Blended Bribes

by Jessica Beck

  “Not at all. In fact, I may even have a piece of pie, just to keep you company, you understand.”

  Grace grinned at me. “You always were the politest person I knew.”

  “Liar,” I answered with a smile of my own.

  “Hey, if you’re having pie, then I’ll have some for dessert myself. Let’s go.”

  Once we were outside, I asked, “Why don’t we walk over to the Boxcar? Once we decide what to do next, we can come back for my Jeep, but for now, I can work up an appetite for that pie.”

  “That sounds good to me,” she said.

  As we headed up Springs Drive on foot, I found myself hesitating at the donut shop before we followed the long defunct railroad tracks in the opposite direction toward the Boxcar Grill. The remains of Gabby’s shop beside mine were a reminder of just how close I’d come to losing everything myself. The hole between Donut Hearts and the old Patty Cakes building was like a missing tooth. The place had burned rather thoroughly, and I had to wonder how long it would be until the remains were bulldozed and hauled away. In six months, would anyone even be able to tell that Gabby’s shop had once stood there so proudly? It always amazed me how tenuous civilization was and how quickly nature reclaimed her own space.

  “Hey, are you okay?” Grace asked as she touched my shoulder lightly.

  “I’m fine,” I said as I shook myself slightly. “I think someone must have just walked over my grave.”

  Grace shivered. “I always hated that expression.”

  “Me, too,” I agreed. “Come on. Let’s go get you something to eat.”

  Chapter 7

  “How was your lunch, Suzanne?” Trish asked me critically the moment she spied me coming into the diner. “Tell me the truth. It was cold by the time you ate it, wasn’t it?”

  “As a matter of fact, it was delightful,” I told her. “Penny told me to tell you thanks for making an exception for us. She said it was exactly what she needed to get her through the rest of her day.”

  That seemed to mollify her slightly. “Okay, I’ll be sure to thank her for the kind words the next time I see her,” she said. “What’s up?”

  “I was hoping to get a bite to eat myself,” Grace said.

  “Are you going to try to take it with you?” Trish asked her pointedly.

  “No, ma’am, not on your life. I’ll have the meat loaf special and an iced tea, for here.”

  Trish grinned. “That’s what I’m talking about. Go grab a table, and I’ll bring it out to you.” Almost as an afterthought, she turned back to me. “Did you want anything?”

  “What kind of pie do you have?” I asked her.

  Trish smiled. “Cherry and apple crumb.”

  “Is that one kind of pie or two?” I asked her, happy that we were still on good terms.

  She laughed at my question. “It’s two, but I’ll tell you what I’ll do. I’ll serve you a half slice of each. How does that sound?”

  “Great, if you’ll make it two,” Grace interjected. “After all, I’d hate for those two orphaned half slices to just go to waste.”

  “Was that ‘waste’ or ‘waist’?” Trish asked her.

  “Probably both, but I’ll take my chances,” Grace answered with a smile.

  “Mind if I grab something and join you two?” she asked. I’d promised her lunch with us the next day, but why not do it now?

  “That would be great. We can take a few minutes and catch up with each other’s lives while Grace is eating,” I said.

  “I’ll be there shortly,” Trish said. “Why don’t you take this table so I’ll be close to the kitchen and the cash register?” she asked as she tapped an empty table near the front.

  “That sounds good,” I said.

  After Grace and I were seated and served a pair of iced teas, though I hadn’t requested one, Trish added a glass for herself.

  “Did you even want a tea?” Grace asked me softly after the diner owner disappeared into the kitchen.

  “You know me. I’m always up for tea,” I said as I took a sip. I’d probably be bouncing off the walls later from the overload of sugar and caffeine, but I really didn’t care. There were some sacrifices worth making.

  Trish came out with a large tray a few minutes later, and soon Grace was eating her main meal while Trish and I had our desserts. Trish had chosen banana pudding, and it looked wonderful, but I didn’t regret my choice of getting a variety of pie slices. When given the option for dessert, it was a rare day that I ever chose anything but pie if it was available.

