Sweet Suspects (The Donut Mysteries) (15 page)

“People stay together for stranger reasons than that,” Helen said, and then her phone rang.
 
After a moment’s conversation, she hung up and told us, “Sorry, but I have to go.”
 

As she stood, I said, “Helen, you can’t brush us off that easily.
 
We need more time with you.”

“That wasn’t Marcy.
 
Two students were fighting in the hallway, and I need to figure out what happened.
 
If you’ll excuse me, I have a job to do.”

As we followed Helen out of her office, she said softly to me, “I’m trusting you both.
 
Don’t let me down, or none of us will be happy about it.”

“Is that a threat?” I asked her just as softly.

She grinned broadly at me.
 
“As a matter of fact, it is.
 
I’ve got a good thing going here with Henry and my job, and I’d hate to see anything harm either one.”

“Then maybe you should have been a little more discreet,” Grace replied just as softly.

Helen’s eyes narrowed, but she didn’t say anything as she hurried out toward the hall.

“Wow, that was clearly a direct hit,” Marcy said with more pleasure than she probably should have.
 
“What did you just say to her?”

Grace waved it off.
 
“I just told her to have a nice day.”

“I’ll bet you did,” Marcy said with new respect clear in her gaze.
 

Once we were off school grounds, Grace said, “I should have kept my mouth shut there at the end.
 
I knew it as I was saying it, but I still couldn’t help myself.
 
You’re not mad at me, are you?”

I shook my head and smiled.
 
“On the contrary.
 
Helen was a little too smug for my taste.
 
I didn’t know how to shake her up, but you did it just fine.”

“I just couldn’t stand how self-righteous she was being.”

“Neither could I,” I said.

“Do you believe what she said about Candy?” Grace asked me as we got back into the Jeep.

“It sounds spot on, doesn’t it?
 
After all, we were all young and stupid back then.”

“Some of us were apparently even dumber than most,” Grace said.
 
“Why would she let him take pictures of her?
 
How bad must they be?”

“I don’t know, but there’s only one way to find out,” I said.

“We’re going to come right out and ask her, aren’t we?”

“What choice do we have?
 
We can’t exactly come out and ask Zane, can we?
 
Candy’s the only one we can talk to to see if what Helen just told us was the truth.”

“I’m not looking forward to
that
conversation,” Grace said.

“I’m not either,” I said, “but there’s no time like the present.
 
Let’s go see if we can find Candy at her gym and ask her about that slap.”

“I wonder if she’ll tell us the truth about it,” Grace said as I started to drive away.

“It would be a refreshing change of pace, but I’m not going to hold my breath,” I said.

I suddenly stopped my car, though.

“What’s wrong?” Grace asked me.

I pointed to the older man pushing a trashcan on wheels away from the gymnasium.
 
Inside it were remnants of the night’s festivities, at least those that the police hadn’t confiscated.
 
An extra bonus was that it was clearly the man who’d worked during the reunion the night before.
 
His full head of white hair made him easy enough to identify.
 
“We need to talk to that man about what he found inside,” I said as I put the transmission in Park.
 
“There might be a clue there that Chief Martin missed.”

Chapter 12

“Excuse me.
 
Do you have a second?” I asked the older man as we approached.
 
He was wearing a pair of crisp new coveralls with the name STEVE embroidered on them.

“What can I do for you ladies?” he asked with a smile as he stopped pushing the trashcan.

“It’s about the reunion,” Grace said.

Steve put a hand through his hair.
 
“If I’d known how messy you folks were going to be, I would have asked for double time.”

“I can only imagine,” I said.
 
“Have you finished cleaning up yet?”

“This is the last of it,” he said as he gestured to the trashcan.
 
“The police just cleared me to finish the job.”

“You didn’t happen to find the other spear holding the reunion banner, did you?” I asked him.

“Nope, they took that with them, along with almost everything else that might be considered evidence.
 
That was okay by me.
 
Less to clean up on my end, you know?”

