Sweet Suspects (The Donut Mysteries)

by Beck, Jessica

  “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?”

  “Actually, I’m thinking about joining up,” Grace said.

  Candy’s smile was practiced, but it was still kind of infectious. “Excellent. What about you, Suzanne? Will you be joining us as well?”

  “I’m just here for moral support at the moment,” I said.

  “Trust me, after you see what we have to offer, you’ll want to sign up yourself. Are you both ready for the tour of our facilities?”

  “We are,” Grace said.

  It was a typical gym, despite the brightly-painted murals of candy and the lovely staff members. Weights were in one section, treadmills and elliptical machines had their own spot, and there was a dedicated area filled with machines that I couldn’t even guess about their uses. In spite of why we were really there, I couldn’t help but ask, “I see the gym, but where’s the spa part?”

  “That’s going to be phase two,” she said as she described special massage areas, contemplation rooms, and a yoga studio.

  “That’s an ambitious dream,” Grace said.

  Candy smiled, this one more genuine than the one that she’d greeted us with. “As far as I’m concerned, if you don’t dream, then you might as well be dead,” she said.

  “Speaking of dead, it’s terrible about what happened to Zane, isn’t it?” Grace asked.

  Candy’s smile vanished. “Is that why you’re here? I thought you wanted to see my gym?”

  “Why can’t it be both?” Grace asked.

  “Because I know you two better than you might think. Why are you really here?”

  It was time to drop the ruse. “A reliable source told us about your relationship with Zane.”

  Candy laughed. “Is that all you’ve got? Everybody knows that Zane and I dated in high school. It’s not exactly news, is it?”

  “Candy, we heard about the pictures he took of you,” I said softly. “I can’t imagine a lot of folks know about that.”

  She looked as though she’d been shot in the chest. Candy physically flinched as her smile vanished and her face went white.

  “Are you okay?” I asked as I put out a hand to steady her.

  “I’m fine,” she said, taking a deep breath and shaking her head slightly. “No one was supposed to know about those. Have you seen them?”

  “No,” I said before Grace could imply that we had. I wasn’t certain that was what she was going to do, but I couldn’t rule it out, either. “How bad are they?”

  “By today’s standards, they’re pretty tame stuff,” she said.

  “But they still aren’t something you want getting out, are they?” Grace asked.

  “Not on your life. I’m building something here,” she said as she gestured around the large expanse with her hands. “Any scandal right now could ruin everything.”

  “Come on. It can’t be that bad, not if the pictures are as mild as you say they are,” I said.

  “My main investor is pretty conservative,” Candy said. “Any hint of this kind of scandal could make him pull the plug on my entire operation.”

  “Then it must have been pretty important to keep Zane from showing the pictures around.”

  Candy nodded, and then she caught herself. “Hang on a second. I didn’t kill him.”

  “You certainly had motive, means, and plenty of opportunity,” I said.

  “So did several other people at that reunion,” she countered quickly. “Zane had a pile of enemies. Besides, why would I kill him? He told me that if anything happened to him, the pictures would get out. My only prayer was that he stayed healthy. I don’t know what’s going to happen to me now. I’ve been dreading the knock on my door ever since I heard that he was murdered.”

  Candy made a good point, but that depended on her acting logically. If she felt threatened, common sense might have gone out the window, and she could have killed him out of sheer fear. The cause of death certainly reflected that. I couldn’t imagine killing someone, but if I were ever to consider it, it certainly wouldn’t be using a spear to stab them in the chest. That would take an emotional outburst at a level that I hoped I never hit myself. “If you didn’t do it, then you have nothing to worry about,” Grace said.

  Candy sighed heavily. “I just wish that were really true.”

  A young woman dressed in the company uniform approached. She also wore a bright pink button that said her name was Bubblegum. I frankly doubted that was true. “Candy, I’m sorry to bother you, but we’ve got a problem with Mr. Jefferson again.”

  “What’s he done this time?” Candy asked.

  “He keeps making comments about my outfit,” she said with a frown.

  “Don’t worry about it. I’ll talk to him,” Candy said.

  “He’s so old and creepy. He must be over thirty,” she said as she wrinkled her nose.

  “Go take over at the front desk,” Candy said, and then she turned to us. “I’m sorry, but I have to handle this.”

  “Is he really creepy, or is she just put off by his age? Thirty? Seriously?”

  Candy shook her head. “She tends to over-exaggerate, but she’s a good worker, and he’s a good client, so I need to go deal with this. Sorry.”

  “It’s fine,” I said as Grace and I made our way out of the gym.

  Once we were outside, Grace asked me, “Do you believe her?”

  “I want to,” I said. “It certainly all has its own internal logic.”

