Caramel Canvas

by Jessica Beck

  She smiled as she said, “You get started on the yeast donuts, and I’ll jump on those dishes. Believe it or not, I’ve missed burying my arms up to my elbows in warm soapy water and worrying about nothing more than getting the pots and pans sparkling clean.”

  “It’s quite a responsibility running things, isn’t it? I can’t thank you enough for stepping in the way you did.”

  “I was happy to do it. In fact, if I hadn’t had the opportunity, I never could have afforded my new place, so I should be the one thanking you.”

  As I measured out the ingredients for my yeast donuts and added them to my massive stand mixer, I found myself at peace like I’d never achieved being away.

  There were only two things that could have made my life better: Jake would have been with me, and Annabeth Kline would still be alive.

  During our break, we took the time to catch up more outside, though it was freezing out. It was a tradition Emma and I kept up from the heat of summer to the frigid temperatures of winter and all points between. We didn’t necessarily linger since it was well below freezing outside, but those few minutes of fresh air revived me more than a hot shower and a cup of coffee ever could.

  With the donuts made and stowed carefully in our display cases, I was ready to open Donut Hearts’ doors for the day. I knew I wasn’t going to get the same kind of crowd that I’d gotten the day before, but I was still surprised to find only one customer waiting to get in, if in fact he was a customer at all.

  “Martin, what brings you by the donut shop so early?” I asked the art gallery owner as I let him into the warm shop.

  “I’ve heard about your donuts, and I wanted to try one for myself,” he said as he rubbed his hands together. “What do you recommend?”

  “That’s hard to say,” I told him as I took my place behind the counter. “It’s like asking the mother of a dozen kids which one is her favorite.”

  “Does anyone really have twelve children anymore?” he asked incredulously.

  “It’s been known to happen,” I said.

  “Just give me one of those,” he said as he pointed to a plain glazed yeast donut, the most innocuous of the donuts I served. Even the plain cake had more texture and flavor, not that the glazed was inferior in any way. There was just no sizzle, no pizzazz to it.

  “Coffee as well?” I asked.

  “No, just the donut,” he said.

  I plated it up for him and slid it in front of him. After collecting the pittance I charged for a single donut, I said, “If you need anything else, don’t hesitate to ask.”

  “Actually, there was one other thing,” he replied.

  “We have hot chocolate, too,” I suggested.

  “No, it has nothing to do with your business, however good your treats might be.”

  “You wouldn’t know that though, would you?” I asked him sweetly. “You haven’t even tasted the one you just bought.”

  “Oh, of course,” he said, and then the gallery owner took a small bite. The look of surprise on his face was sincere.

  “Do you like it?”

  “It’s the best donut I’ve ever had in my life,” he said, as if it were the greatest shock he’d ever had.

  “Thanks,” I said. “They’re made by hand right on the spot, fresh every morning, using only the finest ingredients.”

  “I can tell,” he said, and then he took another bite. In a few moments, he’d finished it. “Three more, please.”

  “Would you like them to go?” I asked.

  “No, I’ll eat them right here. And maybe throw in some of that hot chocolate, too.” He tossed a five-dollar bill down on the counter, and I gave him his change after I served him again. “These really are amazing,” he said, clearly surprised that the second donut was as good as the first one.

  “I’m glad you approve,” I said. I was starting to like this man more and more by the minute. Maybe I’d just caught him at a bad time before.

  “Now, about that painting Annabeth gave you,” he said.

  “Which one?”

  “You have more than one?” he asked eagerly. “That’s the best news I’ve had in days. I want them all.”

  “I’m sorry,” I said.

  “I don’t expect you to give them away, Suzanne, but I’d like to buy them from you.” He pulled out what appeared to be a business checkbook. “Just name your price.”

  “Sight unseen?” I asked him. “How can you agree to a price if you don’t know what you’re buying?”

  “I’ve seen enough of Annabeth’s work to be able to make you a generous offer,” he said.

  “Sorry, but they aren’t for sale,” I said flatly. Wow, he’d gone from my Nice to Naughty list in record time.

  “Come now, we are both professionals. Everything has a price.”

  “I suppose I might settle for one million dollars,” I said.

  “That’s a ridiculous price to set for a group of paintings from a relatively unknown artist,” he said dismissively. “While it’s true that Annabeth’s works have increased substantially in value since her passing, they aren’t worth anything near what you’re asking. After all, you don’t expect me to forego a reasonable profit myself, do you?”

  “I’m sorry. You misunderstood me.”

  “I was hoping that was the case,” he said, easing up a bit.

  “It’s a million apiece,” I said.

  “No one is going to give you that for her work,” he argued.

  “That’s exactly why I named that price. I’m not selling anything I got from Annabeth, and that’s final. There’s not enough money in the world.”

  Lancaster frowned for a few moments, and then he nodded. “I can see that. May I at least see them? I can join you whenever it’s convenient for you, as long as it’s today or tomorrow.”

  “Sorry, but I’m not sure that’s such a good idea,” I said.

  “Why not, if I may ask?”

