"I'm not sure," Nans replied. "But it makes sense that whatever it is would be over near the street. That's where the sewer tunnels are."

"That wall over there is the one that faces the street." Lexy pointed to a wall covered in floor to ceiling metal shelving to her left.

Nans walked over to inspect it. She ran her finger across one of the shelves, stirring up a cloud of dust. "We'll need to remove these shelving units so we can see the actual wall of the building.

Ida tugged on a corner. It didn't budge. "They're nailed in."

"We'll need to get some tools," Ruth said.

"And our work clothes," Helen added.

"And maybe even hard hats." Ida looked warily at the unsteady shelves.

"I don't get it," Lexy said. "What does this have to do with Caraleigh sabotaging my food, stealing recipes, lowballing my prices and having television spots?"

"Isn't it obvious?" Nans asked.

"No." Lexy gave an exasperated shrug and held her hands up.

"She was trying to put you out of business so she could rent this space. That way she'd be free to come down and explore the sewer for the money without anyone knowing."

"So, her whole bakery is a scam? A ruse to get into this basement?"

"I think so." Nans tilted her head and looked thoughtful. "She must have known about this before they found the skull. That's the real reason she came to Brook Ridge Falls. And if the skull didn't show up, she would have been able to take her sweet time poking around in the sewer until she found the money, because no one else would have suspected it might be in there."

"Right," Ida added. "She must have found out about it some other way and come to town specifically to get into the sewers. I bet she got those plans when she first arrived in town. Maybe even before she opened the bakery."

"Seems like an awful lot of trouble to go to just on the off-chance there's a treasure in there," Lexy said.

"That's just it," Nans said. "She must know the treasure is there for sure.

"Which means we need to get in there fast ... before she does," Ida added.

"Not only that, but now that the skull has surfaced and the sewer is being closed off, she's sure to know she'll have to step up her efforts to get to the treasure before someone else does or the access to the sewers is blocked off," Nans said. "Which means Lexy better be extra careful because, if my guess is right, this Caraleigh person will likely stop at nothing to get in here."

"Let me get this straight ... There's a secret access to the sewers right in our basement and Caraleigh is doing all this to get in there?" Cassie eyed Lexy doubtfully.

Lexy had to admit, it did sound rather far-fetched, but it was the only explanation that made sense. And the more Lexy thought about it, the more sense it made.

"I know it sounds crazy, but the money from the robbery could be sitting down there." Lexy looked out the window toward The Brew and Bake. Was Caraleigh looking out her window toward them? Had she guessed they'd discovered the secret sewer entrance? And if she had, what would she do?

"Well, I guess it might be worth a million dollars to go to all that trouble," Cassie said. "Still, seems like there would be an easier way to get into those sewers."

"There isn't," Lexy explained. "Believe me, we've looked. Anyway, Nans and the ladies are going to be back soon with the tools and we'll close up and get to work downstairs. Do you want to stay and help?"

"I'd love to, but John made plans for dinner with his parents tonight." Cassie made a face.

Lexy laughed. Cassie and her in-laws didn't exactly get along, but she made the effort for John's sake.

Lexy looked at her watch. "It's almost quitting time, so why don't you go ahead and take off. I'm sure you can use the extra time to meditate or something so you have a calm demeanor for dinner."

"Thanks." Cassie untied her apron and hung it on the hook, then picked up her coat. "I was thinking more like some pre-dinner cocktails."

Lexy watched Cassie go out the back just as the bells over the door tinkled and Nans, Ruth, Ida and Helen came in the front. They had their usual large old-lady purses and Nans and Ruth were each holding the handle of a duffel bag that hung between them.

"We brought the tools," Nans said as they shrugged out of their coats to reveal dirty, stained tee shirts and sweat pants. Ida pulled a pair of leather work gloves out of her purse and put them on. Helen tied a bandana around her head. Nans and Ruth dropped the heavy duffel bag and each took a chair.

"I'll just close up shop." Lexy made her way to the door, all the while stealing inconspicuous glances at The Brew and Bake. She could have sworn the other baker was watching her as she flipped the sign to "Closed".

Nans motioned for her to turn off the light and she did. Dusk had fallen and the streetlight outside had just flickered on, leaving the inside of The Cup and Cake in shadows.

