Sweet Suspects (The Donut Mysteries)

by Beck, Jessica

  Grace grabbed a pencil and started writing.

  “What are you doing?”

  “I’m taking notes on where things happen in the sequence so we can find them again in a hurry,” she said.

  “Smart thinking,” I answered.

  Nothing much more of note happened for another twenty-seven minutes. Some attendees got noticeably drunker over time, and the janitor, an older man with a shock of white hair, had a tough time staying ahead of the trash that the group seemed to spontaneously generate. It was all slow and painful to watch, but we were afraid to fast-forward the video for fear of missing something going on in the background. Our diligence was finally rewarded when I caught something a moment before Gary moved the camera.

  “Wait,” I said. “Go back.”

  “What did you see?” Grace asked as she did as I requested.

  “I’m not sure,” I said, but I had a hunch that I’d seen what I thought I’d seen. “There. Right there. Pause it.”

  As Grace hit the pause button, I could see in the background Janet and Billy, and it was pretty clear that they were sharing more than the dance floor. They were actually kissing.

  Wow. There was more to that relationship than the freshly minted widow had been willing to admit.

  “Be sure to mark the time on that one,” I said.

  As Grace jotted down a few notes, she asked me, “How did you even see that? I was looking at the footage, too, but I missed it completely.”

  “I got lucky, I guess,” I said.

  “We both know that it’s more than that,” Grace said. “I wonder what Janet will say when we show her that particular little segment?”

  “Grace, it sounds as though we’re blackmailing her,” I said.

  “No, not at all. We just found a way to encourage her to talk to us, that’s all.”

  Grace was grinning when I glanced over at her.

  “Okay, I can see that,” I finally answered.

  “Let’s see if we can find anything else that juicy,” Grace said as she started the video again.

  We watched it until near the end, when Grace finally said, “I thought that I had enough of this reunion before, but seeing it all over again is almost too tough to take. Suzanne, can we stop it now?”

  “You can go do something else if you need to,” I said, “but I’m watching until the bitter end.”

  She sighed heavily, and then she replied, “No, I’ll watch it, too. If you can take it, then so can I.”

  Ultimately I was glad that we’d both watched. During the last thirty seconds of footage, just as Grace was about to turn her computer off, we both caught something, and this time, so did Gary.

  Tom Hancock could be clearly seen in the background waving a finger angrily under Zane’s nose.

  Gary even commented on it. “Clearly not everyone here tonight was happy to catch up, but for most folks, this reunion was a chance to see old friends again, and even make some new ones.”

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

  “I thought the closing was a little forced,” Grace said. “If Gary’s going to try to make a living doing this, he’s going to have to lighten his patter a little.”

  “I’m not talking about the voice-over,” I said. “What was Tom threatening Zane about?”

  “Maybe it had something to do with the argument they had earlier.”

  “Maybe. I’d still like to ask Tom about it the next time we see him.”

  “When do you think that might be?” Grace asked as her hands went automatically to primp her hair a little.

  “I say we show this to the chief, and then we go ask Tom, Janet, Billy, and Candy about what we saw on the video.”

  “I’m willing to bet that at least some of them have reasonable explanations,” Grace said.

  “The ones I want to talk to are the ones that don’t,” I replied.

  “Either way, it should make for a fun afternoon.”

  “Can you play that on just your computer screen, or do you need a big television to show it?” I asked Grace.

  “It’s actually easier to view it on my computer, even if the footage isn’t quite as clear as it was on the big screen.”

  “I guess my question is, will our suspects be able to recognize themselves on the display if it’s not blown up way out of proportion?”

  “Oh, yes,” Grace said. “There’s no doubt about it, now that we know where to look.”

  “Then let’s go find the chief, and then we’ll do some follow-up interviews.”

  “That sounds great to me,” Grace said. “You drive. I want to copy this onto my hard drive.”

  “Isn’t the little zip thingy enough?” I asked her.

  She smiled as she explained, “Yes, the zip drive would usually be perfect, but I have a hunch the police chief is going to want a copy of his own. We watched it from the drive, but now I want one for us. It will be a lot easier to surrender the drive if we make our own backup first.”

  “You have an excellent criminal mind, my friend,” I told Grace with a smile.

  “It comes from always suspecting people’s ulterior motives, and trying to figure out what the worst-case scenarios might be and prepare for them,” she answered.

  “That just sounds sad.”

  “Maybe it is, a little,” Grace said, “but it’s been an important part of my career in business.”

  “How so?”

  “Over the years, I’ve honed my ability to back things up and cover nearly every contingency I might run into. It’s saved me more than once in the past at work, I can tell you that.”

