Illegally Iced (24 page)

“Why don’t I just hang around so you don’t have to go to the trouble of saying everything twice?” I asked.

He suppressed a grin as he said, “As tempting as that sounds, we’d better follow Mrs. Pinerush’s instructions to the letter.”

“Coward,” I said with a smile.

“You’d better believe it. Every chance I get.”

“I’ll see you soon, then,” I said. As a last jibe, I leaned past him and waved to Forrest. “Always a pleasure seeing you, Forrie.”

He sneered in my direction, a victory in my mind, so I left him there on the bench and went back to Donut Hearts. I wondered what Thomas Oak had uncovered in his own investigation, and if he might have discovered something that Grace and I had missed.

It was all I could do to wait until he had time for me.

MIXED AND MATCHED

I use store-bought mixes sometimes when I’m too tired to do much else in the donut department. They rarely let you down, and you can do some cool combinations with them as well. This recipe uses a buttermilk biscuit mix as a base, but you can see that I’ve really ramped it up.

INGREDIENTS

Mixed

• 1 egg, lightly beaten

• ½ cup sour cream

• ¼ cup sugar, white granulated

• 1 tablespoon buttermilk

• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Sifted

• 1½ cups biscuit mix (we like Jiffy)

• ½ teaspoon cinnamon

• ½ teaspoon nutmeg

• Dash of salt

• Canola oil for frying (the amount depends on your pot or fryer)

INSTRUCTIONS

In one bowl, beat the egg lightly, and then add the sour cream, sugar, buttermilk, and vanilla extract. In a separate bowl, sift together the biscuit mix, cinnamon, nutmeg, and salt.

Add the dry ingredients to the wet, mixing well until you have a smooth consistency.

Drop bits of dough using a small-sized cookie scoop (the size of your thumb, approximately). Fry in hot canola oil (360 to 370 degrees F) 1½ to 2 minutes, turning halfway through.

Yield: 10–12 donut drops

CHAPTER 15

The attorney was as good as his word, showing up on the donut shop’s doorstep just as I was about to lock up for the day. I let him inside, and then bolted the door behind him.

“Thank you for your patience,” he said. “It is much appreciated.” His gaze went behind me as he asked, “Is there any possibility that I could get a cup of coffee? I’d be happy to pay for it.”

“Sure, but it’ll be ten dollars, seeing how you’re some hotshot lawyer from the big city,” I answered as I poured him a cup.

“Charge me a hundred if you’d like. It’s just going on my expense account anyway.”

“You’re no fun at all,” I said. “In that case, it’s on the house.”

“Then you might throw in one of those apple fritters as well, if you don’t mind. I skipped breakfast, and I have a feeling that my lunch is going to be delayed as well.”

I did as he asked, and found the man pretty personable when he wasn’t trying to manipulate me with his client’s money.

“How do you do it?” I asked as I freshened up his coffee.

“Do what?” he asked after taking a sip.

“Turn your charm off and on like that. When you were here the last time, I was ready to throw you out on your ear, but right now, you seem like a pretty decent guy to me.”

“I am,” he explained after taking a bite of fritter. “Just don’t tell anyone. It would ruin my reputation. It’s just that I have to act differently sometimes, depending on my role at the time.”

“All I know is that I couldn’t do it,” I said. “With me, it’s pretty much a case of what you see is what you get.”

“I hope you don’t hold our previous interaction against me,” he said.

“I’ll try not to. Anne said you were going to come by to brief me, so I’ve been expecting you.”

“Do you honestly call her Anne to her face?” he asked, clearly curious about our sudden relationship.

“She asked me to, and I agreed. Why shouldn’t I? After all, she calls me Suzanne.”

He looked impressed as he explained, “It’s just that there aren’t many people on a first-name basis with Mrs. Pinerush.”

“What can I say,” I said as I started cleaning up. “I must be special.”

“You must be.”

At that moment, Emma came up front. “Everything’s finished in back.” Then she spotted Thomas Oak. “I’m sorry, I thought we were closed.”

“We are,” I said. “The good news is that you get to go home early today.”

“I don’t mind hanging around.”