Nans leaned toward the rest of them, her voice lowered to a whisper. "Okay, now I want to make sure you're all aware of the danger and everyone is on board no matter what happens."

The three other ladies nodded and murmured their agreement.

"Lexy, are you in?" Nans asked.

"Damn right I'm in," Lexy said. "I have a bigger stake than anyone here, and hopefully whatever we find will either make Caraleigh pack up and go home, or prove what she's really up to. But I need some hard evidence before I call Davies ... Maybe we'll find what I need to get rid of Caraleigh down there."

"Alrighty then..." Nans pulled a baseball cap out of her purse and stuffed it on her head, then picked up one handle of the duffel bag. "...let's go!"

Lexy followed the ladies down into the basement where they set the duffel bag on the floor in front of the shelving. Nans bent over the bag and pulled out a sledgehammer. Ruth reached in and came up with a crowbar. Ida found a tire iron and Helen a hacksaw.

The shelving had been nailed into the brick and they started in the corner with Ruth sticking the edge of the crowbar in and Nans banging on it. Once it had pulled out from the wall, Ida added her muscle by sticking the tire iron in and Ruth tried to saw the giant nail apart with the hacksaw.

They pushed, pulled, pounded and sawed until finally the shelf crashed to the floor, revealing the wall of bricks behind it. Lexy thought she heard a distraught mew come from somewhere next door.

"There's nothing here but a brick wall." Ida's disappointment was obvious.

"Oh don't worry," Nans said cheerfully. "There's plenty more wall. She moved to the next shelf and started the process all over again. Then the next. Lexy's spirits were starting to sink dismally by the time they got to the fourth shelf.

"I'm not sure there's anything here." Lexy picked a cobweb out of her hair. "Maybe those old blueprints are wrong."

"Nonsense." Nans raised her arms over her head and brought the sledgehammer down on the end of the crowbar. "We're not stopping until we've dislodged every shelf unit. There's only two more to go."

Ruth jammed the crowbar behind the shelf unit and pried it away.

"Look!" Ruth pointed excitedly behind the shelf.

Nans, Ida, Helen and Lexy ran up behind her, jockeying for position so they could see behind the shelf. Lexy's heart lurched when she saw what Ruth had been excited about.

An old wooden door.

The ladies worked on the shelf with a burst of energy and it crashed to the floor, revealing an old oak door set into the brick wall. In the middle of the door sat a wide plank, which dropped into metal brackets on either side of the door, presumably to keep it from being pushed open from the sewer side.

Lexy and Nans raced to one side of the plank, Ida and Ruth to the other.

"Ready?" Helen asked. "On the count of three ... One ... Two ... Three ..."

The four women pushed the heavy plank up and out of the brackets. It clattered to the floor revealing a large iron door handle.

Nans rubbed her hands together. "This is it, girls."

She reached out and tugged at the handle.

Nothing.

Planting her feet firmly in front of the door, she grabbed the handle again and leaned back.

The door did not budge.

"Let me do that." Ida pushed Nans out of the way and tried opening the door, but it remained firmly shut.

"Hold on you guys, I'll do it." Lexy pushed Ida out of the way and took her turn.

The door did not open.

"It's locked," Lexy said, her heart sinking.

"Locked? Now doesn't that figure? We finally uncover the door and it's locked," Ruth said.

"Can't you guys pick the lock?" Lexy asked. She knew at least one of the ladies had skills in the lock-picking area.

Ruth bent down to inspect the handle, or rather the keyhole, underneath. It was the type that took an old skeleton key-a gigantic skeleton key judging by the size. "No can do. This lock is too big. We need a key."

"Maybe the key is in here." Lexy looked around the basement, picking up some scraps that lay in piles looking for the key.

"It's probably long gone," Nans said. "But I think I know where we can get a skeleton key that just might fit.

"Where?" Four heads turned to look at Nans.

"Victor's antique shop."

Chapter Thirteen.

Lexy almost told Jack about the secret door, but she knew he'd give her a hard time about going into the sewer. Maybe he'd even get the police involved. She couldn't risk them screwing everything up, so she'd managed to keep mum about it all night. Needless to say, she was glad when morning came and she could escape to the bakery.

