Fatally Frosted (22 page)

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“Good morning, Heather. Can I get you something?”

“I’ve got problems,” she said.

“What’s wrong?”

She looked as though she was about to cry.

“It seems that my dear old aunt wasn’t as wealthy as she claimed to be. I’ve got a stack of bills to pay, and there’s not going to be enough money left after I’m through for me to buy a donut.”

“I’m so sorry,” I said.

“It’s not that I wanted her money, but it would have been nice to be able to pay off my college loans, you know? That book you found got my hopes up, until her attorney started digging into it. I won’t even be able to afford to pay him,” she said.

I got her a cup of coffee and a bear claw.

She looked ruefully at them. “I’m not sure I can afford these.”

“My treat,” I said. “Think of them as a rainy day kit to cheer you up.”

“Unless these things are laced with Prozac, I don’t think they’re going to help, but thanks for the thought.”

While I had her here, it was a golden chance to ask her about her relationship with her aunt, and if the opportunity came up, about the note Grace had found in Peg’s jacket. “Do you have a second?”

“I guess,” she said.

“Come with me,” I said.

Heather wasn’t any mood to cooperate, though. “Where are we going?”

“We’re just ducking back into the kitchen. I want to talk to you, but I don’t feel like doing it out here. You can bring your breakfast with you.”

She grabbed the bear claw and the coffee and followed me, though it was clear she was pretty confused about what was going on. As we walked into the kitchen, Emma looked up from her station at the sink, where her arms were buried up to her elbows in soapy water.

“I need you to cover the front for a few minutes,” I said.

She nodded. “I’ll take care of it as soon as I hear the door chime.”

“Some of the tables need to be cleaned in the meantime,” I said, signaling her that I wanted some privacy.

Reluctantly, she picked up a dishtowel, and as she dried her hands, she said, “Okay, Boss, I’ll get right on it.”

After she was gone, I said, “Heather, I’m sorry. I know it’s a difficult time for you, but I need to ask you about something.”

“You’ve got me curious,” Heather said.

I desperately wanted to confront her about the note Grace and I had found, but if I came out and
asked her about it, she’d know we’d been snooping when we’d offered to help her. Maybe there was another way to ask her about it without letting her know that we’d been rummaging through her aunt’s things in search of clues.

“If you don’t mind me saying so, you seem to be in an awfully big hurry to get things wrapped up here,” I said. “Goodness knows she had a prickly side sometimes, so I can understand wanting to put all of this behind you.”

She took a sip of coffee, then said, “Suzanne, I know most folks around here weren’t all that fond of my aunt, but I loved her. When things got tight at college, she slipped me a few dollars to tide me over, and while it might not seem like much to anyone else, it was a lifesaver for me. She had her good points. Look at her charity work.”

It wasn’t the time or place to get into any theories that Peg had used them as her own personal bank accounts. “I’m not saying you don’t have a right to mourn her. You do.”

It looked like she was going to cry again as she said, “Do you know how hard this is for me? She’s the last bit of family I have left. Had. I still can’t get used to saying that. I just want to put this all behind me and get on with my life.”

“Were you two having troubles in the end?” I asked softly.

“Why? What have you heard?” That certainly caught her attention.

“It’s a small town,” I said. “People talk.”

“Okay, I admit it. We had some hard things to say to each other the last time we spoke.”

“What were you two fighting about?” I asked.

“I tried to tell her she was wrong, but she wouldn’t listen to me.”

“Wrong about what?” I was getting close, and I knew it.

“We’re all liable for the actions we take, the decisions we make,” she said. “I’m not about to go into it with you, Suzanne, but my aunt did something wrong, something she showed no remorse for. I tried to talk her into making a clean breast of it all, but she refused. The last time we spoke, I said some truly awful things to her, and now I can never take them back.” Heather dabbed an errant tear tracking down her cheek, then added, “I want to do what needs to be done here, clean out the house, and leave town. No offense, but after I’m finished, I never want to see April Springs again.”

“I can understand that,” I said. “I’m so sorry.”

“About what?”

“Everything you’re going through,” I said. I believed her. The hurt in her eyes when she spoke about her aunt was too real to feign.

