Sinister Sprinkles (23 page)

I did my best to cheer her up. “But it could be good news, right?”

“Sure, I suppose it’s possible. I think I’ll get a lottery ticket on the way over. It’s possible I’ll win that too, maybe even more likely, if I know my boss. I know I’m going to get sacked, I just know it.”

“I’m so sorry,” I said, “but Grace, you’re a terrific saleswoman. You’ll get another job soon enough.”

“I don’t want another one,” she said. “I like the flexibility of this one.”

I wasn’t about to tell her that maybe her flexibility in the past was what was going to get her fired tonight, but I couldn’t stop myself from thinking it.

I patted her shoulder. “It’s going to be all right. I just know it. Would you like me to come home with you to help you pack a bag for tonight?” I asked. “I know you’re not crazy about going back there alone.”

“Thanks, but this is something I’m going to have to do sooner or later, so why not now? Besides, I hate crying in front of you, and if I time things right, I can get a good jag in before I meet her.”

“At least call me tonight and let me know what happens,” I said.

“I promise, but it’s probably going to be the shortest telephone conversation in the history of the world.”

“Don’t forget. I mean it.”

“I know, I know.”

I could see tears starting to form in the corners of her eyes, and suddenly I said, “I’m going with you. You shouldn’t have to deal with this by yourself.”

“What about your donut shop?” Grace asked.

“What about it? If Emma and her mom can’t run it tomorrow, I’ll just shut it down. Let me make one quick call while we’re here, and then I need to pack something for myself.”

She put a hand on my shoulder, and I could see the tears receding. “Suzanne, I can’t tell you how much that would mean to me, but I have to say no.”

“I don’t mind,” I said, being a little more insistent than I probably should have.

“I know that, but I have to do this by myself. Thank you so much for offering, though. That really means the world to me.”

She was gone before I could try to convince her again to let me come with her, and I finally decided that was probably for the best after all. I knew Grace, and one of the things she prided herself on was her calm demeanor. If she wanted to put on a brave face for me, I knew I shouldn’t try to stop her. Let her have privacy when she cried the tears she needed to.

I got into the Jeep, not sure where to go next now that I was alone, when I heard a voice coming from the back seat under a blanket I kept there in winter.

He said, “It’s about time. I nearly peed my pants when George walked up to the windshield. Could you turn on the heater? I’m freezing.”

It was Max—my errant ex-husband—and probably the last person in the world I expected to find hiding in the back of my Jeep waiting for me.

*   *   *

“Max, have you lost your mind?” I said. “Chief Martin’s been looking everywhere for you.”

“Would you do me a favor and turn around and drive?” he said. “I don’t want anyone to know I’m back here.”

I thought about it a few seconds, then said, “You know, what I should do is take you straight to the police station.”

“But you’re not going to, are you?” There was a real edge of fear in his voice, something I had never heard before.

I didn’t move a muscle. “I’m not sure yet. Before I do anything, I have to know one thing. Did you have anything to do with Darlene’s murder?”

He nearly sat up before remembering he was supposed to be in hiding. “How can you even ask me something like that? Don’t you know me well enough to believe I wouldn’t kill anyone? Suzanne, I’m really disappointed with you.”

“Well, I’m not too happy with you either, so I guess we’re even. Answer the question, Max. You can either tell me, or you can tell the police.”

“I didn’t kill her,” he said. His words were flat and barely had any emotion in them at all. Oddly enough, in most people I would have naturally assumed they were lying. But with Max, I’d learned long ago that the more he protested, the greater his histrionics, the more chance he wasn’t telling me the truth.

“Fine,” I said as I started the Jeep and pulled away from the shop. “Where do you want to go?”

“Could we drive around a little?” he asked. “I’ve got to talk to you about a few things, and then I need to ask you a huge favor.”

“Why should I help you at all?”

His head bobbed up for a second before it disappeared again. “Don’t the years we had together mean anything to you?”

“I could ask you the same thing,” I said. “Go on, I’m waiting for an answer.”

Max paused, then said, “Because deep in your heart, where you might not even admit it yourself, you’re hoping we’ll get back together some day.”

