Assault and Batter

by Jessica Beck

  “I have a meeting in Hickory at eight, and another in Lenoir at nine, but I’ll be back here by eleven,” she said. “I promise.”

  “You don’t have to rush back on my account,” I said, though I didn’t really mean it. “I know that your job is important to you.”

  “It is, but don’t forget that I love these investigations just as much as you do.” Grace hugged me again before she left, and then she said goodnight to my mother before she headed home.

  Once Momma and I were alone, I asked her softly, “Tell me the truth. What would you have done in my shoes?”

  “Suzanne, that’s an impossible question to answer. What does your heart tell you?”

  “Just that it’s breaking,” I answered.

  She hugged me, and then Momma stroked my hair just as she’d done when I’d been a child. “There, there. It will all seem better in the morning.”

  “How can you be so sure?” I asked her.

  “Time does more than wound all heels. It heals all wounds as well.”

  “Should I have gone?” I asked her again.

  “Could you leave everything you have here behind to follow him?” she asked me softly.

  “I don’t know, but shouldn’t I at least try?”

  “My dear child, why don’t you think about it for a week and see how you feel once the shock of Jake’s departure eases a bit? You’re in no position to make a rational decision tonight. Don’t you think that Jake must have realized that himself? After all, from the sound of it, he didn’t push you very hard to go with him, did he?”

  “No, and that worries me a little, too. If he’d wanted me with him, why did he ask me just once?”

  Momma shook her head. “The ways of men are just as mysterious to us as our ways are to them. It might be that he was afraid to ask you in the first place, and asking twice might have seemed like he was begging. Now answer me this honestly. Does that seem like something Jake Bishop would do, no matter how much his own heart might be breaking?”

  “No, you’re right,” I said, suddenly feeling better because Jake could just possibly be as miserable as I was right now. I knew that it was petty of me, but I couldn’t help it. “If you don’t mind, I think I will try to get some sleep. Thanks for everything tonight.”

  “Grace had things well in hand before I got here,” she said. “I’m not sure that I added all that much in the end.”

  “That’s where you’re wrong. When a girl’s heart is broken, she needs her mother most of all.”

  Momma’s smile was full as she said, “Then I’m glad that I could be here for you. If you want to talk, even if it’s the middle of the night, wake me. Will you do that for me?”

  “I promise,” I said. “Good night.”

  “Good night, Suzanne.”

  I was just about to go to sleep when my cellphone rang.

  It was Jake.

  “Suzanne, I’m so sorry that I sprang that on you at the last second. I can be such an idiot sometimes. Can you forgive me?”

  I laughed, just happy to hear his voice again. “Only if you forgive me for not dropping everything and flying off to Alaska with you.”

  “You’re much too practical for that,” he said. “I should never have put you in that position in the first place. I guess it was pretty cowardly of me.”

  This from a man who faced down armed criminals on a regular basis. “Jake, you are many things, but cowardly isn’t one of them.”

  “Oh, I can stand my share of danger, but I should have handled this entire mess better than I have.”

  “Tell you what. Let’s give each other a free pass and stop beating ourselves up about it, okay? It’s not like we can’t see each other more often than every three months, and we can talk on the phone every day.”

  He laughed. “We don’t talk that often now.”

  “Maybe not. I hope you have a safe flight. Call me when you land, okay?”

  “No matter what time it is?” he asked.

  “Chances are that I’ll either be making donuts or selling them,” I said. “Don’t worry about waking me up.”

  “Thanks, Suzanne. I can’t believe how lucky I was to find you.”

  “It was part of another murder investigation, if you remember.”

  “I’m not about to forget,” he said. “Speaking of murder, I hear you’re in the thick of another one.”

  “How did you hear that?” I asked.

  “Chief Martin called me the day before yesterday,” Jake admitted. “Don’t tell him that I told you so, but he asked me to keep an eye on you.”

  “Is he worried about me?” I asked.

  “He worries about everything. The man honestly cares for you.”

  “Because of Momma,” I said.

  “There’s always that, but I think he likes your spunk, too.”

  “How about you?”

  “I like it just fine,” Jake said. I could hear speakers in the background of the airport making an announcement, and he added quickly, “I’ve got to run. I’ll talk to you soon.”

  “Have a safe flight, Jake. I love you.”

  “I love you, too.”

  When we hung up, I felt a great deal better than I had all day. Talking it out with Momma and Grace had given me a little perspective, but working things out with Jake was even more important to me. He had said farewell in a much better way, not a final good-bye, and we were in as good a place as we could be, given the circumstances. We’d work things out one way or the other, I was sure about that, but I was going to stop feeling sorry for myself because he was a continent away. Others had gone through much worse to be together and it had all worked out fine in the end, so there was no reason to think that we would end up otherwise. In the meantime, I had a renewed interest in catching a killer, and I wasn’t going to be able to do it without sleep. I climbed into bed and fell asleep, wrapped in my boyfriend’s love and finally understanding that though distance separated our bodies, our hearts were together, and that was really all that counted.

  Chapter 15

  “Good morning, Suzanne,” Emma said the next day as she walked into Donut Hearts.

