Custard Crime: Donut Mystery #14 (The Donut Mysteries) (23 page)

“You mean that she was murdered,” I said, correcting
her.
 
I wasn’t about to let her
refute the distinction.

“Murdered,” Beatrice amended.
 
“Evelyn told me that if I wanted to
start a new life, a new business with her, I’d have to end it with Bryce.
 
We fought, and I stormed out of the
building.
 
It didn’t take me long to
realize that she’d been right, though.
 
I drove to Asheville, and I confronted Bryce, telling him that we were
through forever.
 
He laughed at me;
he laughed as though I was nothing to him.
 
Can you imagine how cruel that was?”

“What did you do?” I asked, forgetting for the moment
about Evelyn’s murder and focusing on Beatrice’s pain instead.

“What could I do?
 
I hurried back here, only to find that
Evelyn was dead.
 
Two dreams died
that day, and now I’m lost and all alone.”

“I’m sorry that happened to you,” Grace said, not
entirely unsympathetic herself.
 
“But what’s that got to do with this?”
 
She held the packet she’d dug up for
emphasis.

“Open it if you need to,” Beatrice said with calm
resignation.
 
“Inside it, you’ll
find a few brief notes, a couple of photographs, some receipts, and the card
from the flowers the one time Bryce cared enough to send them.
 
It’s our whole relationship in
there.
 
I was going to burn it all,
but then I decided to bury it instead.”
 
With that, she began to cry.

I put an arm around her as Grace slit open the packet
to confirm Beatrice’s story.
 
At
first I was surprised by the move, but in an instant, I knew that it had been
the right thing to do.
 
If Beatrice
were lying to us, we needed to know, but if she were telling the truth, then
this would give her an alibi, even though she clearly hadn’t realized it
yet.
 
Grace glanced through the
materials inside the packet, then nodded to me as she closed it back up.

“Beatrice, you’re about to be very glad that we found
this,” I said as I patted her shoulder.

“I don’t see how.
 
I’m completely humiliated by what I’ve
done.”

“We all make mistakes, and as you said, you didn’t
know that he was married at first.
 
That should give you at least a little absolution.”

She wasn’t about to accept that, though.
 
“Would you still feel that way if it had
been your husband I was seeing and not someone else’s?”

That was a little too close to home.
 
I had indeed been on the other end of
that situation, and my feelings toward the woman who’d cheated with my husband
hadn’t eased much to the day that she’d been murdered herself.
 
“It happened to me, and I didn’t forgive
her when I had the chance,” I admitted.

“Could you forgive her now?” Beatrice asked me.

“Believe me, I would if I could, but she’s dead now,”
I said.
 
“That’s no excuse,
though.
 
I did manage to forgive my
ex-husband finally, but it was a long, slow, and painful process.”

“There you go, then,” Beatrice said.

Grace wasn’t having any of it, though.
 
“Hang on a second.
 
You need to stop being so hard on
yourself, Beatrice.
 
You made a
mistake, and you compounded it based on what you just told us, but that doesn’t
mean that you’re condemned by it forever.
 
Make amends if you can, forgive yourself for messing up, and then get on
with your life.”

“I don’t see how I can do that,” she said in a
whisper.

“Beatrice, don’t you see?
 
This is the perfect time.
 
You have no ties now, nothing holding
you back.
 
Move forward and get on
with the rest of your life.”

I wasn’t sure how she was going to react, but after a
few moments, she nodded and looked directly at Grace.
 
“You’re right.
 
I’ve got to quit beating myself up about
what I did in the past.
 
The
important thing is that I never do it again in the future.”

“Are you going to be able to do that?” I asked her
gently.

Beatrice smiled gently.
 
“I’ll manage, even if it kills me.”
 
She let out a long and deep breath.
 
“Truthfully, I feel better already.
 
I’ve been carrying this around with me
for a very long time.
 
They’re right
when they say that confession is indeed good for the soul.”

“Keep that in mind when you tell Jake Bishop your
story,” I said as I pulled out my cellphone.

“Must I?” she asked.
 
“I’d be so embarrassed.
 
Couldn’t you do it for me?”

“Sorry, but he’s going to need to hear this directly from
you.
 
Do you have any problem with
us showing him your packet?”

She waved a hand in the air.
 
“Do what you wish with them.
 
They are memories that I’m finished
with, once and for all.”

“Jake’s going to have to contact Bryce, you know,”
Grace said, and then she added with a wicked grin, “If you’d like, we can ask
him to wait until the man’s wife is at home.”

Beatrice seemed to hesitate as she considered it, but
finally, she shook her head.
 
“No.
 
That’s just not right.
 
I won’t be responsible for a marriage
ending.
 
If she leaves him, I don’t
want it to be because of me.”

“Who knows?
 
Maybe you owe it to her to tell her what’s been going on,” Grace
suggested.

“I think she must at least suspect something,”
Beatrice said.
 
“There have been too
many clues in the past to suggest otherwise.
 
Telling her might be the right thing to
do, but I can’t bring myself to do it.
 
I have a suspicion that this isn’t the first time he’s done it, and I’m
pretty sure that it won’t be the last.
 
If she chooses to turn a blind eye to his behavior, who am I to rub her
face in it?”

“That’s an issue for another day,” I said as I called
Jake.
 
“Right now, we need to take
care of your situation.”

Jake picked up on the second ring.
 

“Where are you right now?” I asked him.

He laughed.
 
“Hi, Suzanne.
 
I’m fine.
 
And you?”

“I’m good,” I said with a hint of a grin, something I
knew that he’d be able to read in my voice.
 
“If you’re not busy, you might want to
drive over to Union Square.”

“I’m already here,” Jake said.
 
