Donut Shop Mystery 25 - Devil's Food Defense (5 page)

Chapter 6

“E
mma, I thought for sure that you would be sleeping in today. After all, you won the bet last night, fair and square.”

“Honestly, after what you went through last night, I didn’t think you’d be coming in today,” she admitted. Emma was washing the last of the dishes from the night before, but at least she hadn’t started on the day’s cake donuts yet. “Dad told me what happened at Gray’s. I’m so sorry you had to go through that.”

“It was pretty horrible,” I admitted. It didn’t surprise me that Ray had heard about Gray’s murder. I didn’t doubt that he had a source on the police force, but if Stephen Grant ever found the leak, one deputy was going to be out of a job on the spot. “You shouldn’t have come in,” I said as I took my own coat off and put it beside Emma’s.

“But you’re glad that I did, right?” she asked with a grin.

“More than you’ll ever know. The truth is, I don’t know what I’d do without you.”

“No worries on that count. You won’t have to find out anytime soon,” Emma said. She had left me briefly once to go away to college, but she’d quickly come back home. I knew that her time of employment at the shop wouldn’t last forever, but I’d take every minute I could get until it was time for her to move on permanently. “I should have figured that you’d be here right on schedule, come what may.”

“Sometimes it’s the only thing in my life that makes sense,” I said as I started accumulating the ingredients I’d need to make the cake donuts. Running the donut shop required two different sets of skills for donutmaking. The cake donuts were made using one method, while the raised yeast donuts were something altogether different. I didn’t mind, though. I enjoyed both processes more than the actual selling, though it was usually a pleasure seeing my customers too—many of them my friends—every day.

I’d been right. The work helped take my mind off of what I’d seen just a few short hours before. Soon enough, it was nearing time for our break. As Emma and I walked outside the donut shop in the darkness, I saw a police cruiser head up Springs Drive toward us. At least the lights and siren were off.

Who could be paying us a visit this time of morning? To my surprise, it was Chief Grant himself.

As he got out of the squad car, I asked him, “Have you been up all night?”

“So far,” he said with a shrug. “Right now I’m going home for a quick nap, and then I’ll be back at my desk before dawn.”

“We have fresh cake donuts and hot coffee inside,” I offered. “You’re welcome to whatever we have.”

“I’ll skip the coffee, but I wouldn’t mind a donut or two,” he admitted.

“What kind would you like?”

“Plain cake will be fine,” he said, and then he turned to my assistant. “Emma, would you mind grabbing me a couple for the road? And take your time. I need a few minutes with Suzanne.”

“Of course,” my assistant said, and she quickly disappeared back inside.

“What’s up, Chief?” I asked him.

“It’s about earlier.”

“What about it?” I asked. I’d been trying to get rid of the image of Gray tied to that trellis since I’d first seen it, but it just wouldn’t go away.

“I’m sorry if I was a little abrupt with you at the crime scene,” he said softly.

“You were just doing your job,” I replied. “Did Grace put you up to coming by and apologizing to me?”

“No, but I know what she’s going to say the second I see her, so I thought I’d fire a preemptive strike by coming by to see you first. This way, it makes it look as though it was my idea, and not hers.”

“Sorry about that. She’s a little overprotective of me.”

“You don’t have to tell me that,” the chief said, and for a moment he looked his age. It vanished just as quickly as it had appeared, though, and the police chief was quickly back. “Anyway, I shouldn’t have been so hard on you.”

“No worries,” I said with a smile. “I appreciate the gesture, though. Do you have any idea why someone would want to kill Gray Vincent?”

“I’m afraid it’s a little more complicated than that.”

“How so?”

“I don’t suppose there’s any reason to keep it a secret, though if you could keep it to yourself for a few hours, I’d greatly appreciate it.”

“You know you can trust me. What’s up?”

“The truth of the matter is, Gray Vincent doesn’t exist.”

“What are you talking about? I know, knew, the man personally.” Had the police chief bumped his head at some point this evening? Or was it possible he was simply sleep deprived?

“You saw someone who’d been recently murdered, but his name wasn’t Gray Vincent.”

