Jessica Beck - Donut Shop 17 - Old Fashioned Crooks (9 page)

“Agreed,” I replied
with a smile.
 
“We should get our
notes together so we can present Jake with the complete picture of what we have
so far.”

We were still
trying to organize our thoughts when my cellphone rang.

“We were just
talking about you,” I told Jake after I answered.

“I hope it was
all good things,” he said.
 
In a
lower voice, he asked, “I didn’t think to ask you before, but is Grace okay
with me helping you two?”

“She’s one
hundred percent on board,” I said as I winked at her.
 
It was sweet of Jake to worry about
offending Grace, and he scored some points with me for asking.

“Well then, I’ve
got good news.
 
We have thirty-six
hours now instead of twelve,” Jake said.

“How’d you manage
that?” I asked.

“I called George,
explained that I was going to consult with you two, and he offered to lose
Tyler’s paperwork for a day so we’d have a little more time to detect.
 
It’s not much, but it was all that I
could get him to agree to.
 
Stephen’s going to like it, at any rate.”

“Officer Grant?”
I asked, getting Grace’s attention immediately, since he was her
boyfriend.
 
“Why would he care one
way or the other?”

“I thought you
knew.
 
He’s been the acting chief
since three o’clock this afternoon,” Jake said.
 
“This will give him a little more
experience before Tyler takes over for good.”

“He must be
thrilled with the bump,” I said.
 
Grace kept tapping my arm, clearly asking for an update as to why her
boyfriend’s name had come up in my conversation, but I wasn’t going to make
Jake wait while I explained it all to her.

“If I had to
guess, I’d say that it’s equal portions of elation and sheer terror,” Jake
said, and I could hear the smile in his voice.
 
I hadn’t realized just how tightly he’d
been wound until
I
heard
his relief that he was no longer on his old job.
 
The pressure must have been constant and
intense, and I was glad that he was finally out of it, once and for all.
 
Our little investigation would be
nothing compared to what he’d been dealing with on a daily basis for more years
than I cared to consider.
 
“Anyway,
I’m making good time, so I should be there around two.”

“In the morning?”
I asked him.

“If I’m
lucky.
 
Should I go to the cottage
first, or just come by the donut shop so you can bring me up to speed while you
work on tomorrow’s donuts?”

“Don’t you dare
come by Donut Hearts.
 
Your orders
are to go straight to the cottage and get some sleep.
 
That’s what I plan on doing right now,
since you somehow managed to get us an extension.
 
We both need to be at our best
tomorrow.”

“That sounds like
a plan to me,” Jake answered.
 
“I’ll
see you in the morning.”

“You’d
better.
 
And Jake?”

“Yes?”

“I’m truly
thrilled that you’re finished with that part of your life, now that I know that
you are happy about it as well.”

“Thanks, Suzanne,
because I plan on spending all of the next part with you.”

“Now I can’t stop
smiling,” I said.
 
“I love you.”

“I love you,
too.
 
Now go get some rest, and
we’ll tackle this thing tomorrow after you finish up at the donut shop.”

“Given the time constraint
that we’re under, shouldn’t I just close my doors tomorrow so we don’t waste
any precious moments when we could be investigating?” I asked him.

“No, if it were up
to me, I’d keep Donut Hearts open.
 
You never know who might come through your door, or what they might have
to say about what happened to Rick Hastings.”

“Okay then,
that’s what I’ll do.”

After I hung up,
Grace asked impatiently, “What was all of that chatter about Stephen?”

“Well, it seems
that his tenure as interim police chief has been extended,” I said.

“I didn’t even
know that he’d been promoted in the first place,” Grace said, clearly a little
hurt that he hadn’t immediately passed the news on to her.

“Don’t be too
hard on him,” I said.
 
“He’s
probably got a lot on his plate at the moment.”

“I don’t doubt
it,” she said.
 
“Okay, I’ll take it
easy on him.
 
Suzanne, are we really
throwing in the towel tonight?”

I glanced at the
clock on the dash and saw that I still had a little less than an hour before my
bedtime, one I shared with grade-schoolers everywhere because of my early
morning work hours.
 
“I suppose we
have a little time left.
 
What did
you have in mind?”

“I was wondering
if we shouldn’t talk to Emma herself,” Grace said softly, clearly bracing
herself for my response.

My first reaction
was to say no, but after a moment or two of further consideration, I decided
that it was as good an avenue to pursue as any.
 
“I’m all on board, but let me call
Sharon first and see what she thinks.”

Grace smiled as I
dialed Emma’s mother’s number.

I hesitated
before I dialed the last digit.
 
“Why
are you smiling?”

“What can I
say?
 
I just love it when you follow
my suggestions.”

“I do it all of
the time,” I said.
 
“Don’t I?”

“We’re a good
team, Suzanne, with just the right balance.
 
I just hope that nothing changes now
that Jake’s back.”
 
Her smile, for
the moment, was gone.