“As a matter of fact, I just left
Violet’s place.
 
You’re not going to
believe what I found out she’s been doing.”

“Do you mean the fact that she’s sleeping with
Conrad, and she may never have stopped, even though he was dating Evelyn, too?”

Jake whistled.
 
“Remind me never to underestimate you again.”

“Thanks, but that’s not why I called.
 
You need to come straight over to
Beatrice’s house.
 
She’s got
something to tell you.”

“Is she going to confess?” Jake asked in dead
seriousness.

“No, but she can provide an alibi now.”

“Then why wouldn’t she give me one earlier?” Jake asked
as I heard him start his car.

“She said that she was too embarrassed to tell you
the truth, but now that she’s had a little time to think about it, she’s ready
to talk to you.”

“I’ll see you in four minutes, then,” Jake said as he
hung up.

“He’ll be here soon,” I said as I started to stand.

Beatrice looked upset.
 
“You two aren’t going to leave me, are
you?”

“We thought you might like some privacy,” I said.

“I have nothing to hide now.
 
Could you both please stay with
me?”
 
The pleading in her voice and
her gaze were enough to break my heart, and I could see that Grace was reacting
the same way.

“We’ll stay,” I said.

“There’s no place else we’d rather be,” Grace added,
patting her hand.

And we did.

After she gave Jake the same story that she’d given
us, he stood and thanked her.
 
“I’ll
go confirm this right now, but if everything you’ve told me is the truth, you
should be fine.”

“I wasn’t sure before, but I am now,” Beatrice said.

“I was talking about the investigation,” Jake said.

“I was referring to my life,” she replied.

Before Jake could get away, I asked, “Do you have a
second?”

“Just about that,” he said.

“I’ll walk you back to your car,” I said.

“I’ll stay here with Beatrice,” Grace added.

Once we were out of their hearing range, I asked,
“You believe her, don’t you?”

“I don’t see any reason not to,” Jake said.
 
“All I need to do is to get confirmation
that this Bryce fellow actually saw her in Asheville when Evelyn was being
murdered.”

“What if he lies to you?
 
It’s entirely possible, you know.”

“That’s a good point,” Jake said as he reversed
direction and rejoined Beatrice and Grace.
 
As he reached for the packet still in Grace’s hand, he asked Beatrice,
“May I borrow these for a few days?”

“Take them,” she said.

“You’ll get them back soon, so don’t worry.”

“I don’t want them.
 
Throw them off a bridge, burn them in a
fireplace, I don’t care.
 
I just
never want to see any of that again.”

“Understood,” Jake said, and then we walked back to
his car.
 
“We make a good team,
Suzanne.
 
Thanks for that.”

“You’re most welcome.
 
Thanks for letting us stay while you
talked to Beatrice.”

“We both know that I wouldn’t have been able to get
anything out of her without the two of you.”

“Will you be back in time for dinner?”

Jake looked at his watch, and then he shook his
head.
 
“It’s ninety minutes to
Asheville, and then I have to track this adulterer down.
 
When I’m finished with him, I’ve got
another ninety minutes to drive back, so I’ll probably get back long after you’ve
gone to sleep.”

“I can stay up,” I said.

“And be groggy tomorrow on my account?
 
Don’t worry.
 
We’ll have some time together tomorrow.
 
I’ll make sure of it.”

“That would be wonderful,” I said.
 
“Have a safe trip.”

“I’ll do my best,” Jake said, and then he glanced
toward the garden where Beatrice and Grace were discussing something quite
serious from the look of it.
 
Jake
took advantage of the situation and kissed me, quickly but thoroughly.
 
“Bye, Suzanne.”

“Good-bye,” I said, and I stood there until he’d
driven away.

When I rejoined the women, Grace stood.
 
She told Beatrice, “Call me when you get
back from your sister’s place.
 
We’ll work this out.”

“Thank you both,” Beatrice said as she hugged us in
turn, and Grace and I left.

“What was that all about?” I asked her as we began
our drive back to April Springs.

“I’m going to give Beatrice a makeover,” Grace
said.
 
“What can it hurt?
 
It might help her self-esteem a little,
since it’s pretty battered as it is right now.”

“You’re okay in my book,” I told Grace.
 
Her work for a large cosmetics company
allowed her many fringe benefits, flexible working hours, and a great many free
samples.
 
I hadn’t taken much
advantage of those, but it appeared that Beatrice was about to.

“We’re not just working on her outer beauty,” Grace
said.
 
“There’s a funny, sweet woman
inside that shell, and I’m going to do everything in my power to bring her out
into the sunlight.”

“Let me know if there’s anything I can do to help,” I
said.

“Will do.
 
So, I’m guessing that Jake isn’t going to make it back in time for
dinner, is he?”

“No,” I admitted.
 
“Do you have plans with Officer Grant?”

“Stephen is working overtime as long as your
boyfriend is still in charge.
 
Jake
believes that he’s been underutilized in the past, and he’s making up for it.”

“That’s got to be a real morale booster,” I said.

“It is, but our social life is on the back burner
until further notice.”

“Welcome to the club,” I said.

“Well, just because the men can’t join us, there’s no
reason that we can’t go out somewhere to eat, is there?”

“Did you have any place in particular in mind, or do
I even have to guess?”

Grace looked down at her clothes.
 
“I don’t think I’m dressed nicely enough
for Napoli’s,” she said.

“Nonsense.
 
You look fine.”
 

“Well, we could always eat in the kitchen with
Angelica and whichever daughter is helping her out back there.”

“My guess is that it’s Sophia,” I said.
 
She was Angelica’s youngest daughter,
already showing her mother’s flair in the kitchen.