Jessica Beck - Donut Shop 18 - Dangerous Dough (18 page)

Chapter 22

“Suzanne, did you
realize that you had a flat tire?” Grace asked me as she walked into the donut
shop a few minutes before closing.

“What?
 
No.
 
When did that happen?
 
It was
fine when I drove over here this morning.”

“Well, it’s flat
now,” she said.
 
“Do you need to
call someone?”

“Call someone
about what?” Jake asked as he walked in soon after Grace came in.

“I’ve got a flat
tire,” I said as I grabbed my cellphone.

“Who are you
calling?” Jake asked me.

“Somebody to fix
it.
 
I can’t drive around on a flat
tire,” I said.

“Hang up the
phone.
 
I’ll take care of it
myself.”

“Jake, I’m sure
you’ve got more important things to do with your time than change the tire on
my Jeep.”

“As a matter of
fact, right now, that’s my top priority.”

I could tell instantly
that I wasn’t going to win this argument.
 
For some reason, it appeared that this was a matter of pride for
him.
 
All and all, I was just as
happy to let him do it.
 
Honestly, it
was nice having someone looking out for me.
 
I threw him the keys and smiled.
 
“The spare’s mounted on back.”

“I know where it
is,” Jake said.
 
“I’ll have it done
in a jiff.”

“As long as a
jiff is less than twenty minutes, then we should be fine,” I said with a laugh.

“Start the
clock,” he said as he left the building.

Grace started
smiling the moment he was gone.
 
“What’s that smile for?” I asked her.

“I just enjoy
having him around,” she said.

“That makes two
of us.
 
So, did you manage to break
free this afternoon, or do you have to go back to work?”
 
Grace’s job hours were flexible, but
they weren’t entirely fluid at times.

“I took the entire
day off, so I’m all yours,” she said.

“You didn’t need
to take the whole day,” I protested.

“Are you
kidding?
 
I wanted to sleep in.
 
The first half of the day was for me;
the second half is for you and our investigation.”

“Good.
 
If everything goes as planned, then we
should be able to get out of here as soon as Jake finishes changing my
tire.
 
Emma’s already got most of
the dishes, glasses, mugs, and trays cleaned and ready for the next day.
 
I’ve got less than a dozen donuts left to
deal with out here, a report to run, a deposit to make, and then we’ll be ready
to go.”

“We don’t have to
sell all of the donuts first, do we?” she asked me.

“Of course
not.”
 
I glanced at my watch and
then added, “You know what?
 
I think
I’ll go ahead and lock up.
 
You can
sit over there if you’d like.
 
I
won’t be long.”

“You know me; I
don’t mind sweeping,” Grace said as she grabbed a broom.

It was different
than when Jake had done it.
 
For one
thing, sweeping had been next on the list then, while I was nowhere near ready
for it now.
 
For another, Jake was
methodical in everything he did, while Grace was more hit or miss, especially
when it came to cleaning.
 
I took the
broom right back from her.
 
“As much
as I appreciate your offer, we have an order we do things in around here.
 
The tables get cleaned first, the chairs
get put up, and only then do we do the floor.”

“Got it.
 
Tables.
 
Chairs.
 
Floor.
 
I think I can handle it.”

She reached for
the broom again, but I wouldn’t let it go.
 
Instead, I repeated, “Remember.
 
It’s tables, chairs, and then floors.”

“I’ve got it,”
she said as she grabbed a dishrag and started wiping the tabletops down.

I was tired
fighting her, so I flipped the sign to show we were closed and locked the front
door.
 
While I ran the day’s
reports, I looked in on Emma in back.
 
“How’s it going?”

“Almost got it
knocked out.
 
Is there anything else
to do up front?”

“Just this,”
Grace said as she carried in the last tray that still held donuts.

“Hey,” Emma said
with a smile.
 
“I didn’t realize you
were out there.”

“I’m pitching
in,” she said proudly.

I managed to hide
my smile from Grace, but not from Emma.

“Let me take that
for you,” Emma said as she reached for the tray.
 