  I glanced up at the clock before I answered her. “You’re early today.” I hadn’t even finished the batter for all of my cake donuts yet. Usually I was icing the last batch of them when Emma came in. “What’s the matter? Couldn’t sleep?”

  “Actually, I need to talk to you,” Emma said solemnly.

  “Oh, no. You’re not quitting again, are you?” My assistant had left for college once before, but she’d come back soon enough when living away from home hadn’t suited her.

  “No, of course not,” she said.

  “Then what do you want to talk about?”

  “I spoke with Emily last night,” she said tentatively.

  “I’m not surprised. You two are best friends, after all.”

  “That’s the thing,” Emma said softly. “She asked me to take over for you.”

  “You’re going to make the wedding donuts now?” I asked before I quickly added, “Not that you wouldn’t be perfectly capable of doing it. It just surprises me, that’s all.”

  “I’m not making donuts or a cake,” Emma said. “Her mother’s got that covered. I’m standing in as her maid of honor. At least I will if you give me your blessing. I told Emily that I wouldn’t do it if you had a problem with it. She’s just going to have to find someone else.”

  “Of course I don’t mind,” I said. “Emma, I’m happy for you. You know, you should have had the job from the start. I just got it because of my interfering.”

  “I’m so sorry about this rift between you and Emily. Are you really not even coming to the wedding?” Emma asked.

  “She told me not to come, and I’m going to respect her wishes,” I said.

  In a soft voice, my assistant said, “All you have to do is apologize.”

  That was something that I wasn’t about to do. “Emma, it might be better for both our sakes if we both just drop this
, okay? I don’t want my problems I might have with Emily to bleed over into our relationship.”

  “I don’t want that, either,” she said quickly. “Are we still good?”

  “We’re perfectly fine,” I said as I forced a smile.

  “Then there’s only one other thing I’d like to talk to you about,” Emma said as I worked on the batter for our pumpkin donuts. It was getting to be that time of year again, and I always enjoyed the smell of the frying donuts.

  “Does it involve Emily?” I asked.

  “Not directly. It is about Jude’s murder, though. If you don’t want to talk about it, I understand completely, but Dad came across something that I thought you might like to know.”

  Emma’s father was constantly trying to turn his newspaper into something more than a place just for ads and comics. “Are you sure you won’t be breaking any confidences with him by telling me?”

  “I asked him that, and he gave me his blessing.” Emma looked at the clock as she added with a smile, “It doesn’t make too much difference, since the paper will be out by six AM. He figured you weren’t going to tell anybody until we opened, anyway. Could you do that much for me?”

  “Sure thing,” I said. “So tell me, what’s the big news?”

  “Dad found out the reason behind the fight Peter had with Jude the night he died, and he’s going to publish it today.”

  “That’s old news,” I said as I went back to the batter. “Peter told me himself that he was trying to persuade Jude not to crash the wedding. Evidently they had words about it, and it led to a fistfight.”

  “He lied to you, Suzanne,” Emma said. “That wasn’t the real reason at all.”

  “Okay, you’ve got my attention,” I said as I set the batter aside. “Why did the two of them fight, if it wasn’t about the wedding?”

  “Dad believes that both men were dating the same woman,” Emma said smugly.

  “Does he know who it is?” I asked, trying not to give anything away. Could Peter have been going out with Lisa Grambling, too? I certainly had something else to ask her about the next time I saw her.

  “No, he’s calling her Madam X for now. He’s even got a shadow outline of a woman to go along with the article. It sounds like a real winner.”

  Ray Blake had been known to run with far less, and most folks discounted his supposed exposés with grains of salt. I had a hunch that Ray was off base on this one as well. After all, Peter wasn’t all that familiar with April Springs. How could he have even met Lisa? “Is that all he’s got?” I asked.

  “No, there’s more. Jude owed someone in town a fair amount of money, and Dad thinks that might also be a reason that he was murdered, not out of jealousy.”

  “That’s interesting. I suppose he’s calling him Mister X,” I said with a smile.

  “Dad isn’t naming him in the paper because he doesn’t want to take a chance on getting sued, but he’s pretty sure who it is. Can you keep a secret?” she asked me.

  More than she knew. I wasn’t all that excited about her confiding in me, though. “Are you sure that you’re at liberty to tell me everything?” I asked.

  “I know that you won’t spread it around. It’s Frank Grambling.”

  My shock must have shown on my face. “Frank? Seriously?” If Ray Blake was right, which was a mighty big if, then Jude was not only sleeping with the man’s wife but stealing money from him as well. Frank had just managed to climb a few notches higher on my list if it were true.

  Emma couldn’t hide her smile. “I know; can you believe it? Jude sold Frank some gold that turned out to be fake. When Frank demanded his money back, Jude told him that the cash was already gone and that Frank should just forget about it. I don’t know how well you know Frank Grambling, but Dad said that was something he wasn’t about to do. He’s going to dig the truth out, and he’s hoping that by running this story, Frank will come clean and admit what he’s done.”

  “That’s a lot to hope for,” I said. “If he has any real proof, he should tell Chief Martin.” I fully realized how that sounded since I’d been known to delay handing over shaky evidence myself in the past.

