Baked Books (The Donut Mysteries Book 30)

by Jessica Beck

  “It would be an honor,” Paige said. “Hang on. I’ll go get it for you.”

  After she disappeared inside, Grace told her employee, “That was really something.”

  “I know; it is, isn’t it? I’ve done the ritual two dozen times, but I’ve never seen a room in need of it so much as that back room. I’m glad I could help.”

  “Tell you what. I want to thank you, too,” Grace said. “This was above and beyond the call of duty. Why don’t you take tomorrow off? You earned it tonight.”

  “Are you sure? That would be great,” she said.

  “My donut offer is still good, too,” I added, trying to add some lightness to the conversation.

  “What can I say? I give up,” she said with a laugh.

  I was surprised that she’d taken me up on my offer after her earlier protests, but I was delighted that at least some of my spare treats would go to a good home.

  “I’ll meet you over there,” I said.

  I walked over to my Jeep, and Ramona was soon there in her car. She stopped and opened her trunk. “I’ve got three dozen I’m just going to toss tomorrow. Could you find good homes for them?”

  “As a matter of fact, I volunteer at a seniors’ facility in Lenoir, and I know that they’d love these.”

  “Then take them, with my compliments.”

  After I transferred them to her trunk, I asked her in private, “Ramona, just between us, what really happened in there?”

  “I wish I could tell you, but I really can’t quantify it,” she said in all seriousness. “Suzanne, I get that you’re skeptical about the process. I was too, the first time I saw it performed, but I have to tell you, it’s amazing the difference the ritual makes. The bad energy seems to flow out, and it’s replaced by new, fresh energy. Some people believe the sage produces positive ions that attract and cancel out the negative ones. I’m not entirely sure why it works, but I’m a firm believer that it does. I know I must sound insane to you, but the proof is in the results.”

  “After what I witnessed tonight firsthand, I’m willing to keep an open mind,” I said.

  “That’s all anyone can ask,” she said. “I already said good-bye to Grace and Paige. Have a good evening, Suzanne. It was a real pleasure meeting you.”

  “You, too,” I replied, and then Ramona drove away, leaving me with more food for thought than I’d expected to have when Grace had first mentioned the sage smudging.

  Chapter 15

  “Wow, I feel like I just took part in an exorcism,” Grace said as she sat in the passenger side of the Jeep in her driveway. I could have easily been home by now, but what rush was there? I’d eaten a good meal, done a little crime scene investigation, seen a smudging ceremony up close, and I still had time before my odd job sent me off to bed earlier than most folks ever dreamed about going to sleep.

  “You looked pretty intense when it was happening,” I said.

  “I won’t deny it. It was a little spooky seeing the way that smoke changed from room to room, but you know what? I honestly believe that I could feel a cloud lifting from the bookstore after Ramona finished. I always thought she was a little odd, but she showed herself in quite a different light this evening, didn’t she?”

  “Honestly, I’m not at all sure I’m ready to talk about what happened just yet,” I admitted. “I still need some time to process it.”

  “I completely understand. Well, if you’d prefer, we could always talk about other things, like murder.”

  “It seems to be a frequent topic of conversation for us, doesn’t it?”

  “It does manage to come up with unusual regularity,” she agreed.

  “Much more than I like, as a matter of fact,” I said.

  “Tell you what. Why don’t we forget about homicide for one night? Let’s have one of our old-fashioned sleepovers. We can eat junk food and watch terrible movies until it’s time to go to sleep.”

  “It’s tempting, but I have to be up in seven hours,” I said. “I’m not sure how much fun I would be, anyway. I’m exhausted. Could I take a rain check for a night when I don’t have to get up in the middle of the night to go to work the next morning?”

  “Absolutely. We’ll have to pick a time that the guys are busy as well, though,” Grace said. “I suppose anything’s possible.”

  Evidently I’d hurt her feelings by refusing her gracious invitation. “You know what? I’m feeling better even as we speak. Tell you what. Let me call Emma and see if she and her mom can sub for me tomorrow. I know it’s short notice, but they’re always clamoring for more hours at the donut shop.”

  Grace stopped me before I could retrieve my phone. “Thanks for the offer, but we’ve got too much on our minds with the publisher’s murder anyway, and like you said, you’re worn out, with good reason. No worries. We’ll make it happen another time.”

  “I’ll make sure of it,” I said. “What are your plans tonight? You could always watch a cheesy movie and eat junk food without me.”

  “I could, but what fun would that be?” she asked me with a grin. “If I’m taking the road to ruin, I’d just as soon not travel it alone.” Grace sighed heavily, and then she added, “Besides, I’ve got a load of paperwork I need to at least take a stab at before bed. When did we get so old, Suzanne?”

  “The way I look at it, it beats the alternative,” I replied with a smile.

  “I suppose it does at that,” Grace said as she got out of my Jeep.

  I drove the short distance up the road to the cottage I usually shared with my husband. I hadn’t spoken to Jake in what felt like ages. What was my dear sweet husband up to, anyway?