  We chatted about a dozen things as Grace ate, but the moment she started in on her own small pie slices, I asked the grill owner, “Trish, what were you going to say earlier?”

  “Earlier than what?” she asked. “Whoops, I have to go. I’ll be right back.” She left us to ring up a customer as Grace took her first bite of the cherry crumb pie and then followed it up quickly with a bite of the apple crumb.

  “Where do you put it?” I asked her in awe. “You’re as skinny as a rail no matter what you eat.”

  “I owe it all to clean living and a positive mental attitude,” she answered with a grin. “That and a metabolism like a hummingbird that I inherited from my mother. She could eat anything she pleased and never gain an ounce. I can’t quite claim that myself, but I’m not that far off.”

  “You know what? I’m trying really hard not to hate you right now,” I said with a grin, “but it’s kind of tough at the moment.”

  “How could you? After all, I’m the most loveable person I know,” she said, and we both started laughing as Trish rejoined us.

  “What did I miss?”

  “Grace was just telling me how loveable she is,” I said with a smile.

  “Okay,” Trish answered, clearly not getting the joke.

  “You were about to say earlier?” I asked her.

  “Oh, right. I saw something at ReNEWed yesterday, but I’m not sure that it means anything.”

  “Why don’t you tell us and let us decide?” I asked her.

  “Tyra Hitchings was acting odd, and for her, that’s saying something. She stormed out of ReNEWed about an hour before I heard the first siren.”

  “Why would she do that?” I asked. Tyra had once been a wealthy woman who had fallen on hard times recently, and I knew from some comments Gabby had made that Tyra was selling off her nice things a few articles at a time to cover her bills.

  “I have a feeling I know. That woman’s always had a temper, so it didn’t surprise me that she’d be upset with Gabby. Tyra’s been selling things to ReNEWed for a while now,” Trish said, independently confirming what Gabby had told me. “She usually does it in the store’s off hours so no one will see her leaving the place. The only reason I know anything about it at all is that I’ve spotted her visiting a few times in the past. She goes in with a large bag that’s clearly full of clothes, and then she leaves later with nothing but a grim expression on her face. This was the first time I’d ever seen her visit the place during regular business hours.”

  “I wonder what their argument was about?” Grace asked.

  “I’ve got a feeling I know,” I said grimly.

  “Why would she be mad?” Trish asked me. “Gabby always pays for what she buys.”

  “True, but I’m sure it doesn’t feel as though it’s enough, especially when you see what she turns around and charges for the same things she just bought,” I answered. “If that was Tyra’s first time in the store itself, she must have been furious to learn how much profit Gabby was making off her things.”

  “That’s pure speculation, and you know it,” Grace said as she pushed her dessert plate away.

  “Yes, but there’s one way to find out. Let’s go pay Tyra a call, shall we?”

  Trish frowned. “I wish I could go with you, but I’ve got to stay here and man the register.”

  “We’ll let you know what we find out,” I promised.

  “You’d better.”

  As Trish stood and clea
red the table, Grace slid a twenty-dollar bill toward her. “That was delightful.”

  “Twenty is too much,” Trish said. “I’ll go grab your change.”

  “Just apply it to my next bill,” Grace said with a smile.

  “No, ma’am. I’ll forget, and then I’ll remember, and then I’ll be upset,” Trish explained.

  “Okay, I’ll be right here,” Grace said. It was pretty clear that she hadn’t understood Trish’s reasoning, but then again, she’d never owned her own business. She may have had her own set of headaches, but that didn’t mean that our lives were worry free. I hated the thought of cheating someone—whether accidentally or not—more than just about anything, and I knew that Trish felt the same way, too.

  After Grace got her change, Trish said with a smile, “If you leave me a tip, I’ll dump a pitcher of tea in your lap.”

  Grace, who had clearly been considering doing what Trish had just surmised, quickly tucked the money back into her purse. “I wouldn’t dream of it.”