After Heather left, I kept wondering about where my clues were leading me. It seemed every time I turned one corner, another roadblock appeared.

Emma poked her head in through the door. “Is everything all right back here?”

“I’m fine,” I said. “Why do you ask?”

“You’ve got customers waiting out front, and I have a sink full of dishes. Do you want to trade back, or should I get started again?”

“You go ahead,” I said. “I’ll handle the customers.”

That was how we each preferred things. Folks
liked to see the owner greet them, since my shop was such a small one, and Emma was happiest buried up to her elbows in soapsuds.

Grace showed up at the donut shop ten minutes before noon.

“That was fast, even for you,” I said.

“My boss is in New York at a conference, so I’m like a kid out of school for summer vacation. I just had to do a quick drop-in with a couple of customers, and then I was finished for the day.”

“Won’t your customers miss you?”

She grinned. “You’d think so, wouldn’t you? Suzanne, I could always go somewhere else.”

“Don’t be a nit. I just don’t want you to get fired.”

She laughed. “That’s not likely to happen. I know where all of the bodies are buried in my division.” Grace thought about that a second, then said, “That’s in pretty bad taste, given what’s been happening around here lately, isn’t it?”

“Don’t worry, I won’t hold it against you.”

“Good.” She looked around the deserted shop, and at the three dozen donuts still in the display case behind me. “Is business that bad?”

“You don’t know the half of it. I’ve got four more dozen in back,” I said. “It’s more than I’d like to have on hand, but then again, it’s not as bad as I’ve been afraid it would be. Things have slowed down some, but it rained today, and that might account for most of it.”

“Are you telling me that a little rain is enough to kill your business?”

“Absolutely. When it snows, I’m tempted not to
even bother opening. You know how things are around here. We get a few flurries and folks stay home. An inch or two and the entire town goes into lockdown.”

“And yet you don’t miss a day at the shop,” she said as she sat at a stool at the counter.

“Are you kidding? I get to walk across the park in the moonlight with snow falling all around me, or creep through town in my Jeep in a winter wonderland. It’s like being in some kind of massive snow globe. What’s the worst that could happen? If we get a ton of snow and I can’t drive back to Momma’s, I’m never more than a brisk walk away from home. Besides, if my dear, sweet mother and I are cooped up together for too long, we tend to get on each other’s nerves.”

Grace nodded as she rocked gently back and forth on the stool. “So, what are we going to investigate after you finish up here? Are there any new suspects we can confront?”

“To be honest with you, I’m not sure what we should do next.”

Emma came out of the kitchen. “Suzanne, I was wondering . . . oh, hi, Grace. I didn’t hear you come in.”

“Is your iPod cranked up again?” I asked.

“You had the front covered,” she said a little too defensively. “All of the dishes are done, except for the last few trays. Can I take off early?”

“What’s going on? Do you have a big date?” Grace asked her before I could warn her off the subject.

“I’m not sure,” Emma said.

“New developments?” I asked.

She shrugged. “Paul called. He wants to talk.”

“Go,” I said. “And good luck.”

“Thanks,” she said as she raced out the door.

“What was that all about?” Grace asked after we were alone.

“Emma’s having trouble with her new boyfriend.”

Grace laughed. “There must be a lot of that going around.”

I looked at her. “Why do you say that?”

I had my back to her, collecting the last of the donuts from the display trays.

“Maybe you should turn around,” Grace said.

“What are you talking about?”

“Unless I’m mistaken, someone’s walking up the sidewalk with some flowers for you.”

It was Jake.

So he’d decided to make a grand gesture after all.

Grace slipped off the stool. “I’ll catch up with you later. Call me when you’re through here.”

“You don’t have to leave,” I said as Jake neared the door.

“I won’t go far. Come by the Boxcar after he leaves and we’ll have lunch. That way we can eat as we plan what we’re going to do next.”

“Sounds good. See you soon.”

As Jake opened the door, Grace slipped out. She said a quick hello, then left us. “She didn’t have to leave,” Jake said. “I can only stay a minute.”

“She didn’t go far. How’s your niece?”

