Jessica Beck - Donut Shop 18 - Dangerous Dough (15 page)

“We don’t even
know what he looks like,” Grace said.

“There were some
photos on the chief’s wall of different groupings with captions, and I saw one
man next to Alex in a couple of shots.
 
Unless I miss my guess, it was Durant.”

“My, that’s some
mighty fine police work there,” I said with a smile.

“It’s an old
habit of mine to take in everything around me when I’m on a case.
 
You never know where the next clue might
come from.”

“Good to know,” I
said.

Grace was about
to say something when a patrol car pulled into the lot.
 
“Is that him?” I asked before he even
got out.

“Looks like it,”
Jake said as he sprang out of the Jeep.

Grace and I
followed quickly, and I wondered what the police officer would think when he noticed
the three of us hurrying toward him.

Apparently he
lacked Jake’s training, because he didn’t notice us at all until Jake was
practically right upon him.
 
“You’re
Craig Durant, aren’t you?” Jake asked as he extended his hand.

“That
depends.
 
Who wants to know?” Durant
asked without taking it.
 
He was a
big man, dark and swarthy, and he looked as though he’d never backed down from
a fight in his life.

“Jake Bishop,”
Jake said.
 
“I’m investigating Alex
Tyler’s murder.”

“Who are you
with?” Officer Durant asked, clearly warming up after hearing the new
information.

“I was with the
state police investigative unit until recently, but now I’m working with the
April Springs PD.”

Durant looked genuinely
happy to hear the news.
 
“That’s
great!
 
I’ve been waiting for
someone to start digging into my partner’s murder.
 
I begged to head up the investigation
myself, but the chief wouldn’t let me anywhere near it.
 
He said that I was too close to
everything, and if I got involved anyway, he’d suspend me, so what choice did I
have?
 
If there’s anything I can do,
all you have to do is ask.”

I wanted to ask
him for his alibi on the day of the murder, but I had a hunch that might be a
question better saved for the end of the interview or coming from my husband
instead of me.
 

Jake asked, “Did
your former partner ever mention anyone with a grudge against him when you two
were working together?”

Durant seemed to
give that question some consideration before he answered.
 
“That’s all that I’ve been thinking
about lately.
 
I don’t have to tell
you that if you’ve been on the job very long, it happens.
 
Unfortunately, Alex wasn’t that different
from anyone else.
 
There were crooks
with grudges and a bitter ex-wife.
 
It
just doesn’t make any sense to me why anyone would want to kill him.”

“Was there anybody
in particular you have in mind?” Jake asked him.
 
“Besides his ex-wife, I mean.
 
I’ve already spoken with Shannon.”

Durant
nodded.
 
“She’s got her own set of secrets,
but I don’t think she’s a murderer.”

“What kind of
secrets?” I asked him, forgetting for a second that Jake was handling all of
the questioning at the moment.

Durant looked
over at me, and then he glanced at Grace.
 
“I’m sorry, but who exactly are the two of you?”

“I’m his wife,
and she’s our friend,” I said.

Durant looked at
Jake oddly.
 
“Listen, I’m not trying
to be a jerk or anything, but do you usually take your wife and her friend on
investigations with you?
 
Are you
taking this seriously? Because Alex deserves to get justice.”

“Their presence here
doesn’t imply
anything
about my
investigation.
 
I am one hundred
percent committed to solving this case.
 
Ask around.
 
You’ll find out
that I don’t rest until I find a resolution.”

Durant
shrugged.
 
“I believe you, but that
still doesn’t explain why they’re here.”

“If you’d feel
more comfortable speaking with Jake alone, Suzanne and I can go wait in the car
if you’d like,” Grace volunteered.
 
It was really odd hearing that suggestion coming from her, but I knew
that she realized just as much as I did that Durant might not talk at all if we
were standing there.

“No, that’s fine,”
Officer Durant said with a shrug.
 
“I
just wasn’t expecting you, that’s all.”

“Can you give me
any other names of folks I should be looking at?” Jake asked again, reminding
the police officer that he was still waiting for an answer.

“Trust me, it’s
all that I’ve been thinking about since it happened.
 