  “Your work sounds pretty cutthroat,” I said.

  “Compared to your world filled with donuts and sprinkles, it can get pretty intense.”

  “And yet you seem to have survived it all unscathed,” I answered.

  “I don’t know if I’d say that, but I have managed at least some level of success,” she said. After she shut her laptop down and closed it, Grace said, “I’m ready if you are.”

  “Then let’s go find the police chief and show him what we’ve found,” I said.

  “Chief, do you have a minute?” I asked when I phoned him. I wanted to spring my evidence on him in person, but in order to do that, I had to know where he was first.

  “Just about that,” he said. “What’s going on?”

  “The thing is, I can’t do it over the phone. Are you in your office?”

  “I will be for the next ten or fifteen minutes,” he said. “Is that enough time?”

  “It should be plenty,” I said. I was glad that Grace had come up with the idea of marking down the times on the video where the scenes we wanted to show the chief were located. It would save us a great deal of time.

  “Then get over here fast,” he said, and then he hung up on me.

  “That went well,” Grace said after I hung up.

  “He’s clearly agitated about something,” I said as I grabbed the zip drive. “Maybe we’ll be able to cheer him up a little with what we just found.”

  “I’m guessing that it’s a coin toss about which way it goes,” Grace replied as she closed her computer and slid it into her briefcase.

  “How can he be that unhappy about acquiring new evidence that he didn’t have to dig up himself?”

  “Suzanne, you know him better than I do. Sure, he’s mellowed some over the years, but he’s still not what you’d call a guy who likes warm and fuzzy hugs.”

  I laughed out loud at the thought of trying to corner Chief Martin and hug him. “True, but this has got to be better than that.”

  “I don’t know, I think you’re a pretty good hugger myself,” Grace said with a smile.

  “Right back at you. We don’t have much time, so don’t forget that list of times you made.”

  “It’s right here,” she said as she patted her pocket.

  As we headed out the door, I said, “This is going to have to be quick, so let’s not allow ourselves to get sidetracked, okay?”


  “Are you saying that for your benefit, or mine?” Grace asked as we got into my Jeep.

  “Both, actually,” I admitted.

  We made it to the police station in three minutes, just another advantage of living in a small town. Everything was always close by. The station was bustling, and as we approached the front, I told the uniformed officer behind the desk that we were there to see the chief.

  “He’s tied up right now, but feel free to take a seat and wait.” The man barely looked up from his paperwork as he spoke to us.

  “Actually, we’re here at his request,” I said, refusing to budge an inch from my choice real estate right in front of him.

  At least he looked up at us. “And you are?”

  “You’re new, aren’t you?” Grace asked. “I’m Grace, and this is Suzanne.”

  He nodded, and then picked up the phone. “Chief, a Grace and a Suzanne say they’re here to see you. Okay. Got it.”

  “You’ve got two minutes,” he said as he started to stand to lead us back.

  “You don’t have to show us the way. We’ve been here before,” I said.

  Grace paused on the other side of the desk and added, “By the way, we’re not ‘a’ anything. Like I said before, I’m Grace, and this is Suzanne.” She didn’t move, nor did she smile.

  “Sorry. I get it,” he said.

  Grace smiled brightly. “Good. I’m glad we got that settled.”

  I appreciated Grace standing up for us as much as anyone would, but we were on a tight timeframe. “Come on, Grace.”

  “Bye,” she said to him as we headed to the chief’s office.

  “Was that really necessary?” I asked her softly.

  “He needed a lesson in manners, and who am I to disregard his education?”

  I smiled. “Who indeed.”

  My smile faded when we got to the chief’s office. He was on the phone, clearly agitated, and he pointed us to the two chairs across from his desk and motioned for us to sit down. I hoped that didn’t trigger another lesson from Grace, but I wasn’t going to hold my breath.

  When Chief Martin finally got off the phone, he snapped, “I have thirty seconds before I have to leave. I’m being called in for backup on a big bust in Union Square.”

  “What’s going on there?” I asked.

  “I’m not allowed to divulge that,” he said. “What have you got for me?”

  I started talking quickly, spilling out as much information as I could in a short period of time. “Gary Thorpe was taking some video at the reunion last night, and we decided that it might turn out to be valuable.”

  “Is it on that zip drive in your hand?” the chief asked Grace, interrupting me.

  “It is, but there a few things you need to know about it,” I said.

  Just then, Officer Grant popped his head into the office. “Sorry to interrupt, but Chief, we’ve got to go, and I mean right now.”

  “Sorry, ladies,” the chief said. “Let me have the drive and we’ll get to it as soon as we can.”

