Custard Crime: Donut Mystery #14 (The Donut Mysteries) (26 page)

Maybe I shouldn’t be in such a hurry for it all to
end after all.

“That day just flew by,” Emma said as we locked the
front door of the donut shop a little after eleven.

“Really?
 
I thought it dragged by, myself,” I said.

“Maybe it’s because you’re in charge again, but I
just love coming to work these days.
 
No worries, no responsibilities, and most of the pay.”

“It’s not a gold mine, is it?” I asked her.
 
“How do things look in back?”

“I’m ready on my end.
 
You do the reports, and I’ll finish up
out here.
 
We’ll be out in record
time.
 
Is Grace coming by?”

“No, I got a text message from her half an hour
ago.
 
She got hung up in West
Jefferson, so I won’t see her until later.”

“Does that mean that you need a sleuthing buddy?”
Emma asked with a smile.
 
“You know
that I’m always ready to step in if I’m needed.”

“Thanks.
 
I appreciate the offer, but it’s not necessary.”

“So, are things winding down in the investigation?”
Emma asked.

“That depends.
 
Is my assistant asking, or the newspaper owner’s daughter?”

“Point taken.
 
I withdraw the question,” Emma said, and then she smiled to show that
there were no hard feelings.
 

As she finished sweeping the floor and wiping down
the tables, I worked on the report.
 
Counting the money, I held my breath as I compared totals, but we were
perfect for the day.
 
That gave me
more satisfaction than it probably should have, but I didn’t care.
 

There were two-dozen donuts left, and as I finished
filling out the deposit slip, Emma asked me, “Do you have any use for these
today?”

“I was just going to drop them off at the church, but
I’ve got a feeling they could use a break.”
 
Oftentimes we gave our extras away to
help feed those who couldn’t afford our treats otherwise, but every now and
then I got the distinct impression that my offerings could be a little too much
sometimes.
 
“If you’d like them,
they’re all yours.”

“Thanks, I just might,” she said.
 
“It’s not what you think.”

I grinned at her.
 
“What do I think?”

“That I’m giving them to some random guy.”

“I wasn’t thinking that at all.”

“Really?” she asked.

“Really.
 
If he’s good enough for our donuts, then he’s bound to be anything but
random.
 
Is this someone new that
you’re seeing?” Emma liked to change young men like some women changed shoes,
early and often.

She just shrugged, but I recognized that smile.

“Tell him I said hello,” I said.

Her smile brightened even more.
 
“I’m sure I don’t know what you’re
talking about.”

“I’m sure,” I said as I looked around.
 
“If everything in the kitchen is as
clean as it is out here, you can go ahead and take off.”

“Thanks.”

Once she was gone, I took one last look around,
turned off the lights, grabbed the deposit, and headed out myself.
 
I missed having Grace there, but I knew
that her job didn’t allow her to take off at will, no matter how it felt
sometimes.
 
That didn’t necessarily mean
that I was going to get into trouble on my own, though.
 
Things were squarely in Jake’s hands
now, and as far as I was concerned, most of my work was done.
 
We were all fairly confident that Conrad
was the killer, but even if Julie had done it, he’d catch her soon enough.

I was in line at the bank to make my deposit when
something occurred to me.
 
While
Grace and I had been searching Evelyn’s house, we’d been interrupted before
we’d had a chance to look very thoroughly.
 
One thing in particular intrigued me.
 
What if there was proof that Conrad had
borrowed that money from Evelyn hidden somewhere inside?
 
He’d been denying it all along, but that
didn’t mean that it hadn’t happened.
 
If there was a note in Evelyn’s journal, or even on a memo pad somewhere
in that house, it would go a long way toward helping Jake make sure that Conrad
was arrested for Evelyn’s murder.
 
It might be a long shot, but what did I have to lose?
 
Grace was out of town, and Jake was hard
at work, so why shouldn’t I take a chance and see if there was anything else at
Evelyn’s place that might tie Conrad to her murder?
 
I made the deposit, and then I drove to
Evelyn’s house.
 
I still didn’t want
to be seen going inside, so I parked down the block and walked back through the
rear yards.
 
The key was where we’d
left it, so after going inside, I quickly punched the security code from my
last visit.

I just hoped that no one had changed it.
 
If they had, I was in for a shock.

The alarm turned itself off on my first attempt, and
I breathed a sigh of relief, knowing that I was safe.

At least that’s what I thought at the moment I
stepped inside, no matter how wrong I turned out to be a few seconds later.

That’s when I realized that I wasn’t alone.

Chapter 23

In my defense, I tried to sneak back out.
 
The last thing I wanted was a
confrontation with someone who was most likely a killer.
 

But I couldn’t quite manage it.

My hand was on the doorknob when I heard a voice
behind me say, “I don’t know how you figured out that it was me, but you’re not
going to live long enough to tell anyone else.”

Chapter 24

I turned around to find Conrad Swoop staring at
me.
 
There was a wickedly big knife
in his hand, one that I would be defenseless against if I tried to fight
him.
 
I would have fled if I could
have, but that wasn’t an option, since I’d locked the door behind me when I’d
walked in.

“Conrad, I don’t know what you’re talking about,” I
said, trying to act as confused as I could.
 
“I was here earlier and I dropped my
favorite scarf.
 
Have you seen it
anywhere?”

“Nice try,” he said as he neared me.
 
I looked wildly around for something to
defend myself with, but there was nothing that I could use as a weapon,
especially against the knife he was threatening me with.
 
