Sugar Coated Sins (13 page)

“Is there anyone else?”

“Well, he and his sister hated
each other,” she said.

“Enough for her to kill him?”

“It wouldn’t surprise me,” she
said.

So far she’d named each of our
suspects, bar one.
 
“Do you happen to
remember how he felt about Judge Hurley?”

“He thought he was a fool, but he
certainly didn’t hate him,” Hilda admitted.

“Could the reverse have been
true?”

She thought for a moment before
answering.
 
“The judge was furious about
Ben taking advantage of him, but I don’t know if he’d kill him for it.
 
Besides, poison’s a woman’s crime, don’t you
think?”

“I don’t follow.”

“If you ask me, a man’s more
likely than not to sneak up behind you and clobber you with an iron pipe,” she
explained, “but poison’s a more subtle way of getting somebody’s
attention.
 
It has something going for it
that the more direct methods don’t.”

“Go on,” I said, fascinated by how
much thought the cook had put into the idea of poison as a murder weapon.
 
It made me wonder if I’d ever be able to eat
at the Boxcar Grill again without wondering if I was about to be killed.

“If you shoot someone or stab
them, you have to be close by, but poison can work from a thousand miles
away.
 
There’s no final confrontation to
it.
 
I’m not saying women don’t stab and
shoot or even bludgeon, but it’s the rare man who would think of poison.”

“I can think of a type who might,”
I suggested.

“Who’s that?”

“Someone who’s presided over countless
trials that have involved all kinds of methods of murder,” I said.
 
“Like a judge, for example.
 
He might have chosen poison for the very
reason that he wouldn’t be suspected of it.”

“I never thought of it that
way.
 
You and Jake both have your work
cut out for you. Suzanne, I know there’s no earthly reason for you to believe
me, but I didn’t do it.
 
I surely hope
that one of you catches whoever did, though.”

“So do I,” I said.
 
“Hilda, you have to tell Jake everything that
you just told me.”

“I don’t know,” she said, her
expression clouding up a little.
 
“It
would be different talking to him.”

“Would you like me to go with
you?” I offered.

She frowned, and after a moment,
the cook shook her head.
 
“No, I’ll face
him alone.
 
Where do you think he is
right now?
 
If I don’t do this right now,
I might never be able to do it.”

“Let me call him for you,” I said,
hoping that his interview with Lisa Port Smith was over.
 
To my happy surprise, he picked up
immediately.

“How did you know?” he asked the
moment he realized that it was me on the other end of the call.

“Know what?” I asked him.

“That I just turned my ringer back
on,” Jake said.

“Just lucky, I guess.
 
How did it go with Lisa Port Smith?
 
Did George’s information help you any?”

“I figured you must have been
behind that,” Jake said.
 
“Thanks, for
all the good it did me.”

“What happened?
 
Did she bring a lawyer with her and refuse to
answer questions?”
 
I asked.
 
I knew it was her right to do so, but Jake
hated to be stonewalled.

“No, but she might as well
have.
 
Interviewing her was like banging
my head against the wall.
 
Suzanne, if
you want to take a crack at her, be my guest.”

“Thanks.
 
I’ve got something that might help your day.”

“I’m listening.”

“At this very moment, I’m sitting
on a bench in the park near our place with Hilda Fremont, and she’d like to
speak with you.”

“I’ll be there in four
minutes.
 
Don’t leave, either one of
you.”

“Yes, sir,” I said.

“I don’t know how you managed it,
but remind me to thank you later,” he said.

“I won’t let you forget that,” I
said with a smile, and then I hung up and turned to Hilda.
 
“He’ll be right here.
 
You don’t mind if I wait with you, do you?”

“No, I don’t blame you for wanting
to make sure that I’ll stay.
 
After all,
I’ve already run off once, haven’t I?”

“It’s understandable,” I said as I
reached out and patted her hand.
 
“You
were scared.
 
Don’t worry, though.
 
Jake is a good man and a great cop.”

