Custard Crime: Donut Mystery #14 (The Donut Mysteries) (20 page)

“Okay, let me just get her.”
 
I ducked out of the front and found Emma
finishing up the latest round of dishes.
 
“Hey, do you have a minute?”

“Sure, what’s up?”

“I need you to cover the front for me.”

Emma grinned at me.
 
“Are you and Grace going to get started
on your investigation early?”

“No, Momma’s here, and she just told me that she wanted
to talk.”

“Ouch.
 
That can’t be good, can it?”

“I’m sure it’s nothing,” I said, hoping that I wasn’t
lying to her.

“You’re probably right.
 
Sure, I’d be glad to watch the counter.”

I smiled at her.
 
“You know, it wasn’t all that long ago when you hated working the
front.”

“What can I say?
 
I got used to it last month, and it turned out to be kind of fun.
 
Most of our customers aren’t that bad
after all.”

“I’m sure that they’d be relieved to hear that.”

“Well, I’m not going to be the one who tells them,”
Emma said as she wiped her hands on a towel.
 

As we walked out front, I said, “Don’t worry.
 
This shouldn’t take long.”

“You don’t have to rush on my account,” she
said.
 
“Hey, there, Mrs. Hart.
 
Or should I say Mrs. Martin?”

“It’s still Hart,” she said.
 
“Hello, Emma.
 
How are you?”

“Happy as can be, thanks for asking.
 
How’s newlywed life treating you?”

“It’s fine,” she replied, and then my mother turned
to me.
 
“Could we possibly chat
outside?”

“Sure,” I said, though I felt a sense of deeper dread
wash over me.
 
If Momma wanted to
talk outside, that meant that there was a chance that she might be worried that
I’d raise my voice.
 
She’d never
been a big fan of public scenes, though she hadn’t backed down from a fight in
her life, either.
 
I steeled myself
for what was to come.

Once we were outside, Momma said, “We need to talk
about your investigation into Evelyn’s murder.”

“Momma, you of all people should see how important
this is.
 
There’s a cloud hanging
over your new husband, and Jake might not have enough resources to find the
killer without a little help from Grace and me.
 
It’s crucial that we keep digging, no
matter how uncomfortable it makes things at home for you.
 
I’m sorry that I hurt your husband’s
feelings, but all I’m after is the truth.”

My mother looked surprised by my reaction.
 
“Suzanne, were you under the impression
that I disapproved of your involvement?
 
To the contrary, I’m here to urge you to redouble your efforts.
 
My husband needs your help, and rather
desperately, in my opinion, but he was too stubborn to ask you himself.”

“So he sent you here to talk to me?” I asked.

“Goodness no.
 
He has no idea that I’m here.”
 
Momma hesitated a moment, and then asked me, “Have you heard about
Evelyn’s will?”
 
I didn’t know how
to answer that, and I was still trying to come up with a reasonable answer when
she added, “It appears that my husband was still the main beneficiary.
 
What makes matters worse is that she was
about to change it to her cousin.”

“Julie Gray,” I said, supplying the name.

“So, you know about her.”

“Her name’s come up, and I’ve even spoken with her
about the situation.”

Momma looked surprised by the information.
 
“Did she know that Phillip was named in
the will and not her?”

“No, I’m certain the news came as a surprise to her
when Jake told her.
 
She told me
that she was getting everything Evelyn had.”

“That’s good news, isn’t it?” Momma asked.
 
“If she thought she was inheriting
Evelyn’s money, it would give her a motive for murder.”

“It’s on my list of possibilities,” I admitted.
 
“Are you sure you don’t mind me
investigating?”

“Of course not.
 
Why should I?”

I didn’t want to say it, but the words had to be spoken
nonetheless.
 
“Momma, what if I find
evidence that implicates your new husband in his ex-wife’s murder?”

“He didn’t kill her, Suzanne.
 
No matter what you might think of the
man, he’s not a murderer.”

“I never thought that he was,” I said quickly.
 
“This new wrinkle looks much worse for
him, though.
 
There’s something
else, too.”

“What’s that?”

“I hate to ask you about it, but since you’re here
coming to me for help, I have to do it.
 
I saw in Evelyn’s appointment book that she had a meeting scheduled with
Chief Martin for the day after she was murdered.
 
Do you have any idea what that was
about?
 
Did you even know that it
was going to happen at all?”

“Phillip and I don’t keep secrets from each
other.
 
The meeting was my idea, as
a matter of fact.”

“Your idea?
 
Why on earth would you suggest that?”

Momma shrugged.
 
“April Springs is a small town.
 
I shouldn’t have to tell you that.
 
Since none of us had plans of ever going anywhere else, I thought it was
important to try to make peace with Evelyn.
 
I didn’t want it to be any more uncomfortable
running into her at the grocery store or the gas station than it had to be.”

“That’s a nice thought, but it makes it appear that
the chief may have had something else in mind.”

“Like what?”

“Oh, off the top of my head, it could have been half
a dozen things, and none of them good for you.
 
Momma, that’s my point.
 
If I find something out about him that
relates to Evelyn’s murder, it’s my obligation to tell Jake about it
immediately.
 
I made him that
promise, and in fact, it’s the only way I could get him to agree to let Grace
and I investigate at all.”

“By all means then, tell him.
 
I’m confident, though, that you won’t
find anything else.
 
Phillip has
assured me that there are no other secrets lying in wait.”

“I hope that he’s right,” I said.
 
“Are we good, Momma?”

“Why do you ask such a curious thing like that?”

“I don’t know.
 
I guess I just miss you,” I said.
 