There’s just one person that I can come
up with that makes any sense at all,” Durant said.

“Are you talking
about Deke Marsh?” Jake offered.

That caught
Durant by surprise.
 
“Exactly!
 
How did you know about him?”

“This isn’t my
first investigation,” Jake said confidently.
 
“He had a grudge against your former
partner, didn’t he?”

“We’d had a few
run-ins with him before, but nothing major.
 
Deke wasn’t too pleased when Alex
arrested him this last time, though.
 
I was testifying in court about another case that day, so Alex was
working alone when he collared him.
 
The odd thing was that Deke acted outraged after it happened.
 
It never made any sense to me, but Alex
told me to just leave it alone, so I didn’t dig any deeper, but if I were you,
he’s where I would start.”

“Why do you think
that he would feel that way?” I asked him.

“I have no idea,”
he replied.

Since he’d
already said that he didn’t mind we were there, I decided that it would be okay
to press him a little myself.
 
“We
heard from a reliable source that you and Alex had a huge fight when he took
the job in April Springs.”

Officer Durant
nodded.
 
“I’ll regret that as long
as I live.
 
Alex and I decided to
celebrate his new job, so we bought some beer and started drinking back at his
place just before he left town.
 
I
mentioned something about his ex-wife, nothing he hadn’t said to me a thousand
times himself, but this time he took offense.
 
He told me that he would always love her
and that she didn’t deserve to have me bad-mouthing her.
 
It was over as quickly as it started,
but one of his nosy neighbors decided to call the police.
 
Can you believe that?
 
The chief came by, saw that we were
fine, and he went on his way.
 
Maisie
told you about it, didn’t she?”

“I’d rather not
say,” I answered.

Durant just
chuckled a little softly.
 
“You don’t
have to.
 
That woman is a real piece
of work.
 
She was desperately in
love with Alex, and he didn’t have a clue.
 
I think she might be a little off, if you know what I mean.
 
As long as I knew Alex, he never gave
her one reason to believe that she was anything special to him, but you would
have thought they were in love to hear her tell it.
 
Maybe you should look at her, too,” he
said as his gaze narrowed a little.

“Do you really
think she might have poisoned him?” I asked him.

Officer Durant
never got a chance to answer, though.

I saw movement
back at the police station entrance, and when I looked to see what was going
on, I saw Chief Willson striding toward us, and worse yet, he was accompanied
by an officious looking man about Jake’s age, clearly scowling.
 
The stranger was a tall, willowy man,
well over six feet, but if he weighed more than a hundred and fifty pounds, I’d
eat a dozen donuts in one sitting.

“Let me
guess.
 
That’s Manfred Simpson,” I
said softly to Jake.

My husband looked
up, and I saw a grimace fleeing across his face.
 
“None other.”

It looked as
though our investigation was about to take a turn for the worse.

Chapter 17

“Bishop, what are
you doing here?” the state police investigator asked when he and the police
chief got within ten feet of us.

“I’m just
chatting with Officer Durant,” Jake explained in his lightest manner.

“You were
specifically told to limit your investigation to the city limits of April
Springs,” Manfred Simpson said officiously.

“I go where my
leads take me,” Jake said calmly.
 
“You know that, Manfred.”

“It’s Inspector
Simpson to you now that you’ve left the state police,” the inspector said
rigidly.

“Okay, I’ll play
it that way if that’s what you want,
Inspector
,”
Jake answered sweetly.
 
There was a
hint of steel within his response, though.
 
It was clear that Jake wasn’t at all happy about his former associate’s
attitude, but he knew that if he reacted openly to it, somehow Simpson would
get the advantage of him.

“Go back to April
Springs,” Inspector Simpson said.
 
“If you don’t do so immediately, there will be ramifications I guarantee
that you are not going to like.”

Without directly
answering the order, Jake just saluted the man with two fingers, smiled, and
then pivoted and started walking back to my Jeep.
 

“We’re seriously not
going to just give up, are we?” Grace asked gently as we moved away from the
three law enforcement officers.

“Of course not,”
Jake replied.
 
