Sinister Sprinkles

by Jessica Beck

  She looked at me like she thought I was crazy. “Are you kidding? The chief’s not a big fan of mine, and I doubt he’d believe me. He still thinks I painted the town clock pink the night we graduated, and he’s never let up on me since.”

  I shrugged. “Join the club. He doesn’t really care for me all that much either, but that hasn’t kept me from telling him what I know when it’s important, and believe me, this matters.”

  The door of the salon opened, and Wilma stepped out. “Suzanne, I thought you had an appointment you had to rush off to make.”

  “I do, but my hair was still wet, and Cynthia was nice enough to offer me a towel. She’s really sweet.”

  Wilma looked at her employee. “Yes, she’s an angel in disguise. One who has someone sitting in her chair at the moment, I might add.”

  “Sorry, I’ll get right on it,” Cynthia said as she ducked back inside.

  “We’ve got to go, too,” I said.

  “How convenient that Grace has the same appointment you do,” Wilma said, the sarcasm dripping from her words like honey off a spoon.

  “My boss asked us all to stay home until the roads are completely clear, so I’m shadowing Suzanne today. I even helped her make donuts this morning.”

  That was an outright lie, but I wasn’t going to say anything about it. I just smiled and nodded. “Come on, Grace. After my dentist appointment, I’m getting a manicure.”

  “Finally, something I can do, too.”

  We headed off toward Dr. Frye’s office, and as we neared his door, I looked back to see Wilma still standing there watching us. We had no choice; we had to go inside.

  At the front desk, Vicki looked surprised to see us. “Ladies, I don’t have either one of you on my books for today.”

  “We just thought we’d check to see if you had any open cleaning appointments.”

  She scanned the appointment book in front of her. “I have a few slots after July,” she said.

  “Seven months away? Really?”

  “Really,” Vicki said. “We’re working four days a week, so it takes some time to get to everyone.”

  “I didn’t know you worked a four-day week. Are you hiring?” I asked. “I work seven myself.”

  Vicki laughed. “No, we’re good, but thanks for asking. Should I put you two down for August?”

  Grace said, “I’ll have to check my planner. I’m not sure I’ll even be in town next August.”

  “Just let me know,” she said, “but don’t wait too long. Appointments have a tendency to fill up quickly around here.”

  I peeked out the door to see if Wilma was still watching us, but the coast was clear, at least for now. I pulled Grace outside with me, and we started back toward the donut shop.

  “We’re not done investigating, are we?” Grace asked.

  “No, but I need to dry my hair, and I just remembered that Emma keeps a blowdryer in the bathroom.”

  “Why on earth does she do that?”

  “Are you kidding? Sometimes in the summer she comes in with her hair still wet and she doesn’t dry it until she gets to the shop.”

  “And you don’t mind that?”

  I shrugged. “Good help is hard to get. I let her do a few things I probably shouldn’t, but all in all, she’s a good worker, and she doesn’t complain about the killer hours or the less-than-stellar pay.”

  “If you say so,” Grace said. “It’s kind of casual, isn’t it?”

  I laughed. “You’ve been working in corporate America too long. The real world’s a little tougher, trust me.”

  “I’m not disputing it,” she said. “I’ve long said you’re insane trying to run your own business. It’s nice to let someone else worry about the big decisions, like how they’re going to pay me, and how much vacation I get every year.”

  “Vacation? What’s that? I haven’t had one since I opened the donut shop.”

  Grace said, “Then wouldn’t you say it was high time you did? Let’s just chuck all this, close the shop, and head for Aruba. I can be ready in an hour.”

  “Sorry, I’m not as flexible as you are, even if I could afford the trip, which we both know I can’t. I’ve got commitments here, and a big one is to Max. I’m not about to leave him hanging out in the wind.”

  “I don’t see why not,” she said. “What’s he done for you, besides break your heart in so many pieces I thought it would never heal.”

