Killer Crullers

by Jessica Beck

  Then I heard him say, “Must have taken a wrong turn. I’ll be there soon.”

  He stopped, turned around, and from where I lay on the ground, I could see him on the right path now, heading for my decoy.

  I got into a crouch, ready to strike.

  As he turned the last corner, Chet was as close to me as he’d ever be. I waited until his back was turned, and then drove the stake toward his back.

  Something must have happened to tip him off, though. He turned at the last instant, and my weapon hit his side instead.

  At least it was on his right, and with the impact, the gun went flying into the corn.

  “I’ll break you in half for that,” Chet roared as he came at me, the stake still sticking in his side.

  If he caught me now, I knew that I’d be dead. Chet didn’t need a gun to finish me off. I was sure he could do it with his bare hands.

  There was no running away now. My ankle was nearly shot. With every last ounce of energy I had, I launched myself at him, doing my best to drive the stake the rest of the way through him. I hit him solidly, and we both fell backward. I’d done my best, but I knew that it was over. I kept waiting for Chet to roll over and crush me, but he didn’t move.

  Pulling myself up, I looked closer at him, and saw that blood was streaming from his head. The mailbox was rocked off its perch, and I could see a clump of his hair on the edge of it.

  At that moment, I didn’t care if he was dead, or just unconscious. I had to get out of there, and I had to do it now.

  * * *

  I had no idea how I managed to walk out of the cornfield, limping all the way. Thankfully, the farmer who owned the field was plowing another nearby plot. It took me a minute to convince him that there was a dangerous killer on the loose, but when I finally did, he called the police as we hurried back to his house on the tractor so he could get his gun.

  It turned out that he didn’t need it, though.

  Chet was still unconscious when the police came nine minutes later. He wasn’t dead, just knocked out, and the second I heard the news, I let myself collapse, realizing just how close I’d come to being his next victim.

  MALASADAS (SORT OF)

  I read about these treats online and couldn’t wait to try them myself, so since I don’t think I’ll be going to Hawaii, where they’re normally found, anytime soon I thought I’d try to make them myself. After studying four or five recipes, I’ve found a way to make them my own!

  INGREDIENTS

  Mixed

  • ¼ cup warm water

  • ½ package dry yeast (1⁄8 ounce) I shake the packet horizontally, then cut it in half, but you’d probably be fine using the whole pack

  • 1 teaspoon sugar, white granulated

  • 3 eggs, beaten

  • ½ cup sugar, white granulated

  • ¼ cup butter, melted

  • ½ cup evaporated milk

  • ¼ cup water

  Sifted

  • 4–5 cups all-purpose flour

  • ½ teaspoon salt

  DIRECTIONS

  Dissolve the yeast and sugar in the warm water and set aside. Beat the eggs, then add the sugar, melted butter, evaporated milk, and water, mixing until thoroughly blended. In another bowl, sift the flour and salt together. After five minutes, add the yeast to the wet mix, stirring lightly, and then slowly add the dry ingredients, incorporating along the way. Mix thoroughly, and then cover the dough and let it rise in a warm place until doubled, about an hour. This dough will not be firm or workable by hand, but don’t worry, you won’t be rolling it out. When it’s doubled, drop balls made from a small ice cream scoop or a teaspoon into hot oil. Fry in hot Canola oil (360 to 370 degrees F) 2-3 minutes, turning halfway through. Drain on paper towels, and then dust with confectioner’s sugar or ice and decorate.

  Yield: Makes about a dozen balls

  CHAPTER 18

  Before I’d let them take me to the hospital, I had to know what had happened to Harry and Katie.

  I was greatly relieved to learn that they were both alive, and as she’d predicted, Chet had let her live, a privilege he wouldn’t have extended to me if I’d hung around.

  Jake was at the hospital when they finished wrapping my ankle. I was in a room waiting to be discharged when he came barreling in.

  As he wrapped me up in his arms, I said, “Take it easy. It’s okay, it’s just a sprain.”

  “It could have been much worse,” he said, “and we both know it.”

  “I’ll be on crutches for a while,” I said as I pointed to my ankle. “It looks like Emma and her mother are going to have to keep the donut shop open until I’m back on my feet again.”

  “None of that matters right now,” he said. “What counts is that you’re all right.” Jake hugged me again, and then said, “Suzanne, you are a trouble magnet.”

  “Hey, it attracted you to me, so it can’t be all bad,” I said. I touched his hand, and then said, “Chet’s dead, isn’t he? I killed him.” There was a deadness inside me from what I’d been forced to do that I doubted would ever go away, but I’d done what I’d had to in order to survive.

  Jake smiled at me. “Well, he’s got one whale of a headache, and twelve stitches in his head, but the doctors say he’ll be fine.”

  “Did you find the money? Katie has the brooch, but I never got a chance to ask him about the cash he stole from Desmond.”

  “It was in his locker at the construction company, at least most of it, anyway.”

  The money made me think of my new friend. I hoped that learning about Desmond’s killer wouldn’t drive her back to her old state of uncertainty and timidity. “Did you call Jean? She has a right to hear it from one of us.”