“Emma, you know how rare the opportunity comes for you to skip out ahead of time, even though you got to go early yesterday. Do you really want to forgo the honor just to hang around with me?”

She shrugged after a second. “What can I say, Suzanne? When you’re right, you’re right.” As she took off her apron, she neared me and whispered, “Is everything okay here?”

“Don’t worry; I’m perfectly safe with Thomas Oak. The attorney from Pinerush is here to talk to me about James Settle’s murder.”

She nodded, and then left after ditching her apron and grabbing her purse.

“That was clever of you,” Oak said after Emma was gone. “You managed to mention my name, occupation, and home location all in the same sentence. Your assistant knows everything she needs to about me in case something happens to you. You aren’t worried that I’m some kind of threat, are you?”

“Not physically,” I said. “You might sue me, but I doubt you’d try to attack me. If you did, I can promise you that you’d find yourself on the short end of a nasty surprise.” I was close enough to my baseball bat to grab it and swing it hard before he could get up from his seat. I’d leave the fancy weapons to Angelica; I was more of a Louisville Slugger gal myself.

“Let me assure you that you’re safe in either instance,” he said. After he finished his fritter, he sipped the last of his coffee. “That was wonderful. You’re quite talented, aren’t you?”

“I have my moments. As much as I’d love to hang around here and chat with you, can we get started? I’ve got a meeting myself soon.”

“With Grace Gauge, I believe,” he said, “your partner in crime.”

“More like my co-investigator,” I said, “but yes, she’s coming by.”

“There are no worries about time, since what I have to convey to you can be done rather briefly. The two things that I am about to tell you are not public knowledge, and Mrs. Pinerush has asked me to express her appreciation in advance if you would keep all of this information private.”

“I’ll tell Grace, my mother, and my boyfriend, regardless of what it is. After that, I’d have to say that it all depends,” I said.

“On what?”

“I have three questions for you. Is it criminal for me to know it, does it hurt anyone if I don’t tell it, and will I get in trouble with the police chief if I keep it to myself?”

“None of those conditions apply,” he said.

“Okay then, you have my word.”

“Good,” he said as he nodded. “First things first, then. I’m sorry to have to say this, but she thought it was important that you know. Mrs. Pinerush is dying.”

I couldn’t believe it! I knew that she was older, but she’d been healthy enough when I’d seen her last. “What’s wrong with her?”

“I haven’t been told myself. She could live another eighteen months, or she could die tomorrow.”

“Isn’t that true of all of us?” I asked. “There are no guarantees in life.”

“While that’s technically true, her doctors will be amazed if she makes it past two years, and I have a feeling that you’ll live well beyond that.”

“Why tell me?” I asked. “It’s not like we’re that close. We just met.”

“She has a favor to ask of you, and it’s pertinent. Mrs. Pinerush said there was something that you can do that will give her great comfort in her final moments.”

“Of course. If it’s in my power, I’ll do it.”

“Find James’s killer before she dies,” he said simply.

“I’m trying, but I can’t make any promises. I’m just an amateur, after all. She could afford an army of private investigators, all of them ex-cops. Why should she depend on me? Honestly, I’m not at all sure that I like that kind of pressure.”

“Mrs. Pinerush has consulted with several people she trusts, and she’s been assured that bringing in outsiders is the worst thing she can do at this stage. This case will most likely be solved by the police, but if anyone else has a chance, Mrs. Pinerush firmly believes that it is you and your friends.”

“I wish I had that kind of faith in our detecting abilities,” I said.

“Her confidence is not without merit. I’ve investigated your past, and I know that you’ve been successful before in unmasking murderers.”

I didn’t know how to respond. “What can I say? I had a lot of help from my friends.”

“There’s more to it than that,” he said. “So, may I tell her that you’ll redouble your efforts and do your utmost to find James’s killer as soon as possible?”

“You may, and thank her for the faith she’s putting in me, no matter how misplaced I think it might be.”

He grinned slightly at that before he stifled it. “I will.”

“What’s the second thing?” I asked. “You said there were two items on the agenda.”

“I did indeed. The second item is in regard to her nephew.”

“What about James?”

“Not him. Her
other
nephew.”

