Custard Crime: Donut Mystery #14 (The Donut Mysteries) (18 page)

Jake smiled, and then he patted my hand.
 
“I appreciate that, but honestly, my
job’s lost some of its luster for me lately.
 
I’m not at all sure that this is what
I’m meant to be doing with the rest of my life.”

“Does that opinion have anything to do with getting
shot in the line of duty?” I asked him tenderly.
 
I knew that his body had recovered from
the wound, but I wasn’t so sure about his spirit.

“Of course it does, but things have been building for
some time.
 
I can’t keep hopping
around the state investigating the worst crimes imaginable forever.”

“I get that, but don’t do anything rash just
yet.
 
You’re still not over the
shooting.”

“That’s true, but in a way, I’m not sure that I ever
will be.
 
I don’t know,
Suzanne.
 
Sometimes I wish I had a
quieter life, do you know what I mean?”

“I get it,” I said.
 
“There’s a lot to be said for knowing
what your day, your week, your month, even your year is going to be like.”

“No offense, but I wouldn’t want anything that
predictable.
 
I don’t know how you
do it.”

“With a smile on my face and a song in my heart,” I
said, grinning.

“You know what I mean.”

“I do.
 
I’m the first one to admit that making donuts isn’t for everyone, but
it’s perfect for me.”
 
I finished
the last piece of silverware and handed it to him.
 
“Let me ask you something.
 
If you weren’t a cop, what would you do
with yourself?”

“Oh, I never said that I was tired of being a cop,”
Jake answered.
 
“I just wish that I
didn’t deal with the worst of the worst all of the time.
 
I wouldn’t mind writing a parking ticket
every now and then, you know what I mean?”

“That can be dangerous enough in and of itself,” I
said.

“Absolutely, but at least most times, nobody would be
shooting at me.”
 
He rinsed the
fork, dried it, and put it away.
 
“Is that it?”

“Until we make more, that will do.
 
Would you like some coffee?”

“That sounds nice,” he said.
 
“I can tell you what I found out today
while you’re making it.”

“Are you sure?”

“I’m positive.
 
I’ve had some time to think about it, and I agree with you.
 
You and Grace could be a valuable
resource to me.
 
I’d be a fool not
to use you.”

“That’s what I’ve been saying all along,” I said as I
tweaked his cheek.

“It just took me a little longer to get there,” he
admitted.
 
“But I made it.”

“That’s all that’s important in the end,” I said as I
filled the pot and flipped the switch.
 
“Should we go out into the living room, or wait around in here?”

“The couch is more comfortable,” Jake said as he
rubbed his arm a little, the one where he’d been shot.

“Is your arm bothering you?”

“It’s probably nothing.
 
I get a twinge every now and then, but
it goes away.”

“Have you spoken with your doctor about it?”

“Suzanne, all that it probably means is that it’s
going to rain.
 
Now, let’s discuss
the case.
 
Honestly, I’m surprised
that your mother hasn’t already called you with the news herself.”

A chill went through me.
 
“How does this involve my mother?”

“It doesn’t, at least not directly.
 
It’s about Chief Martin.”

“What about him?”

“Well, I’m not really sure what it means, but I just
found out today that he was still the main beneficiary listed in Evelyn’s
will.
 
Julie wasn’t very happy about
discovering it, I can tell you that.”

“But she was so sure that she was inheriting
everything,” I said.
 
“How did the
chief react when you told him about it?”

“He seemed to be surprised enough to get the news,”
Jake said.
 
“I have to give him
credit.
 
He knew right away what
that meant for him.”

“It makes him an even stronger suspect now, doesn’t
it?”

Jake nodded.
 
“Not only that, but what was in Evelyn’s appointment book gave me
another lead.”

I was a little disappointed that he’d found it,
too.
 
“Jake, why didn’t your men
take it with them when they found it?
 
I thought you said that you hadn’t searched the place yet?”

He grinned slyly at me.
 
“I said that I hadn’t
thoroughly
searched it, if you’ll
recall.
 
Suzanne, you never asked me
how I knew that Chief Martin was inside Evelyn’s home today.”

“Were you watching the house?” I asked, wondering if
he’d seen Grace and me break in as well.

“No, I didn’t have the time to do that, but I’ve had
a few men go by the house on rotation, and one of them happened to see the
chief going in as he was driving by.”

“You left it there as bait, didn’t you?” I asked,
admiring Jake even more.

“Among other things,” he admitted.
 
“And look what I caught.”

“So, what about the book gave you another clue?”

“Evelyn was meeting with an attorney about changing
her will,” Jake said.
 
“Julie was indeed
set to inherit everything, but Evelyn never had a chance to implement her last
wishes.”

“Wow, that looks even worse for Chief Martin, doesn’t
it?”

“There’s certainly one way of looking at it that
strengthens the case against him,” he admitted.

“You don’t think he really did it, do you?
 
Come on, Jake.
 
You know the man.
 
He’s not a killer.”

“Under ordinary circumstances I’d agree with you, but
there’s a great deal of money at stake here, and there was a known animosity
between him and his ex-wife.”

“That doesn’t make him a killer,” I said strongly.

“Of course it doesn’t.
 
Right now, though, it’s just another
piece of the puzzle to be considered.”
 
Jake rubbed my shoulder lightly.
 
“Take it easy, Suzanne.
 
Nobody’s accusing anybody of doing anything just yet.
 
Like you said, I’m just collecting
information myself.”

“Sorry.
 
I
guess I’m a little on edge when it comes to my mother’s new husband.”

“It’s perfectly understandable,” Jake said.
 

“Did you find anything else out today?” I asked him
after the coffee was ready and we each had a mug.

