Wedded Blintz by Leighann Dobbs

her under the table and gave her ‘the look’. Ida’s eyes went wide and she continued.  
    “—t want to miss that appointment. No siree. I missed it last week and there was hell to pay.” Ida shoved the rest of the pie in her mouth and blotted her lips with a napkin.
    Lexy’s father pushed his empty plate away. “I’m ready to go myself. What about you Vera?”
    “Oh sure,” Vera twittered as she sipped the last of her coffee. As if on cue, the waitress brought the check. Lexy’s dad insisted on paying.  
    “You guys go so that you can get to your appointment.”
    “Thanks, Dad.” Lexy gave him a peck on the cheek before sliding out of the booth. She blew her mom a kiss while she herded Nans and Ida toward the door.  
    “There’s someone in Chez Philippe !” Lexy said as soon as they were outside. Nans and Ida looked over at the store just in time to see a shadow move in the corner.
    “I see it! Let’s go confront them—we have the element of surprise on our side!” Ida started across the street and Nans grabbed her arm to pull her back.  
    “Not yet,” Nans said. “We have to move Lexy’s car, otherwise Vera and Roy might recognize it in the parking lot when they leave.”
    They hustled over to Lexy’s car and drove around the block until they saw the RV drive away. Lexy pulled into a spot in front of Chez Philippe and they tumbled out of the car and sprinted to the door.  
    Lexy stopped short, her hand on the cold metal door handle. “This could be dangerous.”
    “Great! We love danger, right Ida?” Nans looked at Ida who nodded.
    Lexy took a deep breath and tried the door. It was open. She slipped inside with Nans and Ida right behind her.
    Light filtered into the main room from the back and Lexy could hear muffled noises. Someone was back there.
    “Should we announce ourselves, or surprise them?” Ida whispered.
    “We don’t want to tip them off. Let’s keep quiet and maybe we’ll catch them in the act.” Nans tiptoed toward the back room. Lexy’s stomach tightened as she followed her. That could be the killer back there—maybe this wasn’t such a good idea.
    Nans stood against the wall next to the opening to the back room. She poked her head around the doorway, then motioned Lexy and Ida to follow her in. Lexy stood in the doorway, confused. Standing with her back to them and holding one of the drawers from her sewing cabinet was Philippe’s seamstress.
    “Millie?” Lexy asked.
    Millie whirled around. The box fell from her hands clattering on the floor, beads and pearls bounced all over the place. She had her silver hair up in a bun; some strands had loosened and framed her heart-shaped face. For the first time Lexy realized that Millie was still quite attractive for a woman nearing seventy.
    Millie’s hands flew up to her heart. “What are you doing here?”
    Lexy immediately felt bad for frightening the woman. “I’m so sorry. I didn’t mean to startle you.” She ran over to the fallen box and started herding the beads back into it.
    “We saw someone in here and came to investigate,” Nans explained. “Isn’t the shop closed due to the … umm … events of the past week?”
    “The police are done with their investigation,” Millie said briskly. “I came in to finish up some of the dresses. Even though the shop is technically closed, the brides still need their gowns.”
    “It’s such a shame … what happened,” Ida said.
    “So senseless, I mean why would someone kill that nice man?” Nans question sounded innocent enough, but Lexy knew it was designed to get Millie to talk about any suspicions she had. Lexy was finding the job of rounding up all the errant beads impossible so she shoved as many of them as she could into the box and stood up, holding the box out to Millie.
    “I have no idea,” Millie said snatching the box from Lexy.
    “Well, if something was amiss in the business … or Mr. Montague's personal life, I’m sure you would have