  “My schedule is pretty full for the next few weeks,” I said. “I just don’t think I can get away.”

  “Do you at least have photos of them on your cell phone?” he asked, pushing me a little harder than I thought he should have.

  I was about to admit that I did have some of the images, but something made me hold back. Maybe it was that he was just a little too eager. “I can’t help you.”

  “Very well,” he said, pushing his unfinished plate of donuts away. “If you change your mind, you know where to find me.”

  “I do, but I won’t,” I said. “Would you like what’s left to go?”

  “No, I’ve had my fill,” he said as he stood.

  Before he could go, I knew I had another question to ask him, and I might not get a chance if he took offense at my refusal of his request. “I heard about the car incident at your gallery involving Annabeth.”

  “That was nothing,” he said, and then he stared at me for a moment before asking, “What exactly have you heard?”

  “Just that Annabeth thought it was more than nothing,” I said as cryptically as I could manage.

  “I’m certain that it was nothing more than a teenager texting while he was behind the wheel of some little red car, and he clearly didn’t see her crossing the road. Annabeth was talking to me when it happened, so she didn’t spot him until it was nearly too late. I’m the one who warned her and pulled her out of its path, for goodness sake.”

  “Are you sure it was a teenager behind the wheel?” I asked him.

  “Who knows with these darkly tinted windows in some of the cars these days? I just assume that was what happened.”

  “Do any of your clients happen to own red cars?” I asked.

  “How should I know?” he asked dismissively. “By any chance, do you know anyone else who might own some of Annabeth’s works?”

  “Sorry, not a soul,” I lied. I
knew Momma had purchased several pieces over the years, but she was even more sentimental than I was, though she was loath to admit it. He had as much chance of persuading Momma to sell as he did to talk Max into shaving his head, and for anyone who knew my ex-husband, they would realize how impossible that task would be.

  “Very well,” he said. “If you hear of anyone or if you change your own mind, please be sure to let me know.”

  “I will,” I said. Maybe I’d been a little too rash shutting him down so quickly. After all, if I dangled a possible piece of artwork for sale in front of him, he’d have no choice but to talk to me. I decided to put that on the back burner for now. In the meantime, it had been a curious conversation, and I mulled it over quite a bit over the few hours as I waited on my customers. The number of folks coming in to buy donuts was still pretty high, but I couldn’t imagine the trend would continue for much longer. After all, I was back in April Springs with no intention of going anywhere, so the newness of my return was bound to wear off soon enough.

  In the meantime, I still managed to find the time to consider the possibilities of the case. We’d eliminated the leads about the large withdrawal Annabeth had made, the mysterious phone number, and there was something about Martin Lancaster’s story that had a ring of truth in it. The boxes nearly hitting Annabeth was still a viable attempt to at least scare her off if not kill her, the car might or might not have been accidental, and there was still that late-night meeting behind the library to consider. Those, with the fact that someone had come into her studio, an exclusive club if ever there was one, were all strong factors in our case. The motives she’d listed could be at issue, but they each had their own strong ties with our remaining list of suspects. Grace and I hadn’t been able to nibble away at that yet, and I knew that needed to be our priority after I closed the donut shop for the day. I knew that coming out and asking Martin Lancaster, Galen, Christopho, Bonnie Small, and Kerry Minter directly for alibis would make them all suspicious, but at this point, it couldn’t be helped.

  We needed to narrow down our list to make it more workable.

  After all, at least one of them had to have had an alibi.

  I hoped so, at any rate.

  I finally realized that it was time to stop being coy and be more direct with our questions. I knew Grace wasn’t going to have a problem with that line of attack, and I was going to be glad to sit back and watch her go after the people on our list.

  At least I wouldn’t have to confront them directly by myself.

  Or so I thought at the time.

  Chapter 16

  “Jake? What’s up?” It was a little before ten a.m., and I couldn’t imagine why my husband was calling me. For one thing, he was presumably busy with his new client, and for another, he knew that I was working. “Is something wrong?”

  “That depends on how you look at it,” he said a little oddly.

  “How do you look at it?”

  “Let me ask you a question,” he said after pausing for a few moments. “How would you feel about me coming home? I know I promised I wouldn’t, but the circumstances here have changed.”

  “I’d love it. You don’t even have to ask. But I thought you were busy.”

  “I thought so, too,” he admitted. “But apparently my schedule has just opened up.”

  “What happened? Did you get fired?” I asked him. I couldn’t imagine the circumstances under which that could happen, but then again, I couldn’t foresee any conditions where he’d leave a job once he’d agreed to take it on. “No, that can’t be it.”

  “The truth is that Tommy and I had a difference of opinion,” Jake said. “He wanted to use our client as bait to catch the woman in the act of trying to kill him. I couldn’t agree to that in a million years. Suzanne, it wouldn’t have just put our lives at risk unnecessarily, but it would jeopardize the man who was trusting us to protect him. I started to go to our employer to tell him just that when Tommy overruled me, and he told me that it was his way or the highway.”

  “So you chose the highway,” I said.

