Jessica Beck - Donut Shop 18 - Dangerous Dough (16 page)

Chapter 18

“Hey, Trish,” I
said as the three of us walked into the Boxcar Grill.
 
It was my favorite place in April
Springs to eat and my second favorite in our part of North Carolina, the first
being Napoli’s in Union Square.
 
As
I looked into the crowded dining car, I asked, “Do you have room for us?”

“If a table’s not
free right now, I’ll make sure that one opens up,” she said with a grin.

Trish had thrown
out patrons to make room for us to eat there in the past, but I didn’t want her
alienating any customers.
 
“Don’t
evict anybody on our account.
 
We
can wait,” I offered.

“Nonsense,” the
diner owner said as she started toward a table of older men who were notorious
lingerers.
 
Fortunately, they didn’t
need to be told that it was time to move on.
 
The second they saw Trish heading their
way—her blonde ponytail bobbing with every step—they threw their tips onto the
table and met her halfway.
 
Trish
turned back to us and smiled.
 
“Look
at that.
 
Can you imagine?
 
A table just opened up.
 
I’ll get it cleared for you, and you’ll
be all set.”
 
Then she looked at the
three gentlemen who’d so recently deserted their spot and added, “I’ll be with
you all in a second.”

“Take your time.”

“No hurry.”

“We’ve got all
evening,” the third one said.

Trish laughed as
she worked quickly to clear away the dishes and wipe the table down.
 
In a few moments, it was ready for us,
and we gladly took our seats.

After we ordered,
I was surprised to see our interim police chief, not to mention Grace’s
boyfriend, Stephen Grant, hurry into the diner.

“Chief, we’re
over here,” I said as I waved to him.
 
“Join us.”

“Thanks,” he said
as he approached and gave Grace a quick and rather self-conscious peck on the
cheek.

“Come on.
 
You can do better than that,” Grace said
as she grabbed his ears and planted a solid kiss on his lips this time.

There were a few
anonymous cheers coming from other diner patrons, and I noticed the chief’s
cheeks redden slightly as he pulled away.
 
“Grace, what did we say about public displays of affection?”

“That the more,
the better?” she asked, and then she grinned.
 
“No, I know that’s not it.
 
Give me a second.
 
I’ll remember.”

“You might as
well give up, Chief,” I said.
 
“She’s never going to change.
 
Should we get Trish over here to take your order, too?”

“Actually, I came
in here to speak with Jake when I saw your Jeep parked out front,” Chief Grant
said as he took the empty seat between Grace and Jake.

I looked at
Grace.
 
“Did that sound a little
ominous to you, or was it just me?”

“No, something’s
definitely amiss.”

“Let me guess,” Jake
said.
 
“Inspector Simpson instructed
you to give me a stern talking to.
 
Is that it?”

Chief Grant
smiled slightly.
 
“Something to that
effect, yes.
 
I was told to be firm
in telling you that you overstepped your bounds today, not to mention your
jurisdiction, even if I had to clamp down hard on you to make it stick.”

“Consider me
properly chastised,” Jake said with the hint of a smile himself.
 
“We’ve actually made some progress.
 
Do you want to hear about it?”

Chief Grant
grinned at Grace and me.
 
“Since
when did you team up with these two?
 
Is that what the mayor had in mind when he named you as his special
investigator?”

“Seeing that
George worked with them before he even became mayor, I was ordered to take
their suggestions, and any help they cared to give me, willingly and
enthusiastically,” Jake replied.

“The mayor said
that about us?
 
Remind me to hug him
later,” I told Grace.

“We should make a
George sandwich.
 
He can be the stuffing,
and we’ll be the slices of bread,” Grace replied.

“When you two are
finished, we have some things to discuss,” Jake said firmly.

I winked at
Grace, and then I pretended to zip my mouth shut while she did the same.

“You were
saying?” the interim chief asked.

“So far, we’ve
eliminated one of our suspects in April Springs, and we’ve got five more in
Granite Meadows,” Jake reported.

“Five!
 
