Brownies, Bodies And Bad Guys Part 7

"Oh, okay. Thanks." Nans held her hand out for the key and Muscles dropped it in her palm. She turned, raising her brows at Lexy and the others and walked toward the door.

"I didn't know Nunzio had a brother," Nans whispered to Ruth as they walked back into the hall.

"He didn't," Ruth answered.

"He didn't?" Nans narrowed her eyes glancing back at the gym. "Well then who was the guy with the long beard who wanted to look in his locker?"

"I can't imagine who it could be," Ruth said as they followed the hallway out to the covered walkway that led to the detached condos.

"Something doesn't seem right about this." Ida held the big gla.s.s door open for the rest of them.

"Did any of you see an old man with a long beard at the memorial?" Helen asked Lexy shook her head along with everyone else.

"Maybe Longbeard isn't a family member? Maybe he's a mobster," Nans said, her face flush with excitement.

Lexy rolled her eyes as she followed the older women along the walkway. The warm summer air felt good in contrast to the cool air conditioning inside but Lexy didn't have long to enjoy it since she had to jog to keep up with Nans and the gang.

"Maybe we've been barking up the wrong tree the whole time." Nans reached the end of the walkway that spilled out onto a flagstone path leading to a cl.u.s.ter of small condos.

"You mean the family might not have anything to do with it?" Ida asked.

Nans nodded.

"But why would mobsters want the will?"

"Maybe it isn't the will they are after." Nans slowed as a chipmunk scurried across the walkway in front of her.

"Ruth, think carefully. Do you remember if the person who knocked you out had a beard?" Lexy stopped and turned to look at Ruth who pursed her lips in thought.

"No. I don't remember anything a one minute I was taking groceries from the car the next I was waking up on my couch. The doctor said it was common to not be able to remember what happened right before a head injury."

"That's right," Helen said. "The brain has a protection mechanism that disables your conscious memory but your subconscious still knows what happened. And I can tap into that subconscious with hypnotism!"

"That's a great idea," Nans said, "If Ruth got a look at them, she might be able to identify the killer."

Lexy remembered how Helen had hypnotized her not that long ago with much success a and also the added side effect of clucking like a chicken when she drank coffee. She hoped that side effect was worn off by now and made a mental note to look out for it the next time she had some of her favorite brew.

"I guess this one must be Nunzio's." They stood in the courtyard where six detached condo's sat in a U shape. Nans pointed to the one that had a broken strip of yellow crime scene tape hanging down from it.

"I guess it's okay if we go in, seeing as the crime scene tape is broken," Helen ventured.

Ruth stood at the door, rummaging in her purse for a key.

"Are you going to be okay?" Nans put her hand on Ruth's arm and Lexy felt her heart squeeze for Ruth. She had lost a close friend and going in there must be hard for her.

"Oh I'll be fine." Ruth waved her off, produced the key and opened the door.

Lexy's heart sank as she stood in the doorway of Nunzio's condo. The place was a mess. Couch cus.h.i.+ons ripped open and stuffing on the floor. Cabinet doors hanging and drawers pulled out, the contents scattered about.

"Where do we start?"

The five of them looked around the room in silence. Finally, Nans spoke.

"I guess we should look for a box that might take the size key we have. I'd say it would be about the size of a bread box. Ruth, Ida and Helen, look in here a Lexy and I will take the bedrooms."

Lexy s.h.i.+vered. The bedroom was where Nunzio had been shot and killed. She followed Nans down the hall, picking her way over the debris. Her gut churned as they approached the bedroom door. She peeked around the doorjamb into the room.

She didn't know why she'd felt so apprehensive. Nunzio's body wasn't there anymore and she'd certainly seen plenty of dead bodies and pools of blood. She should be used to that by now. But still, the chalk outline and dark stain on the rug gave her heart a jolt.

Nans, on the other hand, didn't seem fazed at all. She strode purposefully into the room, looking in the closet and sifting through the debris.

Lexy started over by the bureau. The drawers had been pulled out and the contents lay in a heap on the floor. She poked through the pile. No box.

Getting down on her hands and knees she looked under the bed. Nothing under there.

Lexy noticed a fine black powder over just about every surface; the bureau, the window sills, even the lamps. Finger print dusting powder, she a.s.sumed. Looking at her hands she realized she had gotten some on her and wiped it away on her jeans. It was going to be pretty hard not to come out of the condo covered in black dust.

Standing, she surveyed the room. Something nagged at the back of her mind. Scanning the mess for any bread box sized item her heart jerked when she realized what had been nagging at her. The fingerprint powder was smudged. Not just where she and Nans had been looking but in the other parts of the room.

She went out into the hallway and looked into the guest room which Nunzio had setup as a den. None of them had been in this room yet, which meant the black powder should be visible in fingerprint sized swatches undisturbed. But it wasn't.

"Nans, I think I've found something," Lexy called over her shoulder.

"The box?"

"No, something else. Come here."

Nans appeared in the doorway, her face anxious. "What?"

"We haven't searched in this room yet but look at the black fingerprinting powder. It's all smudged."

Nans scrunched her eyes together and scanned the room.

"So it is." She looked at Lexy wide eyed. "That means someone was in here after the police came.

Lexy nodded. "Someone who was searching for something."

"Which means we may be looking for two partiesa"the people who killed Nunzio and tossed the condo in the first place, and the people or person who came in after the police."