Walking in through the back, she glanced toward the basement door, her stomach taut with excited anticipation. She couldn't wait to get down there and open the door, but Victor's shop had been closed last night so they hadn't been able to get a key. Not only that, but she still had a bakery to run and had a ton of things to do, not the least of which was trying one last tweak to the scone recipe. Tomorrow was the bicentennial celebration and she'd need to have the recipe perfected by morning in order to bake a fresh batch in time for the judging.

Nans, Ruth, Ida and Helen had some finishing touches to do on their display for the historical society, so, even though they all were dying to get into the sewer, they'd decided it was best to meet later in the afternoon, get the key from Victor and then get into the sewer once Lexy closed the shop for the day.

"I could have sworn I saw Caraleigh Brewster looking over here with binoculars when I drove in," Cassie said as she tossed her coat on a hook and grabbed an apron.

"What? No way. That would be too weird." Lexy rushed out into the front room and looked out the window to find the other baker busy behind her display case. Just as she was about to look away, a man came from the back room and Lexy noticed binoculars hanging around his neck.

"Who's that guy?" Cassie had come to stand beside her at the window.

"I don't know. Maybe her brother?"

"He has binoculars," Cassie pointed out.

"I see that, but why would they be studying us with binoculars? He's probably just bird watching or something."

Cassie raised a brow at Lexy. "Okay, if that's what you want to think, but I think they're scoping this place out. You said yourself that time was running short and they'd need to get into the sewer tunnels, and if Caraleigh saw the blueprints, she knows there's access through this bakery."

"True." Lexy frowned out the window. "The question is, just how far will she go to get it?"

Lexy and Cassie spent the rest of the day baking up fresh pastries for the bakery. The lack of customers during the week had created a glut of two-day-old baked goods, which Lexy packed up to donate to the soup kitchen. She didn't sell anything older than one day in the store, but the desserts were still good and there was no reason why someone couldn't enjoy them.

Lexy's heart swelled as she breathed in the sweet smell of cinnamon, sugar and almond. The results of the latest rendition of her scone recipe sat in rows cooling on the counter, wisps of steam rising up from their browned tops.

She felt grateful there had been a steady stream of customers today. By comparison, The Brew and Bake had been empty and Lexy had glanced over to catch Caraleigh looking back at her more than once. She just didn't know if the woman was looking to see how many customers she had, or trying to figure out how to get into the basement.

The jangling bell in the front signaled the departure of the latest customer Cassie had been waiting on.

Cassie breezed into the kitchen. "Oh, you added almond? Those smell so good. Can I try a little piece of one?"

"Sure." Lexy sliced into one of the scones and a gasp of steam escaped. It was still quite warm, but she managed to extract a piece, even though it fell apart on the plate. "It's not pretty, but I'm sure it will still taste good."

Cassie dug in. "Yum ... It does! This is the best one yet. You've got to use this recipe for the contest tomorrow."

"I don't have much choice," Lexy said. "There's no time for me to come up with any more variations."

"No need," Cassie said, shoveling the last of the crumbs into her mouth. "This one is perfection."

"Thanks," Lexy said. "I guess we might as well shut down early today. Most of the town will be at the parade practice and the evening festivities, so I don't think we'll get any business anyway ... plus the ladies are intent on exploring the sewer tunnels tonight and the sooner we get started the better."

Cassie laughed. "You couldn't persuade them not to go in there?"

"Honestly, I didn't try very hard. Not after we figured out what's really going on with The Brew and Bake. If our theory is true, then the sooner we find that money, the sooner Caraleigh will be out of our hair."

Cassie nodded. Lexy had told her how Caraleigh had signed out the sewer blueprints and Nans' theory of why she'd opened the bakery in the first place. "Just be careful. If she finds out what you're up to, there's no telling what she might do."

Lexy's stomach twisted. Cassie was right. Caraleigh and her brother had already gone to a lot of trouble and might resort to anything to get the treasure, but the way she saw it, she didn't have much of a choice.

The bell over the front door jingled.

"Oh, that's probably Nans." Lexy gingerly placed some of the scones on a tray, trying not to burn her fingertips. "I'll have the ladies taste-test these fresh out of the oven."