After depositing the last of the donuts
into an empty box, my assistant slid the tray into the soapy water, cleaned it,
rinsed it, and then put it in the rack along with the rest, where they’d be waiting
for me in the morning.
 
I used to
put everything away at closing in the past, but Emma and Sharon had shown me
that it made more sense just to leave things where they were more easily
accessible the next morning.
 

“I’ll be out
front waiting and raring to go,” Grace said.

After she was
gone, Emma said softly and with a grin, “Funny, I didn’t know that you were
hiring extra help.”

“Trust me, this
is strictly on a voluntary basis.”
 
I looked around the kitchen and was happy to see that it was
spotless.
 
“You may have to do
things over out front tomorrow morning.”

“Got it,” she
said.

“Well, everything
looks good back here.
 
You can take
off if you’d like.”

“Thanks, Boss,”
she said, and then she traded her apron for her jacket and scooted out of the
shop.
 

I grabbed the box
of leftovers and headed out front to rejoin Grace.

“Everything okay
out here?” I asked her.

“Right as rain,”
she said.
 
“Your cash register
stopped working, though.
 
Is that a
problem?”

“No, it just
means that the report is finished,” I said as I tore off the tape.
 
After comparing it with the cash in the
till, I was pleased to find that it balanced perfectly.
 
“We’re good to go as soon as we lock up.”

“Then let’s roll,”
Grace said proudly.

I could tell in
an instant that things hadn’t been done they way that I preferred, but all in
all, it was good enough.
 
Besides,
making things right again would give Emma something to do in the morning while
I was making the cake donuts.

“Okay by me,” I
said.
 
“Thanks for pitching in.”

“It was my
pleasure.”

Grace and I left
the donut shop, and then I paused outside just after I’d locked the door.
 
“Hang on one second.
 
I’ll be right back.”

“Did I do
something wrong?” she asked.

“Not at all,” I
said.
 
“I just want to make sure
that I turned the deep fryer off.
 
Jake and I had to come back over here last night so that I could double-check
it.
 
I’m getting forgetful in my old
age.”

“The scary thing
is that you’re not that old,” Grace said with a smile.

“I’ll be right
back.”
 
I went inside, did a quick
double check of everything, and saw that I’d shut Donut Hearts down properly
after all.

“So, what was the
verdict?” Grace asked as I rejoined her out front.

“It turns out
that I was worried over nothing,” I admitted.
 
After the door was locked, I glanced
over at Jake, who was standing there frowning at my tire.
 
Had he not even changed it yet?
 
At least the spare was beside it.

As Grace and I
approached him, I said, “Listen, I know this isn’t your forte, so why don’t I
call someone to do it for me?”

“Why would you do
that?” Jake asked.
 
“I just changed
it myself.”

“Then why are you
scowling at my new tire?” I asked him.

“Mostly because
it’s anything but new.
 
Suzanne,
your spare is hardly better than your flat tire.”

“It will hold,
though, won’t it?” I asked him.

“For a day or
two, but we need to get you a new one.
 
There’s a problem with this one, too,” Jake said as he thumped the extra
tire with his fist.

“I know.
 
It’s flat.”

“It’s more than
that,” Jake said as he pointed out a three-inch slash on the side of it.
 
“You didn’t get this by driving.
 
Someone intentionally slashed your
tire.”

“Why would anyone
do that?” I asked him as I studied the thin, straight line that had split the
rubber.
 
“It doesn’t make any
sense.”

“You said that Deke
Marsh came by here earlier, right?” Jake asked.

“What?
 
When did that happen?
 
What did he want?” Grace asked her
questions in rapid-fire order.
 
I
wasn’t at all sure how she expected me to answer them as quickly.

“I’ll tell you on
the way to Granite Meadows,” I said, and then I turned back to Jake.
 
“He was here, but he was also delivering
up an alibi.
 
It wouldn’t make any
sense for him to slash my tire.
 
Besides,
who cuts only one tire?
 
Everybody I
know carries a spare.
 
If you’re
going to send someone a message, you have to at least cut two.”

“Maybe someone
stopped him before he could finish the job,” Grace said.

