"Oh, I'd say about forty or fifty people, right Ruth?" Nans turned to look at Ruth who nodded solemnly.

"Then I suggest we do five trays loaded with cookies and bars. I can cut the bars into bite size pieces so people can sample several of them."

"That sounds perfect. We'll take some lemon squares, chocolate brownies, blonde brownies, hermits, chocolate chip cookies, oatmeal raisin, and snicker doodles," Nans said, pointing to indicate each of her choices. "And we'll have some samples to eat here with our coffees."

Lexy c.o.c.ked an eyebrow at her. "Of everything?"

Nans giggled. "No, just a couple of the brownies cut up will be fine." The four women turned and settled themselves into a cafe table by the window while Lexy cut up the brownies which she brought to the table along with four ceramic coffee mugs.

"a he ever mention any place where he might keep something important?" Lexy heard Nans ask Ruth, as she put the brownies and mugs down in front of them.

Ruth scrunched up her face. "Not that I can recall. We didn't talk about stuff like that?"

"What did you talk about?" Ida giggled and Ruth blushed.

"Do you all want coffee?" Lexy asked them.

"Oh, we can get our own. You don't need to wait on us," Helen said grabbing a mug and going over to the self-serve station.

Lexy grabbed a seat pulling it up to the table. She had been lucky to get this storefront in the old mill for her bakery. The floor to ceiling picture window was the perfect place to situate her cafe tables since it had a spectacular view of the waterfall the town was named for. Looking out now, she marveled in the beauty of the water rus.h.i.+ng over the falls and the river flanked by shrubs and trees in full bloom. It was no wonder her customers liked to linger at the tables.

"If you were the killer, where would you look?" Nans addressed the table from her spot in front of the coffee carafe.

The other four looked thoughtful. Ida picked a tea bag from the basket on the table and got up to put water in her mug.

Helen looked down at her already steaming coffee and shrugged. "Do you think he could have hidden it in one of the retirement center common areas?"

Ruth and Nans sat back down with steaming mugs of coffee. The smell of dark roast permeated Lexy's nostrils and she got up to pour herself a cup.

Ruth tapped her index finger on her bottom lip thoughtfully. "You know it would be helpful if we knew how big the thing was."

Nans nodded. "What could possibly be important enough for someone to murder Nunzio over?"

"Well, that's easy," Ida said bobbing her tea bag up and down in the water. "It's either got to do with money, or he had something on someone."

Lexy leaned against the self-serve station, the mug of coffee warming her hands. She really shouldn't even be listening to this. She was afraid that if she listened, she would get sucked into investigating with them. Plus the less she knew, the easier it would be to convince Jack that she wasn't investigating it.

Nans covered Ruth's hand with her own. "Think hard. Are you sure Nunzio never mentioned anything he was hiding?"

Ruth pursed her lips together. "I don't think so."

"Or gave you something to hide for him?" Helen ventured.

Ruth shook her head. "No. I'd remember that."

"Wait," Ida said. "I'm sure he wouldn't come right out and say that he was giving you some important thing to hide, especially one that was worth killing over. He might have hidden it at your place when you weren't looking or given you something that you don't realize is important."

Ruth sipped her coffee while she thought about it. "Really, we weren't that close. Maybe he had another girlfriend he gave it to. The only thing he ever gave me was this locket."

Ruth grabbed a chain that hung from her neck and pulled out a giant heart-shaped locked she'd been wearing under her s.h.i.+rt.

The other woman looked at it and murmured about how pretty it was, even though Lexy thought it was a bit gaudy herself.

"What's inside it?" Ida asked.

"Inside?" Ruth furrowed her brow. "I never thought to look inside."

She wedged her thumbnail in between the two sides and the locket popped open revealing a small key.

"Oh, how cute a the key to his heart," Ida said.

Nans leaned over the table to get a better look. "Cute my patootie," she said. "That key isn't a piece of jewelrya"it's a real key and I bet it opens the lock to whatever Nunzio was hiding."

Chapter Seven.

"I have to work late tonight a on a case. I'm just going to shoot home and grab some leftovers out of my fridge. Maybe we can grill out tomorrow night?" Jack's voice crackled from the cell phone Lexy had pressed to her ear as she pulled into her driveway.

"Sure, that sounds great."

"Okay, well I gotta run. I'll call you tomorrow."