  “Then again, she’s pretty smooth. We may have both just been played by someone who is better at this than we are.”

  “To be fair, it sounds as though she’s had a lot more practice than we have,” I said.

  “So what comes next?” Grace asked me as we got back into the Jeep.

  I glanced at my watch and saw that it was nearly six. “If it’s okay with you, I want to check in with Momma.”

  “What’s going on?” Grace asked.

  “Nothing, but if she’s made a big meal, I’m going to feel bad about it.”

  “Why’s that?”

  “Grace, we ate a big lunch, and then we both had way too much pasta at Napoli’s. Do you honestly believe that you could eat another meal at this point?”

  “It depends on what she’s serving,” Grace said with a grin. “Your mother is a wonderful cook.”

  “You’re bluffing,” I said.

  “Try me.”

  I called Momma, who picked up on the first ring. “I was just about to call you, Suzanne.”

  “What’s up, Momma? Did you cook tonight?”

  A hint of guilt crept into her voice. “Phillip has asked me to dinner. You know we haven’t had much time together lately, and with this murder on his desk now, we might not be able to do it again in ages. Do you mind fending for yourself tonight?”

  “I’ll be fine. Grace and I may do something together.”

  “That would be lovely. Don’t wait up,” she said happily, and I could hear a buoyancy in her voice that I loved. I’d been skeptical about her dating our chief of police at first, but seeing how happy he made my mother had gone a long way to easing my concerns. He lightened her somehow, and I would never begrudge her that, particularly because Jake had done the same thing for me.

  “Have fun,” I said.

  “Oh, of that you can be sure.”

  After I hung up, I turned to Grace and said, “It looks as though we’re on our own tonight. Are you going to be able to survive not having a fourth meal today?”

  “I’ll find a way to manage,” she said with a smile. “So what are these two wild and crazy girls going to do tonight? Should we go out on the town and live it up?”

  “I was thinking about calling in a pizza later and watching a video,” I said.

  “Oh, a movie sounds like fun,” Grace said.

  “That’s not the video I was talking about. I want another look at Gary�
��s footage from last night.”

  “Then it’s a good thing I kept a copy on my computer,” she said.

  “Do you mind if we stay in tonight?” I asked her.

  “As a matter of fact, that sounds great. We can even do it at my house, since your mother isn’t going to be home.”

  “Wonderful,” I said as I started driving to her place. We seemed to be at my house a great deal of the time, so it would be nice hanging out with Grace in her home.

  Hopefully, tonight we’d have a good meal, a few laughs, and maybe even be able to find another clue or two lurking in the video recording of what had happened at the reunion last night.

  Chapter 13

  My phone rang just as we got to Grace’s house.

  “Hi, Emma,” I said as I pulled in and shut off the engine. “What’s up?”

  “Hey, Suzanne. Is this a good time to talk?”

  “Sure. Hang on for one second, okay?” I asked, and then I held my hand over the phone and told Grace, “It’s Emma. I’ll be right in.”

  “Is anything wrong?” Grace asked.

  I shrugged. “I don’t think so,” I said, and then I asked Emma, “Is anything wrong?”

  “No, not on my end.”

  “Good,” I said. “One more second.” I told Grace, “No, it’s good. I’ll see you inside.”

  “I’ll go ahead and call the pizza in,” Grace said.

  “Just get a medium. I’m still full from the ‘snack’ we had at Napoli’s.”

  “You say that now, but we both know how long delivery takes. I’m going ahead and getting a large anyway.”

  “Suit yourself,” I said. “I’m just warning you that I’m not going to eat a ton of it.”

  “I won’t hold you to that when it gets here,” she said with a grin and headed inside.

  “Sorry about that,” I said as I turned my attention back to Emma. “Go ahead.”

  “Did I catch you at a bad time? This can wait.”

  “No, you’ve got my complete and undivided attention,” I said. “How did things go today?”

  “It was all good,” Emma said. “With Mom there, it was even kind of fun. That’s why I’m calling. We’re willing to do it again tomorrow if you need more time to investigate.”

  I considered it for a moment, but I knew that I couldn’t abandon Donut Hearts two days in a row. Besides, there was another pressing reason for me to show up at the donut shop the next day. “Thanks, but I’m coming in. Tomorrow’s my book club, and I wouldn’t miss that for the world. You don’t have to show up, though, if you don’t want to.”

  “I’m always happy to work,” she said.

  “I know that, but I put you on the spot today, and you came through with flying colors. If you don’t want to take the day off completely, how about sleeping in instead?”

  “Now that sounds like a deal. How about if I come by an hour later than normal?”

