Part 7 (1/2)

”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.”