“There was one more little tidbit that might prove
useful later,” he said.

“Can you tell me?”

“I can, but again, it has to be in the strictest of
confidences.”

“I’ve already given you my word,” I said.

“I know.
 
I just wanted to emphasize how important this is.
 
We now have an eyewitness who saw
Beatrice leaving the crime scene an hour before Evelyn’s body was found.”

“Wow, that’s pretty bad for her, isn’t it?”

Jake just shrugged.
 
“She claims that it was all perfectly
innocent, that Evelyn was fine when she left her, but as far as we know right
now, she was the last person to see her business partner alive.”

“Besides the killer, you mean,” I said.

“Only if they aren’t one and the same person,” Jake
replied.

“So, this isn’t going to be as clear-cut as you
thought at first, is it?”

Jake frowned.
 
“That’s turning out to be true enough.”

“Why the frown?
 
You’ve had tough cases before.”

“I know, but my boss is already accusing me of
dragging this out just so I can spend more time with you.
 
He’s regretting assigning me to the case
already.”

“What does the man expect from you, a miracle?”

Jake nodded.
 
“That’s exactly what he wants.”

“In a way, it’s your own fault.
 
You know that, don’t you?”

“How is that?”

“Well, if you weren’t so good at what you did, he
wouldn’t keep getting these unrealistic expectations.”

Jake laughed.
 
“I suppose that’s one way of looking at things.”

“Hey, spinning a negative into a positive is what I
do best,” I said.
 
I glanced at the
clock and saw how late it was getting, not for normal folks, but certainly for
anyone who worked in a donut shop.
 
“I hate to do this, but I’m really beat.
 
Getting back into the donut business was
harder than I thought it would be.”

“Don’t apologize to me.
 
I hope you sleep well.”

I kissed him lightly, and then I smiled.
 
“Don’t stay up too late yourself.
 
You have a big day tomorrow finding
Evelyn’s killer.”

“Right back at you,” he said as I walked up the steps
to my room.
 
It was wonderful having
Jake with me, but I knew that it wasn’t possible for it to last.
 
If Momma’s marriage and move had taught
me nothing else, it was that things couldn’t stay the way they were forever,
and hoping otherwise was as useless as trying to make it snow with willpower
alone.

Chapter 17

“This is your day today,” I told Emma the next
morning at the donut shop.
 
“Why
don’t you get started on the cake donuts while I prep up front?”

My assistant smiled.
 
“Let me get this straight.
 
I can make whatever donuts I’d like,
right?”

“Within reason,” I said with a smile.
 
“Our customers expect our regular menu, flavors
like plain, chocolate, blueberry cake, etcetera.”

“So then the answer is no, is that what you’re
saying?”

I was being too strict with her, and I knew it.
 
What good would it do to let her make
donuts her way if I controlled the types of donuts that she could make?
 
“How about this?
 
You can try one new recipe every week,
and I won’t say a word about it, no matter how outlandish it might sound to me.
 
Is that fair?”

“Even if it’s the new coffee-toffee combo I’ve been
planning?”

It sounded dreadful to me, but what could it hurt to
offer one odd donut every now and then?
 
“That’s fine, but just make two dozen, okay?”

“I can do that,” she said.
 
“Thanks for giving me this opportunity.”

“Hey, as far as I’m concerned, you’ve more than
earned it.
 
Besides, it might be fun
being on dish duty instead of being responsible for the entire day’s output
once in a while.”

“You’re still doing the yeast donuts though, right?”

“If you don’t mind,” I said.
 
“I’d like to.”

“That sounds great. This should break things up
enough to keep things interesting for the both of us.”
 
As Emma started mixing batters for the
various cake donuts we offered, I busied myself doing her early morning tasks
like setting up the dining area and making sure all of the napkin holders were
full.
 
It felt so strange being out
of the kitchen while I was at Donut Hearts, but it was important that I do
this.
 

After I had everything ready, I walked back in to rejoin
her.

“I hate to do this to you, but I’m just about to drop
the first donuts,” she said.
 
“Do
you mind going back up front?”

“No, it’s fine,” I said.
 
The dropper we used was heavy, and I’d
let it slip from my hands once, taking a nice chunk out of the wall.
 
Since then, it had been store policy that
whoever was not dropping donuts into the hot oil had to be out of firing range,
just in case there was ever another slip, though it hadn’t happened again in my
tenure.

I walked back out front again and tried to figure out
what I could do, but I’d already accomplished the tasks I’d had on my
list.
 
I found an old newspaper
tucked under one of the couch cushions, so I opened the paper to see what Ray
had to say about the small world we all lived in.
 
If there was anything worse than reading
old news, I wasn’t sure what it might be.
 
I was about to throw it in our recycling bin when there was a sudden
tapping on the front door.
 

It was Robby Chastain!

I walked over to the door and said, “Sorry, but we’re
not open for hours yet.”

“I’m not here for donuts.
 
Suzanne, we need to talk.”

I wasn’t all that excited about speaking with one of
our murder suspects alone, especially with Emma occupied in the back room.
 
“Can’t it wait until we open?”

“I guess so,” Robby said, and then he started to walk
off into the darkness.

I started regretting brushing him off immediately.
 
Against my better judgment, I unlocked
the front door and stepped outside.
 
“I suppose I can give you two minutes, but then Emma’s going to need me
back inside.”

“Thanks.
 
I couldn’t sleep because something’s been bothering me.”
 
He looked deep into my eyes as he added,
“Suzanne, I know.”

“Know what?
 
Who killed Evelyn?”
 
Was I
about to get a solid lead in the case?