Dying for Danish Read Free

nagging at her, and she wanted to go back to take a peek.
    Lexy slipped around the edges of the kitchen stopping near where Chastine lay on the floor. She felt a twinge looking at her, but she couldn’t say she was sad Chastine was dead. The woman had been quite beautiful but had a nasty disposition that made it impossible to like her. A sparky blonde of about 45 she was, of course, much younger than Xavier. Rumor had it she was only marrying him for his money and Lexy didn’t doubt it was true.
    The woman had expensive taste and it would take all of Tolivers millions to keep her in style. The few times Lexy had seen her, she’d been dressed in designer outfits wearing expensive jewelry. There was one pin Lexy had admired in particular. The pin!  That’s what had been nagging at her. Chastine always wore an expensive pin- a daisy with a very unusual canary yellow cushion cut diamond in the center, but Lexy hadn’t noticed the pin on the body this morning.
    Lexy shuffled closer to the body. Slowly she bent over to look at the lapels of the fuchsia silk shirt. She felt her breath catch in her throat - the right lapel had a tear in it, as if someone had ripped the pin right off her.
    “Lexy?” Jack’s voice interrupted her from across the room. She straightened abruptly wobbling on her high heels, almost toppling onto the body.
    She looked over at him, eyebrows raised.
    “We’re not quite done here.”  He said, motioning for her to join him.
    Lexy picked her way over to him. He was standing with John and Blake. Blake was explaining that his father normally slept in so he wouldn’t be around this time of morning. He had sent Bronson upstairs to wake him. Suddenly the air was split with an anguished wail.
    “Looks like Bronson has given Dad the news.”  Blake said raising his glass to his lips and swigging down the rest of his drink.
     
     

Chapter Three
     
    “What took so long?  The rest of the pastries have been ready for an hour!” Cassie, Lexy’s assistant and best friend, stood in the doorway to the kitchen, hands on hips, her pink hair ruffled up into an angry spike.
    Lexy blew out a breath, “You won’t believe what happened!”
    Cassie lifted her eyebrows in response. “What?”
    “Chastine Toliver’s been murdered!”  Lexy blurted out. She watched Cassie’s face run through a gamut of emotions - surprise, confusion then disbelief.
    “No, that can’t be....what will we do with all these pastries?” She spread her arms in the direction of the kitchen which was loaded to the brim with baked goods - cinnamon buns, eclairs, banana and pumpkin breads, brownies and Lexy’s signature pastry -cupcake tops loaded with creamy frosting.
    Lexy stopped short. She hadn’t considered that. What would they do with all the pastry?  What would happen to her big catering job now that there would be no wedding.
    Feeling light headed, Lexy plopped down in one of the tall kitchen chairs. She took a deep breath. The familiar scent of flour, sugar and cinnamon acted as a soothing balm and kicked her brain into gear.
    “I hadn’t thought about that.”  She tapped her front teeth with long, red nails. “With Chastine dead, there won’t be any wedding... and I spent the money from the job on the new kitchen equipment.”
    The girls looked around the bakery kitchen. Brand new appliances gleamed in every corner - commercial ovens, mixers and a walk in refrigerator had just been installed to replace the old, used ones they had been making-do with.
    Lexy had opened her bakery, The Cup and Cake , barely a year ago on a shoe string budget. A loan from her parents who had sold their home to travel the country in an RV had helped her buy what she needed, but she had to stretch each dollar and had only been able to afford older, used equipment. That equipment didn’t work up to par and broke down quite a bit which made it harder to get the work done. New equipment would be more efficient and allow her to be more