  “It’s been taken care of.” He looked deeply into my eyes and added, “How are you doing, really? Don’t lie to me, Suzanne.”

  “Jake, I’m so sorry.”

  “You don’t have anything to apologize for,” he said, wiping the unexpected tears from my cheeks with his gentle hands.

  “I shouldn’t have gone there alone today,” I said.

  “You thought you would be safe. The truth is, I never should have stayed in Asheville,” he said. “The second I found out you were working on this case, I should have come back to April Springs to help you.”

  “Most of the time I had plenty of reinforcements,” I said. “Nobody could possibly know that they’d both be tied up today.”

  “About that,” Jake said. “George tried to call you, and when he couldn’t reach you, he contacted me. That’s how I got here so quickly. I had almost arrived in April Springs when the Talbot’s Landing police called me.”

  “His brother died, didn’t he?”

  Jake nodded. “George said it was just as well, he was pretty bad off in the end.”

  “I need to call him,” I said.

  “It can wait until you get out of here,” Jake said.

  I didn’t say a word; I just held my hand out for his phone. He frowned, and then handed it to me. “It’s on speed dial.”

  “I know his number by heart,” I said.

  George picked up, and the first thing I said was, “I’m so sorry.”

  “Thanks, Suzanne, but I’m the one who should be apologizing. I should have been there by your side.”

  “I already got that from Jake, and I’ll tell you the same thing that I told him. I handled it. You were where you needed to be. Can we do anything?”

  “No, everything’s been arranged. I’ll be home in a few days, and you can tell me all about it over a cup of coffee and a donut.”

  “It’s a deal. Would you like us to come to the service? We can be there by morning. Just say the word.”

  “I appreciate it more than I can say, but I need to do this alone so I can say good-bye once and for all.”

  “I understand. Call us if you need us.”

  After we hung up, Jake was staring oddly at me.

  “What’s wrong?”

  He shook his hea
d. “I don’t believe it. You were nearly killed today, and all you can think about is your friend.”

  “He’s in pain,” I said. “He needs friends right now.”

  Jake brushed a bit of hair out of my eyes. “Suzanne, I know that this has been a long time coming, but there’s something I need to say to you.”

  He was about to continue when Momma burst into the room and practically launched herself at me. “Suzanne, I was so worried about you.”

  “I may not be able to handle the stairs at home for a while. Do you mind if I bunk on the couch downstairs while I’m healing?”

  “There’s no need,” she said. “You can have the master bedroom.”

  So, it had come to that. She’d accepted the chief of police’s proposal after all. I knew there was a chance that she would, but I never thought she’d move out of our place so quickly.

  “I guess congratulations are in order, then,” I said.

  “For what?” she asked, looking clearly puzzled.

  “Well, if I get your bedroom, I’m assuming it’s because you said yes to the chief.”

  Momma shook her head. “No, I decided this wasn’t a good time for us.”

  I tried to get up, but Jake touched my shoulder lightly, and I settled back down. “If you’re doing this because of what happened to me today, I’m going to be extremely upset.”

  “It has nothing to do with you,” Momma said.

  “Prove it,” I replied. “What happened?”

  “I told him no before I heard about your accident today.”

  I wasn’t exactly sure I’d call what had happened to me an accident, but I was going to let it slide. “Was he crushed?”

  “On the contrary, I believe he was a little relieved.”

  “How is that possible? I have my share of problems with the man, but he loves you, there’s no doubt in my mind about that.”

  “I know that, but until I’m ready to return it in kind, the only humane thing for me to do was refuse his proposal.”

  I tried to take all of that in. “So, does that mean that you two aren’t going to date anymore?”

  Momma laughed. “Who said that? As a matter of fact, we have another date tomorrow night.”

  “What’s wrong with tonight?” I asked with a grin.

  “That’s reserved for us,” she said, and then turned to Jake. “You’re welcome to join us, as well.”

  “I appreciate the offer, but I owe Asheville one more lecture, and I should probably finish what I started.”

  “Another time, then,” Momma said. “I’ll go see what’s holding up your discharge.”

  After she was gone, I turned back to Jake. “You were about to tell me something, and from the look on your face, I had a feeling that it was important.”

  Jake looked at me and smiled. “All I was going to say was that I love you.”

  “Pardon me? I didn’t quite catch that,” I said as my heart danced in my chest.

  He took my head in his hands, kissed me gently, and then repeated, “I love you.”

  As far as I was concerned, I could have died right there. I’d heard the words I’d begun to doubt I would ever hear from him, and suddenly, all of my problems, even my ankle, didn’t matter anymore.

  He loved me.

  That was what really counted.

  He loved me.

  BACON DONUT BURGER

  This treat should come with a warning from the surgeon general, it’s so full of fat and calories. When they started serving them at the North Carolina State Fair recently, I was tempted to try one, but my doctor tackled me just in time! Don’t blame me if you try this one at home!

