Sweet Suspects (The Donut Mysteries) (3 page)

“I’m way ahead of you,” Emma said as she pulled out a folded box all ready to fill.

As we walked through the kitchen and out into the front, I tucked the donuts under my arm and reached for the door.
 
One glance outside told me that Ray Blake was still over there talking to the police chief.
 
I hoped that Chief Martin didn’t blame me for it, but it couldn’t be helped.
 
I needed the head lawman’s cooperation, but that didn’t mean that I owed Emma anything less.
 
Hopefully Ray wouldn’t make a scene when we got over there, but I wouldn’t put it past him.
 
The man believed in his heart that he was a grizzled old newshound, even if his paper
did
feature more advertisements than stories.
 
Honestly, what newspaper didn’t these days?
 
Still, he pressed folks around April Springs a lot harder than he probably should, and one day it was going to backfire on him.

I just hoped that day wasn’t today.

CHAPTER 3

“Sorry, but I can’t chat.
 
I have a story to file,” Ray said as he blew past Emma and me.
 
I
knew
that he was in a hurry because he didn’t even try to grab a free donut from the box I was carrying.

“Hang on a second, Dad,” Emma said.
 
“I want to talk to you.”

“That’s fine, but you’d better make it quick,” he said.

“This is important,” Emma answered, and the two of them stepped away from the crime scene and closer to Ray’s car.

“Do I even have to
ask
you how that just went?” I asked Chief Martin as he approached.

“I’m pretty sure that you can use your imagination,” he said.

“I brought donuts for you and your crew,” I said as I held them out.

“You know how I feel about taking freebies from anyone,” the chief said reluctantly as he studied my offerings.

“I get it, but this is different, Chief.”

“How’s that?” he asked.

“If you don’t take them, I’ll just have to throw them out,” I said.
 
I had a policy that once a donut went into a box, it never touched my shelves again.
 
I knew that there was nothing wrong with these donuts, but it was a rule that I stuck to, no matter what.

“Well, we can’t have that,” he said as he reached for the box.
 
“Thanks.”

“You’re welcome,” I said.
 
I gestured to where the body had been slumped over earlier.
 
One of Chief Martin’s officers was unbolting the entire bench from its concrete foundation.
 
“Are you taking
everything
?”

“We have to; it’s evidence.
 
Don’t worry.
 
Parks and Rec will be coming by in an hour to replace it.
 
You don’t want that reminder staring at you every time you walk out the door anyway, do you?”

“No, I think that it’s a fine idea to remove it all at that,” I said.
 
“Have you learned anything new since I was over here earlier with the coffee?”

“You know how it goes, Suzanne.
 
We collect all of the information that we can and then we analyze it later.
 
Right now we’re just trying to make sure that we don’t miss anything.”

I pointed to two officers making an ever-widening circle around the bench, studying the ground in front of them carefully.

“What are they hoping to find?”

“Well, I won’t lie to you.
 
A clue would be nice,” he said.
 
“I really wish that you had a security camera out front.”

He’d made the same suggestion half a dozen times in the past, but I’d always had to say no.
 
“I’m running a pretty fine line between red and black ink as it is.
 
A security system would put me over that line farther than I’d be comfortable with.”

“I get that,” he said.
 
“The good news is that we should be finished up before you open.”

“That’s great,” I said, and I meant it.
 
The last thing I needed was a full-scale murder investigation going on across the street from my donut shop.
 
The chief was right.
 
I didn’t need any more reminders than I already had about what had happened to Zane.
 
The memory of finding him was more than enough to give me nightmares.

“We do what we can,” he said.

I was about to say something when the officer working on removing the bench called over to us.
 
“Chief, if you’ve got a second, I could use a hand.”

“Be right there,” he said, and then he turned to me.
 
“Duty calls.
 
Thanks again for the donuts.”

“It was the least I could do,” I answered.

“No, the
least
you could have done was stand over there in the window and watch us work.”

“I’ve always been more of a doer, myself,” I said, regardless of what Zane had said to me the night before.
 
“You know that.”

“As a matter of fact, I do,” he said with a slight smile.

After the police chief went over to help remove the bench, I started back to the shop.
 
Emma caught up with me before I made it to the front door.

“What was that all about with your father?” I asked her.

“Dad’s being stuffy about me going back to college again,” she said.
 
Ray hadn’t been all that thrilled when Emma had come home, and he hadn’t been shy about sharing that opinion with her on a nearly daily basis.

“What did you say?” I asked as I unlocked our front door.

“I told him that things could be worse.
 
I’m taking classes at the community college, aren’t I?
 
If he keeps pushing me, I might just move away from April Springs and
never
go back to college.”

“Emma, you wouldn’t do that, would you?” I asked.
 
I understood that someday Emma would leave Donut Hearts again and head back to school for good, but I hated the thought of her leaving me just to get away from her father’s nagging.

