Sinister Sprinkles (14 page)

I was hoping for Officer Grant, but just my luck, the chief answered the telephone himself.

“I need to report a robbery at my donut shop,” I said.

For some reason, I’d been expecting him to laugh at my misfortune, but he asked solemnly, “Was anybody hurt?”

“No, as a matter of fact, no one was up front. Emma was in back, and I’d stepped out of the shop for a minute. While we were gone, somebody cleaned out our cash register.”

“That’s pretty careless, Suzanne, even for you.”

I felt bad enough about losing a day’s receipts without his added, unsolicited commentary. “Would you send someone over here?”

I was hoping he wouldn’t come himself, but that quickly turned out to be in vain. “I’ll be right there. Don’t touch anything until I get there, okay?”

“I wouldn’t dream of it,” I said.

After I hung up, I said, “The chief’s coming himself.”

I turned to Emma and added, “He’s already scolded me about leaving the register unattended, so prepare yourself for a lecture.”

“He can’t say anything worse than I’m thinking myself,” she said. “Suzanne, I’m going to pay you back every dime that was taken.”

I patted her shoulder. “Emma, I appreciate the gesture, I honestly do, but I won’t take your money.”

That didn’t do anything to cheer her up. “You’re going to fire me then, aren’t you? Not that I blame you.”

I held her shoulders with my hands. “Nobody’s getting fired, either. Now, don’t you have some dishes to do?”

She asked, “Doesn’t the chief want to dust for fingerprints?”

“I doubt it. Besides, whoever came in never made it in back, so we’ll be fine cleaning up there. Go ahead, take care of it.”

She nodded. “I’ll do it right now. I’m so sorry. I don’t know what else to say.”

After she was gone, Grace looked at me solemnly, then said, “You’re firing her, aren’t you?”

“No,” I said, not managing to conceal my surprise. “You heard what I told her. I meant it. She made a mistake, she’s sorry about it, and I’m willing to bet it won’t happen again. People deserve a second chance, Grace.”

She shrugged. “You’re a better person than I am. I’m not sure I could keep my temper in check.”

I frowned a few seconds, then explained, “Don’t get me wrong, I’m not happy about what happened, but I meant it when I said it was as much my fault as it was hers. I should have waited until noon to talk to Wilma, but my curiosity got the better of me. Emma’s not the only one who needs to learn a lesson from this.”

“You’re not going to quit investigating the murder, are you? It’s not like you to just give up when things get tough.”

I looked out the window as I said, “No, but I’m going to try to keep my priorities a little straighter. I’ve got a business to run—first and foremost—and if I don’t take care of that, I won’t have any way to support myself, and I’d rather die than ask anyone for help.”

Grace nodded. “Don’t think we all don’t realize that,” she said. “In the meantime though, if you need a little extra to tide you over, you know I’m always willing and able to help. All you have to do is ask.”

I hugged her. “Thanks, but we’ll be fine. It was a slow morning, so we should be able to bounce back. I
am
going to tell Emma that if it ever happens again and she’s here by herself, she needs to do as she suggested and lock the front door before she goes to the bathroom.”

“That’s all I’m saying,” Grace said.

Chief Martin drove up, parked in front of the shop, and came in with a clipboard in his hand. “Okay, let’s hear it again.”

“I told you everything over the phone,” I said. “We don’t know anything else. You’re not going to shut the shop down, are you?”

“Why on earth would I do that?” he asked.

“I don’t know, that’s what they do on TV. I don’t want fingerprint dust all over my donuts.”

He shook his head. “Suzanne, there are going to be a million prints in this place, and I’m willing to bet that the only ones that matter were smudged when you opened the register to see that you’d been robbed.”

“So you’re not even going to look for prints?” Grace asked, not even trying to keep the aggravation from her voice.

“Of course we’ll check it out,” he said. “I’ve got an officer coming to dust the register for prints, and the front door handle. Other than that, I don’t think we have much of a chance to find anything, but we’ll try. How much did you lose?”

“I’m not sure yet, but it wasn’t a whole lot. It was a slow morning. I’ll run a report on the register, but I have to hit a few buttons to do that, and I don’t want to obscure the prints anymore than we already have.”