  INGREDIENTS

  • 1 Krispy Kreme donut (I’m in the South, it’s almost a food group down here)

  • 1½ pound hamburger patty, cooked on the grill

  • 2 slices cheddar cheese

  • 2 slices bacon

  DIRECTIONS

  Fry your bacon first, then grill the burger, putting the cheese on top at the last minute. Remove from heat and add the bacon to the top, then pat the skillet you fried the bacon in, leaving about a tablespoon of grease. Cut the donut in half on the horizontal, and fry in the grease until browned and a little toasted. Take the hamburger stack and place it between the donut buns, and if you still have the nerve, take a bite!

  Yield: 1 burger

  And now a look at the next Donut Shop Mystery,

  DROP DEAD CHOCOLATE

  —available soon from Jessica Beck and St. Martin’s / Minotaur Paperbacks!

  I guess you could say that the murder was partly my fault. After all, I was the one who urged my mother to run for mayor of April Springs. If I’d had the slightest idea what that would lead to, I like to think that I would have kept my mouth shut when the subject first came up.

  But then again, knowing me, I probably wouldn’t have been able to stop myself then, either, even with the foreknowledge of what was to come.

  And one of our town’s citizens would be dead because of it.

  Worse yet, suspicion would turn its head to me and my family once again, and I would be thrown into another murder investigation that I didn’t ask for.

  * * *

  “This is outrageous,” my mother said as she walked into the cottage we shared late one afternoon.

  “I agree wholeheartedly,” I said as I sat up from the couch where I’d been napping. I worked some pretty brutal hours, so I tried my best to grab some rest whenever the opportunity afforded itself. “What exactly are we upset about this time?”

  “Suzanne, I’m not in the mood for your witty banter. Our mayor has finally gone off the deep end. Did you read the newspaper this morning?”

  As the owner and head baker at Donut Hearts, I got to work every morning at three A.M., well before the newspaper was even printed, and I didn’t exactly have time to sit around reading all morning. There were donuts and coffee to sell, tables to clean, and customers to greet. Emma, my young assistant who worked with me, kept up with dishes in back while we were open, but the most important part of her day was helping me make the donuts six days a week. She got one day off to rest, but I was there every day that ended in y. Part of the joy of being a small-business owner.

  I stretched as I said, “Sorry, I didn’t have the time. What has Emma’s dad been up to now? Is he trying to stir up trouble to increase his circulation again?” The April Springs Sentinel was barely more than an advertising machine, but every now and then, Ray Blake liked to write an editorial or post a controversial interview to boost his readership. He was barely one step above a tabloid as far as most folks around town were concerned, though I knew that deep in his heart, he considered himself a true journalist.

  “There’s a story here about our mayor,” Momma said. “You need to read this.”

  As she handed me the paper, I said, “Why don’t you save us both some time and give me the condensed version.”

  “Suzanne, this is important.”

  I knew from her tone of voice that there was no escaping it, so I took the newspaper and checked it out.

  The headline blared out, ‘Mayor Cam Hamilton Awarded County Job. Big Stink.’

  “What’s this about?” I asked Momma.

  “Read on,” she said, clearly too upset to add more.

  The story read, “This reporter has uncovered the carefully guarded secret that our mayor has submitted for and won a contract to construct the new county waste disposal treatment plant on the edge of town. Normally happy to work on small jobs around our quaint fair city to leave more time for his mayoral duties, Hamilton has decided to go big-time, and something doesn’t smell quite right about our commander in chief going after a taxpayer-funded job while he’s in office.”

  “Can he do that?” I asked, looking up from the newspaper. “It doesn’t seem legal.”

  Momma’s lips were pursed into a pair of thin lines before she spoke. “I checked, and there’s nothing specific in our town charter that forbids it, but one of
his cronies is on the committee that awarded him the job. For once, I think the Sentinel got it right. There is a big stink about this, despite the clever play on words regarding a treatment plant. He needs to walk away from this.”

  “Fat chance he’ll ever do that,” I said, remembering how self-important our mayor could be. He’d once told me that the police department worked for him, not the citizens of April Springs, and when I’d informed him that things didn’t work like that in our part of North Carolina, he’d nearly thrown me out of his office.

  Momma said, “If he doesn’t, I’ll make him sorry.”

  “Are you going to run against him?” I asked. “You’d make a great mayor, and the election’s coming up soon.”

  She looked at me askance. “Suzanne, I’m not a politician.”

  “That’s why it’s so perfect,” I said. “Think about all of the good you could do as mayor. There wouldn’t be any of this nonsense.”

  Momma stood there for a second, and then reached for her purse and headed for the door.

  “Where are you going?” I asked.

  “I’m going to have a word with Cam Hamilton,” she said.

  “Wait up. I’ll go with you.” I didn’t want my mother rampaging around city hall by herself. She was barely five feet tall and didn’t weigh a hundred pounds soaking wet, but when she was on fire like this, there was no one in their right mind who wanted to go up against her.

  “You don’t have to babysit me, young lady,” she said as I put on my tennis shoes.

  “Are you kidding? I wouldn’t miss this for the world. I want a ringside seat for the fireworks.”

  She didn’t seem to approve of me going with her, but then again, she didn’t actively protest it, so I was tagging along.

  As she drove to city hall, I said, “He may not even be there.”

  Momma frowned. “If he’s not, I’ll track him down like the mad dog he is.”