“Chief, Gray has been coming into my shop since I first took over, and he hasn’t missed ten days since. I know him nearly as well as I know you.”

“You might think so. I knew a man going by the name of Gray Vincent as well, but it turns out that he’s just someone’s fabrication. All of it is fake: his driver’s license, birth certificate, social security number, all of it. A week before he came to April Springs, a man about our mysterious friend’s age died suddenly, and Gray took over his identity. We don’t know who he is, but it’s dead certain that he’s not Gray Vincent, or wasn’t, at any rate.”

“I can’t believe it,” I said.

“I’m having a little trouble swallowing it myself,” the chief said. “We’re running his prints with the feds, but it takes a while. Right now, we’re looking for a killer. I have a feeling Gray’s identity may have something to do with why he was murdered, but we won’t know that right away, so we’re doing the best we can with what we’ve got. I don’t even know what to call him. I opened the case as Gray Vincent, but now I know that’s not true. I can’t stand the thought of putting John Doe on the file; whatever the man’s name was, we knew him for a long time.”

“You do what you want; I’m going to keep calling him Gray,” I said, wondering about the story he’d told me about his name. It had been a clever way of explaining the oddity of it. I was pretty sure that he would have liked a more generic name to start his new life with, but it couldn’t be that easy coming up with one from someone who’d been recently deceased.

“I know. It feels right, doesn’t it? I’m not going to sit around and wait for proper identification. It’s still a homicide committed in my jurisdiction, so that makes it mine, and I plan on finding out who did it. Have you had any luck remembering anything else? The truth of the matter is that right now, I’m grasping at straws.”

“Was there nothing in his cabin that helped?” I asked.

“No, it looked as though he could have walked away from it at a moment’s notice. There weren’t any personal photos, documents, or anything that might help figure this out. I’m stumped.”

“I’m just sorry I can’t help. I’ve been trying to come up with anything that might shed a little light on the situation, but I’m drawing a complete blank myself. I think I’m still in shock.”

“To be honest, I was surprised to find you working this morning,” he said.

“There’s no place I’d rather be. By the way, Grace is sleeping on my couch. Neither one of us thought we’d be able to rest, so we popped in a movie. The next thing I knew I was waking up at my regular time, and Grace was snoring softly beside me. I didn’t have the heart to wake her up.”

“She was worn out by the ordeal, too,” he said. “Are you two thinking about diving into this case?”

“We don’t have much choice,” I said honestly. “It was bad enough that he asked us for our help and we couldn’t provide it, but finding him like that makes it even more personal.”

“I get it, but you know I can’t sanction your investigation,” he said gravely.

I smiled at him. “I would have been shocked if you did. We’ll do our best to stay out of your way.”

“I’ve got to admit that I could use some help on this one. If Jake were in town, I’d try to deputize him.”

My husband would have readily accepted the assignment; I knew that without even asking. “Sorry, but you’re stuck with Grace and me this time.”

“I’m not underestimating your abilities to get folks around here to talk to you. I knew it as a cop, and even more so as the police chief, that a lot of people in April Springs are reticent to share anything with members of law enforcement.”

“While a donut lady and a makeup saleswoman are completely harmless,” I said with a laugh.

“Don’t forget who you’re talking to. I know for a fact that you two are about as harmless as a pair of copperheads,” he said, unguarded words springing from his exhaustion. “No offense intended.”

“Are you kidding? That’s a compliment, and I know it. We’ll stay out from underfoot, but we can still poke around the edges and see if there’s anything we can find out from our end of things. If we do, I promise that we’ll come straight to you with it.” It was a fairly new concession on my part, but if it helped the chief of police give us a little leeway in our investigations, it was worth it.

“Fair enough,” he said as he motioned to Emma. She’d been standing by the front counter watching us, for how long I didn’t have a clue.

“You called?” she asked as she joined us.

As Chief Grant handed her a pair of singles and a quarter to cover the tax, he said, “Thanks.”

“You’ve got a little change coming back from this,” Emma said.

“Save it for the next guy who comes in a little short,” the chief said.

“Will do,” she said, and then he got into the car and drove off.

“What was that all about?” Emma asked me after the police chief was gone.