"Bye." Lexy snapped the phone shut. It's not like she was counting on seeing Jack tonight, he often had to work late when a case was heating up. But the last minute notice left her without plans.

"Oh well, such is the life of a police detective's fiancee," she said to herself as she opened her front door.

Sprinkles greeted her in a flurry of white fur as she pushed the door open. Lexy bent down to scratch the little poodle s.h.i.+h-tzu mix's head.

"Looks like it's a girl's night in tonight, Sprinkles."

Lexy dropped her purse on the couch and went straight to the kitchen with Sprinkles hot on her heels. She opened the fridge and pulled out a bottle of white zinfandel, uncorked it and poured it into a crystal wine gla.s.s from the cupboard.

Sprinkles danced around her food bowl, alternating looks between the empty bowl and Lexy.

"Are you hungry?" Lexy felt her own stomach nag at her. She filled Sprinkle's bowl from a canister of dry dog food she kept on the counter then opened the fridge to rummage for her own supper.

"Let's see a leftover carrot cake, tuna, spaghetti and a slice of week old pizza. What will it be?" She stood back with her wine gla.s.s in her hand deciding which appealed to her the most. After a few seconds, she grabbed the carrot cake and a fork and sat at the small kitchen table.

The carrot cake was sweet and the cream cheese frosting was tangy, which balanced the sweetness perfectly. Lexy figured she was getting at least two of the basic food groupsa"vegetables from the carrots and dairy from the cream cheese. The wine wasn't the best compliment to it, but she managed to drain the gla.s.s anyway.

Lexy pushed her chair back from the table, then crossed the kitchen to dump the cake plate in the sink. Sprinkles followed her eyeing the s.p.a.ce between the plate and ground with hawk-like attention, just in case a crumb fell. Once the plate was in the sink with no hope of a stray crumb falling, Sprinkles made her way over to the door and scratched at it to go out.

"You have to go out?" Lexy asked the obvious. She held the door open for the little dog. Sprinkles wasn't much of an outdoor dog, she usually just went out and did her business then ran back in. So Lexy was surprised when she took off toward the fence that separated her yard from Jack's.

"Sprinkles come back!" Lexy slipped out the door after her, running across the gra.s.s in her bare feet. Lexy's heart sank when Sprinkles ignored her and slipped through the missing board in the fence.

Lexy followed, barely squeezing herself through and popped out into Jack's back yard. Sprinkles stood at Jack's door wagging her tail. Lexy ran over to grab her.

She started to scold the dog, but her heart melted when those adoring brown eyes looked up at her and she reached down to pet her instead. She could hardly get mad at the dog, Sprinkles was used to making the trip between the two houses, and Jack spoiled her rotten. It was no wonder she wanted to visit.

"He's not home, silly." A movement inside Jack's house caught her eye. Lexy peered through the window in the kitchen door. A white sheer curtain over the window obstructed the view, but Lexy could make out shadowy movements inside the kitchen.

Didn't Jack say he wouldn't be home?

She pressed her face against the gla.s.s to get a better look. Her heart froze in her chest. She could make out two silhouettes a one looked like Jack and the other was a bit more shapely. A woman.

Just then Sprinkles let out a bark and leaped up against the door. The door swung in causing Lexy to lose her balance. She tumbled into the kitchen face first.

She stumbled a few steps, and then caught herself. Straightening up, a jolt of electricity pierced her heart when she saw who was standing in front of her. She sucked in a deep breath feeling as if the wind had been knocked out of her.

Standing in Jack's kitchen, looking like she was right at home, was the blonde she'd seen Jack with the other day. His ex-girlfriend.

Jack bent down to pet Sprinkles while Lexy and the blonde sized each other up. She was pretty up close, Lexy thought grudgingly, baby blue eyes and blonde hair. A little too much makeup, though.

Lexy's heart sank as she compared the other woman's clingy silk tank top and perfectly matched skirt to her flour covered oversized tee-s.h.i.+rt and jeans. The other woman's outfit was tasteful, but left no doubt that her tall frame carried a body of barbie-doll perfect proportions.

Lexy felt like a dwarf beside her, her curvy but pet.i.te frame seemed even shorter than usual considering she didn't have any shoes on to add to her height. To top it all off, the other woman was wearing a gorgeous pair of hot pink Steve Weitzman platforms which made her legs look even longer and her stature even taller.