Chief Martin nodded, and we all watched as Officer Grant came in, carrying a gray case in one hand.

“Where should I dust?” he asked.

“The register, and the front doorknob,” the chief said.

Officer Grant did as he was told without saying a word.

The chief looked at me and asked, “Where were you when this happened?”

“Grace and I stepped out for a few minutes,” I said.

“Would you mind telling me where you were?”

I ran a hand through my unkempt hair and admitted, “I was at the beauty shop, if you must know.”

“Why am I not surprised you were at Cutnip. Suzanne, are you digging into Darlene Higgins’s murder?”

“I was getting my hair done,” I repeated.

He studied my unkempt hair, then the chief frowned. “Then why didn’t you let her finish?”

This was getting complicated. Lies usually were. That’s why I stuck to the truth whenever I could. “I felt bad about leaving Emma here all by herself, okay?”

“At least that instinct was on the money,” he said. “Where is she?”

I pointed to the back. “I’ve got her doing dishes. I thought it might help steady her nerves.”

Before he could go back into the kitchen, I said, “She already feels bad enough about this. Don’t scold her too, okay?”

He merely shrugged as he disappeared in back, and as I started after him, he shook his head. “Thanks, but I don’t need you at the moment. Don’t wander off, though. I’ll be right back.”

I started to protest, but it was pretty clear he wasn’t about to back down.

As soon as the chief was in the other room, Officer Grant frowned at me. “Sorry this had to happen to you. Petty crime’s been way up in town lately.” He must have realized how that sounded, because he quickly added, “Not that your robbery’s petty. You know what I mean.”

“It’s fine; I understand. Are you getting any good prints?”

He shook his head. “No, they’re all smudged on the register. I’m guessing the oil from handling the donuts makes it tough to get a decent print on the best day.”

“What about the door?” Grace asked.

“I’ll dust there too, but I’m pretty sure it’s not going to help. I’m afraid this is a dead end.”

He was just starting on the front door when the chief walked back out. “You’d better go talk to her. I can’t get her to stop crying.”

“What did you say to her?” I asked as I rushed past him to Emma.

“Nothing that didn’t need to be asked,” he said.

Grace started to follow me when the chief said, “Hang on a second. I want to talk to you.”

Grace wanted to argue, but I shook my head. I needed to see Emma alone, and the chief was doing me a favor by restraining her, whether he meant to or not.

Emma was indeed crying when I went into the kitchen. “What’s wrong? What did he say?”

“He wanted to go through my purse. He said if I wasn’t guilty, I wouldn’t mind.”

“Guilty of what?” I asked, though I was starting to suspect just what the chief had in mind.

“Suzanne, he thinks I stole the money myself. I didn’t, I swear I didn’t. You’ve got to believe me.”

I hugged her, and the sobbing intensified.

After a minute, she managed to get control of it again, and as I pulled away, I said, “I trust you with my life. I know you’d never steal from me.”

“Thank you for believing me,” she said through her sniffles.

“There’s nothing to thank me for,” I said.

“Should I let him search my stuff? I don’t have anything to hide.”

“You don’t have anything to prove to me.”

“But I do to him.” Before I could stop her, she walked to the door and said, “Chief, I changed my mind. You can look wherever you want. I don’t have anything I’m afraid for you to see.”

“Good,” he said.

He took her purse, riffled through it, then said, “You’ve got eleven dollars and change here.”

“Surely we made more than that,” I said, trying to treat it lighter than it really was. It had shaken me, having Chief Martin suspect Emma of the theft. I knew in my heart she hadn’t done it, but had Wilma shared the same confidence in Darlene? It was more than a theft, if it was true. It was a betrayal of trust, and I could suddenly realize how Wilma could have taken it so personally.

“Do you want to search me, too?” As she spoke, Emma took off her apron, revealing an outfit underneath of tight blue jeans and a t-shirt that wouldn’t have hidden a quarter, let alone a handful of bills.

“No, you’re fine. But I need you two to wait out front for me.”

We did as we were ordered, and after about ten minutes, the chief came back up front. “The money wasn’t there, or in the alley, either.”

“I told you it wouldn’t be,” Emma said.

“I have to look, Emma. It’s part of my job,” he said, almost sad about the truth of it.

