Jessica Beck - Donut Shop 18 - Dangerous Dough (3 page)

“No, he’s working
a case in Franklin at the moment,” Jake said.

“How could you
possibly know that?” I asked him.

“I texted him the
moment that your mother suggested that I investigate this murder,” he answered.

“Wow, that was
pretty slick.
 
I didn’t even realize
you had your phone on you.
 
I
thought it was in your carry-on luggage.”

“It was, but I slipped
it out after we landed.
 
Mandy’s
tied up, too.
 
Don’t worry.
 
I have a few other friends on the force I
can call.”

I started to say
something when I realized that Jake had meant right now.
 
He started speaking, and it took a
moment to realize that he wasn’t talking to us.
 
From what I heard of his side of the
conversation, it wasn’t going particularly well, and when he finished the call,
I saw him scowling into the rearview mirror.
 
“Well, that couldn’t have gone worse.”

“What
happened?
 
Was he unhappy about your
new assignment?”

“Are you kidding
me?
 
He was ecstatic,” Jake said.

“Why is that?”
Momma asked.

“It’s given him
the perfect opportunity to stick it to me again for leaving.”

“I’m not so sure
that I like the sound of that,” I said.
 
The idea of someone bullying my husband didn’t sit well with me at
all.
 
When I’d been married the
first time to Max, I could remember bristling right alongside him over a bad
review, but it had been nothing compared to the way that I was feeling now.

“It goes with the
territory,” Jake said.
 
“The worst
of it is that he’s assigning Simpson to the case.
 
He’ll be in April Springs first thing
tomorrow morning.”

“Then we’d better
get busy before he gets here,” I said.
 
“Momma, do me a favor and call Grace.”

“I could always
help you again this time,” my mother said.
 
“After all, this case has a direct link to my husband.”

Momma and I had
worked on one murder case before, but that had been under special
circumstances.
 
While we’d proved to
be an effective team, I still preferred Grace’s assistance over my
mother’s.
 
I just didn’t know how to
tell her that without hurting her feelings.

Fortunately, Jake
saved me from having to do it.
 
“Dot, I’m sure that Suzanne appreciates your offer, but Phillip is the very
reason that you shouldn’t be involved in this investigation.
 
It’s bad enough that one of Suzanne’s
employees is a suspect, but the fact that one of the men who used to work under
your husband now suspects that he might be involved in the murder just makes
things even worse.
 
The best thing
for you to do in this case is to keep a low profile.”

I could tell by
the set of my mother’s jaw that she wasn’t particularly fond of the advice she
was getting, but to her credit, she decided to take it anyway as she turned to
me and said, “Fine, but if you and Grace need me, I’m never more than a phone
call away.”

“I know; I’m
counting on it,” I said.
 
I made a
note to myself to thank my husband for stepping in so graciously and saving me
from having an awkward conversation with my mother.

Momma dialed
Grace’s number for me and put it on speaker.
 
When my best friend answered, I said, “Hey,
Grace, it’s Suzanne.”

“Hi!
 
Welcome back!
 
April Springs has been positively dead
since you left.”
 
After a moment’s
hesitation, she added, “Given what just happened to our new head lawman, I
should have probably come up with a better choice of words.
 
But you haven’t heard about that yet,
have you?
 
How was Paris?”

“It was
everything I imagined, and more,” I said, and before Grace could say anything else,
I added, “We’ve already been brought up to speed.
 
I’m on speaker right now.
 
Momma met us at the airport, and the
three of us are driving back to April Springs together.”

“Wonderful,” Grace
said after a moment, no doubt reviewing our conversation to see if she’d said
anything she might have to apologize for.
 
When she concluded that she hadn’t, she asked, “So, I have a hunch
you’re not calling to tell me that you’re back.
 
Are we investigating this murder?”
 
Grace sounded almost eager as she said
it, and I wondered yet again about how seriously she took our
investigations.
 
There was a part of
me that was afraid she believed it was all some kind of game, even after we’d
been faced with the prospect of dealing with cold-blooded killers in our past.

“Unofficially, as
always.
 
Jake is going to be the super
special chief investigating deputy investigating it for the police department,”
I said.
 

Momma quickly
corrected me.
 
“Actually, his
official title is April Springs interim special investigator.”

“Woohoo.
 
Aren’t you special!
 
I want the first business card you get
after they print that title up,” Grace said.
 
“Congratulations, Jake.
 
