Custard Crime: Donut Mystery #14 (The Donut Mysteries) (11 page)

I opened the first cabinet and found myself facing
row upon row of spices instead of the baking powder I’d been expecting.
 
“What happened here?”

“Mom and I thought it made more sense,” she said,
“but we can change things back to the way they were.
 
I just figured you might like to see our
arrangement before we made any changes.”

It was unsettling to find things moved from where I’d
been expecting them, but I took a deep breath and said, “Since you’re here
early, why don’t you explain your new system to me and we’ll see?”

“That would be great,” Emma said.
 
She was so enthusiastic about the new
placement of items I used every day that it was all I could do not to show the
disapproval I felt.
 
My immediate
reaction was to put everything back the way that it had been when I’d left, but
I took a deep breath and decided to give her the benefit of the doubt.
 
After she was finished, I leaned back
against the counter.

“You hate it, don’t you?” Emma asked.
 
“I told Mom that we should put things
back the way they were, but she insisted I at least show this to you.”

“I’m glad that you did,” I said.
 
“There are a few things that I’m going
to keep, but I hope you don’t mind if I put a few others back where I like
them.
 
It’s not that they aren’t
good where they are.
 
They just
aren’t where I’ll be expecting them to be.”

“That’s fine,” she said.
 
“What exactly do you like?”

“Well, I think the new spice arrangement could work,”
I said.

“What about the flour and sugar storage?” she asked.

I shrugged.
 
“I suppose I could probably get used to that as well.”

Emma stared at me for a few seconds without saying a
word, and I was afraid that she was about to cry when she surprised me by
laughing loudly.

“What’s so funny?” I asked her.

“I just did all of this to mess with you,
Suzanne.
 
We kept things the way you
had them, but when I got here early this morning, I decided to have a little
fun.”

I had to laugh as well.
 
“You nearly killed me just now; you know
that, don’t you?”

As Emma and I started putting things back in their
rightful places, she said, “I thought you were going to bite your lower lip in
half.
 
Don’t worry.
 
I can have this finished in five
minutes, and I haven’t punched in yet, so it’s on my dime.”

“I think the joke is at least worth being on the
clock for,” I said.
 
“Mark your time
down, and let’s get things back to where they belong.”

“It’s good to have you back,” Emma said with a smile
as she noted the time down.

“Are you sure that you’re not going to hate going
back to being my assistant?”

“I’m positive,” she said.
 
“I did have a few ideas I wanted to run
past you, though.
 
I’m not trying to
upset the system we have working now, but Mom and I came up with a few things
that might make both of our lives easier.”

“I’m all for that,” I said.
 
“Let’s hear what you’ve got.”

By the time we had things right again, I’d listened
to Emma’s pitches.
 
They were all
sound, little tweaks in our routine that would indeed make both of our lives
better.
 
“Done and done,” I
said.
 
“I only have one condition before
I accept your new ideas.”

“What’s that?” she asked, clearly concerned about
what my request might be.

“I want you to come in early two days a week and make
the cake donuts on your own.
 
That
will keep your hand in things, and it will have the bonus of allowing me to
sleep in a little later two days a week.
 
You’ll make more money, and have more responsibility as well.
 
How does that sound to you?”

“It’s perfect,” she said.
 
“Are you sure you don’t mind giving up
some control?”

“I turned the whole place over to you for a month,” I
said.
 
“I think I can at least do
that much.
 
I had another thought.”

“I’m listening,” Emma said.

“When things settle down, I’d love it if you and your
mother would be willing to take the shop over for a few weeks again.”

“Are you kidding?
 
Mom would love the opportunity to
squirrel away more travel funds, and you know me, I’m always saving up,
too.
 
What did you have in mind?”

“Jake promised me a trip to Paris, and I plan to take
him up on it,” I said.

“Good for you,” Emma said as she hugged me.
 
“So, I’m willing to wager that
familiarity hasn’t bred any contempt yet.”

“What do you mean?”

“Well, he’s been staying with you for a month
now.
 
I’m guessing that he’s not
moving out anytime soon.”

“Guess again,” I said as I started getting
ingredients out to make my cake donut batter.
 
“As soon as he solves this case, he’s
going back to Raleigh.”

“I’m so sorry,” Emma said.

“Don’t be.
 
I’m all for it,” I said as I set up the bowls for different donut mixes.

“Aren’t you afraid that you’ll be lonely in that
cottage all by yourself now that your mom’s moved out?” she asked me.

“My mother is a newlywed; I’d hope that she’d live
with her groom, and everyone knows that the police chief and me living under
the same roof just wasn’t going to work.
 
Besides, I’m kind of looking forward to being alone.
 
It’s past time, if you ask me.
 
Now, is there anything else
ground-shattering that you need to tell me about before we get back into our
old routines?”

“No, that’s it,” Emma said, and then, almost as an
afterthought, she added, “Oh, I’ve been dating someone new for the past few
weeks, but it’s too soon to say if he’s going to be a keeper or not.”

“Give it time,” I said as I got down my recipe book.
 
“I know that it seems like forever at
your age, but there’s no rush.”

“That’s exactly what my mother keeps saying, but I
still think this one’s here to stay.”

“Good for you,” I said as I leafed through the copied
pages of my book full of recipes.
 
I
was a little rusty, but there was no real surprise there.
 
Before my break, I could have done most
things blindfolded, but in the interim, I’d lost the knack.
 
No worries; I was sure that I’d be able
to get it back soon enough.
 