“Step over here away from the door,
Suzanne.”

“If I do, then you’re going to promise not to hurt
me, right?”

The smile on his face chilled the blood in my
veins.
 
“I wasn’t going to say
that.
 
I hate to break it to you,
but this is the end for you.”

“Why are you even here, Conrad?”
 
As I looked around the house, I saw that
he’d wrecked the place, obviously searching for something.
 
“Did you lose something?”

“An IOU I wrote to Evelyn,” he said in disgust.
 
“She told me that she hid it somewhere
in the house, but I can’t find it anywhere.”

“Is that why you killed her?
 
Was it for the money you owed her?”

“I wanted more than that,” Conrad said as he gestured
with the knife.
 
I had no choice but
to follow his directions.
 
Maybe if
I could stall him long enough, someone would come save me.
 
How I regretted not telling anyone where
I was going, and that I hadn’t waited for Grace to come back.
 
Then again, if only one of us had to
die, I was okay with it being me.
 
Our investigations were motivated more by my desire to find the truth
than Grace’s, so it was fitting that I was the one who’d pay the ultimate
price.

But not if I could help it.

I spotted a lamp turned over near where Conrad was
leading me, so maybe, if I got lucky with a last-chance desperation grab, I
could retrieve it and use it against him.
 
I’d have to play things just right before I could try that, though.

“What else could you get out of her?” I asked as I
edged closer and closer to the only potential weapon within reach.

“I wanted it all, so I asked the stupid woman to
marry me,” Conrad said, his face filling with rage for a moment.
 
“When she turned me down, she signed her
own death warrant.”

“That must have stung,” I said, trying to show a
little false sympathy.
 
If I could
catch him off guard, so much the better.

“Don’t patronize me, Suzanne.
 
It’s clear that you followed me
here.
 
How long have you been on to
me?
 
There’s no use lying; I’ll get
the truth out of you one way or the other.”

“The reality is that you made my final list, but I
still wasn’t convinced that it was you.”

That seemed to spark a little interest in him.
 
With a wicked grin, he asked, “Is that
so?
 
Who else made the cut?”

“Julie Gray,” I said, inching just a little closer
now.
 
In another minute, I’d have my
chance, and it would be over, one way or the other.

Conrad laughed.
 
“Nice, the spurned cousin.
 
I
really should try to set her up for the fall once I’ve taken care of you.”
 
He looked through the open windows as he
added, “Where’s that little snoop buddy of yours?”

“She had to work today,” I said.

“Then it turns out that this is her lucky day.
 
How about your boyfriend?”

I pointed to the window behind him.
 
“He’s right there!”

Conrad took the bait and whirled around.

As he did, I reached down and grabbed the lamp.
 
When I had it in my hands, I ran toward
the killer, hoping to knock his head off with it.

I might have managed it, too, but he moved to one
side at the last second.
 
The blow
hit his shoulder and staggered him for a moment, but he still managed to hold
onto the knife.

“Stupid fool,” he said as he pushed me with his free
hand.
 
At least he hadn’t stabbed
me.
 
I tripped over a few books on
the floor, and he stood over me, waving the knife like a baton.
 
“I saw your reflection in the
window.
 
You wanted to use the lamp
against me.
 
Now I’m going to use it
against you.
 
Roll over onto your
back and hold your hands together where I can see them.”

I did as I was told, hoping for one last opening, but
it never came.
 
Conrad put a knee in
my back, driving the air from my lungs for a moment.
 
I felt his full weight on me as he
jerked the lamp cord free from its base and wrapped my hands tightly with it.

I couldn’t free myself from my bonds no matter how
hard I struggled.

Conrad must have reached down and picked me up,
because I felt myself being pulled upward, and then shoved toward one wall.

The wall where there was a closet.

Was he going to just lock me in and then make his
escape?

Maybe I’d live through this after all.

The coats were all missing, with wire hangers strewn
all over the floor of the small closet.
 
He shoved me inside, and then I heard the door lock.

“Thank you for not killing me,” I said in tears
through the door.

“Who said anything about sparing your life?” Conrad
asked, with a hint of wicked laughter coming from the other side.

“But I’m in here and you’re out there,” I said.

“That’s right where you need to be.
 
Now shut up.
 
I’ve got something to do.”

I reached down for a hanger, but I couldn’t pick one
up without falling down, and if I did that, I wasn’t at all certain that I’d be
able to get back up again.
 
On the
fourth try, I managed to snag one, but I still wasn’t sure what I could do with
it.
 
Perhaps I could twist it in my
tied hands and use it to free myself from my bindings?
 
If that failed, I might be able to use
it as a weapon, jabbing at his eyes if he ever opened the closet door again.

I was still working the metal back and forth in an
attempt to get it to break when I smelled something, and I realized just what
Conrad’s plan was going to be.

“Let me out!” I shouted through the door.
 

A voice from just on the other side of the door said,
“Smell that, do you?
 
What’s wrong,
Suzanne?
 
You run a donut shop.
 
Surely you aren’t afraid of a little
fire.”

The smoke was coming in under the door now.
 
Was it getting hotter inside?
 
“I won’t tell anyone about you.
 
I swear it.”

“Sorry, but I don’t believe you.
 
I may not be able to find that IOU, but
nobody else is going to, either.
 
You’ll both burn up together.
 
Good-bye.”

I was getting desperate when I heard the front door
slam.
 

How long would I live, trapped in this upright
coffin?