by Jessica Beck
Emma looked at me sternly. “I thought we were going to be honest with each other. I know my father. That wouldn’t have been enough to get him to agree to help you.”
“He wants me to take some photos, as well,” I admitted.
“You at least asked to be anonymous, didn’t you?” she asked me.
“Of course I did.”
“Even in the photo credits?” she followed up.
“That never even occurred to me,” I said. “Would he really do that?”
She nodded glumly. “He would, and he will. Don’t give him those pictures until you have his word that your name won’t appear anywhere in his newspaper for a full week.”
“Will he make that kind of blanket promise?” I asked her, amazed by how well my assistant knew her dad.
“If you start off with a month, he’ll offer you three days. A week should be an easy compromise to get. Would you like me to broker the agreement for you?”
“No, I think I can handle it,” I said as I turned off the warm water and added the soap.
“Okay, but if you get in trouble, don’t hesitate to call me.”
“I won’t,” I said as I examined a small bowl with something red still in it. “Raspberry filling?”
“No, it’s cherry. I tried to make some of our favorites, and then I threw in a few just for Jasper. He loves cherry filled, doesn’t he?”
“On occasion, but cranberry are his favorite,” I admitted. I looked at the cake donut offerings and saw that Emma had already made sour cream, old-fashioned, chocolate, and indeed, cranberry as well. For the yeast donuts, she’d already prepared the cherry filling and was just getting started on the lemon. “Would you like me to pitch in and lend you a hand?”
“Thanks, but I’ve got it covered,” she said.
I looked around at the progress in real amazement. “You really do. Wow, sometimes I forget just how good you’ve become at making donuts. You aren’t bored when you work as my assistant, are you?”
“No. Quite honestly, I’m happy for the break. Running this place twice a week is plenty enough for me. When I’m back at my regular job at the sink, I enjoy the opportunity to take life at a slower pace. I don’t know how you manage on your own on my day off.”
“Are you volunteering to work seven days a week?” I asked her with a smile.
“Not a chance, but I’ll be careful before I take another full day off in the future.”
“Emma, I really don’t mind if you use your vacation. There’s a certain rhythm I get in when I’m working by myself.”
“Still, it’s got to be exhausting,” she said as she finished dropping the last of the yeast donuts. As soon as they were out, she glazed them and set them aside to finish her two fillings. By the time she’d be done, they’d be ready to fill. I’d made the mistake once of filling yeast donuts while they were still hot, and I’d had an incredibly gooey mess on my hands afterwards.
In no time at all, all eighteen dozen donuts were finished. “Whew, that was a lot of work, but at least we’re being paid handsomely for it,” Emma said with a sigh.
“Better than you realize,” I said as I pulled out the check and handed it to Emma.
She whistled softly when she saw the amount. “That’s quite a bit more than we were expecting,” she said.
“What can I say? Jasper felt generous, it being his birthday and all. Why don’t you drop it off at the bank on your way home? I’ll cut you a check right now for your half, after expenses, if you’d like.”
“That’s okay. It can wait,” she said.
“Why don’t you let me do it now? You want to go shopping, and some extra cash could be nice to have. Give me two minutes, and I’ll figure out our expenses and your half.”
“I’ll start cleaning up a little while you’re doing that,” she volunteered.
“You don’t have to. That wasn’t part of our deal.”
“With what I’m making, it’s the least I can do,” she said with a hearty grin. “You’re a great boss, Suzanne.”
“Why? Because I’m cutting you in on the profits for working overtime?”
“That’s certainly one reason,” she said with a nod, “but there are a bunch more than that. The fact is that I love working here.”
“Well, as long as I own Donut Hearts, you’ve got a place by my side.”
I began doing the math, and I soon had a substantial figure for Emma’s portion of the proceeds. It was fun writing her the check, made even better by the fact that I was getting an equal amount. I never would have dreamed of keeping the lion’s share of the proceeds for our additional work, though it may have made the best financial sense. Splitting the largesse with her was what was right, at least in my mind, and that made it the only option I saw myself having.
After Emma was off to the bank, I finished up the last few chores and then headed home. I decided to leave the donuts on the counter and retrieve them later. Jake and I would have to pass by the shop on our way to the party, but before I was ready to head out to Jasper’s place, I needed a shower, a change of clothes, and time to pack an overnight bag.
Thirty minutes later, I felt like a brand new gal. I was clean, I didn’t reek of donuts, and I had my husband beside me. The donuts were loaded into bins now in the back of Jake’s truck, and we were on our way.
“We don’t have much time, so there’s something I need to tell you before we get there,” I said as he drove.
“The way I figure it, you’ve got about seven minutes, so you’d better make it quick,” Jake said.
“I made a deal with Ray Blake this afternoon,” I said, and I could already see my husband begin to cloud up. Jake was not a big fan of the newspaperman. In fact, the only reason my husband tolerated him at all was because of the way he felt about Emma and her mother, Sharon. “Before you lose your temper, know that I didn’t feel as though I had any choice. Jasper’s been acting really strange lately, and I’m worried about him, especially given this party he’s throwing.”
