Sugar Coated Sins

by Jessica Beck

  Hilda’s car wasn’t at her house, but I pulled the Jeep into the driveway and knocked on the door anyway. I was about to give up when an older man next door popped his head out his front door and said, “If you’re looking for Hilda, she’s gone.”

  “Do you happen to know when she’ll be back?”

  He shook his head. “I’m not positive that she’s ever coming back. I’ve never seen her act that way before. She pulled up, jumped out of her car, and even left the engine running. Three minutes later, she came back out again with her arms full of clothing and other things. After she jammed them into the trunk of her car, she drove away as though demons were chasing her. I tried to ask her what was wrong, but she acted as though I wasn’t even there.”

  “Thanks,” I said. I’d promised Trish that I’d look for Hilda, which I had, but after learning about her most recent behavior, it was time to call my husband or, more accurately, the sheriff.

  “Jake, Hilda’s on the run again.”

  “What?” he asked me.

  “I’m standing in her front yard right now, and her neighbor told me that she drove over here, packed up her car, and then sped away. It doesn’t look good.”

  “I just spent half the morning with her,” Jake said. “This is bad.” He paused a moment, and then he asked, “Why would you look for Hilda at her place this time of day?”

  “Trish came to the donut shop and asked me to find her. I gave myself ten minutes to look, and then I promised myself that I would call you. In my defense, it’s only been seven minutes since I started searching.”

  “Let’s just hope those seven minutes don’t turn out to be crucial. Suzanne, you should have called me the moment you knew that Hilda was running again.”

  “But that’s exactly what I did,” I said, trying to keep my temper in check. I don’t know. Maybe I was being a little defensive about the way I’d acted, but his tone of voice didn’t go over too well with me, husband or not. “I didn’t realize that she was really running until I got the neighbor’s eyewitness account. She could have just gone home to rest, for all I knew.”

  “I’m sorry,” he said after a brief pause. “I didn’t mean to jump down your throat.”

  “Apology accepted. I hope you find her.”

  “Oh, we will.”

  After we hung up, I wondered what I could do next. Jake had resources I couldn’t even dream of to use in finding Hilda, so I wasn’t even going to look. It amazed me how little I really knew about this woman, though she’d been in my life for more years than I could count. It was all superficial knowledge, though. If Grace or Emma happened to have vanished, I had half a dozen places that I might look, but I was at a loss for Hilda. Maybe Trish might know more than she’d told me. Anyway, I had something that I had to tell her, so I might as well get it over with. I didn’t feel bad about calling Jake, but Trish needed to know that her head cook was now a fugitive on the run and that it was now a certainty and not just idle speculation.

  I never got the chance to tell her, though, at least not right away. As I got out of my Jeep after finding a parking space at the Boxcar, who did I see coming out but one of my other suspects, Lisa Port Smith.

  Chapter 22

  “Hey, Lisa. Do you have a second?” I asked her, cutting her off before she could get to her car.

  “Sorry, but I’m late for a conference call as it is, Suzanne.”

  “This is important,” I said.

  Lisa frowned for a moment. “Make it quick, then. What is it about?”

  So much for being cordial. “Did you know that your brother was trying to get someone at the Register of Deeds’s office to bury a deed in order to outbid another buyer on some land?”

  She frowned for a moment before speaking. “When did this happen?”

  “Just before he died. Do you know anything about that?”

  “How could I? My brother often went out of his way to keep me from knowing what he was up to. Is that who really killed him, the other buyer?”

  I wasn’t about to tell her that my mother had been the one he’d been vying with for the property. “No, I just wanted to know if you knew what he was up to.”

  “Between the women he was dating and his shady dealings, I’m starting to wonder why someone didn’t poison him sooner.” Lisa must have immediately realized how that had sounded the moment it left her lips, so she immediately tried to backtrack. “Suzanne, my brother and I had issues going back to childhood. I loved him, but I didn’t always like him, do you know what I mean? No, probably not. You are an only child, aren’t you?”

  Technically I wasn’t, but that was something very few people knew about me. It was easy for most folks in town to forget that Momma had a daughter before me, Elizabeth Anne. She’d survived three days after being born, and I’d often wondered what my life would have been like with a big sister. Sure, I had Grace, and to a certain extent, Trish, but I would have loved to have a sibling to share things with, memories of life that went beyond our parents’ existences. When Momma was gone, a day I dreaded with all my heart, who would be left to remember our lives together? I’d shared part of it with Max and now Jake, with Grace seeing much of it as well, but no one knew everything that I’d experienced.

  “I grew up alone, yes,” I said.

  “You’re lucky. I often wished that I’d been an only child. Having Benjamin as a brother was a nightmare at times.”

  “If things were so bad between you, then why on earth did you go into business together?” I asked her.

  “It wasn’t my idea. Before we inherited the company, it belonged to our father. Neither one of us was about to give up our half to the other, so we decided that the only thing we could do was run it together.” She paused, reflecting on her life before her brother had been poisoned. “It turned out that in the end, Dad knew what he was doing. Benjamin and I were finally starting to connect on some level other than our past. We were two completely different people, but we were finding a way to make it work, and then someone killed him.” Tears began to track down her cheeks, but she refused to acknowledge them. “Anyway, like I said, I’m late.”