I wasn’t about to remind her how unhappy she’d been with me earlier.

“Suzanne, we see each other all of the time.”

“Maybe, but we’re not living together anymore, and
that makes a big difference in my life.
 
Sometimes just knowing that your things are gone and that you’re never
coming back make me so sad.”

My mother hugged me, and even though I towered over
her tiny frame, I still felt small in her arms.
 
“My dear, sweet child, you are a part of
me and my life, and that’s never going to change, no matter where I might live.”

“I know that in my heart, but sometimes it doesn’t
feel that way in reality.”

“Then we need to do something about that,” she said
with a smile as she pulled away.
 
“I
know.
 
Let’s have a few planned
lunches every week, just the two of us, after you close the donut shop for the
day.
 
We can make it a special event
every time that we get together.”

“That sounds nice,” I said.

“There was a bit of hesitation just now in your
voice,” Momma said.
 
“What’s
wrong?
 
Isn’t that enough?”

“It’s fine.
 
I just liked it when we didn’t have to plan our time together.”

She caressed my cheek as she said, “Things change and
life moves on, doesn’t it?
 
I miss
you, too.
 
I’m sorry if I’ve been so
wrapped up in this new life with Phillip.
 
I never meant to ignore you.”

“You haven’t,” I said as I hugged her again.
 
“I swear, sometimes I can be such a big
baby.
 
Of course you need to focus
on your new marriage.
 
I get
that.
 
Lunches do sound good,
though.”
 
I frowned, and then I
added, “Just not today, if that’s okay.
 
Grace and I have a few things to look into this afternoon.”

“I would hope so,” Momma said.
 
“After this case is resolved, we’ll
institute our new plan of girl time.”

“That sounds great.
 
I love you, Momma.”

“I love you, too,” she said as she patted my cheek
lightly.
 
“Now, you should get back
to work.
 
It’s not fair to leave
Emma to fend for herself for too long.”

“Are you kidding?
 
She’s enjoying it.
 
I’ll talk to you later,” I said as I
started back for Donut Hearts.

“Good luck, and be careful.”

“Always.”

Having things resolved with my mother would lighten
my load considerably, and that was a good thing, since I needed to focus on
catching a killer, and that took everything I had.

Chapter 18

“Hi, Grace.
 
Give me a sec.
 
I’m almost
finished up here,” I said when my best friend and fellow investigator walked
into Donut Hearts two minutes after closing time.
 
I’d sent Emma on her way a minute
earlier, trying to give her a bit of a break after all of the hard work she’d
done on my behalf so recently.

“No hurry here.
 
Did I see you outside talking to your mother when I drove by earlier?”

“I didn’t even notice you,” I said.

“That’s because I’m stealthy,” she said with a
grin.
 
“Besides, you two looked as
though things were getting pretty intense.
 
Is she upset that we’re investigating?”

“That’s what I thought at first, but it turns out
that she was asking me if we could work even harder at solving this case.
 
I’m relieved that we’re not fighting
anymore.”

“What made her change her mind?”

“Well, for one thing, she knows what a bind the
sheriff is in, especially after Jake found out about the inheritance.”

“What inheritance are you talking about?” Grace asked
me.

“That’s right.
 
You haven’t heard the latest development, have you?
 
Apparently Evelyn never got around to
changing her will from when she was married to the chief.
 
Everyone, including Julie, thought that
she was going to get everything, but it turns out that Chief Martin is getting
it all.
 
Not including the building
Evelyn just bought with Beatrice, I’m guessing that the chief’s going to get
about three hundred grand, not to mention the house.”

“You know what?
 
That doesn’t even surprise me,” Grace said.

“Why not?” I asked her.
 
“It shocked the daylights out of me.”

“Suzanne, think about it.
 
The woman still had her wedding picture
on display long after the divorce.
 
Clearly Evelyn had a problem with letting the chief go, no matter what
she might have said in public.”

“You could be right, but she was dating someone
else.
 
If she was seeing Conrad
Swoop, she couldn’t have still been carrying that much of a torch for Chief
Martin.”

“Maybe that explains the meeting she had with her
attorney, and the one she’d scheduled with the chief as well.”

“Momma had something to do with that one, I’m
afraid,” I said as I ran the reports from the cash register.
 

“Your mother set it up?” Grace asked incredulously.

“She wanted them to all at least get along on the
surface, given how small April Springs can be sometimes.”

“I didn’t know the boundaries changed that
frequently.”

“You know what I mean,” I said as I finished counting
out the money in the register.
 
“Huh.
 
Well, that’s not
good.”

“What’s not?”

“I’m short twenty dollars,” I said after I counted
the money again.

“Somebody got more change back than they deserved
to,” Grace said lightly.

“I can’t believe it happened,” I said as I counted
one more time, with the exact same results.

Grace reached into her purse and pulled out a
bill.
 
Slapping the twenty down on
the counter, she said with a smile, “There you go.
 
Problem solved.”

I handed the bill back to her.
 
“Thanks, but not really.
 
I can’t believe I slipped up like
that.”
 
I pulled the till out of the
register, and then looked below it.
 
On rare occasions, money slipped down there, and eureka, there was the
errant twenty.
 
“Found it,” I said
triumphantly as I waved it overhead.

“Well, I’m just glad that we got that settled,
because I might not have been able to sleep tonight,” she said with a wry grin.

“You’re joking, but it would have been enough to keep
me awake.
 
It’s been tough enough
getting used to the work and the hours again, but I couldn’t handle it if I
started making simple mistakes making change.
 
I pride myself on being competent in a
world that doesn’t always stress perfection.”