How many people wanted him dead?”

“That’s just how
many we’ve found so far,” Jake said.
 
“If you want more than that, you’re going to have to ask the two of them
yourself, because they are the ones who uncovered the information.”

Chief Grant
looked at us both expectantly in turn, but neither one of us commented.
 
“Well?
 
Go on.
 
I’m waiting.”

I thought about
giving him a hard time before I volunteered any information, but Grace took the
decision out of my hands.
 
“Shannon
Wright is Alex Tyler’s ex-wife, and a colder, more calculating woman I’ve never
met.
 
Deke Marsh is a crook Alex put
away who just got out on a technicality, and Maisie Fleming is a woman who’s
been showing a little too much interest in the deceased for quite some time.”

“Okay.
 
I’m willing to admit that’s quite a bit
you’ve found out so quickly.”

“There’s more,
but you aren’t going to like hearing it,” I said.
 
“Jake, would you mind telling him
yourself?
 
It might be easier for
him to take it if he hears it from you.”

Jake shrugged,
and then he spoke.
 
“I’m reluctant
to say this, but we’ve got reason to believe that his former patrol partner,
Officer Craig Durant, or his chief, Robert Willson, may have been involved with
his murder.”

Grant studied
Jake for several seconds before he spoke.
 
“What reasons are those?”
 
I
had to give him credit.
 
I knew that
hadn’t been easy to hear, even coming from Jake.

“From multiple
sources, we’ve been told that Alex Tyler took the chief’s job in April Springs
to turn over a new leaf and reform.
 
That fact clearly upset some members of the force, apparently including
the chief.”

“So that’s why
you went with them today,” Chief Grant said.
 
“Because I’m willing to bet that no one
would speak with them about the murder.”

“No one on the
police force, anyway.”

“Did you have any
luck yourself?” Grant asked him.

“Too little to
amount to anything yet, but still too much to discount.
 
I’m afraid that both of these men bear
looking into, along with the rest of their list of suspects.”

“You said that
you’ve eliminated someone in April Springs.
 
Is anyone here left on your list?” the
chief asked him.

“Just one,” Jake
said.
 
“A fellow by the name of
Brandon Morgan.
 
Tyler gave him a speeding
ticket, and apparently it wasn’t all that well received.”

“That’s hard to
believe.
 
I’ve written him up myself
in the past for speeding, but he never came after me,” Chief Grant said.

“I understand
that, but I’m not willing to cross his name off yet without more of a reason.”

Chief Grant
nodded.
 
“Nor would I expect you
to.
 
What’s on tap for the rest of
the day?
 
Are you finished
sleuthing, or do you have more folks to investigate?”

I glanced at my
watch and realized that I didn’t have that much time left before I needed to go
to sleep for the night.
 
“I think
we’re finished for today,” I said.

Jake nodded.
 
“No worries.
 
We’ll take it back up tomorrow.”

“In Granite
Meadows?” Chief Grant asked him solemnly.

“Like I told
Inspector Simpson, I go where the leads take me.”

The chief frowned
for a moment, and then he said, “It’s not going to make my life any easier, but
I wouldn’t expect anything less from you.”

“Now I have a
question for you,” Jake asked him carefully.
 
“Do you honestly believe that your
former boss could be involved in the murder?”

“No, of course
not.
 
Where did you get that idea?”

“From his wife,”
Jake said.
 

I nodded in
confirmation.

Chief Grant shook
his head.
 
“I told him that folks
were going to talk after the fight they had and that he should be ready for
it.
 
How did he take that as an
accusation?”

“Does that mean
that you don’t suspect Emma or her mother, Sharon, either?” I asked him.

“Did someone say
that I did?
 
How do these things get
started?
 
I heard all about the
rejection, but it never even crossed my mind that one of those ladies had
anything to do with Alex Tyler’s murder.
 
Are you satisfied with that?”

“I am, but they
may not be.
 
I’ll let them all know,
though.”

“You do that, why
don’t you,” Chief Grant said.
 
“I
swear, being the police chief around here is not worth the pay raise.”
 
