Custard Crime: Donut Mystery #14 (The Donut Mysteries)

The First Time Ever Published!

The Fourteenth Donut Mystery

From
New York Times
Bestselling Author

Jessica
Beck

CUSTARD
CRIME

Other Books by Jessica Beck

The Donut Mysteries

Glazed Murder

Fatally Frosted

Sinister Sprinkles

Evil Éclairs

Tragic Toppings

Killer Crullers

Drop Dead Chocolate

Powdered Peril

Illegally Iced

Deadly Donuts

Assault and Batter

Sweet Suspects

Deep Fried Homicide

Custard Crime

The Classic Diner Mysteries

A Chili Death

A Deadly Beef

A Killer Cake

A Baked Ham

A Bad Egg

A Real Pickle

A Burned Out Baker

The Ghost Cat Cozy Mysteries

Ghost Cat: Midnight Paws

Ghost Cat 2: Bid for Midnight

Jessica Beck is the
New York Times
Bestselling Author of the Donut Mysteries, the Classic Diner Mysteries, and the
Ghost Cat Cozy Mysteries.

To you, my dear and treasured reader,

 
thanks for everything!

Custard Crime by Jessica Beck; Copyright
© 2014

All rights reserved.

No part of this book may be reproduced,
scanned, or distributed in any printed or electronic form without permission.
Please do not participate in or encourage piracy of copyrighted materials in
violation of the author’s rights. This is a work of fiction. Names, characters,
places, and incidents either are the product of the author’s imagination or are
used fictitiously, and any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead,
business establishments, events, or locales is entirely coincidental.

Recipes included in this book are to be
recreated at the reader’s own risk.
 
The author is not responsible for any damage, medical or otherwise,
created as a result of reproducing these recipes.
 
It is the responsibility of the reader
to ensure that none of the ingredients are detrimental to their health, and the
author will not be held liable in any way for any problems that might arise
from following the included recipes.

Chapter 1

Don’t get me wrong; it’s not as though it had never
happened before.
 
After all, murder
had visited my family and friends often enough in our small town of April
Springs, North Carolina, in the past.
 
But when I got the news of just
who
had just died, I understood
instantly that it would impact just about everyone in my life I knew and
loved.
 
Even given that, I still didn’t
realize just how bad things would ultimately get in the end.

It was a lot for a simple donutmaker to deal with,
but then again, my life hadn’t been all that easy since I’d first opened Donut
Hearts, so why should this situation have been any different?

Chapter 2

“I can’t believe this is our last walk together in
the park,” I said as I put my arm through Jake Bishop’s and snuggled closer.

“Don’t be so melodramatic, Suzanne,” Jake, who also
happened to be a state police inspector, said as he grinned down at me.
 
“My month of physical rehab is up.
 
We knew this day was coming from the very
start.”
 
He flexed his right arm,
the one where he’d been shot, and he didn’t wince one little bit.
 
“See?
 
I’m as good as new.”

“I still think you might be rushing things,” I
said.
 
The truth was, I’d loved
having Jake recover in my cottage, and I wasn’t at all excited to see him
go.
 
It had nothing to do with the
fact that I’d be living on my own.
 
At least that was what I kept telling myself.
 
Momma had finally gotten married and
moved out of the cottage.
 
She’d had
almost a month to get used to her wedded bliss, and I had to say, it agreed
with her.
 
Our chief of police was
one lucky man, and to his credit, he knew it better than anybody else did.

“Don’t worry about me.”
 
Jake looked deep into my eyes, and it
was clear that he could see something else was troubling me.
 
That was one of the downsides to being
with a state police inspector.
 
He
could read nuances like most folks read the newspaper, and I’d found it nearly
impossible to deceive him.
 
In a
gentle voice, he said, “Hey, I know that it’s going to be a big change for you once
I’m gone, but your mother is close by, and Grace is just down the road.
 
You won’t be lacking for company, I can
just about guarantee you that.”

“I know you’re right, but it still won’t be the same
without you here,” I said.
 
“It’s
been so nice having you downstairs.”

He smiled warmly at me.
 
“I’ve enjoyed it, too, but it’s time for
both of us to get back to work.
 
You
can’t tell me that you don’t miss it, too.
 
After all, you’ve been away from the donut shop for as long as I’ve been
here.
 
A month is a long time not to
do anything.”

“Hey, I’ve been doing something very important,” I
said.
 
“I’ve been taking care of
you, not that you’ve needed it much lately.”

“What can I say?
 
I’m a quick healer,” Jake said with a grin.
 
“Anyway, I won’t be gone all that long,
and you know that I’ll come back to April Springs every chance that I get.
 
To be honest with you, I’m kind of
surprised that you haven’t gotten tired of me already.”

I matched his smile with one of my own.
 
“Right back at you, big guy,” I
said.
 
“Do you really have to go
today?”

“Sorry, but there’s nothing I can do about it,
Suzanne.
 
I’m due in Raleigh at
four,” Jake said as he glanced at his watch.
 
“That gives me three hours with you here
in April Springs before I hit the road.
 
What should we do in the meantime?”

I never had a chance to answer him, though, because
that’s when we heard the first siren that shattered the tranquility of our last
day together for the foreseeable future.

Chapter 3

“What do you think is going on?” I asked Jake as we
both stared as the fire truck came into view.
 