  We all laughed about it, and as Grace and I stepped outside, I said, “Let’s take a shortcut through the park and grab my Jeep first. Tyra lives too far away for us to walk.”

  “Especially after that meal,” Grace said. “I’m not entirely sure I can make it to your place after everything I just ate.”

  “You can wait right here, and I can come by and pick you up,” I offered with a smile.

  “No, if you can make the trek, then so can I,” I said.

  We headed through the park toward the cottage I shared with Jake, but something stopped us before we got there.

  Someone was standing still, staring oddly at the back of my home, and I had a creepy feeling that I knew exactly who it was, though why they were there, I couldn’t even begin to guess.

  Chapter 8

  “Buster Breckenridge, what are you doing here, and why are you staring at my cottage?” I asked the man as he turned around. “I thought you were still in prison.”

  “Hello, Suzanne,” Buster said with a smile that managed to give me chills. He’d been forty pounds heavier the last time I’d seen him, and in the interim, he’d dropped the fat and had gained quite a bit of muscle mass, from the look of him. There was a scar just below his right eye, and his hair was shorter than I’d ever seen it in my life, but there was no mistaking him. “Is that any way to greet an old friend?”

  “No, but we’ve never been friends, so it doesn’t matter,” I said. “I can’t believe you have the nerve to show your face in town again after what you did.”

  He held up his hands and smiled again, but there was no warmth in it at all. “Even though I was innocent, I did my time, Suzanne, and now I’m free to go wherever I please.”

  “And you chose to come back to April Springs?” I asked him incredulously. “Of all the places in the world, you decided that you wanted to be here?”

  “What can I say?” he asked. “I got homesick.” He seemed to notice Grace for the first time. “Hey, Gorgeous,” he said with a grin. “How’s it going? You’re looking prettier than ever.”

  “Don’t call me Gorgeous,” Grace said as her complexion went ashen at the moment he turned his attention to her. “Does Stephen Grant know you’re back?”

  “I have no idea. I just got here twenty minutes ago,” he said. “Why do you care what Stephen Grant does and does not know?”

  “Stephen happens to be the chief of police now, and he’s my boyfriend, too,” she replied.

  “Really? How interesting,” Buster said.

  “What are you doing standing in the park looking at my house?” I asked him. “If my husband sees you creeping around the place, he’s going to make it rough on you.”

  “Are you talking about Max? Believe me, I’m not worried about that ham of an actor, not after what I’ve been through,” Buster said.

  “Max and I are divorced. I’m married to a former State Police Inspector these days,” I told him smartly.

  “Wow, things really have changed since I left town,” he said. After a moment, he snapped his fingers and smiled. “I just got it. Donut Hearts. Is that your place?”

  “It is,” I told him.

  Paige must have seen us in the park from the bookstore, because she soon joined us. “Suzanne, I wanted to talk to you about... Hello,” she said to Buster, interrupting herself.

  “Hi there,” Buster said, trying to turn on his charm but failing miserably at it, at least as far as I was concerned. “My name is Buster. And you are?” he asked as he put out a hand.

  Paige was about to answer and take it when Grace stepped in between them. “Don’t talk to him. He’s bad news,” she said.

  Paige pulled her hand back, looking extremely confused. “I don’t understand.”

  “Buster here burned down a church on the edge of town ten years ago,” I explained. “As a matter of fact, it was just like what happened to Gabby’s shop yesterday.”

  “Well, don’t look at me. Like I said before, I just got here,” Buster said. “Besides, I didn’t set either one of those fires. I’m innocent. I was then, and I still am, no matter what some people testified to at my trial.”

  “It seems like an awfully big coincidence though, doesn’t it?” Grace asked. “You show up here, and suddenly the whole town catches on fire again?”

  “I’d hardly call that old shop the entire town,” Buster said. “If it was still like what I remember, everything in that building was flammable, but I didn’t have anything to do with it.”