“Then I feel sorry for you,” Emma said as she went back into the kitchen.

He turned and asked Officer Grant, “Did you find anything?”

“Lots of partials, nothing we can really use. Half the town’s been in here over the past two days. Sorry I couldn’t do more.”

“That’s fine. Go on back to the station and wait for me there.”

After he left, Grace asked, “So, what happens now?”

“I fill out this report, and Suzanne calls her insurance company. That’s really all we can do at this point.”

I said, “I’m not filing this. My premiums will jump more than I lost. This is one I’m just going to have to eat.”

The chief finished the form, then tore off the bottom copy and handed it to me. “Again, I’m sorry about this.”

“It’ll be fine,” I said. “Thanks for coming so quickly.”

After he was gone, I asked Grace, “What did he say to you when you were alone?”

“He wanted to know why my hair wasn’t wet, too.”

“What did you tell him?”

Grace smiled. “The truth. I said that I was too smart to let Wilma within half a mile of my hair.”

“What did he say to that?”

“I thought I saw a grin, but it was just there for a second, so I can’t be sure. Where do we go from here?”

I glanced at the clock. “It’s almost eleven, so I have to stay around until closing.” I looked at the display case, which was still loaded down with donuts. When I ran the report, I’d know exactly how much we’d lost, but I had a pretty good idea just seeing the inventory we still had on hand.

“I’ve got some calls to make, remember?” she asked.

“You can use my phone in the office,” I said.

“Thanks, but I’d rather do it somewhere else. I’ll be back around noon.”

“Okay.”

After she left, Emma and I tried to do anything we could think of to dispel the pallor in the air, but nothing seemed to work. Several customers drifted in, but none of the sales were all that large, and the till was practically bare when Grace came back ten minutes before noon. Emma had withdrawn into the back, and I had grown tired of trying to make her feel better, especially since I was the one who’d lost the money.

Grace said, “You look like death.”

“Thanks. You’re particularly lovely yourself. What did you find out?”

She looked toward the back. “Is Emma still here?”

“She is. Why?”

“I’d rather not talk about this until she’s gone,” Grace admitted.

I didn’t care one way or the other, but Grace had long had a mind of her own. “Help me box these up, and we can all get out of here,” I said.

I called out to Emma, “We’re closing early. Can you come out here?”

“Sure, what do you need?” she asked as she came out, wiping her hands on a clean towel.

“Would you mind taking these by the church?” I asked as I pointed to the donuts we’d readied for transport.

She patted her hands dry on her apron. “I’d be happy to do it. If there’s anything you need, all you have to do is ask.”

She grabbed her jacket, then said, “Save the rest of the dishes. I’ll take care of them when I get back.”

“I’ll do them,” I said. “You can go home after you drop these off.”

“Suzanne, let me do them. That’s my job. Please.”

I couldn’t bear the hurt look in her eyes. “Fine. I won’t touch a thing.”

After we loaded up the car and my assistant drove off, I asked Grace back inside the donut shop.

“Were you able to find anything out?” I asked as I started sweeping the floor. I’d leave the dishes for Emma, but that didn’t mean I had to put the entire burden of cleaning up on her shoulders. She’d made a mistake, a costly one, true, but I’d forgiven her, and it wasn’t in my nature to keep punishing her for it.

Grace grinned at me. “You’re not going to believe this.”

“Try me,” I said.

Grace nodded. “Here’s what I was able to come up with so far. I started with Muriel, and I was frankly surprised by what I found. She looks like she’s been doing well to the outside world, doesn’t she? It’s all a lie. Her house is mortgaged to the hilt, she’s taken cash advances out on three credit cards, and her combined savings and checking accounts have less then forty dollars between them.”

I had a hard time believing it. “Are you sure?”

“My sources are pretty accurate,” Grace said. “I didn’t see the numbers myself, but I believe it’s true.”

“So she’s in some kind of dire financial trouble,” I said.

“That much is pretty clear,” Grace said. “What I don’t know yet is what happened to all of her money. At one time she was supposed to be loaded. I’ve got a few people looking into it, and I should know something more pretty soon.”

“I’d say that’s a lot you found out,” I said. “What about Darlene?

“Hey, I only had an hour. I’ve got some calls out, but I haven’t heard anything yet.”