At the
moment, it just felt right being back where I belonged, in the Donut Hearts
kitchen well before dawn making treats for all of April Springs to enjoy.
 
Jake had been right.
 

It was good to be back.

If he felt a tenth as good as I did being back at my
old job, he had to be relishing the opportunity to go after a killer
again.
 
Truthfully, I’d missed that
myself on occasion, though my crime-fighting was strictly on a local level next
to his statewide beat.
 
There were
months when nothing more exciting than donut sales came into my life, and I was
usually pretty grateful for those times, but then again, I didn’t shy away from
investigating murder when it came into my life.
 

All in all, it wasn’t a bad way to live, if you
discounted the killers that popped up every now and then.
 

Chapter 11

“Hey, what are you doing here so bright and early
this morning?” I asked our mayor, George Morris, as I unlocked the door to
Donut Hearts when we were first open for business.

“I’m here to celebrate your first day back,” he said
as he gave me a small bouquet of flowers.

“Thanks,” I said as I took them from him.
 
“And tell Polly I said thanks, too.”

“What makes you think she had anything to do with
this?” George asked me.

“I know you too well, George,” I said as I kissed his
cheek.
 
Polly was more than the
mayor’s secretary and assistant.
 
She was also his girlfriend.
 
“If Polly didn’t prod your memory that I was coming back, I’ll give you
six dozen donuts, on the house.”

George shrugged.
 
“I couldn’t eat that many donuts, anyway.
 
How does it feel being back behind the
counter again?”

“Kind of odd so far,” I said.

“It must be even stranger having Jake work a case in
April Springs,” he answered.

“I suppose I shouldn’t be surprised that you know
about that already.”

“As mayor, I’m in the loop about anything happening
with our police department,” he said, “but I didn’t need to wait for official notification
to find out what was going on.
 
Jake
called me as soon as he talked to his boss yesterday.”

“And you’re good with the arrangement?” I asked
him.
 
Usually folks in charge didn’t
like having any outside interference when it came to running our town.

“Jake and I are on the same side.
 
If he hadn’t done it, I was going to
volunteer myself.
 
It just wouldn’t
look right having Phillip investigating the case himself.”

“Funny, I figured you had enough on your hands
running April Springs without taking over a criminal investigation, even if you
did used to be a cop on the force.”

George sighed before he spoke.
 
“To be honest with you, Polly pretty
much runs things around here.
 
She
just needs me to sign my name now and then, but it wouldn’t surprise me if she could
sign it better than I can by now.”

“You’re being overly modest,” I said.
 
I knew for a fact that George had his
hand in on a dozen decisions every week that impacted all of us who lived in
April Springs.

“Not as much as you might think.”
 
He stared at the full donut cases, and
then said, “I might not have remembered that you were going to be here today on
my own, but I did stop and buy the flowers along the way.
 
That’s got to at least count for
something.”

“How about two plain cake donuts and a cup of coffee,
my treat?” I offered.
 
That was his
regular order anyway, so I wasn’t exactly going out on a limb suggesting it.

He nodded.
 
“That’s all I’m talking about.
 
They can’t be on the house, though.”

“Why not?”

“I don’t want it to look as though I’m accepting any
bribes,” George said.

I had to laugh at that.
 
“George, we’ve been friends
forever.
 
If you could do something
for me, I wouldn’t insult your dignity by bribing you.”

“Thank you for that,” he said.

As I slid the donuts across to him, I said with a
smile, “I wouldn’t have to bribe you, would I?
 
I’d just come right out and ask you.”

“There you go,” he replied with a grin of his own as
he paid for his breakfast.
 
“So,
what’s new with the investigation?”

I turned around as though I were looking for someone
else.
 
“Are you talking to me?”

“Of course I am.”

“I’m not the one investigating Evelyn’s murder,” I
said levelly.

“Maybe not officially, but I hear that you and Grace
have already been knocking on doors asking some tough questions around town.”

“Wow, news travels fast around here, doesn’t it?” I
asked him.

“You know it better than I do.
 
How’s Jake feel about you digging into
his investigation?”

“He’s absolutely thrilled about it,” I said with a
wry smile.

George took a sip of coffee, and then he said, “Yeah,
right.
 
Is he very upset about
it?
 
I can talk to him, if you think
it might help.”

“Thanks for the offer, but we had a long discussion
about it last night.
 
We’re good.”

“For now,” George said.
 
“Tread carefully, Suzanne.
 
There’s more than a man’s pride at stake
here.”

“Nobody knows that better than I do,” I said.
 
“How are your donuts?”

“They are delicious.
 
It’s good to see that you didn’t lose
your touch during your sabbatical.”

“Don’t give me too much credit.
 
That’s one of the most basic donuts I
make here.”

“You know what I always say.
 
You can’t beat a classic,” the mayor
said with a smile as he finished up his second donut.

“Would you like another one for the road?” I asked George
as I got him a paper cup for his coffee to go.

“I’d better not,” he said.

“Come on.
 
Live dangerously.
 
I won’t
tell Polly if you won’t,” I said.

He just shook his head.
 
“Truth be told, I probably should have
stopped at one.
 
Trust me, she’ll
know the second I walk into the office later.
 
I don’t know how she does it, but she
knows.”

“It’s no great secret, George.
 
She gets you, front to back.”

“That’s what I’m afraid of,” he said as he
stood.
 
“Welcome back.”

“Glad to be here,” I said.

Ninety seconds later, I got my second surprise that
morning when Jake walked in.