Assault and Batter (11 page)

That gave me an artificial time limit, and it was quickly running out.

“Hey, ladies,” Trish said as Grace and I walked into the Boxcar Grill. It was my second favorite place to eat in all of North Carolina, being second only to Napoli’s in Union Square. “What’s going on with you two today?”

“We’ve been keeping busy,” I said. “What’s happening in your world?”

“Just another day in paradise,” she said with a grin. “Grab any table you’d like, and I’ll be right over. Two sweet teas to start?” she asked.

“Why ruin a long tradition,” I said with a grin. “Does that sound good to you, Grace?”

“You know me. I’m easy to please.”

Trish and I both started laughing at that clearly false statement, and Grace joined us.

We had just settled into a booth when I noticed someone approaching, obviously intent on speaking with us. I had a hunch that I wasn’t going to like it, but I wasn’t about to turn tail and run.

“Suzanne, we need to talk,” Gabby Williams said as she reached our table.

“Sure thing. Why don’t you sit down and join us?” I asked.

Gabby looked around the dining room of the Boxcar. “I don’t think so. I don’t want the whole town hearing what I’ve got to say.”

“Then let’s all go outside,” Grace said as she started to stand.

“Not you,” Gabby said as she looked at my best friend. “Just you,” she added as she turned to me.

“Gabby,” I said, trying to keep my voice reasonable, “you know that I’m going to tell Grace anything that you tell me as soon as you’re gone, don’t you?”

“What you do after I talk to you is entirely up to you,” Gabby said, and then she started to walk out of the diner before pausing and asking me, “Aren’t you coming?”

“Go on,” Grace said. “I don’t mind.”

“Order for me, would you?” I asked.

“That’s dangerous, don’t you think?” she asked me with a grin.

“Just know that whatever I get, I might switch with you, so use your best judgment.”

“Got it,” she said.

“Let’s go, Suzanne,” Gabby said loudly enough to make every diner turn toward her. “You all need to go back to your food,” she told them, and then she stormed out.

I followed along, curious about what she was about to tell me.

Trish asked me softly as I walked past her, “Is everything okay?”

“Not by a long shot, but I’m fine, if that’s what you’re asking me.”

“That’s what I wanted to know,” she said. “Good luck,” Trish added as she gestured toward Gabby.

“Thanks,” I said as I walked outside.

Gabby was waiting impatiently for me at a table near the front door down the steps.

“What’s so urgent, Gabby?” I asked her.

“I was cleaning up at the house last night and I found something that everyone missed, including you and the cops.”

“Was it something in Jude’s room?”

“No, this was downstairs stuck in a magazine near his favorite chair.”

I hadn’t searched the entire house, so I don’t know how I could have been expected to find whatever she’d uncovered, but I decided to just let it ride. There was no point getting into an argument with her when she was about to help my investigation. “What did you find?”

“This,” she said as she handed me a note written on the blank edge of a newspaper. It was enclosed in a plastic baggie.

In a woman’s handwriting, the note said,

Meet me at TCAAM shop after eight. We need to talk.

“It’s not signed,” I said.

“It doesn’t need to be. What else can TCAAM mean but Two Cows And A Moose? This note had to be written by Emily Hargraves.”

I couldn’t believe that my dear friend was involved in Gabby’s nephew’s murder. “They dated for a while, Gabby. Everyone knows that. This could be from months ago.”

“Turn the paper over,” she demanded.

On the other side, I saw a date clearly printed on the paper.

It was the day Jude had been murdered.

“Have you shown this to anyone else?” I asked her.

“Who do you mean, the police?”

“Of course that’s who I mean,” I said.

“No, I just found it, so I came straight over here.”

“How did you know that I would be here?” I asked.

“Come on, Suzanne. You’re the only one in town who has a Jeep that color. Besides, where else would you be?”

I nodded as I stared at the note. “What do you expect me to do about this?”

Gabby frowned, took a deep breath, and then she said, “Suzanne, I know that you and Emily are close, but I need you to talk to her about what happened the night Jude was murdered. If she did it, I expect you to turn her in to the police, just like you’ve done with every other suspect you’ve found in the past.”