I nearly wrecked when I heard his line of reasoning. “That’s the craziest thing I’ve ever heard you say since I’ve known you.”

“Crazy, or completely true?” he asked.

“Trust me, it’s the crazy option.” I drove down Springs Drive, toward Union Square and away from home. I guess I made my decision without realizing it. Max tensed as we drove by City Hall, and I wondered if he really thought I was going to turn him in at the police station after all.

I saw him peeking out, and took my foot off the gas as the building neared to give him a good scare.

“Suzanne, what are you doing?” He was on the edge of panic, and I realized that I’d been a little too cruel to him.

“My foot slipped,” I lied, as we sped on past. He didn’t look out again, even after we went past the town clock where Darlene had been murdered.

Once we were headed out of town, Max asked, “Do you think I could sit up front with you now?”

“Sure, if you’re willing to risk someone spotting you in my Jeep. I won’t try to outrun the police for you, Max, so you’d better be ready to turn yourself in if they stop us.”

He must have thought about that for a full thirty seconds before he replied a little sullenly, “Okay, I’ll stay back here. Just take it easy on the turns, would you? I don’t have any warning they’re coming, and it’s making me a little sick.”

“I guess that depends on what you have to say,” I said. “I won’t punish you as long as I think you’re being honest with me. Max, you wanted to talk. So talk.”

He was silent for a few seconds, then he said, “Some of the things I’m going to tell you are probably going to upset you, but I want you to promise you won’t go ballistic until I’m finished. Can you do that for me?”

“It depends on how bad it is,” I said, after mulling over his question.

“Suzanne, give me a break here, okay? I’ve been going out of mind worrying that the chief is going to try to pin this murder on me. You know how he is. He’s got a one-track mind, and the easiest solution is always his favorite.” Max laughed softly, but there was no amusement in it. “And let’s face it. I’m the easiest answer he’s got right now.”

“I didn’t turn you in, did I?” I asked. “I’m getting impatient, Max. It’s been a long day for me, remember? I’m worn out. What is it?”

“First things first. Don’t blame Emma for losing your money at the donut shop. It wasn’t her fault.”

“How did you know about that?” A split second later, I screamed out, “It was
you
. I can’t believe you stole from me!”

“I needed money, and I knew if I tapped into my own accounts, the chief would find out. I had no choice. I’d been keeping an eye out on the donut shop, hoping to get a chance to talk to you, but every time I was there, someone was with you. When you left, I had no choice but to wait across the street until you came back. I saw Emma slip in back, so I rushed over, cleaned out the till, and got away before she even knew I’d been there.”

“You stole from me,” I repeated, feeling the anger boil up inside me.

“I borrowed from you,” he corrected me. “And I have every intention of paying you back. I know exactly how much I took.”

“Believe me, so do I,” I said.

I felt a little better knowing that Max had been watching the place and had merely seized an opportunity to take advantage of us.

“Do you forgive me?” he asked after a few minutes of stony silence.

“Why did you rob me?”

“Suzanne, you’ve got to understand my situation. I had no money on me. I was going to run away and lay low until this thing was over, but that took money.”

I looked at him in the rearview mirror. “Then why didn’t you do us both a favor and do exactly that once you robbed me?”

“Borrowed from you,” he corrected me.

“So you say. I’m still waiting for an answer, Max.”

“It wasn’t enough,” he said. “I needed more.”

“What were you going to do, wait until I built up the cash in my register again before you took more?”

“I’d never do that,” he said. “I’m sorry, but I was desperate. I don’t know what else to say.”

“I don’t, either,” I said.

After a few seconds, I said, “You said some of the things you said were going to make me mad. What else do you have to confess? Have you changed your story about you and Darlene?”

“Of course not,” he said. “This next part doesn’t involve her at all. This is about Grace.”

I didn’t need a playbill to tell me what was next on the horizon. “I should have figured that out on my own. You’re the one who broke into her place.”

“I needed a place to stay,” he said shrilly. “I knew she was staying with you, so no one would be there. I never dreamed you two would come back when you did. I had to race out the back as that cop was coming in the front door. Another second of hesitation and he would have had me.”