“Do you smell smoke?”

He took a deep breath.
 
“No, how about you?”

I did the same, and then I answered, “Nothing.”

We started walking quickly through the park toward
where the fire truck was parked, its siren now silenced but its lights still
flashing brightly.
 
It was the old
building near Donut Hearts that had belonged to my mother until very recently,
but I didn’t know the woman who’d bought it from her very well.

“Look,” Jake said as he pointed down the road.
 
A police cruiser was racing to the
scene, and an ambulance wasn’t far behind.
 
“That changes everything.
 
Let’s go see what’s going on.”

I resisted his pull, though.
 
“You’re not back on active duty yet,
remember?”

He frowned for a moment before he spoke.
 
“As a matter of fact, I was reinstated
this morning over the phone.”

This was news to me.
 
“Where was I when all of this was
happening?”

“You were upstairs in the shower,” he said.

“Why didn’t you tell me when I came down?”

He just shrugged.
 
“I didn’t want to spoil the day for
either one of us, okay?”

“It’s fine by me,” I said.
 
“If you’re on the clock, though, that
means that you probably should check out what’s happening.”

“Aren’t you coming with me?” he asked me, clearly
surprised by the possibility that I wouldn’t tag along.

“Just try to stop me,” I said with a grin.
 
“I might not have any official status,
but that doesn’t mean that I’m not every bit as curious as you are about what’s
going on.”

“Let’s go, then,” Jake said, and we both picked up
our paces.
 
It was a testament to his
recovery that he was so ready to jump into action.
 
I could still remember how fragile he’d
been just after being shot, how much he’d slept in the days following the traumatic
experience.
 
This was a new man in
front of me now, one that was ready and eager to leap back into danger.
 
It was certainly a far cry from the
fellow who’d hinted earlier that he might be done with law enforcement as a
career.
 
There was certainly no sign
of that now, at least not that I could see.

“I’m right behind you,” I said, and soon enough, we
were both standing in front of the building.
 

Chief Martin was already there, conferring with the
fire chief when we arrived.
 
When he
saw us, he nodded in our direction and held up a hand for us to wait.
 

“Stay right here,” Jake said.
 
“I’ll be back soon.”

“I’m going over there with you,” I said.

“Suzanne, humor me, okay?
 
The only way that either one of us is
going to find anything out is if I act in my official capacity.”

“Go on, then,” I urged him, knowing that he was
right.
 
“I’ll be waiting right here
for you when you’re finished.”

“I’m counting on it.”

After he was gone, I was tempted to wander the fifty
yards across the tracks to the donut shop, but if I did that, I might miss out
on what was going on where all the action was occurring, and that was something
that I wasn’t willing to risk.
 
I’d
be back at the helm the next day anyway, so it might not be a bad idea to enjoy
my last day of freedom before I had to return to the daily grind of making
donuts, not that I wasn’t looking forward to it.
 
Jake had been right about that, though I
hadn’t admitted it.
 
I’d missed my
work, and as much as it pained me to see him leave town, I was eager to get back
to making donuts.
 
I’d been creating
dozens of recipes in my head and on paper since I’d been idle, and I couldn’t
wait to start trying some of them out.
 
If one out of ten actually worked, I’d have a wonderful new selection to
offer my customers very soon.

After a long conference between the fire chief, the
police chief, and Jake, I watched as he broke away and headed back in my
direction.
 
“Sorry, but I’m afraid
that I’m going to have to hang around and help out here for a while, Suzanne,”
he said.

I couldn’t keep the disappointment from my face.
 
“But you’re not due to start work until
later today, even if you have been reinstated.”

“That may be true, but this situation is kind of
delicate,” he said softly.

“How so?”

“There’s a dead body inside the shop,” he replied,
barely above a whisper.

Oh, no!
 
“Who
was it?” I asked.

“I can’t say just yet, but I’ll know more in a little
bit,” Jake replied, and then he headed inside the building, joined by the fire
and police chiefs of April Springs.

I wasn’t left alone, though, not by any means.
 
There was quite a crowd gathering
outside, including my assistant, Emma, and her mother, Sharon.
 
They’d been running the donut shop for
the last month while I’d tended to Jake, and we’d agreed to split the profits that
had accrued under their tenure.
 
I
hadn’t wanted to take any of it, but they’d both insisted, and in the end, I
hadn’t had much choice, not if I wanted to keep running my little donut shop
for the foreseeable future.
 

Emma approached me as she asked, “What’s going on,
Suzanne?”

“I’m still waiting to find that out myself,” I said.

Sharon joined us and said, “We were nearly out of
donuts and we didn’t have any customers at the moment, so we decided to lock the
doors
 
early and clean up after we find
out what’s going on.
 
I hope you
don’t mind.”

“Hey, it’s still your shop today, so you can do whatever
you please,” I said with a smile.

“Suzanne, we all know that’s not true.
 
Donut Hearts will always be yours.
 
My daughter and I have just been lucky
enough to take over for the past month.”
 
She stifled a yawn and then added, “Though I won’t mind sleeping in
tomorrow the least little bit.
 
I
don’t know how you’ve done it all these years.”

“Always being a whisker away from bankruptcy has had
a remarkable impact on my ability to get up every morning and make donuts,” I
answered with a smile.