“The mysterious stranger that no one seems to know anything about?” I asked.

“I’m afraid we haven’t been completely forthcoming with some information, and Mrs. Pinerush believes that withholding it from you now would be a disservice to your cause.”

“By all means, tell me what you can about him.”

“I can do better than that,” he said as he reached into his briefcase. He withdrew a photograph and slid it across the counter toward me.

The second I saw it, I felt my breath escape. In my heart I’d known it all along. The photograph was just a confirmation of what my subconscious had already figured out.

It was Rome, the new man who had just showed up in April Springs. I’d realized early on that it was more than a coincidence that he’d been digging into James Settle’s murder himself.

And why shouldn’t he?

After all, they were cousins, weren’t they?

“Is he a suspect in Anne’s mind?” I asked after I took a moment to collect myself. I had done my best not to give away the fact that I already knew the man. It was a card I might need later, so there was no reason to play it just yet.

“Rome? No, there’s not a chance of that.”

“How can you both be so sure?”

Mr. Oak smiled softly. “Mainly because he and James had the same idea about distributing their wealth. You see, they both tried to turn down the family fortune. Rome just went about it differently.”

“What did he do?” I asked.

“Instead of giving it all away, he’s been using the interest and dividends to help people here at home, and all over the world as well. When he learned that he couldn’t touch the principal, he found a clever way to get his hands on the rest of it, and the only thing he’s done since then is to try his best to make the world a better place.”

“You probably think he’s crazy for doing it, don’t you?” I asked.

“Actually, I admire him. After all, I’m the one who helped him free up the money that he’s using for good.”

That put the attorney in a new light. Maybe he wasn’t the bad guy I’d initially believed he was. “So, aren’t you kind of exposing him now by telling me?”

“Mrs. Pinerush isn’t a supporter of Rome’s philosophy any more than she was of James’s ideals, but I believe that she always secretly felt that both of them were men of action who should be respected, instead of idlers who talked but never really did anything.”

“Like her son?” I asked.

There was the flash of a quick grin, killed with great speed. “We were discussing Rome, I believe. If he comes to April Springs, you should trust him.”

I considered telling Mr. Oak that Rome was already here, but I decided that I was under no obligation to do so. What reason did I have to tell him? I was beginning to like him, but that didn’t mean that I had to tell him everything that I knew.

“If it’s appropriate, then I will,” I said.

A sudden knock on the front door startled me, and I looked up to see Grace standing there, a curious expression on her face as she watched me through the glass.

“Was there anything else?” I asked as I started for the door.

“No, that concludes our business,” he answered as he slipped the photograph back into his briefcase.

As I unlocked the door for Grace, he handed me his card and said, “If you need anything that Mrs. Pinerush might be able to provide, all you have to do is call.”

“Wow, that’s some kind of magic wish, isn’t it?”

“That’s the business I’m in,” he said.

He nodded to Grace, and then left the donut shop.

“What was that all about?”

“Boy, do I have a lot to tell you.” Though I’d agreed to keep Mrs. Pinerush’s secrets, I’d also warned the attorney that there was no way I was going to exclude Grace or Jake or my mother. They could be all trusted, and I knew that there was no way Momma would disregard my request if I asked her to keep quiet about it. Her relationship with the police chief was important to her, I knew that, but it still wasn’t as significant as the one we had.

Grace was just as surprised as I was about Mrs. Pinerush’s condition, and Rome’s true identity.

After I’d brought her up to date, Grace said, “It’s all kind of hard to believe, isn’t it?”

“There’s no reason to lie about any of it,” I said.

“So, that means that we can eliminate two of our suspects from the list,” Grace said. “We have to trust that Rome didn’t have any reason to wish James harm, and we already know that Murphy didn’t do it.”

“How is he, by the way?” I asked Grace with a hint of a grin.

“How should I know?” she asked.

“You’re the one who saw him last,” I said. “I was just curious. What did you two end up doing last night?”

“We spent some time chatting, and then we said good night, and I went home. Alone.”

It sounded as though I might have gone a little too far in teasing her. “Hey, I’m sorry. I didn’t mean anything by it.”