“Nothing has to
change,” I said.
 
“Think of him as
just another asset.”

“I’ll try,” she
said.
 
“No go ahead and finish that
call.”
 

After punching
the last number, I waited for an answer.
 
When she came on the line, I said, “Sharon, is there any chance that
Emma would be willing to speak with us about Rick now?”

I could almost
hear the frown in Sharon’s voice as she answered.
 
“I was afraid you’d call.”

“If you think it
will be too much for her, we can push it back another day.”

“That’s not
it.
 
You see, Emma has been begging
for a chance to speak with you both all afternoon, but I’ve been refusing her
request.”

“May I ask why?”

“Suzanne, I know
that it might help your investigation, but I’m just concerned with trying to
protect my daughter.”

“I can respect
that,” I said, ready to give up.

Sharon surprised
me, though, as she added, “I can give you ten minutes with her, if you can get
over here right now.”

Fortunately we
were close.
 
“Don’t go
anywhere.
 
We’ll be right there.”

I brought Grace
up to speed as I started driving toward Emma’s place.
 

I just hoped that
Ray wasn’t there.
 

The last thing I
wanted to do was talk to my assistant while her father, the journalist, was
hovering nearby.

Chapter 11

Sharon met us at
the front door, and it opened before we even had a chance to knock.
 
Instead of inviting us in, she stepped
out onto the porch.
 
“Wow, you were
telling the truth.
 
That was really quick.”

“It was lucky
that we were in the vicinity,” I said with a slight smile.
 
“How is she doing?”

Sharon looked
exasperated as she tried to answer my question.
 
“I don’t know what stage of denial she’s
going through right now.
 
Anger,
maybe?
 
She wants whoever did this
to her boyfriend caught and prosecuted, or worse.
 
Ladies, please take it easy on her, could
you?”

I put a hand on
Sharon’s shoulder.
 
“I shouldn’t
have to tell you that I love your daughter almost as much as you do, and I’d
never intentionally hurt her.
 
You realize
that, don’t you?”

“Of course I do,”
she answered, a little flustered by my frank admission.
 
“Forgive me.”

“There’s nothing
to forgive,” I said with my brightest smile.
 
“We all want what’s best for Emma.
 
Now, let’s go see her.
 
By the way, does your husband happen to
be around?”

It was Sharon’s
turn to smile.
 
“No, he’s out
chasing down a wild tip he just got from his hotline.”

“That call wouldn’t
have been placed by you, would it?” I asked, grinning in return.

“I have no idea
what you’re talking about,” she said in a disguised voice that I hardly recognized.

“Got it.
 
Sharon, would you like to come in to
make sure we don’t overstep our bounds with Emma?” I asked her.

“No, I trust you
both.
 
Besides, I want her to feel
free to speak in front of you, and my presence might make her filter her
comments a little.”

“Thanks for
allowing this,” Grace said.

“I should be
thanking the two of you.
 
I know for
a fact that her boyfriend wasn’t much, but he was taken from my daughter before
she could see him for what he truly was and dump him by choice.
 
I’m afraid that she might give him more
credit than he deserved now that he’s dead.
 
Wow, I just heard myself say that, and
I’m not very proud of how it must have sounded to you.
 
I’m not evil, and there’s no way that I’m
happy the man’s dead.
 
I’m just
sorry for not expressing it better.”

“No apologies
necessary.
 
We understand how you
feel,” I said.
 
“Like I promised
before, we won’t be too long.”

“Thanks, I really
appreciate that.
 
If you don’t mind,
I’m going to bundle up and sit out here until you’re finished.”

Grace and I
walked into the house, but Emma wasn’t in sight.
 

“That was
intense, wasn’t it?” Grace asked in a whisper.

“Maybe, but it’s
perfectly understandable,” I said.
 
“Rick wasn’t any mother’s dream of the ideal man for her daughter.”

“You two don’t
have to whisper on my account,” Emma said as she walked out of the kitchen and
joined us in the living room.
 
“I’m
not stupid; I know what Rick was.
 
I
would have probably gotten around to breaking up with him sooner or later, but
I’m furious that I didn’t get the chance.
 
He might not have been much of a boyfriend, but he was mine, you
know?
 
Does that even make sense?”

I hugged her as I
said, “Emma, that’s what we’re trying to do, make sense of this mess.
 
We’ve been speaking with your mother
outside.
 
I hope that’s okay with
you.”

“I encouraged her
to help you, Suzanne.
 
She was never
one of Rick’s biggest fans, and I don’t guess I can blame her.
 
He wasn’t always the nicest guy in the
world.”

“Do you mean to
you?” Grace asked softly.

“No, he treated
me like a princess, but I saw his dark side at times, too.
 
My mother always told me that we’re
judged by the company that we keep, and some of his friends were really bad
news.”

“She happened to
share a few names with us earlier,” I said.

“Who exactly did
she tell you about?” Emma asked.