I agreed, though I’d been wanting to examine the spear that had been left behind.
 
I’d noticed them both the night before and hadn’t thought anything about the decorations, but since one of them had been used to kill Zane Dunbar, their significance to me had grown quite a bit.
 
“I saw you at the reunion,” I said, though in truth I’d just noticed him on Gary’s video.

“I saw you both there, too,” Steve said with a grin.
 
“I also happened to notice that neither one of you came with a date,” he added as he brushed a bit of hair off his forehead.
 
Was he actually flirting with us?

“Did you happen to notice anything out of the ordinary last night, or even today as you were cleaning up?” I asked him, deciding not to address his statement.

“Nothing worth talking about,” he said.
 
“A few geniuses thought they’d pull some pranks while they were back in school, so I’ve been mostly dealing with their messes.”

“What kind of pranks?” Grace asked.

“You know, stupid kid stuff that grown men should know better than doing.
 
There was plastic wrap over a few of the men’s toilets, somebody stuck gum in the water fountain spouts, a few random new locks were put on some of the empty lockers in the halls, and at least ten light bulbs were unscrewed all over the place.
 
I swear, the adults were worse than the kids ever dreamed about being.
 
Why do you want to know all of this?”

“Let’s just say that we’re curious by nature,” Grace answered before I could speak.

“I bet you are.
 
Say, I’m almost finished here.
 
Would either one of you—”
 

He was interrupted by his walkie-talkie.
 
“Steve, they need you back in the gym.
 
Somebody superglued the coach’s lock shut on his door, and he can’t get in.”

“On my way,” he replied, and then he turned to us as he pushed the trashcan to one side.
 
“Sorry, but duty calls.”

“If you find anything else interesting, call me,” I said as I gave him a card from the donut shop.

“And if I want to discuss something more personal?” Steve asked.

“You’ll have to take that up with my boyfriend.
 
He’s a North Carolina State Trooper.”

Steve just shrugged.
 
“It figures.
 
Well, you can’t blame a guy for trying.”

He was about to turn to say something to Grace when she said quickly, “We’ve got to run, too.”

As we got back into the Jeep, I asked, “Why did you interrupt him?
 
I think he was about to ask you out on a date.”

“Why do you think I took off like that?”

“What’s wrong with him?
 
Is it his job?” I asked her with a grin.

“I don’t care what he does for a living, but the man looks like my grandfather,” Grace said.

“I’m just teasing you,” I said as I watched Steve in my rearview mirror.
 
He abandoned the trash and headed back into the building.
 
“Should we go through that trash in the can while we have a chance?”

“We can if you think it’s important,” she said reluctantly.
 
“Man, I wish I had a pair of gloves, though.”

“Or maybe even a Hazmat suit,” I countered.
 
“Men can be really disgusting, can’t they?”

“I don’t know about that.
 
I think they’re fine on their own, but when you get them back together with their high school cronies, anything can happen.”

We got back out of the Jeep and approached the trashcan, but when we were just a few feet from it, another janitor came out of the building.

“Can I help you?” he asked sternly, lacking any of Steve’s charm.

“We were just wondering what was left over from the reunion,” Grace said quickly.
 
“It’s sentimental, you understand.”

“You don’t want
any
part of this.
 
Trust me on that,” the man said as he wheeled the trashcan to the dumpster and tossed it all in.

He disappeared back inside the building, and Grace and I looked in the dumpster.
 

After a moment, I said, “I don’t know about you, but I’m not willing to go
that
far digging for clues.”

“I’m sure Chief Martin and his people were more than thorough,” Grace agreed.
 
“It would just be redundant if we searched it, too.”

“And if he found out that we did it, it might even hurt his feelings,” I added as I caught a few whiffs of the trash.

“We wouldn’t want that,” Grace said, “especially since we’ve both worked so hard to gain his confidence and trust.”

We looked at each other for a second, and then we both burst out laughing.

“I don’t care if there are hundred dollar bills at the bottom of that thing; I’m not going in,” I said.

