Assault and Batter (16 page)

“Tell you what. Today’s meal is on me,” she said.

Rick knew her too well not to recognize a trap when he saw one. “What’s the catch?”

“Next time you come in, you pay whatever I decide is right,” she replied.

Rick seemed to think about it for a second, and then he answered, “On second thought, I’m not in any hurry at all. You be sure to take all of the time that you need.”

Trish’s grin was infectious. “Wow, what a good decision that was.”

I said, “You’re terrible; you know that, don’t you?”

“He loves it, and so did everyone else in earshot. If I ran every time somebody wanted me to, I wouldn’t have a second’s peace.”

“Maybe so,” I said, “but I couldn’t get away with that at the donut shop.”

“You never know until you try,” Trish said.

“I don’t have your guts,” I replied.

“That’s not it. You’re plenty brave enough. I think it’s that you don’t want to lose any customers.”

“And you’re not afraid of that?” Grace asked.

She laughed. “Where is Rick Westwood going to have lunch if he doesn’t come here? He’s sure not going to grill up his own hamburger at home.”

“You sound pretty sure of yourself,” Grace said.

“I’m sure enough.” She glanced back at Rick, who was standing patiently there and not making any eye contact with Trish at all. It appeared that he was just passing the time of day as he stood patiently at the register. The fact that he had a ten in his hand and one of Trish’s bills in the other didn’t even seem to be a factor.

“I suppose I’ve made him wait long enough,” Trish said. In a lower voice, she added, “He did a good job waiting. Maybe I’ll give him a discount.”

“Won’t that ruin your reputation for being tough?” I asked her.

“Do you honestly think he’d have the nerve to tell anybody?” she asked with a laugh. “Your food will be out soon.”

We both watched her walk up front to the register and take care of Rick. After he was gone, Grace turned to me and asked, “Any ideas about which suspect we should talk to first?”

“It’s a toss-up in my book. I’m leaning toward Frank, but George thinks that we should focus on Reggie Nance instead.”

Grace looked surprised. “Since when did George start consulting with us again?”

“It wasn’t like that,” I explained. “He came by to check up on me, and while he was here, we discussed the case.”

“Why would he check up on you?”

“I’ll give you three guesses,” I told her, and then I took a sip of sweet tea. It was cold, rich, and sugary enough to put me in a diabetic coma; in other words, it was perfect.

“Jake called him?” Grace asked.

“You got it in one,” I said.

She studied me for a few seconds. “You don’t look all that upset by it.”

“He’s just looking out for me. What can I say? I must be lovable.”

Grace pretended to look me up and down. “I don’t know. I don’t see it myself.”

I gave her a playful shove. “That’s because you’re not looking hard enough. So, which man should we tackle first?”

“Suzanne, I hate to go against your instincts, but if George thinks that we should look hard at Reggie, I for one would like to know why. We can talk to Frank after we grill Reggie.”

“I have no problem with that at all,” I said as Trish suddenly appeared carrying two heavily laden plates our way. “Looks like lunch is on the way.”

“Excellent,” Grace said with a smile. “I’m so hungry I could eat both orders.”

“But you’d never do that to me, would you?” I asked her.

“No.”

“And why exactly is that?”

She grinned before answering. “Because I know that if I tried, I’d probably lose a hand.”

“I’m not that harsh. It might just be a finger.”

She pretended to think it over before she answered. “I still don’t think I want to take the chance.”

“Wise, my friend; very wise.”

“Dig in and enjoy,” Trish said as she put the plates down.

Grace and I did exactly as we were told, enjoying the sheer decadence of Trish’s food. I’d have to cut back on something soon or I’d never fit into my jeans again, but it would have to be something besides the Boxcar’s food.

It was just too good.

We were up front paying when my cellphone rang.

“It’s Jake,” I told Grace as I handed my bill and my money to her, and then I ducked outside.

“Hey,” I said.

“Hey yourself. Well, I made it.”

“Is it beautiful?” I asked.

“Suzanne, I just left the terminal and I’m standing out here waiting for a squad car to take me into Anchorage, but yeah, it’s all pretty breathtaking. Flying in was really something.”

“What’s the temperature like?”