“He must be to have captured your
heart so completely,” Hilda said, surprising me by how sentimental she could
be.
 
It was a side of her that I’d never
seen before.

Jake was as good as his word.
 
He must have parked at the cottage, because
he hurried toward us from that direction.
 
Jake nodded to me as I stood, and then he looked straight at Hilda.
 
“Thanks for agreeing to speak with me.
 
I know how hard this must be on you.”

“I just want to get this over
with,” she said with a heavy sigh.

Jake nodded again, and then he
turned to me.
 
“Thanks, Suzanne.
 
I’ve got this.”

“I’ll see you later, then,” I said
as I started to walk away.

“You can count on it.”

I decided to leave my Jeep right
where it was in the Boxcar parking lot and made my way to Grace’s house on
foot.
 
I had plenty to tell her about my
conversation with Hilda and Jake’s invitation for us to speak with the dead
man’s sister.

Those particular conversations
would have to wait, though.

Grace wasn’t alone when I got
there.

Chapter
15

“Judge Hurley, what are you doing
here?” I asked him.

“I was looking for you.
 
You weren’t at home, so I figured that you’d
be here,” he said.
 
The judge had gotten
older since the last time I’d seen him, and it was clear that the years had
been particularly hard on him.
 
His
thinning hair did nothing to enhance his appearance, nor did his drooping
cheeks or his hangdog demeanor.
 
He never
ate at my donut shop, and I’d never had any reason to appear before him in
court, so our paths rarely crossed, no matter how small a town we both lived
in.

“Well, you found me.
 
What can I do for you?”

“Right now you can keep quiet and
listen.
 
I already spoke with your
husband, so I figured I’d go ahead and have the conversation I knew that you
and I were going to have sooner rather than later.”
 
He shook his head before he spoke next.
 
“Don’t act so surprised.
 
Do you think that the news of your exploits
hasn’t reached my ears?
 
You and this one
here have been nosing around in police investigations for years.”

“I was just telling the judge that
he wasn’t welcome here,” Grace said severely.

“Miss Gauge, are you ever going to
get over what happened?” the judge asked her.
 
“I’ve sentenced at least a dozen folks in this town to far worse than I
gave you, and yet apparently you’re the only one still holding a grudge.”

“That you’re aware of,” Grace
said.

He surprised me by smiling at the
comment.
 
“I suppose you’ve got a point
there.
 
Anyway, what do you want to know,
Miss Hart?
 
Or is it Mrs. Bishop?”

“Either one is fine with me. I’m
proud of both names,” I said.
 
“But I
didn’t mean to interrupt.
 
You were
saying?”

“You’re wondering if I was angry
with Benjamin Port.
 
Yes,
unequivocally.
 
Did I want to kill
him?
 
Only metaphorically.
 
Is there anything else you’d like to know?”

“Did you write that confession and
put it in the time capsule?” Grace asked him.

“I did not.”

“Do you have an alibi for the time
Benjamin was murdered?” I asked him.

“Boy, there’s no beating around
the bush with you two, is there?”

“You’re the one who wanted to
expedite this interview,” Grace said severely.
 
“We’re just complying with your request.”

“Judge, I really would like to
know.”

“How do you expect me to come up
with an alibi for something that happened fifteen years ago?
 
I barely remember what I had for breakfast
last week, and you expect me to recall a time a decade and a half ago?
 
Sorry to disappoint you, but I can’t do it.”

“Were you anywhere near the time
capsule or its contents before it was buried under the town clock?” I asked
him.

“Asked and answered,” he
objected.
 
Where did he think he was, his
courtroom?

“No, you said you didn’t put the
note in the capsule.
 
You didn’t say one
way or the other if the opportunity might not have presented itself.”

“It’s a moot point.
 
If I didn’t write the confession, then it
doesn’t matter whether I was close to the capsule’s contents or not.”

“Still, we’d like to know,” Grace
said.

“I was never anywhere near it, to
the best of my recollection.
 