  “That’s not the point, Grace, and you know it. We were married at one time, and not all those days were bad ones. I owe it to him to help if I can, but if you want to go to a warm beach somewhere with cold cocktails and hot nights, don’t let me stop you.”

  “It wouldn’t be any fun going by myself,” she admitted.

  “Cheer up. Maybe some time we’ll do it,” I said. “But not right now.”

  “Agreed, but I’m holding you to that.” Grace hesitated as we neared the shop, then she asked, “What are we going to do after you dry your hair? Have you thought about that yet?”

  “I’ve got to put in some time at the counter, but I have a plan after that.”

  “What is it?”

  “I’m not going to tell you just yet.”

  “Why not?” she asked.

  “Because I want you to be surprised,” I said as we walked into Donut Hearts. There wasn’t a single soul inside, including Emma, my assistant.

  After a few seconds, she came up front.

  At least she had the decency to look embarrassed when she saw us. “Sorry, I had to go to the bathroom. Nobody came in, though.”

  “How do you know?” I asked as I looked around the shop. “You were in the other room.”

  “I would have heard them,” she said. Emma did a quick look around the place, then looked relieved as she said, “See? Nothing’s changed.”

  “Have you checked the cash register?” I asked.

  With an obvious sense of panic, she hit the NO SALE button, and I didn’t even have to see inside the drawer to know that while Emma had been in back, someone had come into the shop and robbed us.

  * * *

  “Suzanne, I’m so sorry. I don’t know what to say.” Emma looked close to crying, and I wasn’t far behind her. I couldn’t let her see that, though.

  “Don’t worry. It wasn’t your fault.”

  “Whose fault was it, then?” Grace asked, and I could have strangled her at that moment for voicing what all three of us were thinking.

  Grace immediately realized she’d made a mistake. “I didn’t mean that the way it sounded, Emma. I’m sorry.”

  My assistant looked as though she couldn’t feel any worse than she already did. “No, you’re right. If I hadn’t left the cash register unattended, we wouldn’t have been robbed. I should have at least put a sign in the door and locked up. Sometimes I forget our small town can still have its share of crime.”

  I patted her shoulder. “Don’t be too hard on yourself. If I hadn’t gone to Cutnip digging into something that didn’t concern me, I would have been here to watch the front myself. We both share the blame on this one,” I said.

  Grace asked, “Suzanne, hadn’t you better call the police and report this?”

  “I suppose I have to,” I said. “Chief Martin’s going to have a field day with this.” I reached for the telephone. “I might as well get it over with.”

  I was hoping for Officer Grant, but just my luck, the chief answered the telephone himself.

  “I need to report a robbery at my donut shop,” I said.

  For some reason, I’d been expecting him to laugh at my misfortune, but he asked solemnly, “Was anybody hurt?”

  “No, as a matter of fact, no one was up front. Emma was in back, and I’d stepped out of the shop for a minute. While we were gone, somebody cleaned out our cash register.”

  “That’s pretty careless, Suzanne, even for you.”

  I felt bad enough about losing a day’s receipts without his added, unsolicited commentary. “Would you send someone over
here?”

  I was hoping he wouldn’t come himself, but that quickly turned out to be in vain. “I’ll be right there. Don’t touch anything until I get there, okay?”

  “I wouldn’t dream of it,” I said.

  After I hung up, I said, “The chief’s coming himself.”

  I turned to Emma and added, “He’s already scolded me about leaving the register unattended, so prepare yourself for a lecture.”

  “He can’t say anything worse than I’m thinking myself,” she said. “Suzanne, I’m going to pay you back every dime that was taken.”

  I patted her shoulder. “Emma, I appreciate the gesture, I honestly do, but I won’t take your money.”

  That didn’t do anything to cheer her up. “You’re going to fire me then, aren’t you? Not that I blame you.”

  I held her shoulders with my hands. “Nobody’s getting fired, either. Now, don’t you have some dishes to do?”

  She asked, “Doesn’t the chief want to dust for fingerprints?”

  “I doubt it. Besides, whoever came in never made it in back, so we’ll be fine cleaning up there. Go ahead, take care of it.”

