Pumpkin Pleas (The Donut Mysteries Book 26)

by Beck,Jessica

  “Don’t be silly. I can just check the photo on my phone if you won’t tell me,” I told my husband. He stepped aside, and I saw that Ray had scrawled, “Is he rich from being on the take as a cop?”

  “Are you kidding me?” I asked indignantly.

  “Suzanne, it’s not that unusual for a cop to be accused of it at one time or another in his career.”

  “Someone accused you of taking money?” I asked him.

  “More than once,” Jake said with a smile.

  “What’s so funny about that? I fail to see anything amusing about it at all.”

  “I always took it as a compliment, myself,” Jake answered.

  “I don’t see how.”

  “I figured that if they started going after me personally, it usually meant that I was on the right trail.” Jake tapped another spoke. “This one just says ‘stranger,’ and there are a series of question marks around it. Do you know any strangers that should be on this list?”

  I suddenly remembered the conversation I’d had outside my donut shop earlier. “Just one that I can think of offhand.”

  He looked at me oddly. “Go on. You’ve certainly managed to get my full attention.”

  “I didn’t mean to keep anything from you, Jake. There’s just been so much going on that I haven’t had a chance to tell you. Somebody offered to buy my donut shop today.”

  My husband shook his head in disbelief. “And this is how you choose to tell me?”

  “It wasn’t a serious offer,” I said. “What he really wanted was an excuse to ask me about Tom Thorndike.”

  “How can you be so sure?”

  “Trust me, if he were serious, I would have known it.”

  “You didn’t happen to catch his name, did you?”

  “Daryl Lane,” I said promptly.

  “Okay. We need to run a check on him and see what his story is,” Jake said as he reached for his phone. “Only I can’t really ask the police chief, since he still doesn’t think Tom was murdered. I don’t get why he’s so set on thinking it was an accident.”

  I put my hand on my husband’s to stop him from calling whoever he’d been about to contact. “There are a few things that I should probably mention before you talk to him.”

  Jake’s lips turned into two thin lines for a moment, and then they relaxed. “Suzanne, how is it that you’re making more progress than I’ve been able to so far?”

  “I found this out from Grace,” I admitted. “Apparently Tom was quite the daredevil, taking photos of himself in some pretty risky situations. The last shot on the phone was of him with his back facing the waterfall. The chief believes that the fall was from him being careless, not because he was murdered.”

  Jake nodded and got really quiet for a few moments. I knew better than to disturb his train of thought. After a full minute, he said, “That makes sense, then.”

  “Do you believe that it was an accident now?”

  “I still don’t know, and neither can Stephen,” Jake said. “We both need to keep digging. You said there were two things.”

  “Oh, it’s about Daryl Lane. The chief looked him up on some kind of criminal database, and he told us that the man was in prison at the same time Tom was. Not only that, but evidently he’s a very bad guy indeed.”

  Jake shook his head. “So naturally he’s in town right around the time Tom died. If he’s not tied into this mess somehow, I’ll be surprised. But we can’t do anything about him; he’s the police chief’s problem. All we can do is keep digging on our end.”

  “I wasn’t about to stop,” I said, remembering the promise I’d made George. “I wish we had a timeline for all of this.”

  “It would be nice, wouldn’t it?” he asked me as he continued to stare at the board. “This is all well and good, but where is Ray’s actual notebook? I’ve never seen a reporter without one, and Ray would have a set of notes on hand wherever he went to refer to if he needed to. I went through his belongings after I agreed to look into his absent memory, remember? There were no notes, no pads, nothing; the man didn’t even have a pen on him.”

  “Isn’t that unusual in and of itself?” I asked him.

  “Absolutely. He’s a newspaperman, and what’s more, he’s clearly not a fan of technology. He should have had that notebook, or something like it, on him. So the real question is, where is it now? Whoever has that notebook might have had something to do with all this, ‘maybe’ being the operative word.”

  I followed another spoke on the board and found Candy Murphy’s name included. Below it was a simple question: “Girlfriend? Maybe more, or maybe not at all.” “What do you suppose he meant by that?”

  “I’m guessing that he saw them together, but he wasn’t sure how she fit in.”

  “To be fair, neither am I,” I said. It was getting hot in the office with the door closed. “Are we finished with this for now? It’s really stuffy in here.”

  “Sure. Should we open the outside door and let some fresh air in?”

  “That’s a great idea,” I said as I opened the office door and moved out to the front.

  I was about to grab the handle when I saw it begin to turn of its own accord.

  Apparently someone was trying to get into the newspaper office.

  Chapter 19

  “Quiet,” Jake whispered to me as he moved beside the door.

  “What are you going to do?” I asked him, keeping my voice low as well.

  “I’m going to see who’s trying to get in.”

  I watched as he grabbed the doorknob and jerked it open.

  George Morris nearly fell on the floor of the newspaper office when he did.

  “George, what are you doing?” Jake asked him as he steadied the man, keeping him from falling.