  After she was gone, I had to wonder if the emotion that she’d just shown had been for my benefit or if it had been genuine. I was sure that Lisa and her brother had had their differences when he’d been alive, and she’d admitted herself that he made her life harder than it needed to be. But did that mean that she’d killed him? She’d inherited his half of the company, but it felt as though she was just beginning to realize how much she’d lost with his death as well.

  I was more confused than ever about her. Nothing she’d told me had done anything to clear her of murder, but I had to admit that I was beginning to have second thoughts about considering her as a suspect. Was that why she’d shown me a sudden burst of emotion—to distract me from her guilt? In the end, I honestly couldn’t be sure one way or the other. All I really knew was that if she’d been playing me, she’d done a masterful job. And if not, then there was a good chance that she didn’t belong on my list.

  After Lisa drove away, I changed my mind about talking to Trish about Hilda. I’d have to tell her sooner or later that I’d told Jake about her cook’s repeating vanishing act, but it didn’t necessarily have to be that instant. Maybe it was taking the coward’s way out, avoiding the sure confrontation, but so what? I still had one more suspect I could speak with first, even without Grace. I should be safe enough. After all, it was broad daylight, and the killer, whoever she might turn out to be, preferred poison over any more direct killing method, so as long as I didn’t eat or drink anything, I should be fine.

  At least that’s what I kept telling myself as I went off in search of Hillary Mast.

  She wasn’t in her office. When I got there, I found the place was dark inside, and a computer-generated note was taped to the glass. It said, HAVING LUNCH OUTSIDE. BACK IN AN HOUR.

  It was an interesting way to word the note, since it didn’t give a specific time as to when
she’d left or when she’d actually be coming back. I decided that she was probably on foot, so I left her office and started looking around outside for her.

  It didn’t take long, since she hadn’t gone that far after all. I found her having a bag lunch on a bench across the street from the bank.

  “Mind if I join you?” I asked Hillary as I started to sit down beside her.

  “I’m having lunch, as you can plainly see,” she said.

  “It looks tasty. It’s a beautiful day, isn’t it?” In reality, it was too hot for me. There were times when I thought global warming wasn’t nearly as severe as climatologists often claimed, but on days like this, I was a true believer.

  “I packed two sandwiches. I suppose you could have the other one.”

  “Thanks, but I already ate,” I said, which was an outright lie, but I meant to follow my vow of not eating or drinking anything that I hadn’t prepared myself.

  “They have the air conditioning turned on high in the whole building,” she complained after my refusal of her food. “I have to wear a sweater to work on the hottest days of the year, so I like to come outside and bake a little whenever I have the chance.”

  “I can see why you like it.” I was about to ask her about Benjamin when her cellphone rang. Putting her sandwich aside, she looked at it and said, “I’m sorry. I don’t mean to be rude, but I really have to take this, and it’s going to take some time.”

  “That’s fine,” I said as I remained sitting. “I’m happy to wait.”

  Hillary frowned at me before she added, “If you don’t mind, it’s actually kind of private.”

  “Oh. Of course.” I pointed to my Jeep. “I’ll be over there when you’re finished with your call. Just give me a wave, okay?”

  Hillary clearly wasn’t expecting me to linger, but that was just too bad. When I had an opportunity to speak with one of my suspects, I wasn’t about to let it pass me by. I decided to go back and wait by my Jeep. I not only had the box of Benjamin’s things from Gabby, but I also had the photos that Ray Blake had supplied me. Ignoring the box for a moment, I pulled out the five photos and gave them a much closer look than I’d been able to before.

  Ray could have used any of three shots for the paper. They were similar enough that I couldn’t really see much difference in them. After studying them all closely, I made out several faces I recognized. Ones involved in our case included Jan, Hillary, and, to my surprise, Gabby Williams, too. She had a badge on that said VISITOR, and I wondered why she hadn’t mentioned being there earlier. Lisa Port Smith was there as well, but I wasn’t all that surprised to find her in the photograph, since she’d already told me that she and Benjamin had sponsored the capsule. Moving those to the bottom of the pile, I studied the last two shots. One was close to the other three, but Jan had moved at just the wrong time in one of them, and her face was nothing but a blur. The last one had clearly been the final photo taken; I could tell by the hands of the clock behind the group. As folks gathered up their things, I noticed that Hillary was clutching a sheath of papers rather tightly against her chest. As I studied the photo more closely, I could make out a children’s drawing facing outward. It was Emma’s long-lost artwork! It had to be. But since they’d already sealed the capsule in the earlier shots, that meant that Hillary had held out the drawing in order to add something else herself.

  Like a confession!

  Chapter 23

  I took out my cellphone to call Jake when I saw Hillary waving in my direction. As I walked toward her waiting for my husband to pick up his phone, I kept saying under my breath, “Pick up. Pick up. Pick up.”

  He didn’t pick up.