  “Nope. Dad says that real journalists don’t do that.”

  “Is he willing to go to jail over it?” I asked.

  “Are you kidding? There’s nothing he’d like better! He’s already got the headline. Journalist Jailed; Won’t Talk.”

  “Well, then for his sake, I hope he’s sitting in jail behind bars by nightfall.”

  Emma laughed. “I’m going to tell him that you said that.”

  “Be my guest,” I said. “Now, if we’re finished speculating, you need to go set up the dining room so I can drop these donuts into the fryer.”

  She left as I forced the batter into our heavy steel dropper and began making perfect little rings of goodness in the hot oil. Two minutes later, I took my chopsticks and turned them once, revealing a dark golden side of each treat. After they cooked on that side, I pulled them out and poured icing over them all, watching as the glaze crystalized and formed perfect, delightful coatings. Once I was finished, I called Emma back in.

  “Are you ready to get started on the dishes?” I asked.

  “I can’t wait,” she said. As I mixed the yeast dough, we chatted about the weather and a certain real estate agent in town named Larry Evans who was rumored to be wooing four different women in April Springs. It was outrageous, and nobody really believed it, but it was entertaining. The fact that the agent was in his eighties just helped add to the delight of me thinking of him slipping from one bedroom in town to another. I didn’t doubt that there was some basis to the rumor. I’d seen the way Larry had eyed me when he’d come into the shop. The man was a wolf in a green blazer, the jacket of choice for all of the agents in his firm.

  The yeast dough was mixed soon enough, and as we waited for it to rest and raise, Emma and I took our standard break. At least we started to, but then my cellphone rang, and I knew exactly who was calling me that early in the morning.

  “Jake, are you there already?” I asked.

  “No,” he said, out of breath. I could hear him running and terminal sounds all around him. “Our flight was late, and I’ve got to run to catch my next one. Fortunately my flight’s going through Vegas. The terminal’s not that big, so I’m going to a nearby gate.”

  “You won’t even have time to drop a quarter in the slot machine, will you?” I asked. Grace had gone to Las Vegas after winning a sales contest for her company, and she’d marveled that they even allowed gambling in the airport after she got through security.

  “I don’t gamble,” he said. “Just wanted to say hi while I had the chance. Hi.”

  “Hi yourself. Call me when you get there, will you?”

  “Promise,” he said. “Love you.”

  “I love you, too,” I said as he hung up.

  Emma was standing there grinning at me when I hung up. “That’s an early phone call, even for you, Suzanne. Do I even have to ask who it was?”

  “No, you sure don’t.”

  “It didn’t last long,” she said.

  “He was changing planes, so he couldn’t chat.”

  “Oh, that sounds exciting. Where’s he going?” Emma asked me.

  “Alaska,” I said, my heart sinking a little as I said it.

  “Wow; that’s a long way from North Carolina,” she said. “Will he be back soon?”

  I didn’t want to get into that with her, but I really didn’t have much choice. It was just the two of us, and we’d already banned talking about Emily’s wedding. “In a few months,” I said.

  “That long?”

  “That’s just to visit. He’ll be working there for a year, but before you say a word, I don’t want to talk about that, either.”

  Emma nodded. “We sure are limiting our topics of conversation lately, aren’t we?” she asked me with a grin.

  “Well, there’s always Larry,” I said, smiling.

  “Yes, we’ll alwa
ys have Larry.”

  Chapter 16

  I was surprised to see our mayor waiting out front when I unlocked the front door promptly at six AM. “Come on in, George,” I said as I stepped aside to let him pass. “What brings you out so early today?”

  “I’m usually up before this,” the mayor said as he took his jacket off and hung it on the rack.

  “Maybe so, but you don’t often get donuts first thing,” I said. “What’s going on? Is Polly out of town?” Polly North was George’s secretary, and also his girlfriend, though he would never come out and admit it. George thought it was a ridiculous name for a woman he was seeing, but he hadn’t liked any of my other choices, either, so we were stuck with it.

  “As a matter of fact, she’s in Wilmington. One of her kids is having a baby, so she went to help out.”

  “Wow, that’s some kind of mom,” I said.

  “I’m sure that your mother would do the same thing for you,” George said.

  “I’m not pregnant, though.” I pretended to study my belly. “Do I look pregnant? George, are you saying that if I’m not pregnant, I’m getting fat?”

  “What? No. Of course not. I’d never say any such thing.”

  He stopped when he saw my grin. “You’re too easy to tease, my friend. It’s not even any fun anymore.”

  As he fought his blush, the mayor said, “You could always stop doing it, then.”

  “Not on your life,” I said and kissed his cheek lightly, an act that made his face burn even brighter. “Let me get you coffee and a donut on the house,” I said as I walked to the counter.

  “You used to just do that when I was working on a case with you,” George said as he took a stool. “Between the two of us, I miss those days.”

  “I do, too, but you’re serving the greater good right where you are now.”

  He laughed without joy. “Funny, it feels as though I mostly preside over meetings where everyone involved acts as though they were still in junior high school. Sometimes I’d like to take the lot of them over my knee and teach them about discipline.”