Read Brutal Brûlée (Lexy Baker Cozy Mystery Series Book 11) for Free Online Page A

right.”
    “And you don’t have any other clues or suspects?” Nans asked.
    “The pill bottle was wiped clean, so there were no prints on it. We never found the extra pills. We figure the killer either disposed of them or still has them. The hot toddy was laced with cyanide.” Garrity’s eyes twinkled as he turned to Nans. “You made the hot toddy so, you might be my next suspect.”
    Nans bristled. “I hardly think I would have a motive.”
    “That’s the problem. We don’t know who did have a motive.”
    “Wait a minute,” Lexy said. “You said that Karen was here to look for a mole in the production company. Someone who’s giving secrets to a rival company.”
    “That’s right.”
    “If there is a mole, then maybe Leonard caught him or her and threatened to prosecute. That might be a motive for murder.”
    Garrity twisted his lips together. “Possibly. Leonard’s room was locked from the inside which means he must have let the killer in. Once inside, the killer probably distracted him and added the cyanide to his glass. We need to find out who he let into the room last night.”
    “Too bad no one has come forward to say they saw someone,” Lexy said.
    Nans tapped her fingers on her lips. “Maybe somebody saw something and they just don’t realize it’s important.”
    “Like that busybody Mrs. Pendrake. She seems to be everywhere,” Helen leaned back to look out into the hallway as if expending Mrs. Pendrake to be out there spying on them. “She probably saw something.”
    “Maybe, but is she reliable?” Ruth asked.
    “Are any of them?” Ida replied.
    Nans snapped her fingers. “We don’t need Mrs. Pendrake or any other witness. I think we have something much more reliable.”
    “Whats that?” Jack asked.
    Nans turned to Violet. “Didn’t you say you’d installed a security system that would show anyone entering the library?”
    “Yes, I have valuable books in there.”
    “Well, Leonard’s room was right next to the library.”
    Violet shot out of her seat. “That’s right! Leonard was in the blue room. The camera is pointed at the hallway outside that room. Whoever went in there last night would be captured on the computer files.”

Chapter Eight
    T hey rushed over to the other side of the mansion where Violet had her office in a small room off the kitchen. The room had once been some sort of sitting room, Lexy guessed, but now it was retrofitted with a large oak desk facing out a set of double windows that looked out onto the herb garden.
    Violet slid behind the desk and they all crowded around her. She pecked at the keys with one finger in a maddeningly slow pace as she searched for the security program.
    “Here it is.” She hovered the cursor over an icon and clicked it with a flourish. A screen came up and she stared at it with her lips pressed together. “Now, how do I get the access to the data from last night?”
    Ruth, who was a computer whiz, had been leaning over Violet’s shoulder. “Let me try.” She pushed Violet out of the way and sat down at the keys, her fingers flying over them. A few seconds later, they were looking at a picture of the upstairs hallway. The view was directed at the library but just on the edge of the screen you could see the door to the room Leonard had been staying in. The door was shut.
    “ Mew! ” Houdini jumped on the desk, situated himself in front of the monitor, blocking everyone’s view, and then blinked at them as if they were all looking in his direction to admire him instead of just trying to see the screen he was now blocking.
    “Out of the way.” Ruth pushed him to the side. He lashed his tail in the air, hitting Ruth in the face before turning in a figure eight and settling in front of the screen again.
    Violet picked him up and deposited him on the floor. “Shoo, Houdini, we have important business here.”
    They heard footsteps in the hall and Garrity looked out. “Oh, Karen, please come in here. I want you to see