  Most likely at that moment he was in hot pursuit of an innocent woman, and I had the real killer right there with me! What was I going to do about it, though? I couldn’t exactly make a citizen’s arrest and haul her over to the station myself. I wasn’t that foolish. I knew that she’d used poison on Benjamin, and then she’d tried to dose Jake and me as well, but that didn’t mean she didn’t have some other tricks up her sleeve. What I could do was follow her and make sure that she didn’t hurt anyone else before I could tell Jake about my discovery.

  I did my best to smile at her as I rejoined her, even though I was fairly positive that she was a stone-cold killer. “Sorry that took so long,” Hillary said.

  “I understand completely.”

  The head of the board of elections glanced at her watch. “Suzanne, I hate to do this to you, but I’m going to be late if I don’t head in right now. Perhaps we could talk later.”

  “Why not?” I asked, walking with her back toward her office. When we got to my Jeep, I got inside, and after saying goodbye, I drove around the block once so she’d think I was really gone if she happened to be watching for me. As I drove, I hung up and dialed Jake’s number again. This time it went to voicemail after a dozen rings. When he asked for my message, I told him briefly what I’d found and what I planned to do. In the message, I did my best to reassure him that I would try not to take any unnecessary chances, but we both had to know that our definitions of the word “unnecessary” were different.

  When I got back to the front of the town clock, I spotted Hillary slipping behind the bank building. She’d lied to me. I didn’t know why I was so surprised. Parking my Jeep quickly, I followed her on foot. As I turned the corner, I got there just in time to see her slip inside the loft apartment access door. Did she have a key, or had she used Betty to gain access? If it was the latter, I had to warn my mother’s friend that she might be in danger. When I got to the door, I fully expected it to be locked, but to my surprise, it opened easily to the touch. Someone had taken a piece of duct tape and put it over the locking mechanism. From the outside, it looked as though it worked perfectly, even though it had been doctored to stay unlocked. Climbing the stairs carefully, I kept looking for Hillary, but I couldn’t see her anywhere above me. When I got to the landing where both doors stood, I tried Betty’s lightly, only to find it locked. When I tried the other door, though, it gently eased open. I wasn’t sure how Hillary had gained access to the loft apartment before, but she was using it now. I peeled the tape away as well and stuck it into the pocket of my jeans as I walked in.

  The place was extremely dark inside. I slipped in quietly, hoping that my entrance had gone undetected. I felt as though I had a chance when I heard noises coming from the bedroom area. Massive blackout curtains hung from floor to ceiling, letting in almost no light at all. The only sliver showing was coming from the bedroom, where Hillary was evidently tearing the place up in search of something. I’d taken half a dozen steps inside when I realized that I’d seen everything I’d needed to. Evidently Benjamin had hidden something in the loft apartment at one point, and Hillary thought that it still might be there. As I headed back to the door, I heard the floor creak behind me, and as I looked up, the light from the bedroom suddenly illuminated the main living space and me as well!

  “Suzanne, what are you doing here?” Hillary snapped out at me.

  “I came to see Betty,” I said, lying as quickly as I could come up with something to say. “I saw the door here was ajar, so naturally I came in to see what was going on.”

  She studied me with a narrow look. “Really.”

  “Really,” I said, echoing her statement. “Anyway, question asked and answered. I’ll see you later.”

  I was almost to the door when she said, “Stop right there.”

  “What is it?”

  I turned to face her instead of bolting out the door. I knew that I should have run away, but I couldn’t seem to manage it. It wasn’t even fear that kept me rooted in place. I didn’t know what I was experiencing, but I knew that I never wanted to feel that way again.

  “You know, don’t you?” she asked me coldly.

  “Know what?”

  “What I did,” she said with resignation as she pulled a knife from behind her back.

  “I don’t know what you’re talking about,”
I said, finally getting my nerve back as I edged toward the door and freedom.

  “I said stop!”

  The way she said it, I knew that the odds were good that she could get to me before I made it out the door.

  “What are you talking about?” I asked, trying my best to keep my voice light and breezy. There might be a way to talk myself out of this situation yet.

  “You forgot to ask me what I was doing up here,” she said as she started toward me.

  What could I use to defend myself? I looked around desperately, and all I could see within reach that I might be able to use as a weapon was a thin designer wooden floor lamp. It had been built for its style, not for its ability to fend off an attacker, but I was going to use it that way if I had to.

  “What are you doing here?” I asked as I waited for her to get close enough so that I could grab the lamp and swing it at her.

  “Benjamin kept a journal of some sort,” she said flatly. “Nobody ever found it, but if they happen to stumble across it, I’m in serious trouble.”

  “Gabby had his appointment book, if that’s what you’re talking about,” I said, trying to draw her closer, “but I’ve got the most recent page now.” Maybe that would buy me some time.

  “I’m not talking about his date book,” she said. “I’m referring to his notes on what he did every day. It was like some kind of compulsion with him.”

  “What could he have possibly had on you that was bad enough for you to kill him?” I asked as she took another step forward. Two more paces and I’d have to take my chances and make my move. Why had I peeled off that duct tape? If I hadn’t, I’d be able to pull that door open without fiddling with the lock. As it was, my chances were narrowing by the second.