Or should I offer you my sympathies
instead?”

“To be honest
with you, it’s still too soon to tell,” Jake answered amiably enough.

“Okay.
 
Keep me posted, though.”

“Will do.”

I decided that
was enough banter for one telephone call.
 
“Grace, I haven’t asked anyone’s permission to do this yet, but of
course I’m planning to dig into this myself, so no one who knows me should be
surprised by that fact.”
 
As I said
it, I looked at Jake and smiled.
 
He
had the presence of mind to just smile back instead of arguing with me.
 
“Are you free to lend me a hand?”

“I’m not, but I
can be,” she said.
 
“I’ve got some
vacation time I’ve been dying to burn.
 
When do we get started?”

I glanced at the
clock on the dash and saw that we were less than half an hour from getting
home.
 
“How about forty-five
minutes?
 
Does that give you enough
time to get yourself free?”

“I’ll make it
work,” she said.
 
“Oh, and by the
way, congratulations again.
 
I’m
truly happy you two found each other.”

It was a nice sentiment
of heartfelt feeling from her, a gesture that I greatly appreciated.
 
“Thanks.
 
See you soon.”

“Bye,” she said,
and then she broke the connection.

I adjusted my
rearview mirror so I could look squarely at Jake.
 
“Well, it appears that our honeymoon is
now officially over.
 
Sorry about
that.”

“There’s nothing
to be sorry about,” Jake said happily.
 
“I never was all that interested in all of the hoopla leading up to us
being together.
 
The wedding and
honeymoon were both nice, but it’s the marriage itself that I’ve been looking
forward to.”

“I have to tell
you, that’s probably the nicest thing that anyone has ever said to me,” I told
him, and then remembered that my mother was sitting right beside me.
 
“You know what I mean.”

“Suzanne, I’m not
about to argue with you.
 
Who knew
that he had that in him?”

“
I
knew,” I said proudly.

“I’m still here,
ladies, remember?”

“Oh, hush,” Momma
told Jake.
 
“You should know that
whenever people who care about you say nice things, your only job is to listen
politely and say thank you when they’re through.”

Jake took a
moment, and then he asked, “Are you through?”

“For the moment,”
I replied.

“Then thank you,”
he answered.

Momma laughed
loudly, and Jake and I joined in.
 

It might not be
the best start a marriage ever had, but it was undeniably all ours.

Chapter 4

After we dropped
Momma off at her place, I asked Jake, “Where to now?
 
Should we head back to the cottage and
unpack?”

“Why not?” Jake
asked.
 
“Suzanne, while we’re there,
there are a few things that we need to talk about.”

“Have I done
something bad already?” I asked him with a smile.
 
“Wow, that didn’t take long at all.”

“We both know
that you are just about perfect in my eyes,” Jake replied with a grin.

“Right back at
you, big guy.
 
What exactly do we
need to discuss, then?”

“What else is
there at the moment?
 
I’m talking
about this case,” he said.

“Excellent!
 
Are you ready to share something with me
already?
 
Sweet!
 
I knew there would be some perks being
married to you, but I didn’t expect them to come so quickly.”

“Can we both be
serious for a minute?” Jake asked rather soberly.

“Sorry.
 
What do you want to talk about?”

“I’m running the
official investigation, and you yourself urged me to take the job less than an
hour ago, is that correct?”

“It is,” I
answered.

“And you don’t
want to make my life any harder than it has to be.
 
Is that true as well?”

“Jake, I would
never intentionally cause you problems.
 
You should know that by now.”

“I do,” he said
reassuringly as he patted my hand.

“It might be
easier for both of us if you just cut to the chase and quit dancing around
what’s on your mind, okay?” I suggested.

“That’s probably
as good a plan as any,” he said with a grin.
 
“I understand why you have a vested
interest in solving this case—two of them, actually—but I’m going to need my
space on this one.”

“Does that mean
that you don’t want
any
help from
me?” I asked, trying to hide the hurt I felt.
 
He had every right to make the request,
but that didn’t mean that I had to like it.

“All I’m saying
is that you need to let me dig into this myself before you and Grace start
ripping through my suspect list before I can get to them all.”

“That sounds
reasonable enough,” I said, fighting to keep my voice level.

Evidently I
failed.

“Suzanne, this
isn’t meant as a slight in any way, shape, or form.”

“Why would I
think that it was?” I asked him.

Jake was about to
reply when his cell phone rang.
 