I could hear the hint of a shiver in his voice. “Colder than I like,” he said. “This winter is going to be brutal. I can tell already.”

“You’ll have to get some long underwear,” I said.

“I’m going to need more than that. Oops, it appears that my ride is here. I’ll check in later. Love you,” Jake said quickly, and then he hung up.

I just laughed as I pocketed my phone.

Grace came out waving my change in the air as she asked, “What’s so funny?”

“Jake said it’s already freezing up there.”

“Literally?” Grace asked incredulously.

“No, of course not. But he did say that it was chilly. I bet it’s quite a shock to his North Carolina sensitivities.”

“That poor boy,” Grace said as she handed me my change.

“Boy? He’s a grown man, and a state police instigator at that,” I said.

“Maybe so, but he’s still a Southern boy at heart.”

“I can’t disagree with that,” I said. “Are you ready to tackle Reggie Nance?”

“I’m more than ready,” she said. “Any idea how we can get him to break down and really talk to us about what happened to Jude?”

“There’s only one approach that I can think of, and it’s pretty risky,” I said.

“Go on. Tell me. At least let me judge for myself.”

“The only thing that might work, and I want to stress the word might, is we have to invoke Debbie’s memory. If we can get him talking about her as sympathetically as we can, he might just spill something that he doesn’t want us to know.”

Grace frowned.

“What’s wrong?”

“Didn’t you give me a lecture on ethics not that long ago? How is this any better than what I did?”

“It might not be, but we’re running out of time, and options,” I said. “Do you forgive me if I’m being a little inconsistent about our investigation?”

“Forgiven and forgotten,” she said.

“That’s why I’m your number one fan,” I said.

“As far as you know, anyway,” Grace said with a laugh. “Come on, Sherlock. Let’s get sleuthing.”

“Reggie, we know you’re in there,” I said as knocked on his door again. I’d been knocking for three minutes, but so far, he hadn’t been interested in answering.

“Suzanne, it appears that he doesn’t want to talk to us,” Grace said. “Can you imagine that?”

“I guess some folks don’t find us as charming as we’d like them to,” I answered.

“I don’t understand it myself.”

“Enough already. I’m here,” Reggie said as he finally opened his front door. “What are you two doing here? I’m done talking about Jude Williams.”

“That’s not why we’re here,” I said.

“Why should I believe you?” Reggie asked, still standing in the threshold.

“Okay,” I said, “what I should have said was that’s not the only reason that we’re here. Mainly, I’d like to hear more about what happened between him and your daughter.”

“You know it, and so does everyone else in town,” he said.

“I’ve heard all of the rumors about how it ended, but I’m not talking about that. What I want to know is how he managed to get so close to her in the first place? That’s what I don’t understand. From everything I knew about Debbie, she was never one to take up with the bad boys, and Jude was that, if nothing else.”

“She thought she could change him, can you imagine that?” Reggie asked as he finally stepped outside and joined us.

I shook my head. “I can tell you that she wasn’t the first girl to hope that about a boy she thought was worth saving, and she won’t be the last, either.”

“Why do women do it, then?” he asked. I was sure he’d asked himself that same question a thousand times since his daughter died. “I just can’t make any sense out of it.”

“We like to believe that our love is enough to touch their hearts and reform them,” Grace said softly.

Reggie looked at her with a new perspective. “It’s happened to you, too, hasn’t it? I can see it in your eyes.”

“More than once,” Grace said softly, and I felt my heart go out to her. My best friend had experienced one long bad run when it came to the men in her life, and no one knew her pain more than I did.

“Once, maybe I can understand, but what made you do it again, even suspecting how it was all going to end?” Reggie asked as emotion swept over him.

“Where there’s life, there is hope, I guess. I truly am sorry about your daughter.”

“I appreciate that,” he said. “All I ever wanted for her was justice.”

“And did you finally get it?” I asked gently.

“I didn’t kill him,” he said, the edge creeping back into his voice.

“At this moment, I don’t care if you did or you didn’t,” I said. “All I’m asking is now that he’s gone, does it ease your pain even in the slightest?”

He looked as though he wanted to cry. “I wish that I could say that it did, but I can’t. No, I’m just as empty and dead inside as if the man was still walking around today. I guess the only comfort I’ll ever find won’t be in this lifetime.”