I’d promised not to say anything just yet, and though I believed I could trust Emma, I wasn’t entirely sure she’d be able to withstand the temptation of telling her father the blockbuster news about Gray. “He came by to apologize for something that happened earlier.” It was true, too. It just wasn’t the complete story.

“That’s sweet. Did Grace put him up to it?” Emma asked with a mischievous grin.

“No, evidently he came forward all on his own.”

She was about to ask me something else when the timer went off. I was, quite literally, saved by the bell.

“Time to get busy making more donuts,” I said, and we walked back into the shop together.

I was going to have to talk with Grace about what had just happened, but it would have to wait for now. Not only was she most likely still asleep, but I had other things to do at the moment, like take the dough I had waiting for me and transform it all into delicious donuts to share with anyone in April Springs who had a yen for a sweet treat this morning.

Chapter 7

F
ive minutes before we were set to open for the day, my cellphone rang.

It was Jake.

I slid the last tray of donuts into the display case and took the call.

“Hey, Jake. How are Sarah and the kids?”

“Not great,” he said, and I could hear the exhaustion in his voice. “My sister has gotten herself tangled up with yet another bad boy, and I’m trying to break her free.”

Sarah had a habit of going for the worst possible men she could find, something that had a negative impact on her kids. It was one of the reasons Jake had paid so much more attention to them than he had his other nieces and nephews.

“Why does she keep doing that to herself?” I’d never understood the impulse to date guys who were trouble, if you excluded Tommy Thorndike in the sixth grade. Then again, Tommy and I had dated again a little in high school, and if anyone in our class had been destined for trouble, it had been Tommy. I’d known in my heart that I couldn’t change him, but I quickly saw the folly in even trying. He’d disappeared just before graduation, and I hadn’t heard from him since. For all I knew, he was in Raleigh dating Sarah now, but somehow I doubted it.

“She swears that she’s going to change as soon as she’s free of this one, but I’ve heard that before,” Jake said. “We’ll see. In the meantime, do you mind if I extend my stay here a little while longer?”

“No, of course not. Take all the time you need.” I felt a little selfish letting Jake stay in Raleigh without me, but I had my reasons. If he were home, it would be twice as tough investigating what had happened to Gray with Grace. I loved my husband dearly, but he was still having a tough time getting used to the fact that I was a decent investigator myself.

“Okay, that was a little too easy,” he said softly. “Suzanne, what’s going on there?”

I couldn’t even lie to the man by omission, not that I tried, but maybe I could postpone telling him the truth until Grace and I could get started. “I don’t know what you’re talking about. I have my work in April Springs, and you’re needed there. It just makes sense.”

After a long pause, he said, “At least I know there’s not someone else. After what Max did to you, you’d never cheat on me; you’d cut me loose first. You’re not getting tired of me, are you?”

The poor dear. There was a real air of concern in his voice. I had to tell him the truth to ease his fears, no matter what the consequences might be for our investigation. “Of course not. There’s been a bit of trouble here. That’s all.”

“What happened?” It was his “cop-voice,” one I well recognized.

“First off, I’m not in any danger,” I said quickly.

“Okay, I don’t like the way this is going. Why don’t you just lay it out for me, and I’ll be the judge of that?”

“I’d be happy to, but I’m opening the donut shop in three minutes,” I said. “I don’t have a whole lot of time.”

“Fine. You can tell me when I get there. I’ll see you in three and a half hours.”

“Hold on. I’ll find the time,” I said quickly before he could hang up and put his plan into action. I knew my husband. If we left things as they were, there would be no dissuading him from joining me, no matter how much trouble his sister might be in. “Gray Vincent was murdered last night.”

“Gray? Who would want to kill that old hermit?” Jake asked.

“Nobody can figure that out just yet,” I said.

“He was a steady customer of yours, wasn’t he?”

I nodded, forgetting for one second that Jake couldn’t see me. “Yes, he was one of my regulars. Gray was an odd bird, but I liked him.”

“Is that why you feel obligated to dig into what happened to him?” my husband asked me.

“Does that surprise you?” I asked him, holding back the fact that Gray and I had interacted the day before, and furthermore, that he’d asked me for my help.