As he started to stand, Grace tugged at
his sleeve.
 
“Where do you think you
are going?”

“Grace, I have a
mound of paperwork on my desk.
 
I
might not be the permanent police chief, but until the mayor finds my
replacement, I’ll have to do.”

“You still have
to eat, though, don’t you?”

The chief looked
tempted, but I knew how duty bound the man was.
 
He’d aged quite a bit over the last few
months from the responsibilities of his new job, losing it, and then getting it
right back, and I could tell that it weighed heavily upon him.
 
I for one was glad that I didn’t have
that kind of responsibility.
 
All I
had to do was make sure that April Springs had their fill of donuts by the end of
every day and then start the process all over the next morning while everyone else
in their right minds was still sleeping.
 

“I don’t know if
I can spare the time,” he said a little wistfully.

“Come on, stay,”
Jake said.
 
“Trish will have you
fixed up in a heartbeat.”

“Let me ask you
something.
 
How many meals did you
skip while you were investigating a case?” he asked Jake sincerely.

“More than I can
count, but then again, I never had the attention of not one but two lovely
ladies, either.”

“I should hope
not,” I said with a grin.
 
“I
thought all along that one was more than you could handle.”

“And you’ll never
hear me say otherwise,” he answered.

“I don’t suppose twenty
minutes will make a difference one way or the other,” Chief Grant said.

A minute later,
Trish showed up with four meals.
 
“I
figured you were staying when I didn’t see you leave.
 
Is this good enough for you?” she asked
the chief as she offered him a plate.

“It’s
perfect.
 
You’re an angel, Trish.”

“That’s what I
keep telling folks, but so far, nobody has believed me yet,” she replied with a
smile.

Between bites,
Jake and I filled Grace and Chief Grant in on our honeymoon, sharing the funny
stories and the romantic scenery we’d enjoyed in Paris.
 
Grace interjected, showing off her euro
coin, and Jake produced its twin and presented it to the interim chief.

“Smart,” he said
as he hefted the coin in his hand.
 
“It makes for an easy gift, doesn’t it?”

“And cheap, too,”
Jake replied with a grin.

I turned to
Grace.
 
“Men.”

“Where is the
romance in their souls?”

“That’s
okay.
 
We’ve got plenty enough for
both of them,” I replied.

We talked of many
other things during that meal, but none of them was murder.

All in all, it
was the best time I’d had since Jake and I had come back from our honeymoon.

It was just too
bad that I knew it couldn’t last.

Chapter 19

“That was fun,” I
said as Jake and I headed back to the cottage alone.
 
Even though we were all close enough to
walk, Grace had insisted that the chief see her home, so the two of them had
left together while Jake and I drove the short distance back to the cottage and
settled in for the evening.

I was just
getting comfortable when I realized that I couldn’t remember if I’d turned the
fryer off or not when I’d left that day.
 
I’d only forgotten to turn it off twice since I’d owned Donut Hearts,
but since then, I’d been in fear of burning the place to the ground with that
hot oil boiling away all night long.

I kept trying to
convince myself that I was just being paranoid when I finally asked, “Do you
feel like taking a little stroll through the park?”

“I’d love to, but
I’m still stuffed from dinner,” Jake said.
 
“How about a rain check?”

“That’s
fine.
 
You stay right here,” I said
as I grabbed my coat.
 
“I won’t be
long.”

“Hang on.
 
I’ll go, too,” Jake said as he stood and
reached for his own jacket as well.

“I thought you
wanted to stay here.”

“I did, until I
knew that you were going to go without me.
 
Tell me something,” he said as he zipped up his coat.
 
“Are we just doing this for exercise, or
is there a more practical reason behind it?”

“Can’t I just
want to walk around the park with my new husband and show him off to the
world?”

Jake grinned as
he answered, “You could if anyone else were out there, but we both know that the
temperature’s dropping fast, so the only people you’ll be showing me off to are
the squirrels.”

“Okay, I give
up.
 
I confess.
 