“Maybe,” I said
uncertainly.
 
“This isn’t going to
stop me.
 
You two realize that,
don’t you?”

“I never dreamed
that it would,” Jake said.
 
“You both
need to be careful today, though.”

“Aren’t we
always?” I asked him.

Jake frowned, and
then he said, “Maybe we should stick together after all.
 
We can take my truck, since Grace can’t
really use her company car for things like this anymore.”

“Jake, we both
know that we probably have a better chance of getting there on my bad tire than
in your truck,” I said.
 
“Besides,
we need to split up.
 
The police
chief isn’t going to talk to you with us around—he’s already proven that—and
the women aren’t nearly as likely to talk in front of you.
 
We really don’t have much choice.”

“Everything
you’re saying makes perfect sense,” Jake said, “but that doesn’t mean that I
have to like it.”

“There’s nothing
to worry about.
 
We’ll all be within
a stone’s throw of each other if any of us needs help,” I said as I kissed him
quickly.
 
“Do you want to follow us,
or should we follow you?”

“I’ll go ahead,”
Jake replied.
 
“You still have to
stop by the bank, don’t you?”

“It will just
take a second, but you go ahead.
 
That way we can see you broken down at the side of the road easier so we
can pick you up and give you a ride.”

“My truck has
more miles left in it than your Jeep does,” Jake said proudly.

“Only time will
tell if that’s true or not, but I can’t imagine it working out that way.
 
See you soon.
 
You be careful now, you hear?”

“I was just about
to say the same thing to you,” Jake replied.

“Yeah, yeah,
yeah, we’ll all be careful,” Grace interjected, clearly impatient to get
started.
 
“Let’s just go already.”

“We’re going,” I
said, and after waving good-bye to Jake ahead of us, Grace and I headed toward
the bank and then on to Granite Meadows.
 
We needed to make something happen, and
soon.
 

We were down to
our last three suspects, and only two of those belonged to Grace and me.

If you looked at
it one way, the odds were with us.

We just had to
find a way to crack one of our remaining suspects.

Chapter 23

“Who should we
tackle first?” I asked Grace as we drove back to Granite Meadows again.

“That depends,”
she said.
 
“Do you have a favorite?”

“Are you asking
me which one of them I like the best?
 
Between Maisie and Shannon, it’s not exactly a race.
 
Maisie might be a little obsessed with
Alex, but Shannon seems downright icy.”

“I wasn’t asking
you which one you wanted to have over for a slumber party,” Grace
answered.
 
“I mean which one of them
do you think might have done it?”

“At the moment I’m
leaning toward Shannon, but Maisie clearly has a touch of crazy in her.
 
We can’t forget the police chief,
either.
 
He could have done it
himself to hide something he didn’t want the world to discover.”

“Maybe so, but as
far as I’m concerned, he’s Jake’s problem now.”

“You know,
there’s a real possibility that all three of us might be wrong,” I said.
 
“Someone else could have poisoned Alex.”

“I refuse to
consider the possibility,” Grace said firmly.

“Why is that?”

“Suzanne, what good
would it do us if that were true?
 
Let’s focus on the two suspects we have left on our list, let Jake
handle the chief, and then we’ll deal with more options later if they all turn
out to be busts.”

“Okay.
 
I vote we talk to Maisie first,” I said.

Grace looked at
me, clearly startled.
 
“Seriously?
 
Do you really
think the crazy lady killed him?”

“I’m not sure,
but poison doesn’t seem like something Shannon would use.
 
If Alex had been run over by an SUV,
then
she’d
be my likeliest
candidate.
 
If she were going to
murder someone, she seems like the type of woman who would want it to be
painful and messy.”

“Wow, you have an
even lower opinion of the woman than I do,” Grace said with a laugh.
 
“Okay, let’s go see Maisie.
 
Do you think she’ll actually come out of
her apartment this time?
 
She
wouldn’t do it when Jake was with us.”

“Who knows?
 
At least she answered the door for us
before.
 
I’m hoping when she sees
that it’s just us girls, she’ll be more willing to talk.”