“Why is a party the sign of a bad thing?” Jake asked me.
“He’s clearly not in the mood for it. It almost feels as though he’s going to try to settle some old scores, and I wanted to be forewarned in case I was needed.”
Jake nodded reluctantly. “Well, if you were after gossip, rumor, and innuendo, you went straight to the source. What did Ray have to say?”
Once I caught Jake up on my list of the folks with problems with Jasper, I finished by saying, “It doesn’t sound like a very happy life to me. Does it to you?”
“No, not all that much. What did you have to give Ray in return?”
“A recap of the party, and some pictures taken with this,” I said as Jake pulled down the lane to Jasper’s house.
He glanced at the camera, and then he looked at it again. “That’s meant to take surveillance photos,” Jake said. “You’re not actually going to do it, are you?”
“Actually, I was hoping that you would,” I said as I put it on his lap. “Our goal is to provide Ray with photos, but nothing he could possibly print. Do you feel up to the task?”
“Why not? It could be fun,” Jake said as he slipped the camera into his pocket. “Where do I park? I don’t particularly want to lug all those bins of donuts very far.”
“You won’t have to. Follow the signs around back for support staff,” I instructed him.
“That’s sensible enough,” Jake replied, and he did as I instructed.
“Bethesda seems to be very good at what she does,” I said.
As we carried the first load of donuts into the kitchen area, Angelica and Sophia were both hard at work. They barely had time to say hello, and the matriarch talked as she worked. “We’re taking off in a few minutes. Antonia called and said that they’ve got some kind of
kitchen emergency I need to see to.”
“Is there anything we can do to help?” I asked, volunteering our services without even consulting Jake. I knew that I didn’t have to. He was as big a fan of the DeAngelis women and their restaurant as I was.
“No, we’re nearly finished here,” she said. As she took in my offerings, she added, “Those look amazing.”
“Emma made them,” I admitted with more than a little pride in my voice.
“Which is an even greater compliment to your skills, if you can teach someone so thoroughly to replace you,” she replied. “It is ultimately my goal, but unfortunately, the end is nowhere in sight.”
“I’m standing right here, you know,” Sophia said. “It’s not like I can’t hear you.”
“You were meant to hear every word of it,” Angelica said with a wry grin.
“Whatever,” Sophia said. “We need to step it up, Mom.”
“I know that,” she said as Bethesda Long came bustling in. The party planner spotted me, ignoring Jake completely. “Those go in the sitting room, two doors down.” With that, she dismissed us both as she turned to Angelica. “Where do we stand?”
“Two minutes, and we’ll be through,” she said.
“I really wish at least one of you would stay behind,” Bethesda said reprovingly.
“And I find myself wishing for another daughter to ease my load, but unfortunately, neither of us are going to get our fondest desires.”
“I’m telling the other girls what you just said,” Sophia said as she tasted a pot of simmering sauce. As she reached for a canister filled with some kind of herb, Angelica stopped her.
“It needs a little more oregano,” Sophia protested.
Angelica raised one eyebrow and then put a fresh spoon into the pot. After a moment, she nodded. “So, add it.”
“You’re really okay with me adjusting your recipe?” Sophia asked, clearly startled by the development.
“I’m not arrogant enough to think that I’m the only good cook in the family,” she replied.
That was all we heard, as Bethesda shooed us out of the kitchen.
“Those two are a pair, aren’t they?” Jake asked as we carried another load into the sitting room.
“They’re too much alike, and neither one of them can see it in the other,” I agreed.
Once the donuts were all transferred, we removed them from their bins and placed them on fine sterling silver trays.
My donuts, or rather, Emma’s, had never had such an elegant presentation.
“What do we do now?” Jake asked me as we put the empty bins back into his truck bed. It had taken us ten minutes, but for now, or at least until it was time for the party to officially begin, we were on our own.
“Now we find Jasper and see how he’s doing,” I said, leading my husband back inside.
We’d barely made it through the door though when we heard people arguing, so naturally, that’s straight where Jake and I headed.
Chapter 7
“You shouldn’t even be here, Perry,” a blustering older woman said. It was Phyllis Carlisle, Jasper’s granddaughter, and my mother’s once-upon-a-time rival for my father’s affections. In the intervening years since I’d last seen her, time had not been her friend. She must have gained forty pounds since I’d last seen her, but she was still trying to wear clothes that had been made for women much younger than she was. At her side was a mousy little fellow at least fifteen years her junior, and by the way he held onto her, I had to assume that he was her latest amour.
“Be that as it may, here I am,” the man she’d been arguing with replied calmly. He looked to be every bit as old as Jasper was, and I would have had no clue as to who he was if Ray hadn’t briefed me earlier. It had to be Perry Kilroy, Jasper’s former partner. “In fact, Jasper invited me himself. He said there was something he wanted to discuss with me, and I decided to indulge him, given our long history.”
