Jessica Beck - Donut Shop 18 - Dangerous Dough (11 page)

Chapter 12

“Hey there,” Jake
said, walking in just as I was about to close Donut Hearts for the day.
 
I’d sent Emma home early in reward for
covering for me while I’d been on my honeymoon, and she’d gladly accepted the
goodwill gesture.
 
I’d been there
alone for the past half hour, and of course, we’d gotten busy just moments
after Emma had gone on her way.
 
“Are
you still open?”

“I was just about
to lock up,” I said, and then I did exactly that, flipping the sign to let my
customers know that there were no more donuts, at least for that day.
 
“I’m now officially closed, but I have a
few things I have to take care of before I can leave.”

“Can I give you a
hand with anything?”
 
It was a nice
gesture, and I decided to take him up on his generous offer.

“How do you feel
about sweeping?” I asked him with a smile.
 
I’d gotten over my little snit.
 
After all, he was just doing his job.
 
I had no right resenting the fact that
he couldn’t share everything he learned on a case with me.

“As a matter of
fact, my mother made sure I knew how to operate a broom firsthand since I was
tall enough to hold one in my hands.”

“Excellent,” I
said as I handed him our broom.
 
I’d
already cleaned the tables in anticipation of closing up shop, so it was quick
work to flip the chairs over and get them off the floor.
 
“If you could sweep up, I can get
started on running reports for the day’s totals.”

“After I finish
this,” he said as he began to sweep, “I’d be happy to do the dishes as well.”

“Be careful about
how generous your offer is.
 
You
might go on the payroll when you’re not looking,” I said happily.
 
“Besides, don’t you already have a
job?
 
You’re investigating Alex
Tyler’s murder, remember?”

“I’m not likely
to forget it, but that doesn’t mean that I’m not allowed to take a lunch
break,” Jake said as he collected the remnants of dropped donuts, forgotten
napkins, and other detritus that found its way to the floor in the course of a
typical day.

“And you really
want to spend it helping me clean up my shop?”

“As long as
you’re here, that’s where I want to be.”

“I feel the exact
same way about you.”

“Well, I should
hope so,” he said with a grin as he finished sweeping up the discards and putting
everything in the closest trash can.
 
“Now, how about those dishes?”

“As much as I
appreciate your offer, I just have a few trays left to do in back, and I can
knock them out in no time while the report is running.”
 
I studied the display cases and realized
that I had more than three dozen donuts left.
 
“Either I made too many donuts this
morning, or my customer base is dropping way off.”

“How can you
possibly know that without checking your numbers?”

“Oh, I’ll go
ahead and run the report on the register, but I don’t need it to tell me that
things have slacked off around here,” I said as I turned the key in the
register lock to its report setting.
 
After I hit a few other buttons, it started spitting out the day’s take,
dividing it into neat little segments.
 
Checking the cash we had on hand, I jotted the number down just as the
report finished running.
 
I knew
that there were newer, much more modern cash registers that did everything
electronically, but I liked this system better.
 
I could rely on the numbers printed on
the tape more than I could on ones flashing past on a display.
 
“Well, that’s settled.”

“What is?”

“According to
this, my sales are down over fifteen percent since we got married.”

“You honestly
can’t think that there’s a cause and effect to your slump, can you?” he asked, clearly
concerned about my response.

“No, I have a
hunch that it has more to do with the new chief of police being poisoned with
Donut Hearts coffee than it does with our nuptials,” I said.

“It wasn’t the
coffee that killed him,” Jake said as he put the broom away.

“Excuse me?”

“I said that it
wasn’t the coffee that was poisoned,” Jake replied.

“Seriously?
 
That’s wonderful news,” I said
gleefully.
 
“How soon can we tell
folks that Donut Hearts is in the clear?”

“It’s not quite
that simple, I’m afraid,” he said.

“What’s the
catch?
 
If it wasn’t my coffee or my
donuts that killed Alex, then no one from my shop should be a suspect in
anyone’s mind.”

“While it’s true
that your coffee wasn’t poisoned, that doesn’t mean that the cup itself was free
from suspicion,” he explained.

“You’ve got to be
kidding me,” I said, feeling the air go out of my sails.
 

“I wish I were,
but I don’t joke around about things like that.
 
According to the lab, someone coated the
interior of the cup with a common household cleaning product that is fairly
toxic.
 
When the coffee was added,
the poison dissolved, killing Alex after he ingested it.”

“How can they
possibly know that?”

“They tested the
sides of the cup that didn’t come into contact with any liquid,” Jake said.
 
“The traces were still there.”

“Then what
difference does it make?” I asked, feeling truly dejected now.
 
“Something bought here was still used to
commit murder, whether it was the liquid itself or the vessel that was used to
transport it.
 
Either way, I’m in
the same fix that I was in before.”

“Suzanne, this
new information implies a few things about the killer, don’t you think?
 
The evidence might not clear any of the
Donut Hearts staff, but it can’t help but assist us with the case.”

“If you say so,”
I said as I made out the bank deposit slip.
 
“Either way, my receipts are still
down.”

“I wish there was
something I could do about that, but we both know that there’s not.”

“You could find
the killer and take the heat off me,” I said as I started boxing up leftover
donuts.
 
I couldn’t take them to the
church where I usually dropped them off to feed the less fortunate of April
Springs.
 
Emma had told me that we’d
worn out our welcome delivering too many in the recent past.
 
That left throwing them away, something
I truly hated to do, or using them as bribes during the course of my further investigation.
 