“Of course I wouldn’t.
 
I was only bluffing,” she said with a grin.

“So did it work?”

She shrugged.
 
“Only time will tell, but don’t worry.
 
Nobody’s
getting rid of me that easily.”

“I should hope not,” I said as I put an arm around her.
 
“Truth be told, I’ve kind of gotten used to having you around.”

“Thanks.
 
I’m happy here, too.
 
So what should we do next?”

I pretended to consider it, and then I said, “It might be a good idea to get cracking on those yeast donuts.”

“You’re such a slave driver,” Emma said with a smile.

“You don’t have to tell me that.
 
Nobody knows it better than I do.
 
At least you’ve got the option to just walk away if things get too bad here.
 
Me, I’m in it for the long haul.”

“Don’t write me off just yet,” she said as we put our aprons back on.
 
“I’ve got a lot of donutmaking still ahead of me.”

“I certainly hope so,” I said as I approached the dough still resting in the floor mixer.
 
It was time to get started again, and I was glad that I had the distraction of donutmaking to take my mind off what had happened to Zane Dunbar.
 
I wondered how Janet was holding up, and I promised myself that I’d track her down and see if there was anything I could do to help her through her grief.
 

In the meantime, it was time to make the donuts yet again.

“You’re
never
going to believe who’s out front waiting to get in,” Emma said hours later when we were ten minutes from opening Donut Hearts for the day.
 
She’d been in front getting ready for our day while I’d stayed in back, working until the last possible second.
 
Once upon a time, we’d been open at five AM every day, but I’d decided to change it to six in order to come in an hour later so I could get a little more sleep.
 
A few of our regulars had complained about it, but they’d quickly gotten used to the new hours.
 
I’d also started shutting down at eleven instead of noon, and so far, I hadn’t had many complaints about that, either.
 
It still made for a long day at the donut shop, but at least now it was more doable.
 
It was amazing how much difference an hour here and there could mean, and I knew that unless I was in dire financial straits, I’d never go back to the old system.

“Is it our fair mayor?” I asked as I finished the last-minute prep work in the kitchen.
 
George had been known to visit us early, but it was still unusual enough to comment on.

“No, it’s Grace,” Emma said.

I dropped the pan I’d been taking to the sink and brushed past her.
 
“And you didn’t let her in?”

“No, why would I?
 
It wasn’t time to open yet.
 
Should
I have?” Emma asked me.

“I’ll take care of it,” I said.
 
Had Grace already heard what had happened to Zane?
 
Why else would she be here?

“I’m really sorry.
 
I didn’t even think about it,” Emma said.

“It’s fine, but I’m going to go let her in.
 
Would you mind finishing up those dishes?”

“I’m on it,” she said.
 
That would keep her in the kitchen until we were ready to open, giving her something to do and allowing Grace and me some privacy to talk.

As I opened the door, I saw Grace rubbing her hands together.
 
“It’s a little chilly out there this morning, isn’t it?” she asked me.
 
“Is it six already?”

“No, it’s ten ‘til,” I said.
 
“Get in here.
 
I’ve got coffee.”

“Are you sure?”

“Grace,” I said as I motioned her inside, and she obeyed.
 
I kept the CLOSED sign in the door, so if anyone else came early and saw us, I’d just point to it and then to the clock.
 
It was capricious of me letting Grace in and no one else, but like Trish at the Boxcar, I was the ruler of my own dominion, and for once, I’d do what I wanted to and forget about what my customers might desire.

“Coffee?” I asked her as I poured two cups without waiting for a response from her.

“Yes, please,” she said.

“I’m guessing you heard about Zane,” I said.

After Grace took a long sip, she nodded.
 
“I heard about it on the radio this morning.”

“You’re usually not an early riser by choice,” I said as casually as I could muster.

“To be honest with you, I had trouble sleeping last night,” Grace admitted, and then she looked back toward the kitchen.
 
“Suzanne, can we talk?”

“Relax.
 
Emma’s doing dishes right now, and unless I miss my guess, she’s got her music cranked up too high to overhear us.”

“Would you mind checking anyway?” Grace asked.

I nodded as I turned and opened the kitchen door.
 
As I suspected, Emma was buried in the sink up to her arms, and her earbuds were firmly in place.
 
I ducked back out again before she could see me and told Grace, “We’re good.
 
What do you want to talk about?”

“I need to tell you what Zane said to me last night that shook me up so much,” Grace said.

“Don’t feel like you have to, but if you’re sure you want to, then I’d be happy to listen.”

“Before I get into all of that, there’s something else that you should know first.”

“Go ahead,” I said as I took another sip of my coffee.
 
We didn’t exactly have all morning, but I didn’t feel right about pushing Grace, either.
 
If I had to delay opening to hear what she had to say, then so be it.

“I went back to the reunion last night after you left,” she admitted a little guiltily.

“Why would you do that?” I asked, forgetting myself for a second.