"What are you doing here?" Was it her imagination, or did she hear guilt edge into Jack's voice?

Lexy slid her eyes over to meet Jack's, her heart clenching when she saw how nervous he looked.

"Sprinkles ran over from my house a I thought you were working?" She glanced from Jack to the woman.

"Oh, I am. I just came home to pick up these leftovers for supper." Jack held up a Styrofoam container. Lexy remembered he had said he was going to stop in to pick up his dinner a apparently he had just forgotten to mention it would be with another woman.

Jack cleared his throat. "Lexy, this is an old friend a Simone." He gestured to the other woman. "Simone, this is my fiancee, Lexy Baker."

The two women narrowed their eyes at each other as they shook hands. Lexy got the distinct impression that Simone was sizing her up much the same way a snake sizes up its prey, right before it attacks.

"Oh, I didn't know you were engaged." Simone snuck a look at Lexy's ring finger. Lexy wondered if Jack had conveniently forgotten to mention that he had a fiancee or if it simply hadn't come up in conversation.

Jack stood off to the side, fidgeting and running his fingers through his hair.

"Are you working together?" Lexy asked innocently.

"What? Oh, no. Simone just happened to stop by unexpectedly."

"Oh, that was good timing. I mean since you just stopped by the house to pick up your supper."

"Actually, I was waiting for Jack," Simone said. "I'm only in town for a few days and I really wanted to spend some time catching up. I didn't realize he would be working tonight."

You didn't have enough time the other day? Lexy raised an eyebrow at the other woman but was smart enough not to voice her thoughts.

Jack came over beside Lexy. He tried to put his arm around her, but she shrugged him off, bending down to pick up Sprinkles instead.

"Well, I'll let you two catch up then." She turned toward the door without even a look at Jack.

Jack sprinted after her. "Lexy, wait."

Her stomach flipped as he grabbed her by her arm and turned her to face him. Looking up into his eyes, she saw a pleading look pa.s.s through them. Lexy wrinkled her brow. This was all very confusing a on the one hand, it seemed like Jack was trying to rea.s.sure her that everything was fine. But on the other, he had an ex-girlfriend in his kitchen.

Lexy didn't know what to think and decided the best course of action was to polish off the bottle of wine she'd left on her kitchen counter before making any rash decisions.

Jack tried to lean in to kiss her, but she was still holding Sprinkles so he couldn't get close enough. Which was just fine with Lexy a she wasn't sure she wanted a kiss from Jack right now.

"I'll call you tomorrow," He said managing to brush his lips against her forehead. "We're still on for tomorrow night, right?"

"Sure," Lexy said, her stomach plummeting as she walked out the door. She wasn't sure what was going on. She couldn't say for sure that Jack was cheating on her a it could be all innocent on his part.

But judging by the looks she was getting from Simone, everything wasn't all innocent on her part. She could sense a hint of purpose and shrewdness behind those baby blue eyes. Jack might not be doing anything wrong, but Lexy knew one thing for sure a Simone was up to something.

Chapter Eight.

It was ten minutes till two the next day when Lexy finally managed to get the food for the memorial to the retirement center.

"I wasn't sure you were going to make it," Nans said looking at her watch pointedly.

"Sorry. I planned on getting here earlier, but I got a late start today." Mostly due to the bottle of wine I drank last night, Lexy thought.

Balancing two trays of pastry in her hands, she looked around the room. It was furnished with overstuffed arm chairs and sofas. A comfortable room in hues of blue and green, it had a somber tone to it making it perfect for the occasion.

Nans and the ladies had brought in a podium, Lexy a.s.sumed for some sort of eulogy, as well as some tables. A few of the tables held photographs of Nunzio in various leisure activities at the retirement centera"playing bocce, a bingo tournament and a fis.h.i.+ng trip some of them had taken in the spring. The pictures made him look like a regular guy. Looking at the photos, Lexy wondered if he really was involved with organized crime.

Lexy made her way over to one of the empty tables and put the trays down, uncovering them and moving the bars and cookies around to her satisfaction.

"Do you need any help?" Ida asked.

"I could use an extra hand getting the rest of this stuff from my car."

Nans, Ida and Helen followed Lexy out to the car and she handed them the other trays and some napkins and paper plates.