Drop Dead Chocolate (25 page)

“No, of course not, but men have been known to do stupid things in the past.”

I nodded. “And even a few women, too.”

“You know what I mean,” she said.

“I do.”

As I drove on, Grace asked, “Aren’t you at least going to call your mother and tell her what we just saw?”

I shook my head. “It’s none of my business.”

“Even if it means she’s going to be hurt by this?”

I thought about it and realized that it was fine line I was dancing. If I didn’t call Momma and it turned out that Grace’s suspicions were true, I’d feel like a fool. Then again, if I called and it turned out to be innocent, or nothing at all, Momma would be upset because I was meddling.

I decided to take a chance on getting her mad, and reached for my phone.

“Momma, it’s me. Got a second?”

“Just that,” she said. “I’m on my way to meet Phillip for lunch.”

It was an opening I couldn’t resist. “I just saw him, as a matter of fact. He was leaving Evelyn’s place.”

Momma sighed. “Yes, she’s been badgering him to come over, and he decided to go now so he could use his lunch with me as an excuse to get away.”

“And you don’t mind?” I asked.

“Mind? Why would I mind? I encouraged it. Evelyn has to learn that they aren’t together anymore. She’s having a more difficult time understanding that than I ever would have imagined. Now, what is it you wanted?”

I had to come up with a lie, and it had to be good, and fast. “I’ve got extra donuts, and I was wondering if you’d like any.”

“Thank you for the offer, but I’m afraid I have to pass. Is that it?”

“That’s it,” I said. “Have a good lunch.”

“I intend to,” she said, and then hung up.

Grace was incredulous. “Donuts? You offered your mother, the best cook and baker in the county,
donuts
?”

“What else was I supposed to do? Not only did she know about the chief seeing his ex-wife, she actually encouraged it. I’m just glad I could come up with something on the spot.”

“Thinking of donuts must have been quite a reach for you,” she said with a smile.

“What can I say? I’m a woman with a one-track mind.”

APPLE YEAST DONUTS

I like to try variations of favorite donuts from time to time, and I’m quite pleased most of the time with the results, like this one. This recipe incorporates a Granny Smith apple, a tart and sweet apple I like to use for baking and donut making. This donut is delicious!

INGREDIENTS

Wet

• 1 cup warm water

• 1 packet active dry yeast (¼ oz.)

• 1 tablespoon granulated white sugar

• 2 eggs, beaten slightly

• ½ cup granulated white sugar

• ¼ cup canola oil

• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract

• 1 teaspoon grated lemon peel

• Enough Canola Oil to fry donuts

Dry

• 3 cups all-purpose flour (I prefer unbleached, but bleached is fine, and so is bread flour)

• ½ cup finely diced apple (Granny Smith for its tartness)

DIRECTIONS

Combine the water, yeast, and sugar in a small bowl and set aside.

Combine everything (eggs, sugar, oil, vanilla extract, lemon peel, finely diced apple) in another bowl EXCEPT the yeast mix (water, yeast, sugar) and the flour.

Add the yeast mix, stir, and then begin adding flour. The dough will be a little sticky, so don’t worry about it. Turn out on a floured surface and knead the dough a few minutes, then cover and let rise in a warm place for about an hour and a half. I like to cover the bowl with Saran Wrap while it’s raising, too.

Heat canola oil to 365 degrees before you roll out the dough.

After the dough has doubled in size, roll it out to ½–¼ inch thick, then cut with a donut cutter.

Fry the donuts, not crowding the oil, flipping them when one side is brown.

Once the donuts are finished, remove them to a cooling rack and drain on paper towels. These donuts can be dusted with cinnamon sugar (1 tablespoon granulated white sugar mixed with 1 teaspoon cinnamon).

Makes 6–10 donuts, depending on the size of your cutter

CHAPTER 17

“Mr. Yeats, could we have a moment of your time?” I asked as we found Garrett Yeats working in his backyard. Cam’s newly purchased land was on one side of Hannah’s property, and Garrett’s was on the other. He hadn’t answered the door when we’d rung the bell, so Grace and I had gone around back to see if we could find him there.

“That depends. Are you paying for it with donuts?” He eyed the box as though it contained gold instead of my treats.