I can’t remember if I turned the oil off
when I left Donut Hearts today.”

“Why didn’t you
say so?
 
You know, we could always
just drive over.
 
If you don’t want
to take the Jeep, we can go in my truck.”

“Thanks for the
kind offer, but I’m not sure that it will make it that far,” I said with a
smile.

“My truck will handle
considerably more than a half-mile round trip,” Jake said defensively.

“I’m sure that it
would, but truthfully, I’d like the exercise.
 
We walked
everywhere
in Paris together, and I kind of miss it.”

“I do, too,” he
said, kissing me soundly before we went outside.
 
As I locked the front door, Jake rubbed
his hands together.
 
“It feels like
snow again, doesn’t it?”

“This time of
year, it always feels like that to me,” I said with a grin.
 
“I can’t wait for you to see the park
all draped in white.
 
It’s
unbelievably beautiful.”

“Especially when
we’re snuggling inside by the fire,” he replied, though he still returned my
smile.

“Walks in the
park are magical, too.
 
You’ll see,”
I said as I took his hand in mine.

“I can’t wait,” Jake
replied, and then we walked through the park, past the Boxcar, over the
abandoned railroad tracks—which I happened to own due to a friend no longer
with us—and to the front door of the donut shop.
 
It was a microcosm of my life, that
little walk, going from the house I’d been born in, walking through the park
I’d played in as a girl to the shop I owned as an adult.
 
It was amazing how much of my life
experience had happened within a quarter of a mile, and if I added another mile
to the radius, it would have taken up where I’d gone to high school and the
apartment that I’d shared with my first husband, Max.
 
Some folks felt restrained by living in
a small town—at times my assistant, Emma, was one of them—but I found comfort
in all of the old familiar places and things.
 
I knew that I might leave April Springs
someday if there was enough reason to, but it wouldn’t be done without some
very serious consideration.
 
Too
much of
who
I was was wrapped up in
where
I was, and at the moment, and for
the foreseeable future, there was no place on earth that I’d rather be.

“This will just
take a second,” I told Jake as I unlocked the front door to the donut shop.
 
“You can come in with me if you’d like,
or you can wait out here.”

“I’ll come in where
it’s warmer,” Jake said as he rubbed his hands together, and then I heard
someone calling our names.
 
It was
the mayor.
 
“On second thought, I’d
like to chat with George for a few minutes.
 
Do you mind if I do it without you?”

“Take your time,”
I said.
 
“I’ve got some paperwork I
need to go over in back.
 
Just come
in after you two are finished.”

He kissed my
cheek.
 
“Thanks for understanding.”

“You’re most
welcome,” I said.

I was relieved to
see that the fryer was off, and the oil was cold.

That didn’t mean
that our trip had been in vain, though.

I’d gotten a nice
walk with my husband through the park in the deal, and that could never be
considered time wasted.

I was still
trying to figure out why I’d gotten two bills for one shipment of flour when
Jake walked in smiling.
 
“I take it
your meeting went well.”

“In ways you
cannot begin to fathom,” he said.
 
“The mayor, without realizing it, just supplied me with an alibi for
Brandon Morgan.”

“How did he do
that?” I asked, pushing my paperwork to one side.

“It seems that
Brandon took up his speeding case with the mayor.
 
He wouldn’t stop arguing about it, so
George thought he’d let the man talk himself out.
 
It didn’t work out that way,
though.
 
After Brandon finished
complaining to the mayor, he started in on the town council, which happened to
be meeting about loading zone variances.
 
All in all, Brandon was in the mayor’s presence the entire time in
question.
 
There’s no way that he
could have poisoned Alex’s coffee and delivered it.”

“How could anyone
possibly know that?” I asked.
 
“That
coffee could have been poisoned the day before the murder for all we know.”

“The cup, you
mean,” Jake said.
 
“It was coated
with poison, remember?”

“Okay, the cup,
and we both know that I’m not about to forget that.
 
It’s still true, though.”

“The fact is
that, based on the type of poison that was used, it would have become less and
less effective pretty quickly if it were mixed in a coffee base.
 