  After walking inside and locking the door behind me, I decided to give him a call. What was the worst that could happen? If it went to voicemail, at least he’d know that I loved him, and that I was thinking of him.

  To my delight, he picked up on the second ring.

  “You’re not going to believe this, but I was just getting ready to call you,” he said, and my mood suddenly lifted more than any sage smudge ever could manage to do.

  “How’s Raleigh? Have you had a chance to pop in on your sister and her kids while you’ve been there?” I asked him.

  “No, it hasn’t been that kind of trip. We’ve all been kind of tied up.”

  “That ‘we’ sounded like it involves more than two people. Can you still not tell me what you’ve been doing?” I asked him.

  “As a matter of fact, that was why I was calling. Terry gave me the all clear, at least as far as you’re concerned. He requested that you keep the information confidential.”

  “You know that I will.”

  “That’s what I told him,” Jake said with a laugh. “Terry’s ex-wife has recently been mixed up with a pretty bad man, and he’s worried about her. She fell off the radar last week, and there’s been no sign of her since. He’s pretty torn up about it, because he’s been wanting to reconcile with her, but then this happened. He’s desperate, Suzanne.”

  “He must be, if he asked you for help,” I said. “Is this guy dangerous?”

  “Very,” Jake said. “And you were right about the ‘we.’ I’m not the only one lending a hand. There are four of us, actually. We were all on the job together at one time or another, and two of us are still on active duty.”

  “Jake, this sounds really serious.” I couldn’t imagine how wicked this guy must be to require four state police inspectors to handle him. He must be another Jack the Ripper.

  “Right now we’re just trying to find her to see if she’s being held against her will,” Jake said, trying his best to reassure me and failing miserably at it. “If we find her and it comes down to some kind of confrontation, our presence is supposed to be more a show of force than anything else.”

  “Why don’t I believe you?” I
asked my husband.

  “What can I say? We all owe Terry,” was all he’d say in reply.

  Ultimately, I knew that it had to be enough. “Just be careful, okay?”

  “He told me to tell you not to worry. He said to say that he has my back.”

  “And you have his. I’m still going to worry though, and we both know it.”

  “That’s what I told him you’d say.”

  “Seriously, how bad is the situation, on a scale of one to Attila the Hun?”

  “I’d rate it about a seven,” Jake admitted. “It’s the way she disappeared that has us all stumped. We’re working on some leads though, and I’ve got a hunch she’s going to turn up pretty soon.”

  “Wow. Now I’m really worried.” I took a deep breath, and then I asked him, “Do you think she’s …okay?” I’d wanted to ask if he thought she was still alive, but I changed my mind at the last second. It was not the right question to ask.

  “If she’s not, I’m genuinely afraid of what Terry might do. This guy is going to need serious protection if anything happened to her. That’s another reason we’re all sticking close to him.”

  “You’re a good friend and a good man, Jake Bishop,” I told him.

  “But not a very good husband,” he said.

  “What have you been doing to make you say something like that?” I asked him playfully. I was not worried about Jake’s fidelity, though I’d never been able to say that about my first husband, Max.

  “Well, for starters, I’m in Raleigh, and you’re in April Springs.”

  “That’s just a matter of logistics,” I said. “You’re with me in spirit, and that’s what really counts. Speaking of spirits, I attended a séance of sorts tonight.”

  “A séance? You’re kidding.”

  “Yes, of course I am. It was more like a cleansing of dead spirits using a sage smudging ritual.”

  After a long pause, Jake said, “I’d love to hear more about it. Whose spirit was it, anyway?”

  That’s when it occurred to me that my husband didn’t know that I’d recently stumbled over another dead body.

  “Do you have a few minutes? We’ve got some catching up to do,” I said.

  “For you, I’ll make the time. Why don’t you start at the beginning and go from there?”

  After I finished bringing him up to speed, including the sage cleansing I’d witnessed, Jake let a deep sigh slip out. “I’ll say this for you. You’re never boring, are you, Suzanne?”

  “I don’t know what you’re talking about. I’m just a simple donut maker at heart,” I protested.

  “Who happens to solve murders on the side,” he added.

  “Okay, I can’t deny it. Grace and I have plenty of suspects and not much to go on. John Rumsfield was not a very popular man, and most of our suspects make their livings being clever and lying as a matter of course. Do you have any expert advice for me?”

  Jake laughed before he spoke again. “Oh, no. I’m not about to fall into that trap. I’m sure you and Grace are doing fine on your own. Just remember, often the simplest answer is the right one, no matter how convoluted it might look at first.”

  “There’s nothing simple about this case,” I said. “Chances are good that whoever committed this crime spends their days thinking about ways to get away with murder. It certainly muddies the water.”

  “Focus on what you know, not what you might think,” Jake said.

  “Is that the sum total of your good advice?”

  He laughed again. “Sorry, but that’s all that I’ve got. You do my spirit good, Suzanne Hart Bishop.”

  “Right back at you,” I said, fighting a yawn.