“Me, either,” Grace said.

“So then, we’re off to Candy’s gym?” I asked.

“Look at it this way.
 
It can’t smell any worse than this.”

“I hope you’re right,” I said as we got back into the Jeep again and drove away.
 
As I pulled out of the parking lot, I glanced back in my rearview mirror.
 
A face pulled quickly back into the shadows in one of the windows, and I wasn’t a hundred percent positive, but I could swear that Helen Marston had been watching us.
 
How long had she been there, and more importantly, why had she cared what we were up to?
 
“Grace, did you just see that?”

“See what?” she asked.
 

I glanced over, and she was texting someone on her cellphone.

“Never mind,” I said as I started driving.

“Oh, no,” she said as she put her phone away.
 
“You’re not getting away with anything that easily.
 
Talk to me, Suzanne.”

“I could have sworn that I just saw Helen Marston watching us from one of the windows in the school.
 
When she saw that I spotted her, she ducked back into the shadows.
 
At least I
thought
it was her.”

“Why would she care what we were doing?” Grace asked.
 
“Unless she’s the killer.”

“Come on, I can think of more reasons than that,” I countered.
 
“Maybe she was just passing by and happened to glance out at the same time that I looked backward.
 
It could happen.”

“Sure it could, but it won’t do us any good thinking like that,” Grace said.
 

“Even if she was watching us, that still doesn’t make her a murderer,” I said.

“No, but it’s interesting nonetheless.
 
Let’s just file the fact away and focus on Candy.
 
How are we going to approach her?”

“Are you interested in a gym membership?” I asked her with a sly smile.

“No, thanks.
 
I have my own workout routines at home.”
 
After a moment’s pause, she asked, “Why, do I
look
like I need to join a gym?”

“Of course not,” I said.
 
“You’re fitter than I’ll ever be.
 
I just thought if you asked Candy about a membership, we might have a chance to talk to her.”

“Why don’t
you
join?” Grace asked.

“Everybody in town knows that I couldn’t afford it,” I said.

“You don’t even know how much it is,” Grace replied.

“I don’t have to.
 
It’s still too much for me.”

“Okay, I’ll take the bullet for the team.”

“I certainly hope not,” I said, not even smiling.
 
I hated putting Grace, or any of my friends, at risk during our investigations.

“Relax, I’m just speaking figuratively.
 
There’s just one problem, though.”

“Just one?” I asked.

“If I’m there to see the gym, why are you with me?”

“Maybe you wanted a second opinion,” I said.

“Sure, why not?
 
Okay, let’s do this.”
 

We’d arrived at Candy’s gym, a place she’d named The Sweet Spa and Gym.
 
Under the name of the gym, the phrase “Where Candy Rules” was written in script.

“If this place is decorated with candy canes and lollipops, I’m leaving,” Grace said.
 
“I don’t care what her first name is, candy and workouts just don’t go together.”

“I don’t know.
 
I’ve got to give her points for using what she had.
 
Who calls their baby girl Candy, anyway?
 
It’s just
asking
for all kinds of grief for that child.”

“Over the years, I’ve heard a lot worse,” Grace said.

“Maybe so, but I still don’t think that it’s right.”

We parked in the crowded lot and started for the front door.
 
“You have to give her credit,” Grace said.
 
“At least the parking lot is full.”

“Candy seems to be doing better for herself than I am at Donut Hearts,” I replied.

“I can’t imagine why,” Grace said.

Once we were inside, we knew, though.

Three quarters of the people inside currently working out were men, but without a single exception, every employee was a shapely young woman wearing a red leotard and white hose.
 

Then it hit me; they were all dressed like candy canes.

“Do you like our look?” Candy asked as she approached us.
 
To be fair, she wore the same outfit as her employees, and she made it look good.
 
“I just love themes, don’t you?”

“Do you have any women who are members?” I asked.

“Quite a few, actually,” Candy said, “though we do seem to skew heavily toward men.
 
What can I do for you?”