“So, how should
we approach her?
 
Could we play good
cop/bad cop?” Grace asked eagerly.
 
“I love it when we do that.”

“That’s because
you always get to play the bad cop,” I answered with a smile.

“Why shouldn’t
I?
 
I’m really good at it.
 
Besides, nobody’s ever going to believe
that you’re the bad cop.
 
You’re
just not mean enough.”

“To be fair,
neither are you.”

“Maybe not, but I
can sure play ornery,” she said with a wicked grin.

“There’s no
denying that, but I was thinking this time maybe we should both be sympathetic
to her,” I said.
 
“If even one of us
is mean to her, I doubt she’ll open up, but if we both try to relate to her,
she might.”

“It might be
tough for me to do, since it’s kind of hard relating to a stalker who might
have killed her obsession,” Grace said.

“Is it?
 
If we can’t be empathetic with the killer,
chances are that we’re not going to catch one.
 
We have to put ourselves in their shoes,
and that means imagining how the murderer’s actions could seem perfectly sane
and reasonable to us from their perspective.”

“Is that why
you’re so good at this?” Grace asked.

“Think of it this
way.
 
Do you remember how you
fantasized about being with Bobby Westlake some day?”

“Suzanne, I was
in eighth grade,” she protested.

“I remember.
 
That’s all you talked about for an
entire summer.
 
How many notebooks
did you fill writing ‘Mrs. Grace Westlake, Mrs. Robert Westlake III, Bobby and
Grace Westlake’?”

“At least four or
five,” she admitted.
 
“But I was
just a kid.”

“I’m not beating
you up about it.
 
Bobby was really
cute.
 
All I’m saying is that you
should try to put those schoolgirl emotions into a grown woman’s psyche.”

“I never really
thought of it that way before,” Grace admitted, and then she looked at me a
little skeptically.
 
“It’s a little
disturbing that you understand the way she feels.”

“It’s all about
empathy,” I said.

“I certainly hope
so.
 
How do we empathize with
Shannon?”

“It shouldn’t be
that hard.
 
We’ve both had bad
relationships in the past.
 
Just
magnify them by a thousand, and that should tell us all we need to know about
Shannon.”

“There’s more to it
than that, though,” Grace said.
 
“If
we’re really putting ourselves in her shoes, we have to imagine that we’re the
center of the universe, and all mankind was put there specifically to serve us.
 
When one of them fails to do so in a
manner that pleases us, they must pay the consequences.”

“That might be
going a little too far,” I said with a chuckle.

“Trust me, I’ve
known women like her all my life.
 
I
don’t think I’m overstating it one bit.”

That thought made
me shudder a little.
 
“If you say
so.
 
Tell you what.
 
Let’s wait to analyze Shannon until
after we speak with Maisie.”

“Deal,” she said.

The drive went
quicker than normal this time, and I had to wonder if it was because things
were finally coming to a head.
 
I
had high hopes that one of our three remaining suspects was the killer and that
we’d be able to prove it soon.
 
Maybe then the cloud over Donut Hearts would dissipate and we could all
get back to our lives.
 
It would be
wonderful having Emma, Sharon, and even Phillip Martin out from under clouds of
suspicion again, but the only way we were going to do that was to solve Alex
Tyler’s murder.

“Maisie, can we
talk?” I asked as I knocked on her door yet again.
 
It appeared that I’d been wrong.
 
She was going to ignore us and hope we
went away, which was exactly the way she’d acted when Jake had been with us.

If she thought
that was going to happen, though, she was dead wrong.

“We’re not going
anywhere, and we’ve got all afternoon.
 
You need to talk to us.
 
We’re here to help.”
 
I’d
added that last bit in desperation, hoping for something, any kind of reaction
at all that got us some face time with her.

“Help her?
 
How are we supposed to do that?” Grace
asked me softly.

I just
shrugged.
 

And then the door
opened.

The chain was in
place, though, so we weren’t inside yet.

“Help me?
 
What makes you think I need any help
from the two of you?” Maisie asked us through the partially open door.
 