  “Right now you need to get some rest. It will be time to make the donuts again before you know it.”

  “I know only too well how right you are. It was wonderful talking to you. Be careful now, you hear?”

  “That advice goes double for you,” Jake said. “Don’t turn your back on any of them.”

  “Not a chance of that happening.” Pausing for a moment, I added, “Let me know if you find her, okay?”

  “You’re worried about her, and you don’t even know her. You’re the one with the good heart, lady.”

  “Terry loves her, so there must be something good about her,” I said. “Give him my love, will you?”

  “Only if I get mine first.”

  “You’ve got it. Good night, Jake.”

  “Night, Suzanne.”

  Once we were off the phone, I started worrying that my husband was in a dangerous situation, but that had literally been his job description in his former career. Jake could handle himself, I knew that, and Terry was skilled as well. That still didn’t stop me from worrying, but since it wasn’t productive at the moment, I decided to try to put it out of my mind, along with trying to figure out who had killed John Rumsfield. I grabbed a quick shower, got into my jammies, and then I went to sleep.

  Tomorrow would come soon enough, and I had a hunch that big things were about to happen.

  I just wished that I had an inkling as to what they might be.

  Chapter 16

  “I’m surprised to find you here, Abner,” I said as I unlocked the door to Donut Hearts the next morning so we could start serving our customers. The mechanic wasn’t particularly fond of my treats, so I knew that his visit probably had more to do with our conversation the day before than his craving for treats.

  “You need to leave me alone, Suzanne,” he said angrily right out of the gate, clearly worked up about something.

  “You’re visiting me at my place of business. How exactly is it that I am the one bothering you?”

  “Don’t get cute with me. I’m talking about you and Grace coming by the shop yesterday and accusing me of killing that man.”

  I took a step back, and Emma came out. “Is everything okay out here?”

  “So far, but it’s too soon to tell if it will stay that way,” I said.

  “Should I call someone?” my assistant asked as she reached for her phone.

  “There’s no need of that,” Abner said, the volume of his words lowering considerably. “We’re just having a nice conversation.”

  “It didn’t sound all that nice to me,” Emma said, watching him carefully.

  “It’s fine,” I said. “I’ll call out if I need you.”

  “Okay, but I’m leaving the door open just in case,” she replied before she headed back into the kitchen.

  “You’ve got quite a loyal little lapdog there, don’t you?”

  “For your information, Emma is not only a great employee, but she’s also one of my closest friends. Now you’ve said your piece, Abner, so unless you’re shopping for donuts, it’s time for you to go.”

  “I’m not nearly done,” he said.

  “Then get it over with, would you? We’ll have customers coming in any second, and I don’t want them to hear what you have to say.”

  “I didn’t do it,” he said firmly. “I’m sorry if I started yelling the second I walked in here, but it’s really frustrating! I never touched that man, let alone smash him in the head with a rock!”

  “And we’re all supposed to take your word for it?” I asked him. Maybe it would be prudent to have Emma call the police after all. Then again, why not cut out the middleman? I had my own cell phone in my pocket. I started to reach for it when Abner started up again.

  “You don’t have to. I can prove it, Suzanne.”

  “I’m listening,” I said, halting my motion.

  “I heard the body was cold when you found it. Have they come up with a time for the murder yet?” he asked.

  “Nobody’s shared anything with me, but if I had to guess, I’d say it was sometime between nine and eleven p.m. You told me t
hat you went home alone, drank some beer, and then went to bed. How could you possibly prove that?” The time of death was a rough guess based on when I’d found the body, the temperature it had been, and the last time anyone had seen John Rumsfield alive, so I was pretty certain I was at least in the ballpark. I’d have to ask the police chief later how close I was to being right.

  “I didn’t exactly tell you the truth before,” he said. “I couldn’t have done it.”

  “I’m still waiting for the proof,” I said.

  “I was at the Bentley the entire time,” he admitted.

  “What were you doing there?”

  “Trying to break into Brad Winslow’s room,” he admitted.

  “Why on earth would you do something like that?”

  “When Rumsfield turned me down, I wanted a second opinion. If my book was no good, I needed to hear it from more than one person. You don’t take a doctor’s word that you’re dying without getting someone else to weigh in, and Winslow’s been in the business a long time.”

  “So you tried to break into his room to ask him for a critique?” I asked, curious about what his thought process must have been.

  “Not at first. I kept pounding on his door, but he wouldn’t answer. That’s when I thought I might just make my way inside and wait for him to get back.”

  “How were you going to do that?” I asked, honestly curious at that point.

  “Well, I couldn’t just wait out in the hallway, could I? I read that you could take a credit card and slip it between a doorframe and the lock and jimmy a hotel room door open.”

  “Did it work?”

  “No. I broke two cards trying,” he said. “It’s not as easy as they make it sound.”

  “What happened? Did you run out of credit cards?”

  “No, somebody called the front desk on me, and before I knew it, some beefy guy had a hand on the back of my neck and was escorting me to a back room in the basement.”