Mummified Meringues Read Online Free PDF Page B

members of the Ladies Detective Club —Ruth and Helen.  
    And that’s exactly where she was headed, to the Brook Ridge Retirement Center where she could, hopefully, catch up with Nans and fill the four ladies in on the grave discovery in Jack’s basement.
    Gray clouds had rolled in, spoiling the blue sky and causing a light sprinkle as Lexy pulled into the retirement community parking lot. She grabbed her box of meringues and sprinted for the glass door that opened into the lobby, holding the box over her head as a makeshift umbrella.
    The door whooshed shut behind her and she turned left to go down the hallway to Nans apartment.
    “Yoo-hoo! Lexy, is that you?” Ida’s voice rang out from behind her and Lexy turned to see Ruth, Helen, and Ida sitting at one of the round tables in the spacious lobby that doubled as a gathering room.
    “Hi!” Lexy changed direction and headed toward them, frowning at the empty fourth seat where Nans would normally be sitting.
    “She’s not here.” Ruth stated the obvious.
    “I thought I saw her driving your car earlier,” Lexy said.
    Ruth nodded. “Yep. She asked to borrow it. Mighty odd, if you ask me.”
    Ida and Helen nodded in agreement.
    “I think she’s up to something,” Ida whispered.
    “Maybe she’s out visiting that nice young man from the square dance,” Ruth offered.
    Lexy’s brows flew up. “Young man?”
    “Oh, of course you wouldn’t think he was young, but there was a gentleman at the square dance who seemed quite taken with your grandmother and I swear he couldn’t have been a day over seventy-five.” Helen turned to Ruth and Ida. “Don’t you think, girls?”
    “Oh, yeah. She’s a cougar,” Ida said.
    Lexy scrunched up her face. She’d never considered that Nans might someday have a boyfriend. Her grandmother hadn’t seemed interested in any men since her grandfather had died. But, now that Lexy thought about it, a male friend might be good for Nans. She wanted her grandmother to be happy and felt relieved that her strange behavior could be attributed to a man and not something more serious.
    “Oh, thank goodness. I was afraid something was wrong with her,” Lexy said. “Did she say when she’d be back?”
    “Nope.” Ida raised a brow at the box. “What have you got there?”
    Lexy set the box on the table, untied the string and flipped open the lid. Ida craned her neck to peer inside.  
    “Meringue cookies?”  
    “Yes, but I didn’t bring any plates or napkins,” Lexy said.
    “Oh, no worries.” Ida pulled her giant beige patent leather purse from the back of her chair, rummaged inside for a few seconds, then pulled out a stack of napkins and passed them around.
    Lexy slipped into the empty seat as the ladies gingerly picked cookies out of the box and set them on their respective napkins. She’d baked three different kinds—a rich, brown coffee flavor, an orange and white striped that had a slight orange tang, and her favorite, a plain vanilla meringue that was piped over a chocolate kiss so that the kiss acted as a surprise chocolate center.
    “I’m trying to find the perfect recipe to enter in the Brook Ridge Falls annual dessert contest. Maybe you guys can help me decide which one to use.” Lexy smiled at the ladies, but her smile faded when she noticed them staring at her, wide-eyed, instead of attacking the cookies with their usual gusto. “What’s wrong?”
    “Did you say you were entering the annual dessert contest?” Ida asked.
    “Yeah. It’s the first time I’ve entered and I’m very excited about it.” Lexy wondered why the ladies did not seem to be sharing her enthusiasm—they were usually quite supportive of her.
    “Oh, you might want to rethink that,” Ruth said.
    “What? Why?”
    “Because you’ll be going up against Violet Switzer,” Helen answered.
    “Who?”
    “Maybe you haven’t heard of her, but we have and she’s not one to be trifled with.” Ida shook her head.
    Lexy’s brow