The lab said that Alex had to have been
poisoned within an hour of its submersion in the coffee and that he hadn’t been
dead more than an hour after he was found.
 
It gives us a pretty tight two-hour window of opportunity for the killer
to strike.”

“When were you
going to tell me about that?” I asked, more than a little displeased with him
for holding this particular bit of information back from me.

“Suzanne, I can’t
share everything I learn in the course of my investigations with you.
 
You should realize that by now.”

“I know, but I
still don’t have to like it,” I said.
 
“Why are you telling me now?”

“Because I just
found out about it myself,” Jake admitted with a grin.
 
“George told me that the lab has been
trying to get in touch with me all afternoon, but they didn’t have my number.”

“So you weren’t
withholding information from me after all.”

“No,” Jake said,
“but just because I didn’t this time doesn’t mean that I might not have to do
it in the future.
 
My point is still
valid.”

“I understand
that,” I said.
 
“You’re in a real
pinch now though, aren’t you?”

“How’s that?”

“Every last
suspect we have left is from Granite Meadows,” I answered, “and you’re not
allowed to go there.”

“I am now,” Jake
said happily.
 
“George worked
something out with the mayor over there.
 
Against Chief Willson’s advice, I’ve been given permission to
investigate there.
 
There’s a catch,
though.”

“Isn’t there
always?
 
What is it?
 
Do you have to work with Manfred
Simpson?”

Jake
scowled.
 
“Not on your life.
 
He can’t touch me now that I have
official permission to investigate there.”

“Then what’s the
catch?”

“I have to keep
Chief Willson informed of my activities and any results I may come up with
during the course of my investigation.”

“You actually
have to keep one of your suspects apprised of your progress?” I asked.
 
“That’s insane.”

“Even if it is,
there’s nothing that I can do about it.
 
I gave my word.”

“So, that means that
you won’t lie by omission, either, right?
 
You’re really going to tell him everything?”

“Yes, but there’s
a way around this,” Jake said.

“I’m dying to
hear what that might be.”

“The truth of the
matter is that I can’t tell him anything that I don’t know myself.
 
If you and Grace uncover anything new that
might be important, you’re going to have to sit on the information until the
very last second.
 
That way I can
honor my word and still track down Alex Tyler’s killer.”

“Let me get this
straight,” I said with a grin.
 
“You’re actually asking
me
to
keep
you
in the dark?”

“On a limited
basis, just this once, yes, that’s exactly what I’m asking you to do,” he
acknowledged.

“I can handle
that,” I said, still smiling.

“Do me a
favor.
 
Just don’t make a habit of
it, okay?”

“I’ll try not to,”
I replied as I turned back to my desk.
 
“I don’t know what’s going on with my ordering system.
 
I’ve got two bills for one
delivery.
 
I hate to think my
supplier is trying to cheat me.”

Jake glanced down
at the two bills I’d been studying and flipped them over.
 
After a moment, he said, “Here’s your
problem.
 
This one isn’t a bill.”

“How can you
tell?” I asked.
 
I hadn’t turned either
one of them over myself.

“It says right
here, THIS IS NOT A BILL.”

“Well, that’s a
pretty big clue, I’ll grant you that,” I said with a grin.
 
“To be honest with you, that’s a
relief.”

“Glad I could be
of service,” Jake replied.
 
“Are you
ready to go home now?”

“I am, and I’ve
got to tell you, I really like the sound of that.
 
Home has never sounded so good to me as
it does right now.”

“I know that I
haven’t lived there very long, but I’m pretty fond of it myself,” he said.

After we locked
up the donut shop, Jake and I walked back through the park to the cottage we
now shared.
 
It was definitely
getting chillier, and I wondered if snow wasn’t on its way after all.
 
If it came, I’d do my best to be ready
for it, but for now, it was time to settle in to what evening we had left
before I had to go off to my early bedtime again.
 

It wasn’t time
just yet, though.
 

I planned to stoke
the fire and snuggle with my husband a little first.