  “But we’re not finished telling you everything about it,” Grace complained as she handed it to him.

  “Listen, I appreciate your efforts, but this is urgent,” Chief Martin said as he stood and headed toward the door.

  “So is this,” I said as Grace and I both stood as well.

  “Not this urgent,” the police chief said, and then he and Officer Grant were gone.

  He’d laid the zip drive on his desk as soon as Grace had handed it to him.

  “Should we take it with us?” she asked.

  “No, leave it right where it is.”

  “Suzanne, we have no idea when he’s even going to get around to it. He might not even check out the video at all.”

  “Then it’s his problem. We turned the information over to him, so we’ve done our duty.”

  “We’re not going to just drop it, are we?” she asked me.

  “Not a chance. Just because the chief isn’t going to act on what we found doesn’t mean that we can’t. We need to speak with Janet, Billy, Candy, and Tom.”

  “Then let’s get cracking,” she said as we walked out of the police station without a single soul noticing us.

  Sometimes it was good being invisible.

  Chapter 9

  “Janet, it’s Suzanne Hart and Grace Gauge,” I announced as we knocked on her hotel room door at the Bentley Hotel. “Could we speak with you a minute?” We’d gotten her room number from the front desk. It had been surprisingly easy, and I wondered how thorough hotel security was at this place. I’d expected them to at least put up a minimal fight before handing over the information.

  “Janet, are you there?” I asked as I knocked yet again.

  “Try the door,” Grace said.

  “Grace, who leaves their hotel room unlocked?” I asked skeptically as I twisted the knob.

  It was open.

  The problem was that we still didn’t know if Janet was there or not.

  I opened the door slowly. “Janet, it’s Suzanne and Grace,” I called out as I took a tentative step inside.

  She clearly wasn’t there.

  Grace was on my heels. “It’s empty,” I said as I turned back to her, and a moment later, she pushed past me and closed the door softly behind us.

  “We can’t stay long,” I said. “This has to be a quick hit-and-run. The last thing we can afford to have happen is for someone to catch us in here alone. How would we even start to explain it?”

  “We’ll think of something if it comes up,” Grace said with a grin. “In the meantime, let’s start hunting for clues.”

  Grace started going through the drawers and the closet while I headed for the desk. That appeared to be Janet’s center of activity. “The phone book’s open,” I told Grace.

  “What section is it on?”

  “Restaurants,” I said as I looked closer. “Somebody circled Napoli’s. Do you think it’s possible that she’s with Angelica and her girls right now?” Angelica DeAngelis and three of her daughters ran my favorite restaurant in Union Square, maybe even all of North Carolina. They served the most delicious Italian food that anyone could want, and every time I went, I was torn between ordering old favorites and trying something new. Jake loved the place as much as I did, and we went there whenever we could. Angelica and her daughters had become good friends to me over the years, and I cherished their friendship.

  “So after we finish up here, we go visit Angelica and see who Janet’s eating with. My money is on Billy Briscoe. How about you?”

  “I’m not taking that bet after watching the video of the reunion,” I said as I glanced at the notepad the hotel supplied by the telephone. “Grace, come look at this.”

  She joined me, and I handed her the pad of paper, covered with hastily scribbled notes.

  After a few moments, Grace handed it back to me. “Her husband hasn’t been dead twenty-four hours and she’s already calling about his life insurance?”

  “It is a little fast, isn’t it?”

  “Fast? It’s supersonic. How did she even know who to call this soon? If I ever got married and something happened to my husband, I hope that I could at least wait a few days before I tried to collect on his life insurance policy.”

  “Unless you were the one to kill him,” I said softly.

  “Hey, you don’t even know the guy,” she said in mock protest. “That’s no way to act. We could truly be in love.”

  “Grace, you haven’t met him either,” I said. “He doesn’t exist.”

  “How dare you talk about my future spouse that way?” she asked with a grin as she grabbed a small notebook out of her purse.

  “What are you doing?”

  “I’m copying this information,” she said as she jotted down the most pertinent facts. I watched her write, “$500,000.00”, and then she added the phone number of the insurance agent, as well as his name.

  “Did you have any luck with the rest of the room?” I asked her.

&nbs
p; “Not particularly. Janet doesn’t have a very vivid imagination when it comes to her clothing,” Grace said with a shrug.

  “Maybe money will improve that,” I said. I felt bad joking about her being widowed so recently, but her decision to pursue a payment took away a lot of the guilt. I suspected that she and Zane had shared a tumultuous marriage based on what I’d seen at the reunion, but I hoped that there had been love in the relationship at least in the beginning.