“Saved by the ring,” he said with a slight smile.

“Not saved, just
delayed,” I said with a grin to take the edge off my comment.
 
I knew that we both had a lot of
adjusting to do as newlyweds, and adding our sometimes conflicting
investigations into the mix wouldn’t do anything to make our new life together
any easier.

As he spoke, I
heard a stiffness suddenly enter his voice.
 
His answers were nearly monosyllabic and
gave little away, but I could tell that he was getting more upset by the
minute.
 
After he hung up, I asked,
“Wow, who just poked you with a stick?
 
Was that your old boss?”

“No, if anything,
it was worse.
 
It was Inspector Simpson,
and he just read me the riot act.”

“What can he do
to you, honestly?” I asked.
 
“It’s
not like you work for the state police anymore.”

“If I did, at
least I’d be able to fight back.
 
As
things stand, he is well within his rights to make certain demands, and I have
no choice but to accept them all.”

I hadn’t met this
guy and I already didn’t like him.
 
“What exactly did he say to you?”

“He told me that
my investigation is confined to April Springs and April Springs alone.
 
Anything out of town limits is
forbidden.”

“How can he do
that?” I asked, the outrage clear in my voice.
 
“It’s not fair handcuffing you like
that.”

“Maybe not, but I’m
not exactly sure that I have any choice.
 
Remember what I said earlier?”

“About being
there for me in sickness and in health?” I asked him with a gentle smile.

“After that.
 
I’m talking about when I told you to
hold off on your investigation.”

“I’m not likely
to forget that,” I said.

“Well, you
should.
 
Disregard my earlier
instructions.
 
Leave April Springs
to me.
 
That still leaves an
important area for you and Grace to explore.”

I grinned at
him.
 
“We’re going to cover what you
can’t.
 
Is that it?
 
You realize that there’s a good chance
that the root of Alex Tyler’s murder is in Granite Meadows, not April Springs,
don’t you?”

“You really are
becoming a first-rate detective; you know that, don’t you?”

“Flattery will
get you everywhere with me,” I said with a grin.

“It’s not
flattery if I mean it,” he said.
 
“There are a few conditions I need to insist on before I set you two
loose on the unsuspecting population of Granite Meadows, though.”

“I’m listening.”

“You have to do
your best to fly under everybody’s radar.
 
You won’t just be ducking Simpson.
 
You’ll also be trying to avoid antagonizing the police chief there as
well.
 
All the while, I need you to
find out whatever you can about Alex Tyler and then report back to me.”

I took a deep
breath before I spoke again.
 
“Let
me get this straight.
 
You want us
to amass as many facts as we can, but then we have to turn it all over to you
so you can be the detective.
 
Is
that about right?”

To his credit, Jake
didn’t answer immediately.
 
Instead,
he appeared to mull over my comment before he replied.
 
After a few moments, he turned to me
with a grin and said, “I’d say that sounds exactly like what I told you to do.”

“You know in your
heart that it’s not going to work that way, don’t you?”

Jake
shrugged.
 
“I can see where there
might be difficulties.
 
How about
this?
 
Try to keep from putting
yourselves in jeopardy, but find out whatever you can, and we’ll compare notes
later.”

“We can do that,”
I said, and then I kissed him quickly.

“What was that
for?” he asked.
 
“Not that I’m
complaining.”

“It’s for being
rational about this and understanding that you can’t always have everything you
want.”

“No worries
there,” he said with a grin.
 
“I
know you pretty well, but even if I didn’t, I’m pretty sure that I would have
been able to figure that one out on my own.”

We got back to
the cottage and did a perfunctory job of unpacking, and then we started out on
our separate ways, me in my Jeep and Jake in his old truck.
 
There was no time for jet lag.
 
We both had work to do.
 
Before he could drive to the police
station to be fully briefed, I leaned in through his window and said, “We
really should find you a new truck to drive now that you’re a civilian.”

He put a hand
over the dash before he answered.
 
“Not so loud.
 
She might hear
you.”

“You, sir, are
too attached to a simple mode of transportation,” I said.

“Said the pot to
the kettle,” he answered with a grin.
 
“Tell me again how you feel about your Jeep.”

“That’s
different,” I said.

“How so?”

“It’s
simple.
 
The Jeep is mine.”

Jake just
laughed.
 
“I can’t dispute the logic
of that, so I won’t even try.”

“Good man.
 
Stay in touch,” I said as I got into my
Jeep.

