Mummified Meringues Read Online Free Page B

the builder that hid the body. I mean, I can’t imagine the nice couple that lived in his house being involved. I think all those houses were built around the same time, so there were probably no neighbors to notice the smell.”
    “I guess that makes sense. It must have been scary finding that in the basement and then realizing it had been there the whole time. Was there anything else in there with the body?”
    Lexy added a little more sugar and turned on the beater. “Just the clothes and the sachets.”
    “Sachets?”
    “Yeah, you know those little perfumed pouches you put in your drawers? These still smelled like lavender. I guess they never lose their smell, even after being sealed up with a mummy.”
    “They were sealed up in there with it?”
    “Yep. I assume the killer thought it would mask the smell.”
    “Really?” Cassie scrunched her face up. “What kind of builder carries around lavender sachets?”
    Lexy added the rest of the sugar and beat it into the egg whites carefully, her mind trying to conjure up an image of a burly builder with lavender sachets in his pockets. She was pretty sure no builder would be caught dead with them.  
    Which begged the question—who the heck put them in there?

Chapter Four

    Lexy finished with the meringues and loaded the batches she’d made earlier in the morning into two white boxes, which she secured with old-fashioned pink and white striped baker’s twine. One box was for Nans and the other for her first stop—the previous owners of Jack’s house, Charlie and Lois McDonald.
    She pulled her VW Beetle onto Main Street, then followed that to County Road. The assisted living complex the McDonalds had moved to was several miles away, off County Road. The traffic was almost nonexistent and Lexy let herself relax while she drank in the blue skies, lush woods, and occasional cow-dotted field along the way.
    She was almost at her destination when a blue car coming the other way jolted her out of her driving trance.  
    Was that Ruth’s Oldsmobile?
    She squinted out the windshield as the two cars drew closer to one another. It was the same blue color and make as Ruth’s 1970s Olds and, as far as Lexy knew, Ruth was the only one in the county that drove one. It had to be her.  
    But something was odd. Ruth rarely drove the car and when she did it was usually to shuttle Nans, Ida and Helen somewhere in search of clues … and that was only when they couldn’t talk Lexy into driving them. But she didn’t see the usual four heads sticking up—there was only one.  
    As the cars passed each other, her heart skipped a beat. The driver was Nans.
    Lexy tooted the horn and waved, but Nans paid no mind. Her eyes stared straight ahead, her hands gripping the steering wheel at the ten o’clock and two o’clock positions. Lexy wasn’t surprised that her grandmother was unwaveringly focused on driving. Nans hardly ever drove anymore, which made her wonder what was so important that Nans would strike out in the car by herself.
    She didn’t have long to ponder it, though, because the turnoff to the assisted living was upon her. She parked, grabbed her white bakery box and headed inside. Lexy had met the McDonalds several years ago through Nans. She knew that Charlie had some problems walking and they had moved to this facility as opposed to the Brook Ridge Retirement Center, where Nans lived, because this one offered private apartments with assistance on site, but she had no idea what unit they lived in.
    Lexy had stopped in at the office and was directed to apartment 112 where she now stood, rapping on the door loudly.
    The lock clicked and a vaguely familiar, wrinkled face peered out.
    “Mrs. McDonald?”
    The woman nodded.  
    “Do you remember me? I’m Mona Baker’s granddaughter, Lexy.” She held up the white box. “I brought you some meringue cookies.”
    “Why, Lexy. Yes, of course. Do come in.” Lois opened the door wider and Lexy could see Charlie standing