  I might regret it, but I decided to match the time that I’d been gone. “We can do better than that. Come in a few minutes before six, and I should be fine on my own until then.”

  “Are you sure?” she asked me.

  “At this second, yes, but I wouldn’t take too long considering the offer,” I said.

  She must have heard the grin in my voice. “Sold. See you tomorrow around six. Thanks, Suzanne.”

  “Thank you, and thank your mother for me, too.”

  “She loves helping out,” Emma said.

  “I appreciate that. Let her know that I’ll send a little something her way this week for lending a hand.”

  “She won’t say no to that. She’s saving up to take a trip to Hawaii.”

  That was surprising to hear, since Ray Blake was as fanatical about his newspaper as I was about my donut shop. “Did your father actually agree to go with her?”

  Emma laughed. “Are you kidding? He’s not about to leave his little baby. Mom’s going with her best friend from high school. She’s going to have a blast.”

  “It sounds like fun. Thanks for calling. I’ll see you in the morning, Emma.”

  “But not too early,” she said, laughing again. She seemed more excited about coming in late than she had at the prospect of taking the entire day off.

  I came in to find Grace watching the video again. “I thought you were going to order a pizza,” I said as I sat down beside her on the sofa.

  “I already did,” she said. “What did Emma want?”

  “She asked me if I wanted to take tomorrow off so we could sleuth again.”

  “And what did you say to that?” Grace asked me after a slight hesitation.

  “I told her that I was going to work a full shift at the donut shop tomorrow. Is that okay with you?”

  “Honestly, I’m kind of relieved. I have some work that I need to do in the morning, too, but I was going to blow it off if you wanted to dig into Zane’s murder more. I can’t even seem to keep from working when I’m on vacation.”

  I laughed at her. “Aren’t we a pair of workaholics?” I asked

  “You more than me. I’ve just got quarterly reports due, and not enough time to do them. My boss lets me run my own show here, but she’s a maniac when it comes to those reports.”

  “Good. I’m glad that’s settled,” I said as I gestured to the screen. “Did you find anything new so far?”

  “Not yet,” she said. “We were pretty thorough the first time around.”

  As I settled in, I nodded. “I understand that it’s a long shot, but I don’t know what else we can do at this point. We can’t just keep asking people questions until someone gives us a lead.”

  “Why not? It’s worked for us in the past.”

  “Occasionally, but not always,” I said. “There’s got to be something we’re missing, some clue that we’ve overlooked.”

  “What makes you say that?” Grace asked as she hit the Pause key.

  “I don’t know,” I replied. “Something in my gut tells me that there are a few pieces that I’m not connecting yet. Don’t worry, I’ll figure it out eventually. Maybe this video will jog my memory.”

  “If nothing else, we get to see how far downhill our classmates have gone again,” Grace said with a grin.

  “Including us,” I added.

  “I was about to say excluding us,” she said as she hit Play again.

  We watched the entire thing without stopping it once. Gary’s documentary about the reunion was still the same, though I did notice a few things I’d missed before. As the camera panned by the bathrooms, I thought about the pranks the men had perpetrated, from the clear plastic wrap to the new locks to the glue in the coach’s door. Why did so many men seem to take so much longer to grow up than we did? Maybe that wasn’t fair, though. I couldn’t imagine Jake ever doing anything like my former classmates had done, and I doubted that our mayor or our chief of police had ever participated in that kind of behavior. Clearly, the men who had acted so immaturely at the reunion were still boys inside.

  The pizza came as we were watching the video, so we ate companionably as we watched. “This is really good,” I said as I finished my second slice. “I’m glad you got a large after all.”

  “Hey, I’ve seen us both eat before,” Grace said happily. “It’s just too bad the entertainment isn’t any better. Have you seen anything to add to our fact base so far?”

  “No, but I’m still hopeful,” I said as I grabbed another piece without even debating it.

  After the video was finished, Grace turned it off and turned to me. “Well, that was a complete waste of time, wasn’t it?”

  “I don’t know. The pizza was good,” I answered.

  “I’m talking about our search for clues,” she replied.

  “I knew what you meant. It was a long shot, but I’m still glad that we tried. It’s not like we don’t have enough viable suspects as things stand now.”

  “Should we go over them again?” Grace asked as she pulled out a new whiteboard and marker.

  “Di
d you get that just for our detective work?” I asked.

  “Actually, I’m supposed to be using it to track the sales quotas for my underlings,” she said, “but why not use it for both?” Grace took the marker and wrote the names of our suspects down one side of the board: TOM HANCOCK, BILLY BRISCOE, JANET DUNBAR, HENRY DAVIDSON, HELEN MARSTON, and CANDY MURPHY. “Did I miss anybody?”