“That’s the deal,” I said as I offered him the box.

He opened the lid like a kid at Christmas. “I shouldn’t,” he said as he surveyed my offering, “but I will.” Garrett was a spry, older man who clearly loved to garden. All around us was a lovely landscape, and though it was February, it must have all been spectacular when it bloomed. Even in winter, the terracing, fountains, and arbors made it look as though it had been ripped from the pages of a horticultural magazine.

“Your garden is breathtaking,” I said.

“This? You should see it when it’s in full bloom. Glenda started it, and she poured so much of herself into it that when she died, I decided I had to keep it going. It’s all for her.”

“How long has it been?” Grace asked quietly.

“She passed away four years ago tomorrow, as a matter of fact. I’m taking some greenery to her grave, but on the half-year anniversary of her passing, I take her the loveliest bouquets so I can show her how everything is doing.”

“I’m so sorry for your loss,” I said. I knew they’d been together forever, and I couldn’t imagine the hole his wife’s departure must have left in his heart. Then again, Momma had had a hole herself for the longest time, and it was just now beginning to heal.

“Don’t be,” he said with a sad smile. “We had more time together than most, and I feel closest to her when I’m out here working.”

He must have heard something that Grace and I had missed, because he suddenly stopped talking and shushed us.

I finally heard someone singing off-key, mangling the words to a song I loved. It was Hannah, and I suddenly understood Garrett’s desire not to be spotted.

After she was safely past us, Garrett shook his head. “You can set your watch by that woman. From ten o’clock to eleven fifteen every morning, rain or shine, she’s walking her property, singing in the worst way, and generally upsetting the wildlife around here. I duck her every chance I get, but sometimes I can’t get away in time, and she chews my ear off.”

“Did you happen to see her the day Cam Hamilton was murdered?” I asked.

“Oh, yes,” Garrett said. “That was one of the bad days.”

“Because of his murder?” Grace asked.

Garrett actually blushed a little. “It should have been because of that, but I meant it was one of the times Hannah caught me. She must have blabbered on for forty-five minutes about Cam and how he was going to destroy our neighborhood.”

“Any idea when you two finished talking?” I asked.

“It was around eleven-thirty,” he said. “My stomach was grumbling and groaning the whole time.”

“Why wouldn’t she admit that to us?” I asked. “It gives her a perfect alibi.”

Garrett chuckled softly. “That I can guess. Hannah is trying to lose weight, and this walking routine around her property is the way she’s chosen to do it. If she admits to being out walking for so long, she has to admit why she’s doing it, and that woman has become as vain as they come. When she had her shop, she was too busy to stop to eat much, but since she closed her business and sold the building, she’s been slowly putting on the pounds.” He winked at us and said, “Do me a favor and don’t tell her I said that.”

“Thanks, Mr. Yeats” I said.

“Is that all you wanted? And I get six donuts for it?”

“Actually, there are seven in there,” I said, “and you earned every bite.”

“Come back anytime,” he said. “And you don’t have to bring donuts next time, either. I just wish I had flowers to share with you that come close to matching how lovely you two ladies are this fine, brisk day.”

As we walked back to the Jeep, Grace said, “He’s a real charmer, isn’t he?”

“From what I’ve heard, he always has been,” I said. “I can’t believe that Hannah is so vain that she wouldn’t use an alibi that clears her of murder just because she doesn’t want anyone to know that she was exercising.”

“Funny, I have no problem believing it at all,” Grace said.

After we drove for a few minutes, I said, “I suppose we have to tackle Evelyn now.”

“Well, her neighbors, at any rate,” Grace said. “Sorry, there’s no way around it.”

“At least we’re all set with bribes,” I said as I glanced in the back where the donuts were safely resting.

“There aren’t many folks who can say no to them, are there?”

I laughed. “There are a few holdouts, but not that many.”

I parked down the block so that Evelyn wouldn’t see us as we got out.

At least that was my theory.

It was just too bad that she came out her front door the second I parked.

*   *   *

“Duck,” I told Grace, who did it without being asked.

I peeked over the dash and saw Evelyn getting into her car, a brand-new blue Toyota Yaris that I had to wonder if she’d paid for with money from the divorce settlement.

“What are we doing?” Grace asked.

