'd been really understanding about her crime solving activities on this trip and she didn't want to push her luck.

Jumping into the shower, she washed her hair then fluffed it dry letting the natural wave take over before changing into a short turquoise colored sundress. By the time Jack got back from fishing, she had beer in the cooler, steaks on the grill and Jack's favorite coconut cream pie in the fridge which was, strangely enough, located on the porch.

She was sitting in one of the rockers on their screened in porch enjoying the view of the lake through the trees when Jack joined her, fresh from the shower. He'd given his hair a rough towel dry so it stuck up around his unshaven face. The rumpled hair and stubble gave him a handsome bad-boy look, causing Lexy's pulse to beat a little faster.

She handed him a beer from the cooler and he sank into the second rocker. Sprinkles adjusted her position so that she was lying on the floor in between the two rocking chairs and Jack bent down to scratch behind her ears.

"How was fishing today?" Lexy asked, hoping the subject of fishing would distract Jack enough so he didn't ask about her day.

"Good. I caught a four pound bass, which beat Norman's best catch of three point eight pounds." Jack smiled. "Plus a few smaller bass and some pickerel."

"You're really getting into vacation mode ... too bad we only have a few more days here."

"Yep. I haven't relaxed this much on vacation in years. But it will be good to get back home and back to work." Jack ran his finger lightly up Lexy's arm sending tingly shivers down her spine. "Until we go on our next vacation ... just the two of us."

"Next vacation?" Lexy's eyebrows mashed together.

Jack tilted his head at her. "Our honeymoon? We are getting married, right?"

Lexy laughed. "Oh, sorry. Yes, of course ... but I guess there's a lot of planning before that can happen."

"Well, I think you should start planning right away, as soon as we get back."

Lexy's heart lifted at the thought. They'd been engaged for several months, now, but sometimes it seemed like Jack might be having second thoughts. He sounded so sure about it now that Lexy figured she'd just been acting silly and vowed to put the plans into action right away.

"How is the Dugasse case going?" Jack pulled her out of her thoughts.

"Well, it wasn't the wife." Lexy watched Jack pad out to the grill in his bare feet and flip the steaks over. The smell of grilling meat combined with the sizzling sound they made when he flipped them caused her mouth to water.

"How do you know?" he asked through the screen.

"Payne said she had an alibi."

"He shared information with you?"

"Only by accident." Lexy grimaced. "He came to the kitchen to lecture me about bothering suspects and let it slip that the wife wasn't the killer."

"Well that sounds familiar." Jack returned to his rocker and laughed as he settled back in with his beer. "So do you think it was the other chef ... Sylvia?"

"She wasn't having the affair with him and she also has an alibi." Lexy felt a pang of guilt in not telling Jack the whole story about Sylvia's affair with Prescott Charles but it wasn't relevant to the murder case and she'd promised not to tell.

"So you're out of suspects?" Jack raised a brow at Lexy, then grabbed the platter and headed out to the grill.

"No, we have one other." Lexy got up and started setting out plates and a salad on the small table they had setup for eating on.

"Who is this other suspect?" Jack prompted as he dished steaks onto their plates.

Lexy glanced out the window to make sure no one else was around. "Another chef-one who was threatening Dugasse about his chili recipe."

Jack's eyebrows shot up. "I didn't know he was getting threats. That sounds like something to investigate. I hope Payne is aware of that."

"I'm sure he is." Lexy put a small chunk of steak in her mouth and it practically melted on her tongue. She rolled her eyes back in her head. "Nummy ... this is sooo good."

Sprinkles put her paw on Lexy's foot and stared at her as if to say "don't forget to give me some." Lexy's heart surged and she threw her a small piece.

"Anyway," Lexy said. "Dugasse's son said this Marchesi guy-that's the other chef-tried to buy the chili recipe and when Dugasse refused he got mad."

"Wait ... Dugasse has a son?"

Lexy nodded. "Yeah, I guess it was kind of a secret ..." She let her voice trail off not wanting to get into the details of how she found out about the son.