“There’s no way that
I’m going to let this go just because of Manfred, so I’m not about to stop now.”

“How are you
going to be able to come back here after what he just said?” I asked.
 
“Can he really make things bad for you?”

“Let’s let him
think so for awhile, anyway,” Jake said.
 
“I’m still going to pursue Officer Durant and Chief Willson until I know
that I can eliminate them both as suspects or confirm their guilt, whether
Manfred likes it or not.”

“What about
Shannon, Maisie, and Deke?” I asked him.

“Those three are
all yours,” Jake said.
 
“Besides, I
have two more suspects back in April Springs that I could use your help with.”

“Are you ready to
share those names with us yet?” I asked.

“Why not?
 
Maybe you’ll be able to add some insight
to my investigation.
 
Besides, you
already know who one of them is.”

“What are you two
talking about?” Grace asked.

“That’s
right.
 
I forgot to tell you what
happened,” I told Grace.
 
“Apparently
Alex arrested Brandon Morgan for speeding, and they got into a pretty ugly
confrontation.
 
Brandon popped in at
the donut shop this morning to ask me about the state of the investigation,
which was a pretty odd thing for him to do, given the fact that he was one of
the protesters outside Donut Hearts when Lester Moorefield organized picketers
to get me boycotted.”

“Interesting.
 
Who else is on your list, Jake?” Grace
asked.

“Some man named Dallas
Blake,” Jake replied.

“Dallas?
 
You’re kidding.
 
Dallas wouldn’t hurt a fly,” I said,
surprised by his inclusion on Jake’s list of suspects.
 
“What possible motive could he have had
to want to kill Alex?”

“I understand Tyler
threatened to shut down his illegal gambling operation,” Jake said.
 
“I haven’t had a chance to dig into it
yet, but he’s next on my list.”
 
Grace and I started laughing, something that Jake didn’t find all that
amusing. “Did I just say something that was funny?”

“It’s not your
fault.
 
You haven’t lived in April
Springs very long.
 
Dallas is a
deacon at the church, and he sponsors a bingo game there once a month.
 
The prizes are all donated from local
businessfolk, and the proceeds go directly to care packages for soldiers.
 
I give a dozen donuts every month myself.
 
Did Alex really threaten to shut his
bingo game down?”

“There was a
report on Tyler’s desk that says when he tried to issue a warning, Dallas tore
it up and threw it back in his face,” Jake said.

“I would have
paid to see that,” Grace said.
 
“Dallas is ninety years old if he’s a day, and the sweetest old man
you’ve ever met.
 
He’s as unlikely a
killer as you’re going to find.”

“I don’t know
about that.
 
I still need to speak
with him,” Jake said.

“We can stop by
his farm on the way back to town, if you’d like,” I suggested.

“He’s ninety
years old and he still runs a farm?” Jake asked incredulously.

“Mostly he rents
out his fields, but he’s got a nice-sized garden he grows specifically to
donate to the soup kitchen in Hickory.
 
I heard him say once that he has family there, and he liked what they
did.”

“Is this guy really
some kind of saint?” Jake asked.

“He’s probably as
close to one as you’re going to get around here,” I replied.
 
“Dallas is a real character; there’s no
doubt about that.”

“Still, I need to
see him,” Jake answered.

“Done and done,”
I said.

Thirty minutes
later we were leaving the farm, shy one dozen donuts but heavy with potatoes
and beets from Dallas’s garden.

“So, what’s your
verdict now that you’ve met him?” I asked Jake.

“Until I get a
new and pretty compelling reason to suspect him, he’s going to the bottom of my
list.
 
That was a pretty sound alibi
he had, wasn’t it?”

“It’s not every
day that you get a priest
and
a pastor
to both vouch for you,” I said.
 
“Should we call and confirm his alibi to see if they were really all together
on the day of the murder?”

“I’ll take care
of it when we get back to town,” Jake said.
 
“In the meantime, I need to bring the
mayor up to speed on what’s been happening.”

While he was
talking to George on the phone, I said softly to Grace, “You know, I’ve been
thinking about something.
 
I really wish
that we had some way to take pictures of our suspects without them knowing
it.
 