“There’s a change of plans. We’re going to follow Evelyn and see where she’s going.”

“Isn’t this the perfect time to talk to her neighbors?” Grace asked. “At least then we know there’s no way she’s going to just pop up.”

“We’ll come back if there’s time, but I’ve got a hunch this is more important.”

“Then let’s follow her,” Grace suggested. She was easy to get on board any plan I came up with, supporting it as strongly as though she’d developed it herself.

As Evelyn drove on ahead of us, I tried to stay back far enough so she wouldn’t spot me, but close enough so that I wouldn’t lose her. It was harder than it sounded, complicated by the fact that there were only a handful of Jeeps the color of mine in the county. If she spotted us on her tail, I had a feeling there was going to be a scene, and a bad one at that.

“Why is she going there?” Grace asked as we saw Evelyn head toward the hospital.

“I haven’t a clue. Could she be visiting someone?” I asked.

But Evelyn didn’t turn off when we got to the hospital. Instead, she kept driving toward Maple Hollow.

I had a feeling in my gut that I knew exactly where she was headed.

I just didn’t know why.

When she turned off two miles later, I knew I had to be right. “This is the way to Harvey Hunt’s place.”

“Why would Evelyn go see Harvey?” Grace asked.

“I wish I knew, but this is too big a coincidence to write off.”

Sure enough, Evelyn pulled into Harvey’s driveway, and I managed to hide the Jeep twenty feet down the road behind a stand of white pines. It gave us enough cover to be out of sight, but we could still see Harvey’s front door. Evelyn got out of her car and walked up the front steps. After ringing the bell half a dozen times, she looked as though she were about to explode.

Even at the distance Grace and I were watching from, we could hear her pounding on the door with her fist. “Harvey, open this door this instant, you big coward. The money I loaned you may not mean much to you, but it’s just about all I have in the world, and I want it back right now, one way or the other. Either you give me my cash, or I’ll take it out of your hide!”

There was still no response, and Evelyn left the porch and walked around to the back of the house. I had to give her chops: she was persistent. As soon as she disappeared, I opened the Jeep door and started to get out.

“Where are you going?” Grace asked, whispering for some odd reason.

“We need to see what she does next,” I answered.

“How are we going to explain being here if she catches us?”

I grabbed a box of donuts, not at all sure how I was going to use them, but glad I had them with me.

Grace looked at me with open wonder. “Donuts? Seriously?”

“Come on,” I said as I headed toward the house. “Where’s your sense of adventure?”

“Just being your friend is an adventure most of the time,” she said with a low laugh.

We got around the house just in time to see Evelyn start pounding on the back door.

The response was the same, and I had to wonder if Harvey was even there. I wasn’t sure what Evelyn was going to do next, but if she threw a brick through Harvey’s window, it wouldn’t have surprised me in the least.

There was nothing that dramatic, though. She finally gave up, and as she walked back to her car, Grace and I cut through a neighbor’s yard and raced for my Jeep.

Only to find Jake already standing there, as though he’d been waiting for the two of us all along.

*   *   *

“Care to explain yourselves?” Jake asked with a smile.

“Would you believe we’re having a fund-raiser for charity?” I asked as I held the box of donuts in my hand out to him. “Care to buy a half dozen?”

Jake shook his head. “Sorry, I’m not buying it. What’s going on?”

I thought about a thousand lies I could tell him but finally settled on the truth. “We were following Evelyn Martin, and to our surprise, she led us straight here.”

“Do I even want to know why you were tailing the police chief’s ex-wife?”

“She’s on our suspect list,” I admitted. “Hey, I’ve got some good news. We came up with an alibi for Hannah.”

Jake looked surprised to hear it. “Go on, I’m listening.”

“She was walking her land for exercise when Cam was murdered.”

My boyfriend frowned at the news. “How could you possibly know that?”

“Go talk to Garrett Yeats,” I said. “He’s her alibi. Ironically enough, she talked the entire time about how they had to do something to stop Cam from clear-cutting the lot beside her.”

“Good work. I’ll talk to him,” Jake said.

“We gave you something,” Grace said. “It’s only fair that you tell us something. We told you why we’re here, but how about you? I refuse to believe that we all just randomly showed up at the same place.”