“You violated my best friend’s sense of security,” I said. “She’s shattered about the break-in. Max, she won’t even go back home by herself.”

With a hint of regret in his voice, he said, “I can apologize to her right now, if you want me to.”

“I doubt it would do much good,” I said. “She was pretty rattled by it. Besides, Grace isn’t even in town. She’s on her way to Charlotte by now.”

His voice was tired and beaten as he said, “I said I was sorry, and I meant it. I’ll do whatever I can to make it right.”

“I’m not sure there’s anything you can do,” I said. “So, why are you here? I’m sure there’s more to it than your desire to confess your sins to me.”

“I need help, Suzanne. I’m running out of options. I know you are investigating the murder, and I need to know what you’ve uncovered so far.”

I couldn’t see what it would hurt telling him what we’d found, but there was a part of me that didn’t want to ease his mind at all. “Why should I tell you?”

“Because I’m going crazy with worry,” he said, his voice cracking as he spoke.

I decided I might as well tell him what we’d found. “Muriel is in the clear as a possible victim. She has problems of her own, but she’s out of the picture for now. Gabby Williams drove her out of state, so she’ll be safe.”

“Where did she go?”

That was an odd question. “Why do you care, Max?”

“Curious, I guess,” he said.

“Sorry, I wasn’t privy to their plans,” I lied. I didn’t even feel bad about withholding the truth from him. Goodness knows he’d done it enough with me when we were married.

“Fine, I don’t need to know. I’m just glad she’s safe. What else is going on?”

“There are some connections we’re still looking into,” I said as I pulled into Union Square. “Where do you want to go now? I should warn you, I’m not driving you to Tennessee, no matter how nice you ask.”

“Could we just head back to April Springs?” he asked.

I was surprised by the request. “I figured that was the last place you’d want to be. It’s a little small to find a good hiding place, isn’t it?”

“I can’t do anything about that. Without much money, I have to depend on my friends to help me. There’s a way I could leave, though.”

“Go on, I’m listening.”

“If you could loan me a thousand bucks, I could take off until this mess blows over.”

I turned around and started back to April Springs.

Max said, “Does that mean you’ll do it?”

I laughed, despite my ill-tempered mood. “What makes you think I have that kind of money? I own a donut shop, Max, I’m not printing money there.”

“Suzanne, remember who you’re talking to. I know you’ve kept ten hundred-dollar-bills in the Bible on your nightstand ever since you could afford it. It’s your rainy-day money, and believe me, from where I’m sitting, it’s pouring.”

“Max, that’s my security blanket, and you know it.”

“I’ll pay you back,” he said, lifting off his chair. “You know if I tell you something, you can believe it.”

“Like the marriage vows you made to me that you broke?”

“That’s low, even for you,” Max said. “I made a mistake, and I’ve been paying for it ever since. When are we going to ever be square?”

“Mister, you haven’t even touched the interest you owe me yet. Forget about the principal.”

“So, that’s how it’s going to be? You won’t help me?”

“I never said that,” I said. “But don’t expect to get it without jumping through some hoops first.”

“Then you’ll do it?” he asked, the hope starting to surface in his voice.

“Probably.”

“That’s fantastic, Suzanne. I appreciate it so much, I can’t even tell you.”

“Just make sure you pay it back,” I said. “And I don’t mean a year from now, either, Max.”

“Consider it done, Suzanne. The second I get my hands on my bank account, I’ll pay you back.”

As we drove back toward town, I looked back at Max and saw there was a gun tucked into his jacket.

“Please tell me that’s from your prop department at the community theater,” I said.

“It’s real enough. As long as there’s a killer on the loose, I’m going to protect myself.”

“Do you even know how to use it?”

He nodded. “I played a part in a regional production in Raleigh, and the director was a method man. He took me to a firing range and made me practice until I was comfortable enough to shoot it without flinching.”

“I don’t like the idea of you being armed,” I said.

“Well, I don’t like the idea of dying, so we’re even.”

A few minutes later, Max asked, “Have you found anything else out about Darlene?”

“We have,” I admitted. “Though I’m not sure how much I should share with you.”