“She’s much better. It’s almost like she was never sick, you know? I get the sniffles and I’m down for a week. I just don’t get it.”

I said, “She’s young, and we’re not.” He wasn’t going to say anything, so I looked at the roses in his hands. “Are those for me, or are you just taking them out for a walk?”

He started to redden. “Sorry. I’ve warned you enough times that I’m not very good at this. Of course they’re for you.”

I gladly took them. They were lovely, crimson buds that held the promise of bloom tightly within their clinched petals. “They’re exquisite.” I leaned forward and kissed him on the cheek. “Thank you.”

“You’re welcome.”

I was smiling at him, but it quickly vanished when I looked out the window.

Jake picked up on it in an instant. “Was it something I said?”

“No, I thought I just saw a ghost.” It was true, too. Max had been walking toward the donut shop, but when he’d spotted me with Jake—and the roses in my hands—he’d turned white and rushed away. By the time Jake turned around to look, Max was gone.

But my ex-husband managed to kill my good mood.

“Can we talk again tonight?” Jake asked.

“Over dinner?”

“I’d honestly love to, but I can’t,” he said. “I’ve already missed too much work. I need to catch up on what’s been going on.”

“You know, if you really want to get back in my good graces, there is one thing you could do.”

“Forget it,” Jake said, laughing. “I’m not sharing police business with you.”

I smiled at him. “Hey, it was worth a shot.”

He leaned forward and kissed my cheek. “Thanks. I’ve really missed you lately.”

“Me, too,” I said.

After he was gone, I took out a large vase from the back and filled it full of water. The roses looked lovely on the counter, but before I went home, I’d collect them and take them with me.

If for nothing else, it would be fun seeing the look on my mother’s face.

I found Grace sitting at a booth in the Boxcar.

She waved me over to her and said, “Hurry up. I look like a pig hogging this booth all to myself.”

“I came as fast as I could,” I said. I pretended to study the menu as I said, “Let’s see. What looks good today? I feel like something different.”

Grace knocked the menu out of my hands. “I don’t think so. What just happened? I want details.”

“You mean with Jake?”

She said, “You’re not funny, you know that, don’t you?”

I laughed, something I hadn’t done much of lately. “We’re both going to try harder,” I admitted.

“At least he’s making some effort.”

“That’s true.” My stomach grumbled. “I’m starving, but don’t let me forget, I’ve got four dozen donuts back at the shop I need to get rid of.”

“What are you going to do with them?” she asked.

“I’m sure we’ll think of something.”

Trish came over and smiled. “Good afternoon. Are you two ladies ready to order?”

After we told her what we wanted, Trish said, “By the way, those roses were beautiful, or so I heard.”

“How on earth did you hear that? Grace, have you been spreading rumors and lies about me again?”

She nodded. “Of course I have, but I didn’t say anything to her about the roses. I swear.”

Trish laughed. “Sarah from the flower shop came in for a quick bite, and she told me how long it took your policeman to pick out the right bouquet for you.”

Grace said, “It’s tough to go wrong with roses.”

Trish shrugged as she said, “I don’t know, I like daisies myself. They’re so happy.”

I said, “He really spent some time thinking about it?”

Trish nodded. “Sarah said it took him half an hour.”

After she was gone to place our orders, I looked at Grace and saw her grinning at me. “What’s that about?”

“You’re happy about this, aren’t you?”

I laughed. “Getting flowers is better than being called names,” I said. “Who wouldn’t be happy getting them?”

“I can’t remember the last time a man brought me flowers,” she said wistfully.

“You can have half of mine,” I said, joking.

Evidently she took me seriously. She thought about it a few moments, then said, “Thanks, but it just wouldn’t be the same, would it?”

“No, I don’t think so. I could send you flowers myself, if you’d just like to get some.”

“Again, thanks, but no.” She played with her fork,
spinning it lazily on the table, as she asked, “So, what’s next on our agenda?”

I said, “Let’s enjoy our meal, and then we’ll talk about the case.”

“Good enough,” she said. “Here it comes right now.”

We ate, chatting about nothing in particular, and after we finished, I felt like I was ready to take on the world again.