  “You and Gabby never got along though, did you?” I asked him. “When she testified at your trial that she saw you smoking in back of the church, it was enough to get you convicted, and you swore you’d get revenge, didn’t you?”

  “What can I say? I was young and stupid back then, and I was focusing on the wrong enemy,” Buster said. “I shouldn’t have to remind you that she wasn’t the only one who pointed a finger at me in court. I was lashing out at everyone back then. I threatened George Morris for arresting me; do you remember that? How is old George? I imagine he’s long dead and in the ground by now.”

  “Hardly. He’s alive and kicking, and as a matter of fact, he’s our mayor,” I explained.

  “This just keeps getting better and better. Well, as much as I’d love to hang around and chat, I’ve got to get back to Union Square. I’ve got a job there, and my boss gets a little grumpy if I’m late. See you all around,” he said, and then added, “Nice meeting you, ma’am, whatever your name might be.”

  Buster then walked back to the street, got on a motorcycle, and then sped off.

  “What was that all about?” Paige asked. “Did he really burn a church down?”

  “Buster denied it at the time, but there was enough proof to convict him. He swore that he’d been set up and that when he got out he’d find out who really did it and make them pay, but nobody believed him.”

  “How were you involved, Suzanne?” Paige asked me.

  “Can I just say that it’s a long story and leave it at that?” I asked her.

  “I suppose that’s your right,” Paige said as she started to walk away.

  “Hey, you were coming over to talk to us about something,” I reminded her. “What’s up?”

  “It can wait,” Paige said. “I’d better get back to the shop.”

  “Hang on,” I said. She was going to find out sooner or later, so I might as well be the one to tell her. “Buster and I have a bit of a history, that’s all.”

  “You two dated?” she asked me.

  “Hey, I went out with him before I knew that he was an arsonist, not Suzanne,” Grace protested.

  “Sorry, he just didn’t seem to have that kind of vibe with her.”

  “It’s fine,” I said. “No, I never dated him. The truth is that I testified against him too. Between what Gabby said and my statement in court, he went away for ten years for arson.”

  “Did you see him smoking at the church, too?” Paige asked as she rejoined us.


  “No, but the day before the fire I saw him flicking matches at a trash can by the town clock. When it caught on fire, he laughed about it. I managed to put it out with my water bottle, but it wasn’t something I was likely to forget. After he was arrested, I realized that there might be a pattern of him playing with matches, so I came forward. I didn’t have much choice. It felt as though it was my civic duty.”

  “I’m not sure that’s how he saw it,” Grace said. “Remember, he threatened to get you, too.”

  “There’s a whole host of folks in town he has a grudge against,” I said, trying to ease the tension that was suddenly in the air. Buster coming back to town was definitely going to make things harder for a great many people. Had he set fire to Gabby’s shop, hoping to take my donut shop out with it? He’d pretended to be surprised that I owned Donut Hearts, but what if he knew it all along, and he was trying to settle two scores with one fire?

  I needed to tell Jake what was going on, but first I wanted to see what Paige had to say. Maybe she’d seen something at Gabby’s the day before that would help us figure out what had really happened to her shop.

  Things had suddenly gotten a great deal more complicated with Buster’s reappearance, but I wasn’t going to let that hamper my investigation. If he had been the one to burn ReNEWed down, he’d pay for it. I’d see to that, but if it was someone else, I’d make sure they were the ones who were brought to justice.

  Either way, someone was going to pay.

  “I really do have to get back to work,” Paige said as she started off toward her bookstore.

  “We’ll come with you,” I said as Grace and I tagged along.

  “Is there any way that you have a second to talk to us?” I asked Paige as Grace and I walked into the bookstore right behind her. I loved the space, and it was all I could do not to pull a book from the shelves at random and start reading, but Grace and I were on a mission, and any reading I did was going to have to wait.

  Paige grabbed a clipboard holding half a dozen computer-printed sheets and started leafing through it. “I’m sorry. I’ve really got to get this finished.”