Is that
all?”

I looked at Grace.
 
“Do you have anything else to ask him?”

“More than you can imagine,” she
said.

“About our investigation,” I
amended.

“No, nothing about that.”

“Thank you for your time, Judge,”
I said.
 
“Feel free to come by the shop
for a free donut as my way of thanking you.”

“You know very well that I don’t
believe in donuts.”

“Do you mean you don’t believe
that they exist?” Grace asked him, clearly enjoying poking the bear a little.

“Of course I know that they are
real.
 
I just feel as though they have no
nutritional food value whatsoever.
 
No
offense intended,” he added hastily to me.

“Why should I be offended?
 
You just condemned my entire way of
life.
 
What is there to take offense at
in that?”

The judge grumbled a little at my
comment, but he decided not to pursue it.
 
As he marched back down the street toward the courthouse, I said, “That
was odd.
 
How long had he been here when I
arrived?”

“About thirty seconds, which was
half a minute too long in my mind.
 
What
a stuffed blowhard.”

I decided not to comment on her
analysis.
 
Instead, I asked, “What do you
make of what just happened?”

“Are you talking about his
answers?”

“Those, and the fact that he
basically just volunteered to be questioned by a pair of amateurs.
 
How often does that happen to us?”

“You can count the times on one
hand and still have a finger or two left over,” Grace said.
 
“It was kind of unusual, wasn’t it?”

“The question is whether his
explanation was valid and he wanted to nip our conversation in the bud as
quickly as possible, or he’s hiding something and wanted to see how much we
knew.”

“Which, truth be told, is not much
of anything at this point.”

“I’ve got a bit of good news,
actually.”

“Tell me.
 
I could use some,” Grace answered.

“Jake has given us the green light
to speak with Lisa Port Smith.”

“How did that happen?”

I shrugged.
 
“He told me that she was basically
unresponsive to every last one of his queries, so we might as well try to speak
with her ourselves.”

“In other words, what is there to
lose at this point, right?”

I grinned at her.
 
“Right.
 
Don’t you just love it when the bar has been set so low?”

“Low?
 
This one is practically resting on the ground.
 
If we manage to get anything out of her at
all, we’re going to look like a pair of heroes.”

“Then let’s go see what we can
come up with,” I suggested.
 
“Should we
drive or walk there?
 
Her office isn’t
that far, and it’s a beautiful day.”

“Ordinarily I’m not a big fan of
exercise, but I’ve put on a little extra padding lately, so walking might be
better.
 
Suzanne, I have to learn to say
no to your donuts.”

“Do you agree with the judge,
then, that what I do is worthless?” I asked, feeling a little touchy about the
subject.
 
I’d been attacked for my
offerings on more than one occasion before, but that didn’t mean that I’d grown
to like it any more than I had in the past.

“I’m not going to argue with him
on a nutritional level, but your donuts offer a spiritual and transcendental
boost that is worth more than any health benefits that might be absent in the
actual product.”

“That’s a saleswoman’s answer if
ever there was one.”

“More like a best friend’s
response, if you ask me,” she said as we started walking toward Lisa Port
Smith’s office.

When we neared it, Grace said,
“This is the hardware store.
 
You know
that, right?”

“Her space is around the corner,”
I said as I led her around the brick building.

When we got to the back, I saw
that the rear of the building had been divided up into three offices.
 
One was vacant, one housed a small insurance
business, and the third was nameless.
 
It
had a green door, which I approached with more confidence than I felt.

“Are you certain that this is the
place?” Grace asked me.
 
“There’s no sign
or anything.”

“I understand she likes to keep a
low profile,” I replied.
 
“But this has
to be Port Resources.”

“That’s a fairly generic name,
isn’t it?” Grace asked.
 
“I mean, they
could be into anything.”

“The way Momma described the
company implied exactly that.”
 
No one
answered my knock.
 
Was it possible that
Lisa was out?
 