  “I noticed that there was a light on in here, and I wanted to check it out,” the mayor replied. “I heard that Ray was going to be held in the hospital overnight for observation, so I knew nobody should be in here. You two didn’t break in, did you?” he asked us with a grin.

  “As a matter of fact, Ray told us where he hid a key,” I said. “Mr. Mayor, how do you two get along?”

  “I thought everyone in town knew. He thinks I’m the devil himself,” George said, his smile never fading. As he looked around the space, he said, “I can’t imagine the kinds of things he’s got written down about me around here.”

  “Trust me, you don’t want to know,” I said, trying to block his way. I knew the mayor was a tough old bird, but that was still no reason to put the burden of the newspaperman’s suspicions onto him.

  “You know what? I find that I really do,” he said. “You don’t mind if I look around, do you, Jake?”

  My husband turned to me. “He at least has the right to know what he’s up against, Suzanne.”

  I could see Jake’s point, but I still wasn’t sure it was a good idea. “Are you positive, George?”

  “Now I really want to see,” he said. “I suspect you two have already found several references to me by the way you’re acting. What does he say? Was I responsible for the global banking meltdown, or perhaps he believes I was on the grassy knoll in Dallas. Do you want to give me a guided tour of the man’s delusions, or do I have to root them out for myself?”

  “Come on,” I said. After George saw the things we’d found regarding Ray’s general suspicions, we led him into the man’s office and closed the door to let him study the whiteboard we’d found.

  George whistled softly as he studied the branch with his name on it. “Wow. Just wow.”

  “Consider it a compliment,” Jake said. “He’s certainly got a target painted on your back, doesn’t he? There’s a great deal of wild speculation there, and no evidence whatsoever to back any of it up. You seem to be his favorite hobgoblin, but if it�
��s any consolation, I’m sure that whoever was in the mayor’s office would get the same amount of random speculation shot in their direction. After all, it’s the highest-profile office in April Springs. You were a cop, so Ray wonders about graft and police brutality. If you were a lawyer, he would have accused you of fabricating evidence, and if you’d been a businessman, he would have accused you of having connections to organized crime.”

  George shrugged. “At least he never printed any of this nonsense. I take some consolation in the fact that I never touched a single suspect, nor did I take a dime from anyone, not even a cup of coffee on the house.”

  “I can attest to that,” I said, trying to lighten the mood. “You won’t even accept a free donut from me, and we all know how delicious they are.”

  George stared at the board for another few seconds, and then he turned away. “He might actually have Tom’s killer on that board.”

  “George, I’m not positive he was murdered,” Jake said softly.

  The mayor looked at him sternly. “What makes you say that?”

  Jake told him about the photos that had been found on Tom Thorndike’s cell phone, and George slumped a little. “He told me that he hated being locked up so much that when he got out, he’d explore the world and follow wherever his heart led him. Tom told me the riskiest thing anyone could ever do was to let a moment slip through their fingers, not doing something when they had the opportunity. I’ve thought a lot about what he told me, and I’ve come to believe that he was right. I know that he had darkness in him that he constantly struggled with, but deep down in his core, he was a good man.”

  “Does that mean that you believe it was an accident now?” Jake asked him.

  Instead of answering my husband’s question, the mayor turned to me. “Is that what you think, Suzanne?”

  “I honestly don’t know,” I told him. “I have to admit that it’s a possibility, but I still believe it’s also within the realm of reason that someone pushed him off the edge of that waterfall. If you want me to drop it, though, I will. I’ll do whatever you say.”

  He nodded, and after a few moments of silence, he said solemnly, “Give it one more day, would you? If, by this time tomorrow, you’re convinced that it was an accident, I’ll go along with you on it.” The mayor turned to Jake. “You and Stephen think that’s exactly what it was, don’t you?”

  “Barring the appearance of evidence leading us to believe someone had a hand in it, I’d feel safe saying that, yes. I’m sorry.”

  “Sorry? I’m not,” George said with a hint of lightness in his voice. “I hope with all of my heart that you’re right. Much better an accident than murder.” The mayor glanced back at me as he added, “One more day of digging, Suzanne, unless you’re out of leads.”

  “No, I’ve got a few more things I want to check out,” I said. “Grace has been a big help, and so has Jake.”

  “I would expect nothing less from either one of them,” he said with a sigh. “Now, if you’ll excuse me, being around all of this rampant speculation about my character and potential sins is giving me a headache. Good night.”

  “Good night, Mr. Mayor,” I said as Jake echoed the sentiment.

  Once the mayor was gone, Jake looked at me. “This has really weighed heavily on his heart, hasn’t it?”

  “He bonded with Tom after he arrested him,” I explained. “Did anything like that ever happen to you?”

  “No, but then again, I usually went after a substantially worse brand of criminal than he did. Suzanne, this place is depressing me. Let’s get out of here.”

  “Sounds good to me. We’ve got an hour before bedtime. Is there anything else you want to check out before we head home?”

  “Not me. How about you?”

  “The only thing I want to do right now is to go back to the cottage, change into my jammies, build a fire, and dive into a good book. I’ve got a new cozy mystery I need to finish before the book club meets again next week.”