At least I’d have some available for
that today, though I wasn’t exactly sure who I could use them on.

“I’m doing my
best,” he said, clearly upset by the tone this conversation had suddenly taken.
 
“Listen, I’m really sorry about
earlier.”

The poor man was
trying to solve this murder under the most exasperating circumstances, and here
I was, selfishly piling on.
 
That
was about to change.
 
He deserved my
support, not my disapproval.
 
“I’m
not exactly being fair to you, am I?” I asked as I kissed him on the
cheek.
 
“You are right to withhold
whatever you decide from me while you’re working on official police business.”

“Wow, I never
thought I’d get off the hook that easily,” Jake said with a smile.

“Don’t celebrate
too much just yet.
 
That still doesn’t
mean that you should keep anything from me that’s not directly related to Alex
Tyler’s murder investigation.
 
I’ve
already been through one marriage full of lies, secrets, and hidden agendas,
and I’m not about to go through another one.”

“Completely understood,”
Jake said, and to my surprise, he swept me up in his arms.
 
“But you should know that I’m not
Max.
 
I’ve never been like him, and
I never will be.
 
You can take that
to the bank.”

“I realize that,”
I said, grinning.
 
“Now let me
go.
 
I have work to do.”

“Your wish is my
command,” he said as he released me.

“What did I just
say about lying to me?” I asked him happily.

“Suzanne, you
have to at least allow me to embellish every now and then.
 
Otherwise what fun would it be?”

“I suppose you’re
right,” I said.
 
“Seriously, though,
I know that you didn’t come here to help me clean up the donut shop.
 
What’s your real reason for just showing
up?”

“Isn’t the new
information about the coffee cup being tainted enough of a justification for me
to come by?” Jake asked me.

“We both know
that you could have done that with one phone call.”

Jake frowned for
a moment before he spoke again.
 
“How
about the fact that I missed my bride?
 
Is that cause enough?”

“Of course it is,
but why do I keep thinking that there’s another shoe waiting to drop?”

To my surprise,
my husband laughed happily, a sound that filled me with great joy.
 
Max and I hadn’t laughed nearly enough
during our time together.
 
The drama
had outweighed the happiness by far, but Jake and I weren’t about to make that
same particular mistake.
 
Jake had
been quite a bit more somber when I’d first known him, but leaving his position
as a state police inspector had changed him, lightening his load—and his mood—considerably.
 
There was more room for smiles, for
laughter, for sheer joy now, and I knew from those things, more than anything
else, that him quitting had been the absolute right thing to do.
 
“You know me too well.
 
Okay, I’ll lay all of my cards out on
the table.
 
I don’t want you and
Grace going back to Granite Meadows and talking to those cops.”

“But Jake, we
have to; you can’t do it yourself.
 
You’ve been limited to working in April Springs,” I protested.

“You know
what?
 
I don’t care anymore.
 
Simpson might not like it, but I’m not
really sure what he can do about it, and that’s just going to come into play if
he manages to catch me doing it.”

“Do you know
something?
 
You’re starting to sound
more and more like me every day,” I said.

“Isn’t that a
good thing?”

“You know it
is.
 
I just don’t want you to burn
any bridges on my account.”

“Suzanne, if they
are burning, it’s because I intentionally set them on fire.
 
I’m going to Granite Meadows with you,
whether you like it or not.”

“I like it just
fine,” I said.
 
“I’m not sure what
Grace is going to think, though.”

“Does she really
have a problem with me tagging along on your investigations?” Jake asked me.

“We both know
that if you’re there, you’ll be doing more than tagging along.
 
No offense, but you tend to jump in and
take over during these things, Jake.”

“What can I
say?
 
Old habits die hard, but I
think that’s exactly what is needed in this case.
 
You both need to realize that none of
these cops are going to talk to you if I’m not there with you.”

“Hang on a
second.
 
They won’t be under any
obligation to speak with you, either, even if you do have official status in
the case in April Springs.
 
Your
jurisdiction ends at the town’s limits now.”

“Maybe so, but at
least we speak the same language.
 
Now, we can spend more time arguing about it, or you can unlock the
front door and let Grace inside.”

I looked out
front and sure enough, there was my partner in crime, waiting to be let in.
 
“Let’s see what she has to say before we
make any decisions,” I suggested as I let her in.

Once I explained
the new game plan to Grace, she looked a little surprised.
 
“Suzanne, of course we need Jake with
us.
 
How else are we going to get
anyone in law enforcement to say boo to us otherwise?”

“Then that’s
settled,” Jake said.
 
“I’m coming with
you.”

“I guess you are,”
I said.
 
“Now make yourself useful
and grab those donuts.”

“What do we need
these for?” Jake asked me as he dutifully picked up all three boxes.

“We’re going to
use them for bribes,” I said happily.
 
“You don’t have any problem with that, do you?”

“No, ma’am.
 
Not one little bit.
 
There are bad bribes, and then there are
good ones.”
 
He took a deep whiff of
my donuts and smiled.
 
“These are
good ones.”

“Excellent,” I
said.
 
“Then after we stop off at
the bank so I can make my deposit, the three of us are heading to Granite
Meadows to investigate.”

“The more, the
merrier, I say,” Grace said happily.

It appeared that
the three of us were beginning to form a new team, two amateur sleuths and one
ex-cop.
 
It was reminiscent of when
George had worked with us before becoming mayor, but I liked this scenario
better.

After all, I was
with my husband and my best friend.