I knocked again, this time
quite a bit more forcefully, and a moment later, the green door opened.
 
I’d been expecting a secretary or a
receptionist of some kind, but it was Lisa Port Smith herself who came to the
door.
 
I’d met her a few times several
years ago, but that image didn’t jibe with the woman now standing in front of
us.
 
Her once-bright blonde hair had
faded into dishwater brown, and she’d done nothing to stop the
transformation.
 
Lisa’s face, though
heavily made up, still exhibited more lines than a woman her age should
sport.
 
Only her clothes presented the
appearance of a woman who was a success in business.
 

“Yes?
 
May I help you?”

“It’s Suzanne Hart and Grace
Gauge,” I reminded her.
 
“Do you remember
me?
 
We’ve met a few times in the past.”

“Of course.
 
You’re Dorothea’s daughter, aren’t you?”

“I am,” I said.

She showed no interest in Grace’s
profession, and my friend didn’t offer any explanation for it, either.

“I’m afraid I’m rather busy at the
moment.
 
What can I do for you?”

“We’re here about your brother,” I
said.

She frowned at the reference.
 
“It’s a tragedy, but as I told the sheriff
earlier, I don’t know anything about it.
 
I, like everyone else in April Springs, assumed that Benjamin had been
poisoned accidentally.
 
I’m still not
sure that it was intentional.”

“Even with the confession we
found?” I asked her, incredulous that she could be so uncaring about her
closest family member being murdered.

“The sheriff showed it to me, or
rather a copy of it, but that doesn’t mean that it has to be legitimate, no
matter how much credence he gave it.
 
When did he take over the office, anyway?
 
We seem to be going through law enforcement
officers at a surprising rate around here.
 
Where did they find this one?”

That was all I was going to listen
to about Jake.
 
“The sheriff, who also
happens to be my husband, is a former investigator for the North Carolina State
Police.
 
While on the job, he was
assigned the most difficult cases in the state.
 
Your brother’s murder investigation is in solid hands.”

I wasn’t sure what I expected in
terms of a response, but the next thing she said honestly surprised me.
 
“If you’re so certain of his competence, then
what are you two doing investigating as well?
 
That’s why you’re here, am I correct?”

“We thought it might be a good
idea to offer our input based on background information about April Springs
that the police might not have full access to,” I said curtly.

“I’m sure.
 
Well, as I said, there’s nothing I can do to
help you.
 
Now, if you will excuse me, I
have a business to run.”

“Don’t you want anyone to find out
who murdered your brother?” Grace asked her before she could shove us out the
door.

That finally got a response from
her.
 
“What good will it do him at this
point?
 
Will it bring him back from the
dead?
 
Will it matter one iota to him now
if his killer is punished for the act?”

“All I know is that if it were my
brother, I’d want to know,” Grace said, taken aback by Lisa’s response.
 
We’d questioned dozens of suspects in our
time, but we’d never had a reaction quite like this one.

“Well then, we must be different,”
she said.

I wasn’t ready to be ushered out
quite yet, though.
 
“You inherited his
half of the company when he passed away, didn’t you?” I asked her.

She looked from Grace to me so
quickly that I worried her neck might snap.
 
“What do you mean by that?
 
Are
you actually implying that I had something to do with what happened to him?”

“I’m not implying anything.
 
I’m just gathering information.”

Grace added, “If you don’t want to
tell us, I’m sure we can find out on our own at the Clerk of Courts’s
office.
 
After all, it’s got to be a
matter of public record.”

Lisa clearly wasn’t happy with our
unwillingness to disappear quietly, but what could she do, call the police and
have us forcibly removed from the premises?

She bit her lower lip for a moment
before trusting herself to speak.
 
“Fine.
 
We each owned half the
company when he passed away.
 
If I’d have
died first, he would have inherited from me, but I didn’t.
 
He did.”

I briefly considered sharing what
George had told us about his brother’s plans to hire a hit man to take care of
her, but I didn’t think the timing was right just yet.