“No, but there’s more to it than that. I just know it.”

How did he do that? Could the man read my mind, or was I that transparent? “I spoke to him before the movie started last night. He told me he was in trouble, and he asked me if Grace and I might be able to help.”

“What kind of trouble was he in?”

“That’s what we were hoping to find out. We were supposed to meet up with him after the movie, but he was already gone. He left a note on his chair for us to meet him at his house, so Grace and I drove out there, but we were too late. He was already dead.”

“How did it happen?” Jake asked softly.

“It was bad. Somebody tied him up to a wrought-iron trellis and stabbed him in the chest.”

“How many times was he stabbed?”

“Just once, as near as I could tell. Why?”

There was silence on the other end for a few moments, and I knew that Jake’s cop brain was analyzing the information. “It doesn’t make sense.”

“I know. That’s why Grace and I are going to do a little digging on the side. Chief Grant came by the donut shop during our break earlier and told me that he didn’t mind if Grace and I snooped around a little. Oh, there’s something else that you should know.”

“I’m listening.”

“It appears that the man we all knew as Gray Vincent was a fabrication. He stole the name off of a dead man. Nobody knows who he really was at this point.”

“Has Grant run his prints?” I heard Jake sigh slightly on the other end.

“It’s being done even as we speak. Listen, there’s nothing to worry about from my end. Grace and I are going to see if we can make a list of the folks who might have known about Gray’s secret. There’s no need to worry, though. We’re not actively looking for a killer.”

“Unless someone in town did it,” Jake said. “I still don’t like it.”

“Which part?” I asked.

“The part where you and Grace risk your lives digging into a homicide,” he answered immediately.

“Let me ask you something. Do you honestly think that you’d be able to dissuade us if you were standing right here in front of me? The man asked me for my help, and I couldn’t manage to do it before someone killed him.”

“Because you never got the chance,” Jake snapped.

“That doesn’t change anything, and you know it.” I had a stubborn streak a mile wide at times, and my husband was well aware of it.

“I could at least be there as backup for you,” he offered softly.

“When your sister needs you there so desperately? Sweetheart, I appreciate the offer, and if things get dicey, I’ll call you, but Grace and I can handle this.” I just hoped that I was convincing. I had one more minute until the shop was set to open, and a few folks were already outside waiting to get in. Since I’d cut back on my hours of operation, I’d found that it had increased foot traffic, not limited it. People were odd, but I wasn’t complaining. Working less for more money was a situation I could happily find a way to live with.

“I still don’t like it,” he finally said.

“We’ll be careful,” I promised.

“And you’ll honestly tell me if you’re in trouble?” he asked, clearly not believing me, not that I could blame him, based on my past performance.

“I promise. Stay right where you are.”

“I will, but I want hourly updates,” he said flatly.

I laughed at the suggestion. “We both know that’s not going to happen.”

He joined me in my laughter, and I was happy we’d been able to interject a little humor into the situation. “What can I say? It was worth a shot. How about twice a day?”

“I’ll bring you up to speed before I go to bed every night. That’s the most I can promise and follow through on. What do you say? Do we have a deal?”

“Why do I suddenly feel as though I’m buying a used truck?” he asked with a soft chuckle.

“I’m worth a great deal more than that, or you married the wrong woman.”

“There are things in my life that I’m not sure of, but that will never be one of them,” he said, and I felt the truth permeate his voice. I was so happy that we’d found each other, for the millionth time for the thousandth reason.

“Now, I’d love to stay on the line and chat, but I’ve got donuts to sell. That call was good timing, by the way.”

“I knew it was the one time of day that I’d be sure to catch you,” he said. “Will it hurt if I tell you to be careful, Suzanne?”

“That never hurts,” I said. “Good luck with Sarah and her situation.”

“Thanks. I’m afraid that I’m going to need it.”

“My, but don’t we lead interesting lives?”

“As long as we’re together, in spirit if not in fact, then I’m okay with everything else,” he said.

It was a sweet way to sign off, and I found myself smiling as I went to the door and unlocked it.

The smile didn’t have much time to exist.

One of my early visitors was not my biggest fan, and the feeling was most assuredly mutual. Over the years we’d found ways to get along, but it was always a trying experience.