I thought about it, and then I said, “You need to show this to Chief Martin,” as I handed the note back to her. “You found it. It’s your responsibility.”

“I turned it over to you, though,” Gabby said as she backed away from it as though it were radioactive. “If you think that’s the right thing to do, then you need to handle it yourself.”

“Why did you even give this to me?” I asked, feeling real anguish over the questions I was going to have to ask Emily if I decided to follow through on it.

“You’re trying to find Jude’s killer,” Gabby said. “This might help.”

“And you don’t think that Chief Martin is trying to do the exact same thing?” I asked.

“Maybe, but we both know he’s prone to pull the trigger as soon as he gets a solid suspect. I figured you could talk to Emily, bring this up, and then turn the note over to the police yourself.”

“I don’t know what I should do,” I said, torn between loyalty to my friend and my duty to give the police any relevant information that I uncovered.

“Do whatever you want. Just don’t destroy it.”

“There’s a copy, isn’t there?” I asked.

Gabby just shrugged, but her grin told it all. She wasn’t reckless enough to leave it in my hands entirely.

“The clock’s ticking, Suzanne,” she said, and then she headed back to ReNEWed, her shop beside Donut Hearts.

I still wasn’t sure what I was going to do when I walked back into the Boxcar.

“Okay, I’m officially worried about you,” Trish said the moment she saw my face. “What did that woman say to you?”

“Nothing,” I said absently. I needed to move, and fast. “Has Grace ordered for us yet?”

“I just put it in, and I was getting ready to grab your teas. Why?”

“Can you cancel our order?” I asked.

“Not a problem. You’re in trouble, aren’t you, Suzanne?”

“I’m not, but one of my friends might be.”

I motioned to Grace, who got up and came toward me.

Trish said, “One of these days I’m hoping that you’ll explain to me what this was all about.”

“I promise,” I said. “Just not now.”

Grace joined me up front. “What’s going on?”

“We’re leaving,” I said.

“But I…”

“It’s taken care of,” I said.

I started for the door, and Grace turned back to wave to Trish. “It was fun. We simply must do it again sometime.”

Trish just laughed, and Grace and I were out in the parking lot soon enough. I skipped picking up my Jeep, though. Where we were going was close enough to walk. I probably needed to get to the newsstand as quickly as I could, but I needed time to explain everything to Grace, too.

“What’s the rush? Funny, but I don’t smell smoke anywhere,” she said as she tried to keep up with my agitated pace. “Is there a fire somewhere I don’t know about?”

“Read this,” I said as I handed her Emily’s note to Jude.

Grace whistled as she read the front, so I added, “Now turn it over.”

“Why did Gabby give this to you and not the police?” Grace asked me as she handed the baggied note back to me.

“Should I stop and call Chief Martin?” I asked as I stopped walking abruptly.

It took Grace a second to stop her forward progress as well. “No. You need to find out what this means yourself. Suzanne, Emily will tell you what’s going on a long time before she’ll tell the police. You need to handle this yourself. As a matter of fact, I don’t even think that I should go in with you. This has to be between the two of you.”

“We both know that Chief Martin is going to be justifiably upset when I turn it over to him,” I said.

“Maybe so, but if you can tell him what Emily says to you, it might just make up for it.”

We were in front of the newsstand too soon for my taste. “So, you honestly believe that I should try to find out what happened first myself, right?” I asked.

“Go on. If any customers are inside, run ’em out. I’ll stand guard out here so no one else can get in.”

I didn’t even question Grace about how she might do that. The woman had an imagination that could run circles around mine when she put her mind to it.

“Here goes nothing,” I said as I took a deep breath and walked through the door.

At least no one else was inside but Emily.

“Suzanne, what a pleasant surprise,” she said, and then she saw the expression on my face. “Or is it? Something’s up, isn’t it? Are you going to have to back out of making my wedding donuts?”

Wow, if that was the most serious problem she thought she had, Emily was in for a big surprise. “No, it’s not that. Emily, we need to talk.”

“Okay,” she said. “I was about to lock up early so I could work on some wedding plans. Should I lock the door?”

“You can, but I’ve got Grace standing guard outside.”

“This is serious,” she said as she sat back on her stool by the register. The three stuffed animals—Cow, Spots, and Moose—were watching over us, and I could swear that the three of them were looking down on me with disapproval.