What a sad way to feel. “We need to find out who killed him, Reggie,” I said.

“Why?”

It was a fair question. “I’d like to say because his aunt Gabby asked us to, but we were already going to dig into it before she asked us for our help. I suppose it’s because what happened to Jude has hung a low cloud over my good friend’s wedding, and she deserves better.”

“Even though she’s marrying your ex-husband?” Reggie asked.

“Even then,” I said.

“Well, I’m sorry I can’t help you, but I’ve got nothing to left to say.”

He started to walk back into his house, and I could see that Grace was about to say something else, but I shook my head, and she ended up keeping it to herself.

“Why did you stop me?” she asked after Reggie was gone.

“The man’s been through enough,” I said.

“So then we’re just going to give him a free pass?” Grace asked.

“No, but I don’t have the heart to beat him up anymore today. Is that okay with you?”

“It’s fine,” she said as she touched my shoulder lightly. “Are you okay?”

“I’m good,” I said, though in truth I was feeling a few different kinds of pain myself at the moment. “Do you feel like tackling Frank Grambling now?”

“We might as well,” she said. As we got into my Jeep, Grace asked, “Suzanne, this feels hopeless. How are we ever going to solve this case before the wedding?”

“I admit that it’s not looking all that promising right now, but you know how these investigations go sometimes. We have to have a lot of different conversations before we hear something that leads us to the truth.”

“And we haven’t heard anything yet,” she said.

“Not that we know of. Maybe Frank will lead us down another path.”

“Or maybe he’ll be just another dead end,” Grace said softly.

“Maybe so, but if he is, we’ll just keep digging. It’s what we do, remember?”

“Right now, that’s pretty hard to forget,” she said.

We had just pulled up in front of Frank and Lisa Grambling’s house when Grace’s cellphone rang. She checked the caller ID and she said, “I’ve got to take this. It might be a while, Suzanne. Do you want to drive around the block a few times while I talk to my boss?”

“No, you go ahead and take care of business. I’ll handle Frank by myself.”

“Are you sure you don’t need me by your side?” she asked.

“I’ll be fine. Besides, you’ll be within shouting range if I need you.”

“Okay,” she said, and then she turned to her cellphone. “Hello. No, that’s fine. I can talk.”

I left her deep in conversation with her boss as I walked up to the house. That was one thing I didn’t have to worry about running the donut shop. I was the boss at Donut Hearts, and no one else could ever tell me what to do. That was the upside, and the downside, too. As the owner and boss, everything ended up on my doorstep, success and failure alike. There was no one else, and in the end, that was the way I preferred it.

I was happy to see that Frank answered the door himself. “Do you have a second?” I asked him.

“What about? My wife’s at the grocery store, and I don’t want any donuts.”

“That works out just fine, because I don’t have any,” I said.

“Then why are you here?”

“Jude Williams,” I said. “I understand that he sold you some fake gold.”

“What business is that of yours?” he asked as he stepped outside, getting closer to me than I really would have liked.

“We’re trying to find his killer,” I said, taking half a step back.

“And you think that’s me?” he asked as he stepped even closer. I could smell the onions on his warm breath, and more than a hint of bourbon. “I’m going to tell you this one more time, and then I’m going to do something. If you don’t leave me and my wife alone, you’re going to be sorrier than you ever could imagine.”

“Is that a threat?” I asked as I decided to stand my ground. I wasn’t about to let him bully me if I could help it.

“It sure is,” he said, and he took a thick forefinger and pushed me. Ordinarily it wouldn’t have been enough to bother me, but he’d caught me off guard, and I stumbled backwards a little.

“Don’t you dare touch me,” I said, feeling the heat rise in my cheeks.

“Then stay away from me and my family,” he said, “or I’ll do a lot worse than shove you. You don’t want to see that, Suzanne.”

He was back inside before I could manage a reply. Having his hand on me, even just his finger, had been unsettling to me, and I felt violated. Bullies pushed. I knew that, but I didn’t have to like it. If Frank Grambling had been the one who’d killed Jude Williams, I was going to make sure that he paid for it.