It would make things a lot easier,
wouldn’t it?” I glanced over at an unusually quiet Grace.
 
“Grace?
 
What’s up?”

“To be honest
with you, I’ve kind of been doing just that ever since I got my new company
cellphone,” she admitted.
 

“Why didn’t you
tell me?”

“I really wasn’t
sure that it would work,” she said.
 
“Would you like to see the shots I’ve taken so far?”

“Not while I’m
driving.
 
Show me when we get back
into town.”

“Does that mean
that you don’t mind if
he
knows what
I’ve been doing?” Grace asked me in an even softer voice.

“No, we’re laying
all of our cards out on the table now, remember?
 
That was good thinking on your part.”

“Thanks.
 
I normally have one good idea a day, so
I was glad I didn’t waste that one,” she answered with a grin.

As Jake hung up
his phone, he asked, “What were you two just talking about?”

“Grace was just
telling me that she managed to get a few candid shots of some of our suspects
while we were interviewing them earlier,” I said.

“Not bad.
 
Is there any chance that I could get
copies of those pictures?”

“Sure thing,” she
told him.
 
“I was afraid that you’d
be upset.”

“Not a
chance.
 
If there’s something the
two of you can do to make my life, and my investigation, any easier, I’m all
for it.”

“What did George
have to say?” I asked.

“He understands
that these things take time.
 
Oh,
and he confirmed Dallas’s alibi while we were on the phone.”

“How could he
possibly do that?” I asked.

“When I called,
he was in a meeting with Father Randy about feeding the hungry in the area, and
the priest confirmed everything we were told.”

“So Dallas is
officially off our list of suspects,” Grace said.

“It appears
so.
 
That just leaves Brandon Morgan
in April Springs.”

“But we have a
bunch left in Granite Meadows,” I said.
 
“Between Deke, Maisie, Shannon, Officer Durant, and the police chief,
we’ve got more than our share there.
 
There’s no way around you defying the inspector and leaving all of them
alone, is there?”

“None that I can
see,” Jake agreed.
 
“I’ll try not to
be so overt about it next time, though.
 
There’s no sense ruffling his feathers any more than I have to.”

From beside me,
Grace said, “It’s really amazing how many enemies Alex Tyler made in his
lifetime, isn’t it?”

“I guess he just
had that way about him,” I said, feeling a little guilty that the two of us
hadn’t gotten along in the short time that we’d known each other.
 
I wouldn’t have minded nearly so much if
he were still alive, but the fact that things would never be right between us
bugged me on a level that I didn’t completely understand myself.

“That means that
we’ve sure got our work cut out for us finding the killer,” Grace said.

“You realize that
you can still back out of our investigation any time that you want to,” I told
her.

“Are you
kidding?
 
Why would I stop when
things are just getting more interesting?
 
You know me, Suzanne.
 
I’m in
it until the end.”

“Thanks,” I
said.
 
“What do we do in the
meantime, though?”

“We keep heading
back to April Springs,” Jake said.

“Is anyone else
hungry?” Grace asked.

“I could eat,” I
admitted, leaving out the fact that I’d been thinking about food for some time.
 
“How about you, Jake?”

“I’ve been so
focused on the investigation that I didn’t even realize that I was getting
hungry myself.”

“Believe me, I’m
never
that focused,” I said with a grin.

“Then let’s get a
bite to eat on the way back to town.
 
Anyone have any suggestions?”

“I say we go to
the Boxcar,” Grace said.
 
“The
restaurants and cafes between here and April Springs are nothing to write home
about, and we can always count on Trish Granger to serve up something good.”

“Can you wait
that long?” Jake asked me.

“I’ll manage,” I
said.
 
“Besides, if we can’t hold
out without a snack, don’t forget that there are a few more donuts in back.
 
We gave away two dozen, but there should
be another dozen left.”

“To be honest
with you, I completely forgot about them, too,” Jake said.

“If I had your
focus, I’d weigh twenty pounds less; I’m sure of it,” I said.

“Don’t you lose
an ounce,” Jake said happily.
 
“I
love you just the way you are.”