“Explain this to me,” I said as I handed her the baggied note.

She didn’t even have to read it, once she saw her own handwriting. I saw her frown deeply before she managed to suppress it. “Where did you get this?” she asked carefully.

“Do you recognize it?” I asked.

“Of course I do. It’s my handwriting, after all. I don’t have a clue who I wrote it to, though. It had to have been ages ago.”

That sounded like a big fat lie to me. “Emily, it was discovered among Jude Williams’s things today.”

She bit her lower lip, and then Emily tried to laugh it off. “This? It’s nothing. I must have written it a long time ago. Suzanne, you know that Jude and I used to go out. Why should it surprise anyone that I wrote him a note at one point asking him to meet me at my shop?”

“Turn it over and look at the date,” I said as I tapped the note.

As she did, Emily’s face went ashen. “It doesn’t mean anything,” she said as she threw it in the trash.

After I retrieved it, I said, “That’s not the only copy, so getting rid of it wouldn’t have done you any good.” I softened my voice as I asked her, “Emily, what’s going on here?”

She was trapped, and she knew it. “Suzanne, it’s not what it looks like.” She was begging me to believe her, but I had to harden my heart.

“Then tell me what it means,” I said plainly.

Emily looked at me as though I’d just slapped her. “You think I killed him, don’t you?”

“I don’t know what to think,” I said. “That’s why I came here to see you instead of turning this incriminating evidence directly over to the police.”

“Should I thank you for that?” Emily asked, snapping at me. “At least I expect them to doubt me.”

“I’m just looking for answers,” I said, wondering just how sound my reasoning had been for coming in there before turning the note over to the police chief. “Talk to me, Emily.”

“I didn’t do it,” she said, her voice faltering. “Suzanne, you’ve got to believe me. Destroy that note, don’t tell anyone about it, and I’ll be forever in your debt. I’m begging you. Please.”

“I can’t,” I said, the words nearly choking in my throat. “I’m not the only one who knows about this. It would make things a whole lot easier if you just came clean with me.”

“I won’t say another word to you,” she said, her voice angry now. “Go ahead; do your worst. Call the police. I don’t care. Only know one thing,” she said as she looked hard into my eyes. “You are dead to me as of right now. Don’t do anything for my wedding; don’t even dare show your face. I might not be able to stop you from dirtying my name, but I don’t have to stand here in my shop and listen to you browbeat me. Get out, Suzanne.”

“Emily, it’s not like that—”

“I said get out!”

I shook my head sadly and walked out the door. As I left, I heard the lock click in place behind me.

“Suzanne, I’m so sorry,” Grace said as I rejoined her.

“Did you hear all of that?” I asked, still stunned by Emily’s explosion.

“No offense, but it was kind of hard to miss. She didn’t mean any of it,” Grace said as she tried to comfort me.

“Funny, I got the impression that she meant every word of it,” I said sadly.

“So, what are you going to do?”

“I’m doing what I promised her I’d do. I’m calling Chief Martin.”

Grace took my hands in hers before I could reach for my cellphone. “Are you sure that’s what you want to do?”

“Don’t you start in on me, too,” I said. “I made a promise, and I’m going to see it through, no matter what the consequences are.”

“Okay. I support you, one hundred percent,” she said.

I dialed the chief’s number, and he answered on the first ring. “Martin here,” he said.

“Chief, I just found some important evidence you need to see. Meet me in front of my donut shop as soon as you can.”

His voice had an edge to it as he asked, “Suzanne, have you been holding out on me?”

“Chief, I’m on the edge of a breakdown, and if you start yelling at me, too, I’m going to lose it. Please, no scolding; not today. I can’t take it.”

His voice was softer as he said, “I’ll be there in two minutes.”

As Grace and I started to walk down the street to Donut Hearts, neither one of us spoke a word. The chief caught up with us before we could get to my shop, and I quickly explained what Gabby had found, and my conversation with Emily about it, after I handed the note over to him.

“Anything else I should know?” he asked after I was finished.

“No, that’s it.”

“Thanks,” he said, and then the police chief did a U-turn and headed back toward Two Cows and a Moose.