“Your history includes you threatening to kill him!” Phyllis said loudly.
“Now, dear, remember your blood pressure,” the man beside her said indulgently.
“Henry, please kindly butt out. This is none of your affair,” she said, slapping him down quite thoroughly with her stinging words.
I half expected Henry to protest, but he simply stepped away from Phyllis’s dominant personality and kept any further protestations to himself.
“Perhaps you should follow your own advice,” Perry said with an evil little grin. “After all, we’d hate to have you stroke out on such an important occasion.”
“I’m not the one who’s in danger,” she said softly.
“Is that a threat, child?” Perry asked her. If I had to guess, I would say that he looked rather amused by her statement instead of being alarmed.
“I’m not your child!” she snapped.
“No, of course not. If you were, you’d be much better behaved.”
Suddenly Phyllis lunged for him, and to my surprise, Jake didn’t even have to step in. Mousy little Henry managed to restrain her all by himself, though I wasn’t at all certain how long he could manage it.
Evidently Perry decided that discretion was the better part of valor, because he quickly excused himself. “I’m going to have a word with Jasper before this nonsense goes any further.”
“We’ll come with you,” I said on impulse.
He turned to stare at me before replying. “And who might you be?”
“Don’t pay any attention to her. She’s not important. She’s just a donut maker,” Phyllis said as dismissively as she could manage.
I could feel my husband tense beside me, but the last thing I needed at the moment was to have him leap to defend my honor. “And don’t forget, I’m a long-term friend of Jasper’s as well. We were just off to find him. The more the merrier, don’t you agree?”
Perry Kilroy had no choice but to allow it, since Jake and I were going with him, regardless of how he might feel about it. “Very well,” he said reluctantly.
“We’re going, too,” Phyllis said. “After all, I’m the only real family he has left.”
“What about Ethan and Bobby?” I asked innocently.
“They are a pair of bloodsucking leeches, like father, like son. They don’t love my grandfather the way I do.”
“I’m curious about something,” I said as we all started upstairs. “I can’t remember the last time you were in town to visit him.”
“That’s because I don’t stop in at your donut shop every time I come to see my grandfather,” she said haughtily.
Based on her figure, I doubted that was the case, but I decided not to pursue it. We made our way up to the master suite, but the door was wide open, and what was more, it was empty.
“He’s not here,” Henry said gently.
“Brilliant observation,” Phyllis told her beau as she turned to leave the room.
“Where are you going?” Perry asked her.
“To his inner sanctuary, of course,” Phyllis said. “If he’s not here resting, then he must be in his study.”
“I don’t know if that’s really true. I saw him taking a walk outside earlier this afternoon,” I admitted.
Phyllis looked at me as though she wanted to choke me for daring to dispute her, but I just grinned at her in return. Jake must have found the exchange amusing, because I heard him stifle a chuckle beside me, one Phyllis clearly chose to ignore. After the others left, my husband lingered a bit, pulled out Ray’s spy camera when no one was looking, and took a few shots of the bedroom, the hallway, and the chandelier.
Our little caravan made it downstairs and to what had to be Jasper’s study, though I’d never been there myself. This door was closed, and locked as well, and I noticed my husband take a photo of it as Henry tried the knob and
then knocked repeatedly. I watched in amusement as Jake also took a shot of the garish carpet runner in the hallway. Let Ray try to use that in his newspaper article.
“He’s clearly not here, either,” Henry said. I was amazed the man ever dared speak at all, given the amount of rebukes he must have received on a daily, if not hourly, basis.
Phyllis was frowning, though. “That’s odd. He almost never locks this door,” she said.
“Never? That’s a rather broad blanket statement, isn’t it?” Perry asked her.
“Not if you know my grandfather at all. You two were partners for a great many years, so you should have at least been aware of that particular habit of his,” she answered, and then she reached under a nearby potted plant and plucked out a key. “There are only two keys to that lock. One is on his person at all times, and the other he keeps here for emergencies.”
“And you believe that this actually qualifies as an emergency?” Perry asked her wryly.
“He’s missing, isn’t he? Besides, we won’t know until we check it out, will we?” Phyllis asked as she brushed Henry aside and put the key in place in the lock.
Turning the knob, she threw the door open and started to say, “Jasper, are you…”
There was no reason for her to finish her sentence, though.
Jasper would clearly never be anything again but dead.
Evidently his feeling of doom had been well-founded after all.
Chapter 8
“Is he dead?” Phyllis asked despite what we were all seeing. Someone had taken a letter opener, one that looked to be thick and heavy, and they’d driven it into Jasper Finney’s chest, impaling him with it in his own leather chair.
Jake stepped forward and checked for a pulse anyway, though the dead stare on Jasper’s face and the ashen complexion were enough to tell me that he was well beyond our help. My husband checked anyway as he instructed me, “Call 9-1-1.”
