Free Murder, Money & Marzipan by Leighann Dobbs

becoming good friends. But if Corinne had sabotaged her cake and was involved in the murder, then she wanted nothing to do with her.  
    As she and Cassie got closer to her kitchen, she saw a familiar figure standing there. Jake Ryan. Was he following her?
    “Hi,” she said, her eyebrows raised.
    “Hi. I heard you won the pie challenge. Congratulations.”
    “Thanks…did you come all the way here just to congratulate me?”
    Jake smiled, showing off his perfect white teeth and dimples. “Actually, I have some information about one of the suspects you might be interested in.”
    “Oh, I didn’t realize you guys shared information about one of your suspects with another one of your suspects.”
    Jake glanced around covertly, then lowered his voice. “Well, I’m not supposed to, but this one could help you with the contest too. What do you say? Come over to the bar with me and I’ll tell you over a drink.”  
    Was he flirting?
    Lexy felt tempted by his puppy-dog look and the information he promised, but a quick look at her cart and kitchen revealed a pile of dirty dishes and bowls. “I’d love to but…”   she waved her hand to indicate the mess.
    “Oh, you go ahead I’ll clean this up and put everything away.” Cassie said.
    “Are you sure?” Lexy asked.
    “Yeah, no worries. Go.” Cassie made shooing motions with her hands.
    Lexy shrugged. “OK.” She turned to Jake. “Shall we?” She tilted her head in the direction of the casino bar.
    “After you.” Jake stepped to one side to let Lexy walk past.
    They walked side by side down the long, wide hallway. Lexy refrained from asking who the information was about and worked at making idle chitchat.
    They selected a table in the corner of the empty bar and Jake went to retrieve their drinks - a soda for her and beer for him.
    He set her drink in front of her, then took the seat across the table.
    “Well? What’s this big news?” Lexy tilted her and raised her eyebrows.
    Jake took a swig from his beer, then set his arms on the table, leaning in towards Lexy. “We finished looking at the surveillance tapes and we can rule out one of the suspects-Aurea Pearce.”
    Lexy felt her shoulders sag. “Really?   Why?” She hoped her disappointment didn’t show on her face-Aurea was one of the few people she didn’t like and Lexy would have preferred that the killer be someone she didn’t like.
    “The casino surveillance tapes show her at the poker tables from 3:31 am to 6 am. That’s the timeframe Saunders was killed, so Aurea couldn’t have done it.”   Jake spread his arms, then settled back in his seat.  
    Lexy swirled her drink, watching the ice cubes chase each other around the glass. She took a sip. She wondered if Jake knew Westmore was gay. If he did, then he knew Westmore and Peter Saunders weren’t likely suspects anymore-at least not because Amanda could have been having an affair with Westmore. Aurea had been ruled out, so that only left her as the most eligible suspect. Was that why Jake seemed to be following her?
    She decided to test him. “So, that leaves Westmore and Saunders as your prime suspects?” she asked.
    “We have a few others we are looking at too.”  
    Lexy felt the tension in her shoulders relax, relieved he didn’t say they had ruled out Westmore and Saunders.
    “Corinne Conners?”   She decided to add a new suspect just for some extra insurance.
    Jake raised an eyebrow. “What about her?”
    “When I found the sabotaged cake, there was glitter on the floor and on the handle of the fridge.”
    Jake shrugged. “So?”
    “I don’t use glitter, but Corinne did. Her wedding cakes were loaded with it.”
    Jake sat up straighter. “Why didn’t you mention that before?”
    Lexy felt a flush of heat creep into her cheeks. “I didn’t realize it until today…I was going to mention it to you.”
    Jake’s eyes narrowed. “I’ll have to look into that.”
    “And that’s not all.” Lexy looked down. She