What on earth was Gabby Williams doing at the donut shop, especially this early in the morning?

“Hey, Gabby. Fancy seeing you here. What happened, did you get a craving for a donut all of a sudden?” I asked her as she made her way to the counter. She was a stylish woman who owned the gently used clothing store, ReNEWed—which happened to be next door to me—but she didn’t often come by Donut Hearts for donuts. As a matter of fact, not ever, at least not since one of my customers had pelted her shop with heavily iced treats.

“I’m not here for your tasty little death-bombs, Suzanne.”

“So, you admit that they are tasty,” I said with a hint of a smile. Any broader, and it would make Gabby dig her heels in, and I might never learn why she was really there. It was a fine line I was dancing, but I’d done it with her before.

“It’s about Gray Vincent,” she said softly and solemnly.

That took the wind out of my sails immediately. “What about him?”

“Do you really want to discuss it out here in front of everyone?” There were half a dozen customers in the shop, with more heading our way.

I shook my head. “I do not. Let’s go into the kitchen.”

She looked in that general direction with clear distaste. “I’d rather do this outside, if you don’t mind. I have no desire to see how the sausage is made.”

“Making donuts is a lot prettier than that,” I said, but I wasn’t going to push the point. “I’ll meet you out front in thirty seconds.”

“If it’s thirty-one, I’m leaving,” she said as she exited the building.

I knew that it wasn’t hyperbole, either; Gabby usually meant what she said.

I found Emma in the kitchen, up to her elbows in soapy water. She was singing along with whatever was playing on her iPod, and I had to tap her on the shoulder to get her attention. “Can you watch the front for a few minutes?”

“Absolutely,” she said as she rinsed off her hands. Once upon a time she’d been reluctant to interact with our customers directly, but lately she’d been coming into her own, easy and confident after assuming my duties far too many times recently.

“I shouldn’t be long,” I said.

“Take your time.”

As I headed for the front door, I saw Gabby walking away.

Blast that woman, if she weren’t so useful to me, I would have let her storm off, but unfortunately, I wasn’t in any position to turn down any help I might be able to get.

“Hang on,” I said breathlessly as I burst outside. “According to my watch, I made it in time.” That was an outright lie, but I decided to own it. Besides, Gabby wouldn’t have come to the shop if she didn’t have something worth sharing. The woman loved knowing things that other folks didn’t, and she rarely passed up the opportunity to hold that over me.

“Barely,” Gabby said reluctantly. “I heard that you were the one who found Gray’s body last night. Is that true?”

“It is,” I said, not being able to stop myself from shivering a little at the memory.

“It must have been awful for you,” she said sympathetically.

“I’ve had better nights in my life,” I admitted.

“Does that mean that you and Grace are going to investigate?” she asked me, piercing me with her gaze.

“I know you think we’re crazy to do it, but honestly, do we have any choice? You don’t happen to know why we were there in the first place, do you?”

Gabby frowned, clearly unhappy about not knowing something that I did, for a change of pace. “No. Now that you mention it, Gray was notorious about his privacy. Why were you and Grace there in the middle of the night?”

“He asked us for our help, but before we could offer him the least bit of assistance, somebody killed him.”

The information rocked Gabby back on her heels. “You’re right. You really don’t have any choice, do you?” Her confirmation of our motivation surprised me. There was always more to this woman than I realized, and she rarely failed to do something that made me reevaluate my opinion of her on a fairly regular basis.

“We don’t think so,” I agreed. “What do you know about Gray?”

“If you’re asking if I know why someone would want to kill that harmless old man, I’m afraid that I can’t help you.”

Frankly, I was disappointed with the answer. “I was kind of hoping that’s why you were here.”

“I may not know who the killer might be, but that doesn’t mean that I still can’t be useful to you,” Gabby said. “Someone we both know rather well was closer to Gray than anyone in town realizes. She might be able to help you.”

“Don’t keep me hanging. Who exactly are you talking about?”

I thought Gabby was going to hold onto the name a little longer, but she must have seen the desperation in my eyes. “Suzanne, you and Grace need to speak with Gladys Murphy.”