Nans headed back to the living room. "Any luck?"

Helen, Ruth and Ida shook their heads. "Nothing."

"We think someone has been in here since the police a someone other than the killer."

The three ladies looked up at Lexy and Nans.

"Who?" Ida asked.

"I have no idea. Maybe the brother with the long beard?" Nans answered with a question.

"We need to get a better handle on what it is all these people are looking for," Helen said.

"And find out who had the means, motive and opportunity," Ruth added.

"I did look into some of the things we talked about yesterday." Helen gingerly lifted the corner of a couch cus.h.i.+on to look underneath.

"What did you find?" Nans asked crossing over to the kitchen area.

Helen leaned back on her heels, brus.h.i.+ng the dirt from her hands. "I did find that the grandson's all need money as does the son, Lou. That was the gentleman at the memorial who looked like a thug. Several of them do have guns registered. Gina, Lou, and another grandson, Will, who can be ruled-out since he is in the Caribbean on a treasure hunting expedition."

"We still don't know what kind of gun Nunzio was killed with. Lexy, can you find that out, and get the time of death from Jack?" Nans asked.

Lexy's chest tightened. She hated asking Jack investigation details and he never wanted to give them up. She'd have to think of some clever way to get the information from him.

"Sure," she said despite her feelings.

"And I suppose we should start looking into where all the relatives were the night of the murder. We should pay a visit to the daughter, Gina. She might be able to tell us more about the family dynamics and who would benefit from the new will," Nans said "Or what other things someone might be after," Ida added.

"Most of the family is staying at the Weston Motel. We should head out there after we finish here," Ruth said.

"I agree," Nans said. "Maybe she can clear up some of the questions we have. Lord knows we could use a break in this case."

Chapter Thirteen.

Lexy stood outside room 357 of the Weston Motel with Ruth, Ida and Helen and watched Nans tap on the door with her fist.

They heard shuffling noises, a cough and then the sound of the safety chain. The door opened a crack to reveal Gina, her brow furrowed in a question. Then her eyebrows shot up as she recognized them.

"You're the ladies from Daddy's place, aren't you?"

"Yes, we are," Nans said brightly.

Gina's brow creased again. "What are you doing here?"

"We were hoping we could talk to you a bit. About your father."

Gina stepped back, opening the door all the way. "Sure."

Lexy noticed the suite was s.p.a.cious and clean. A small kitchenette sat off to the left. A hallway, with what she a.s.sumed were the bedrooms, was straight ahead. They stood in a newly updated living room with a couch, two chairs and a television. Gina plopped down in one of the chairs and grabbed a cigarette from her pack, then motioned for them to sit.

Nans took the other chair, leaving Ida, Ruth, Helen and Lexy to wedge themselves onto the couch.

"Mind if I smoke?" Gina waved her lighter in front of the cigarette.

"Not at all," Nans answered. Lexy would have preferred no smoke, but Nans had a policy of trying to keep the person they were interrogating at ease.

"This place is nice. And big." Lexy craned her neck toward an open door on the right. "Does that open to another suite or is it all one?"

"We have three suites here, enough for the whole family." Gina made a face. "Well, except my brother."

"Oh, you don't get along?" Nans asked.

Gina exhaled a long stream of smoke. "He thinks he's better than the rest of us."

"Speaking of brothers, did Nunzio have a brother?" Ruth asked.

Gina narrowed her eyes. "No, Daddy was an only child. Why?"

Ruth shrugged. "Someone mentioned a brother. Does someone in your family have a long beard?"

Gina flicked her cigarette ash into the ashtray and frowned at Ruth. "No. Why do you ask?"

"Oh, just a few things we heard, dear, nothing to worry about." Nans leaned over and touched Gina's arm. "We are all so very sorry about your father. Were you all here in the hotel that night?"

"Yes. We were having a big poker game that night. Even my brother Tony came over from his hotel. Daddy had plans with a friend so he wasn't here. But maybe if he had been a" Gina's voice trailed off and Lexy saw her eyes start to mist.

"Anyway, the game broke up around two. I guess Daddy was already dead by then but, of course we didn't know it yet."

"Has the will turned up?" Nans asked Gina stubbed her cigarette out in the ashtray. "No. That's why we are all still hanging around here, actually. We're waiting for the police to let us into Daddy's condo so we can look for it a it's still sealed off for the investigation."

Lexy and Ida exchanged an uncomfortable look. Guess we weren't supposed to be in there, Lexy thought.

Gina continued on, "If the new will doesn't show up, we'll have to go with the last will Daddy gave to his attorney. But I know Daddy didn't want that."

"Oh, really?" Nans prompted.

Gina nodded. "Daddy was kind of a dinosaur when he made that first will. He didn't think much about equal rights for women and such. He felt women were inferior. Which is probably why he got divorced so many times and why I never had a good relations.h.i.+p with him when I was younger." She paused, looking out the window. "But in the past few years, he mellowed a lot. His first will left most of the money to the men in the family a my brothers and the grandsons. But this new one had equal shares for me and Simone. Daddy told me all about it."

Lexy saw Nans's eyebrows go up. Gina and Simone certainly had a vested interest in finding the new will. Could one of them have searched Nunzio's after the police were there?

"So you haven't been looking for the will?" Nans asked.

"Who me? No. Like I said I'm waiting to get access to his condo. I already checked his safety deposit box and it's not in there."

"But somebody searched his condo. And his car," Ida said.