  “I’m on it right now, as a matter of fact,” Jake answered. “I should be there sometime this evening, if that suits you.”

  “You bet it does, but Jake, aren’t you still worried about the man you were hired to protect?”

  “Suzanne, he wouldn’t listen to me, either! I called him the moment Tommy fired me, but he said he had to trust the man he’d hired to do the job. I did everything I could, but if nobody will listen to me, my hands are tied. I hate leaving things like that, and you know it, but what else could I do? Start tailing him until I got arrested for stalking him instead of this lunatic he used to date? There was no way I could help, so I’m washing my hands of the whole mess. You know, I’m not sure I’m cut out for this kind of work after all.”

  “You’ve had some good experiences, too,” I reminded him.

  “I understand that, but it takes just one bad one to taint the rest of them. Don’t worry, I’ll come up with something to do with my time. How goes your investigation?”

  “We’re spinning our wheels at the moment, but I have high hopes that we’ll make some progress soon,” I said. That’s all that it was, hope, but it didn’t cost a thing to wish.

  “I’m sure you will, and if you need me, I’ll be more than happy to help as soon as I get back.”

  “I thought you just said that you were finished with that kind of work,” I reminded him, trying my best to make him smile over the line.

  I must have succeeded, because I swore I could hear his smile in his voice when he responded. “When I do those jobs, I get paid,” he said. “This is different.”

  “Hey, I pay you. It’s just not something you could declare on your taxes,” I said, happy that, no matter what the reason, my husband was on his way home to me. It may have been selfish of me, but I didn’t care. I knew if Jake said that he’d done all he could to make things work out, it was the unvarnished truth.

  “That’s too true,” he said. “Hey, do you know why Phillip would be calling me?”

  “I don’t have a clue,” I admitted.

  “Well, I’d better take it. It might be important, and besides, I’ll let you get back to work. I just wanted to touch base with you and tell you what was going on.”

  “I appreciate that,” I said.

  Once we hung up, I found myself feeling better, and not just about the case. Having Jake around was important to my peace of mind, and I hoped he felt the same way about me.

  Ten minutes later, the mayor walked in. “Why, if it isn’t George Morris himself. I feel special. That’s two visits from you in two days.”

  “You should be honored,” he said with a grin. “I was sitting in my office wondering how I ever let myself be talked into being the mayor of our fair city, and that made me think of you.”

  “Hey, don’t blame me. It was all Momma’s doing, remember?” I recalled how she’d orchestrated a write-in campaign for George when she’d no longer been interested in the job, and he’d taken over the reins of our fair town, albeit reluctantly. It had turned out to be a stroke of genius, though. George was a better mayor than anyone, with the possible exception of my mother, could have ever imagined.

  “I know full well who was responsible,” he said. “I don’t exactly regret taking the job, but I do miss our investigations. It was fun working with you once upon a time.”

  “Including getting injured on the job?” I asked him, recalling the time when he’d been assaulted in the line of duty all because he’d been working with me.

  “Hey, if there weren’t any risks, it just wouldn’t be any fun,” he said, patting his once-bad leg. “Anyway, I’ve bounced back from that all of the way, so if you need me, you know where to find me.”

  “Thanks, George. That means a lot to me.”

  “Well, that’s all I wanted to say,” he tol
d me. “I’d better get back to the office. I’ve been ducking Lem Enright all morning, but I have to talk to him sooner or later, so I might as well get it over with.”

  “Trouble at city hall?” I asked him.

  “Nothing I can’t handle,” he said with a grin.

  “Hang on a second,” I said as I grabbed an old-fashioned cake donut, one of his favorites, and chucked it in a bag. “For the road.”

  “I shouldn’t,” he said as he peeled a dollar off the wad in his pocket.

  “Sorry, but I can’t take back free samples,” I said, refusing his bill. “Thanks for stopping by, though, and be sure to come again.”

  He looked as though he wanted to fight me on it, but ultimately, George changed his mind. “It was my pleasure. Remember what I said, Suzanne. I’m never more than a phone call away.”

  “I’m counting on it,” I said, smiling as the mayor left. George and I had been friends for years, and it was always good to see him. I’d missed being around the people I cared about when I’d been gone, and I swore to myself that I’d never willingly run away again. This was where I belonged, and I wasn’t about to let a little thing like a nearly successful attempt on my life drive me off anymore.

  I’d sent Emma on her way at closing time, but I wasn’t quite ready to leave the shop myself. The truth was that I needed a little quiet time at Donut Hearts without her, though I would have never come out and said it to anyone else. For some reason, the transition back to my old life was harder with anyone else around. I suppose some of it could have been because when I envisioned this day during my rehab, I was always working alone, at least initially.

  There was a tap on the front door as I finished up the deposit slip, and as I looked up, I expected to find Grace standing there waiting for me to let her in. Well, she was there all right, but she wasn’t alone, and that did surprise me.

  Momma and Phillip were there with her, too.

  “Come on in, guys,” I said as I let them in and locked the door behind them. “I didn’t realize we were having a party, but I have a dozen donuts I can contribute.”