“That goes for
you, too,” he said, and I drove down the road to Grace’s place to pick her up.

It was a short
commute, yards instead of miles, but it was far enough away for me to start
getting antsy.
 

I wanted to get
our own investigation underway, and I wanted to do it now.

“Welcome back,”
Grace said as she hugged me when I showed up on her doorstep.
 
“I missed you.”

“I missed you,
too,” I said as I handed her the bag I’d brought her all the way from
Paris.
 
“I’m still not sure about the
choice of presents you requested.”

“Let me see it,”
she said excitedly as her hand dove into the bag and pulled out a black beret
with GRACE embroidered in large red letters.
 
I thought it was going to look silly on
her, but my best friend had such a style and polish about her that she actually
pulled it off.
 
“How do I look?” she
asked, cocking it to one side.

“Spectacular.
 
Now I’m wishing that I’d bought one for myself,”
I admitted.

“I’d let you
borrow mine, but we don’t want anyone mistaking us for each other,” she said.

I looked at her
trim figure and then contemplated mine for a moment.
 
“No chance of that happening.
 
Anyway, I’m glad you like it.”

“Like it?
 
I love it!
 
Thank you, Suzanne.”

“You are most
welcome.
 
Now, should we talk about
the case?”

Grace slid the
beret off and put it back into the bag.
 
“That sounds good.
 
How about
some coffee while we brainstorm?”

“Do you happen to
have any sweet tea?
 
That’s about
the only thing I really missed while we were in Europe.”

“You’re in
luck.
 
I made a fresh batch this
morning,” Grace said.

After my first
glass had been drained and then topped off again, Grace and I sat in the living
room and talked about how we should approach the case.
 

“Where should we
begin?” Grace asked.
 
“I’ve picked
up on a few things from Stephen, but he’s been reticent to speak with me about
the case much.
 
My boyfriend can be
pretty tightlipped when it comes to his job.”

“That’s perfectly
understandable,” I said.
 
Besides, I
already knew what Acting Chief Grant thought.
 
There was potential for conflict between
Grace and me.
 
I realized that we
were in a delicate area, and the less we touched upon it, the better, as far as
I was concerned.
 
“Well, here’s what
I’ve managed to learn so far,” I said, and I started relaying everything that
I’d learned from Momma on the drive back to April Springs.

“Can I ask you a
question?” Grace asked after I was finished.

“Go ahead.”

“If Jake has
agreed to investigate this case, then what exactly are we doing?
 
Isn’t he likely to be offended by us
digging into his own investigation?”

“I haven’t told
you that part yet.
 
He’s given us a
green light to go to Granite Meadows and look around because one of his old
adversaries from his state police days is now in charge of the investigation
for his old boss.”

“Why am I
guessing that was done as a punitive measure?” Grace asked.

“I don’t know, because
you’re smart, savvy, and you know people?” I asked.

“That must be
it.
 
So, what do we know about
Alex’s life in Granite Meadows?”

“Just that he was
a cop there before he came here,” I said.
 
“Right now, the rest of the details are kind of sketchy.”

“That’s
okay.
 
We’ll figure out how to fill
them in.
 
Let’s go.”

I had to
laugh.
 
“That’s just one of the
things I love about you, my friend.”

“What’s that?”

“Your complete
and utter willingness to dive into the fire with me at a moment’s notice.”

“What are friends
for?” she asked.
 
“If they don’t
stand by your side when you need them, they aren’t really friends in my
book.
 
You’d do the same for me, and
you know it.”

“You’d better
believe it,” I said as we got into the Jeep and starting driving toward Granite
Meadows.
 
I’d have to catch up with
Emma and Sharon soon so we could figure out what we were going to do about
Donut Hearts, but in the meantime, I had a murder to investigate with my best
friend.

“Should we have
packed our bags for an overnight stay?” Grace asked me.

“It’s less than
an hour from here.
 
I think we’ll be
pretty safe commuting while we investigate.”

“Sure, I get it.”

“Get what?” I
asked her.

“You’ve got a
brand-new husband at home.
 
Why on
earth would you want to leave him so soon?”

“Jake has nothing
to do with it,” I said.

“Nothing?”
 
As she asked it, there was a mischievous
glint in her eye.

“Maybe not
nothing, but that’s not the main reason that I don’t want to stay.
 
I have a donut shop to run, remember?”

“You’re
kidding.
 
You’re actually going back
to work tomorrow with everything going on?”