  Jake grinned at me. “Where do I fit into those plans?”

  I winked as I told him, “You can sit and read one of your true crime books beside me on the couch, if you’re good.”

  “Then I really hope that I’m very, very good,” Jake replied.

  We did exactly that, and I left him reading as I crept off to bed an hour after we arrived home. I had to get up in seven hours and make donuts yet again for the world of April Springs.

  And if I was lucky, I might be able to solve a murder, too.

  I’d been at the donut shop all of six minutes when I heard someone pounding on the front door. I considered ignoring it, but then I realized that it might have something to do with my investigation into Tom’s death, so I grabbed my trusty baseball bat and flipped on the outside lights as I walked from the kitchen to the dining area.

  It was Barton, the chef from the hospital we’d met the night before. “Hi! I didn’t think I’d see you this soon,” I said as I unlocked the door and stepped aside to let him in.

  “Getting in a little batting practice, Suzanne?” he asked me with a grin. “I hope I’m not disturbing you.”

  “As a matter of fact, I’d like the company,” I said as I put the bat on the counter. “What can I say? A girl can’t be too sure these days.”

  “I don’t blame you a bit.” He looked outside for a moment. “Everything looks so different in the dark, doesn’t it?”

  “It’s one of the things I love best about my job,” I said. “Come on back, Chef.”

  “You can call me Barton,” he said with a grin. “I’m still getting used to the whole chef thing. Besides, if you insist on calling me that, then that’s what I’m going to call you. I’ve tasted your treats, remember?”

  “Barton it is,” I said. “Let’s go make some cake donuts.”

  “Lead the way,” he said.

  I grabbed a spare apron and handed it to him, as well as a hairnet. He put them both on with a smile and rubbed his hands together when he saw my ancient equipment. “Does this fryer even still work?”

  “Like a charm,” I said, feeling a little defensive about my less-than-pristine tools. “Sometimes the oldies are goodies.”

  “I couldn’t agree with you more,” he said as he spied my donut cutters tucked under one cabinet. “These are awesome. Did they come with the business?”

  “Some of them. I’ve been picking them up as I find them,” I admitted. The aluminum cutting wheels, outfitted with maplewood handles, were some of the favorite things I owned, and that included every bit of jewelry I had besides my second wedding ring. The one Max had given me was in the bottom of some drawer at home, but I wore Jake’s proudly every day of my life.

  “These are beautiful. You don’t roll out the cake donuts, do you? Do you drop them by hand, or do you have a dropper?”

  “I use this,” I said as I handed him the heavy-duty donut dropper. The cake batter was loaded into the reservoir on top and then forced by gravity through the narrow tip into the hot oil.

  “I wouldn’t want to arm wrestle you,” he said with a grin. “This thing is massive.”

  “You should see what happens when it slips out of my hands,” I replied, smiling. The young man’s mood was infectious, and I grinned as I showed him the divot in the wall where I’d inadvertently let go of it once. “When I drop donuts, I have to do it alone, unless you want to take the risk of being hit by this thing flying through the air at you.”

  “I’ll take my chances. I’ve survived worst situations,” he said happily.

  “Then on your head it will be.”

  “Are we still making Kool-Aid donuts this morning?” he asked eagerly.

  “We are,” I said. As I gathered the ingredients, we chatted about recipes and how we each kept notebooks filled with information not only about what we m
ade but what we dreamed about at night. I’d never really had that kind of bonding experience with anyone else, and though our lives and our training had been completely different, there was enough common ground for an instant friendship to develop between us. I hated the thought of Barton moving so soon after meeting him, and I decided to tell him so. “I can’t believe you’re leaving us so soon. I have a feeling that you and I have been friends who just hadn’t met yet, or do I sound crazy?”

  “If you do, you’re my kind of crazy,” he replied. “The truth of the matter is that I’ve been having second thoughts about leaving. April Springs is a quaint little place, and I’m not thrilled about relocating to the big city. I just don’t have a good enough reason not to go, I guess.”

  “I understand being young and wanting to get out and see the world,” I said. “My assistant, Emma, feels the same way.”

  “I’ve seen her around town. She’s really pretty, isn’t she?” he asked shyly.

  “She is indeed, but there’s a great deal more to her than that. Emma is smart, funny, and loyal to a fault. I count myself lucky to have her in my life.”

  Barton held his hands up in surrender in front of him. “Hey, I wasn’t saying that she was just a pretty face. All I said was that I thought she was cute.”

  “Sorry,” I said, letting my intensity fade. “I’m kind of overprotective of her.”

  “I can see that. It’s just a shame she isn’t here. I wouldn’t mind meeting her.”

  “That might be arranged,” I said, deciding at the last second not to tell him that she’d be in shortly. “Now, let’s mix this batter up and start frying.”

  “After we do these, I’d love to see your pumpkin donut recipe. That’s all some folks in town are talking about, how happy they are that they’re back on the menu now that cool weather is back.”