  She nodded. “I’ll do it right now. I’m so sorry. I don’t know what else to say.”

  After she was gone, Grace looked at me solemnly, then said, “You’re firing her, aren’t you?”

  “No,” I said, not managing to conceal my surprise. “You heard what I told her. I meant it. She made a mistake, she’s sorry about it, and I’m willing to bet it won’t happen again. People deserve a second chance, Grace.”

  She shrugged. “You’re a better person than I am. I’m not sure I could keep my temper in check.”

  I frowned a few seconds, then explained, “Don’t get me wrong, I’m not happy about what happened, but I meant it when I said it was as much my fault as it was hers. I should have waited until noon to talk to Wilma, but my curiosity got the better of me. Emma’s not the only one who needs to learn a lesson from this.”

  “You’re not going to quit investigating the murder, are you? It’s not like you to just give up when things get tough.”

  I looked out the window as I said, “No, but I’m going to try to keep my priorities a little straighter. I’ve got a business to run—first and foremost—and if I don’t take care of that, I won’t have any way to support myself, and I’d rather die than ask anyone for help.”

  Grace nodded. “Don’t think we all don’t realize that,” she said. “In the meantime though, if you need a little extra to tide you over, you know I’m always willing and able to help. All you have to do is ask.”

  I hugged her. “Thanks, but we’ll be fine. It was a slow morning, so we should be able to bounce back. I am going to tell Emma that if it ever happens again and she’s here by herself, she needs to do as she suggested and lock the front door before she goes to the bathroom.”

  “That’s all I’m saying,” Grace said.

  Chief Martin drove up, parked in front of the shop, and came in with a clipboard in his hand. “Okay, let’s hear it again.”

  “I told you everything over the phone,” I said. “We don’t know anything else. You’re not going to shut the shop down, are you?”

  “Why on earth would I do that?” he asked.

  “I don’t know, that’s what they do on TV. I don’t want fingerprint dust all over my donuts.”

  He shook his head. “Suzanne, there are going to be a million prints in this place, and I’m willing to bet that the only ones that matter were smudged when you opened the register to see that you’d been robbed.”

  “So you’re not even going to look for prints?” Grace asked, not even trying to keep the aggravation from her voice.

  “Of course we’ll check it out,” he said. “I’ve got an officer coming to dust the register for prints, and the front door handle. Other than that, I don’t think we have much of a chance to find anything, but we’ll try. How much did you lose?”

  “I’m not sure yet, but it wasn’t a whole lot. It was a slow morning. I’ll run a report on the register, but I have to hit a few buttons to do that, and I don’t want to obscure the prints anymore than we already have.”

  Chief Martin nodded, and we all watched as Officer Grant came in, carrying a gray case in one hand.

  “Where should I dust?” he asked.

  “The register, and the front doorknob,” the chief said.

  Officer Grant did as he was told without saying a word.

  The chief looked at me and asked, “Where were you when this happened?”

  “Grace and I stepped out for a few minutes,” I said.

  “Would you mind telling me where you were?”

  I ran a hand through my unkempt hair and admitted, “I was at the beauty shop, if you must know.”

  “Why am I not surprised you were at Cutnip. Suzanne, are you digging into Darlene Higgins’s murder?”

  “I was getting my hair done,” I repeated.

  He studied my unkempt hair, then the chief frowned. “Then why didn’t you let her finish?”

  This was getting complicated. Lies usually were. That’s why I stuck to the truth whenever I could. “I felt bad about leaving Emma here all by herself, okay?”

  “At least that instinct was on the money,” he said. “Where is she?”

  I pointed to the back. “I’ve got her doing dishes. I thought it might help steady her nerves.”

  Before he could go back into the kitchen, I said, “She already feels bad enough about this. Don’t scold her too, okay?”

  He merely shrugged as he disappeared in back, and as I started after him, he shook his head. “Thanks, but I don’t need you at the moment. Don’t wander off, though. I’ll be right back.”