I knew the chain wouldn’t keep us out if
we really wanted to get in, but this was a mission of nuance, not a show of
blunt force.

“The police are
worried that you had something to do with Alex’s death,” I said.

Maisie’s
expression froze.
 
After a moment,
she asked softly, “Is that the man who was with you before?
 
Was he a police officer?”

“He’s
investigating the murder,” I admitted, glad for the opportunity to explain
Jake’s presence with us earlier.

“If he was with
the police, then why were you two with him?” Maisie asked me.

I just wished
that I had an answer for her.

Grace came to the
rescue, though.
 
“We thought that if
we went with him, we could help you explain that you didn’t have anything to do
with harming Alex.”

It wasn’t the
most rational explanation that I’d ever heard in my life, but then I wasn’t the
one Grace was trying to convince.

After a moment, Maisie
asked, “You honestly did that for me?”

“We just want to
help,” I said.
 
“Can we come in?”

“I’m not
sure.
 
I’m late for an appointment,”
she said, clearly lying.

“We won’t take
three minutes of your time,” Grace replied reassuringly.
 
My friend didn’t give herself enough
credit; she was a pretty decent good cop, too.

“Fine, but just
three minutes,” Maisie said as she closed the door, slid the chain off, and
then let us in.
 
“I’m sorry, but I
don’t have any coffee or tea to offer you.”

“We can’t stay long,
anyway,” I said.
 
“Should we all sit?”

“I suppose so,”
Maisie said, and we entered her winter display again.
 
“How can you help me?”

“We’ve been able
to find out exactly when Alex was poisoned,” I said.
 
“All you need to do is tell us where you
were at the time, and we’ll turn the information over to the police.
 
If you do that, then all of your
troubles will be over.”
 
That was
about as wild an overstatement as I’d ever made, but we really needed to find
out where she’d been.

“Do you mean like
an alibi?
 
I know all about
them.
 
I read murder mysteries all
the time.”

“So do I,” I said
sympathetically.
 
“That’s exactly
what we need.”
 
I told her the time
of death, as well as the two-hour window previous to it that the killer had
needed to poison Alex Tyler’s coffee.
 
“Do you have anyone who can vouch for where you were then?”

“Is that when it
happened?” Maisie asked, and it appeared as though the woman was about to burst
out crying.
 
Once we were gone, she
could relive her period of mourning for as long as she wanted to, but in the
meantime, we needed an answer.

“It is,” I said,
reaching out and stroking her hand gently.
 
“If you could help us help you, the suspicion about you will all be over,
and you can mourn properly.
 
Can you
keep it together long enough to tell us your whereabouts?”

“I was getting my
hair done,” she said.
 
“The complete
works: shampoo, color, and cut.
 
Call Hair Razors here in town.
 
Ask for Cindi.
 
I can’t
believe that I was pampering myself while my poor Alex was being murdered.”

She was starting
to cry in earnest now, and I felt a bit like a cad, but we needed to get out of
there, and fast.
 
Otherwise we’d be
consoling her all afternoon, and our investigation time was severely limited.
 
“Is there someone you can call to be
with you?”

“I don’t need
to.
 
I’m taking my neighbor to the
doctor for her appointment.
 
She’s
always had a kind ear for me when I needed to share my problems.”

“Then you should
go speak with her right now,” Grace said firmly.
 
“We’ll walk you over there.”

“Okay,” Maisie
said, suddenly very pliant.
 
I felt
bad about dumping her on her neighbor, but hey, the woman was paying for her
ride by listening to Maisie’s woes, so that was something, anyway.
 
At least she wouldn’t be alone.
 
I wasn’t sure if I could abandon her
like that if she hadn’t had someone to talk to.
 

It just couldn’t
be Grace and me.

“Well, we can
mark her name off our list,” Grace said as we left the hair salon ten minutes
later.
 
Cindi had been working, and
she’d confirmed Maisie’s alibi.
 

It appeared that,
at least for our part of the investigation, it had to be Shannon, or we were
completely out of leads.

As we headed over
to her place, I had to turn my windshield wipers on.

It was starting
to snow again.