  I started to protest, but it was pretty clear he wasn’t about to back down.

  As soon as the chief was in the other room, Officer Grant frowned at me. “Sorry this had to happen to you. Petty crime’s been way up in town lately.” He must have realized how that sounded, because he quickly added, “Not that your robbery’s petty. You know what I mean.”

  “It’s fine; I understand. Are you getting any good prints?”

  He shook his head. “No, they’re all smudged on the register. I’m guessing the oil from handling the donuts makes it tough to get a decent print on the best day.”

  “What about the door?” Grace asked.

  “I’ll dust there too, but I’m pretty sure it’s not going to help. I’m afraid this is a dead end.”

  He was just starting on the front door when the chief walked back out. “You’d better go talk to her. I can’t get her to stop crying.”

  “What did you say to her?” I asked as I rushed past him to Emma.

  “Nothing that didn’t need to be asked,” he said.

  Grace started to follow me when the chief said, “Hang on a second. I want to talk to you.”

  Grace wanted to argue, but I shook my head. I needed to see Emma alone, and the chief was doing me a favor by restraining her, whether he meant to or not.

  Emma was indeed crying when I went into the kitchen. “What’s wrong? What did he say?”

  “He wanted to go through my purse. He said if I wasn’t guilty, I wouldn’t mind.”

  “Guilty of what?” I asked, though I was starting to suspect just what the chief had in mind.

  “Suzanne, he thinks I stole the money myself. I didn’t, I swear I didn’t. You’ve got to believe me.”

  I hugged her, and the sobbing intensified.

  After a minute, she managed to get control of it again, and as I pulled away, I said, “I trust you with my life. I know you’d never steal from me.”

  “Thank you for believing me,” she said through her sniffles.

  “There’s nothing to thank me for,” I said.

  “Should I let him search my stuff? I don’t have anything to hide.”

  “You don’t have anything to prove to me.”

  “But I do to him.” Before I could stop her, she walked t
o the door and said, “Chief, I changed my mind. You can look wherever you want. I don’t have anything I’m afraid for you to see.”

  “Good,” he said.

  He took her purse, riffled through it, then said, “You’ve got eleven dollars and change here.”

  “Surely we made more than that,” I said, trying to treat it lighter than it really was. It had shaken me, having Chief Martin suspect Emma of the theft. I knew in my heart she hadn’t done it, but had Wilma shared the same confidence in Darlene? It was more than a theft, if it was true. It was a betrayal of trust, and I could suddenly realize how Wilma could have taken it so personally.

  “Do you want to search me, too?” As she spoke, Emma took off her apron, revealing an outfit underneath of tight blue jeans and a t-shirt that wouldn’t have hidden a quarter, let alone a handful of bills.

  “No, you’re fine. But I need you two to wait out front for me.”

  We did as we were ordered, and after about ten minutes, the chief came back up front. “The money wasn’t there, or in the alley, either.”

  “I told you it wouldn’t be,” Emma said.

  “I have to look, Emma. It’s part of my job,” he said, almost sad about the truth of it.

  “Then I feel sorry for you,” Emma said as she went back into the kitchen.

  He turned and asked Officer Grant, “Did you find anything?”

  “Lots of partials, nothing we can really use. Half the town’s been in here over the past two days. Sorry I couldn’t do more.”

  “That’s fine. Go on back to the station and wait for me there.”

  After he left, Grace asked, “So, what happens now?”

  “I fill out this report, and Suzanne calls her insurance company. That’s really all we can do at this point.”

  I said, “I’m not filing this. My premiums will jump more than I lost. This is one I’m just going to have to eat.”

  The chief finished the form, then tore off the bottom copy and handed it to me. “Again, I’m sorry about this.”

  “It’ll be fine,” I said. “Thanks for coming so quickly.”

  After he was gone, I asked Grace, “What did he say to you when you were alone?”

  “He wanted to know why my hair wasn’t wet, too.”

  “What did you tell him?”