“Travis Wright,
Kyle Creasy, Amanda Moore, and Denny West,” I said, naming them all without a
moment’s hesitation.
 
Emma’s
insights could be valuable to our investigation, so it was important for her to
know what names had made it onto our list of suspects as soon as possible so
she could offer her own take on the relationships they’d each had with her late
beau.

“Wow, my mother
was really paying attention,” Emma said with obvious respect.
 
“That about sums up my list of Rick’s
enemies as well.”

“Can you give us
anything specific about any one of them?” Grace asked.
 
“Don’t filter what you tell us.
 
The slightest thing might be important.”
 

“I’ll do what I
can.
 
Have you managed to track any
of them down yet?” Emma asked me.

“Actually, we’ve
spoken with all four of them, however brief the conversations might have been,”
I answered.

Emma’s expression
looked instantly troubled.
 
“Maybe
you shouldn’t have done that.”

“If we’re going
to find out who killed him, we have to speak with our suspects,” Grace said.

“I understand
that, but none of them are particularly nice people, though some are worse than
others.
 
Would you mind giving me
your impressions of them so far?”

I thought about
it, and then I decided that it couldn’t hurt.
 
“Travis claimed not to know that Rick
was even dead, but he told us that your boyfriend was trying to extort money
from him over a phony assault case.
 
There’s something else, too.
 
Did you know that Kyle had a crush on you?”

“What?
 
No.
 
That can’t be true,” Emma said haltingly.
 
Was she blushing slightly at that news?

“It’s true,”
Grace said.
 
“He clearly wants you all
to himself.”

“That doesn’t
make sense.
 
Kyle has barely said
ten words to me in the past six months,” Emma said.

“Maybe he’s just
shy,” Grace offered.

“Maybe,” Emma
said thoughtfully.
 
“Still, that’s
not enough reason to kill Rick, is it?”

“He also said
something about Rick being too nosy for his own good, whatever that might have
meant,” I offered.

“I don’t have any
problem believing that someone felt that way about him.
 
Rick was always looking for his next
opportunity.
 
I wonder what he secretly
might have known about Kyle?”

“We don’t know
yet,” I said, “but we’ll do our best to find out.
 
Also, we found Amanda and Denny in Union
Square.
 
First, we tackled Amanda,
but she just stonewalled us.
 
Then we
tracked Denny down, and he claimed that Rick owed him money.
 
He was pretty convincing when he told us
that now he’d never get any of the money back, so why would he kill him?
 
The oddest thing we saw all night was
that we found Amanda and Denny together by the time we finally managed to track
him down.
 
The DeAngelis women
warned us that the pair of them weren’t all that nice, and it turns out that
they were right.”

“That’s the
understatement of the year,” Emma said.
 
“If Amanda or Denny had something to do with Rick’s murder, you’ll never
get either one of them to admit it.
 
They just respond to violence, and that’s something that you two can’t
threaten.”

“Maybe we can’t,
but Jake might be able to convince them that it would be in their best
interests to share,” I said.

“Is Jake actually
working with you on the case?” Emma asked, suddenly brightening.

“So far he’s just
agreed to act as a consultant,” I admitted, “but I’m beginning to think that we
need him to play a more active role in our investigation.
 
If Grace and I keep working on Travis
and Kyle, maybe Jake can shake something loose out of Amanda or Denny.”

“I’m still not
sure that’s a good idea for him to pursue them, even considering his background.
 
Suzanne, maybe it would be better for
everyone if you just dropped the investigation before someone else got hurt.”

“Is that what you
want us to do?” I asked her.
 
It
would be hard to just stop, but if that was Emma’s desire, how could I say no?

“I don’t know,”
she said haltingly, and then she began to softly cry.
 
“I’m sorry that I’m such a mess.
 
I don’t know what’s gotten into me.”

“If you ask us, you’re
just about perfect in our books,” I said as I hugged her again.
 
“There’s nothing wrong with shedding a
few tears, even given the circumstances.”
 

Sharon chose that
moment to come in.
 
Great.
 
Here her daughter was crying in my arms,
and I’d promised to do my best to protect her.

She was about to
speak when Grace touched her arm and shook her head slightly.
 
I wasn’t positive that Sharon would
comply with staying out of it for the moment, but she kept silent and didn’t
make a move toward her daughter.
 
How long that would last I could not say.

As I pulled away
from Emma, I asked her, “Are you okay?”

“Not yet, but I
will be,” she said after wiping a few tears from her cheeks.
 
“Hi, Mom,” she said the moment she
spotted her mother.
 
“Thanks for
inviting them over.
 
I really
appreciate it.”

“You’re most
welcome,” Sharon said with a brave smile.
 
“Emma, you look positively worn out.
 
Do you need to rest?”

“Maybe.
 
All of a sudden, I’m flat-out beat.”

I knew firsthand
that emotional turmoil could take its toll like nothing else in the world could.
 
“We’ll leave you both and let you get
some rest,” I said as I nodded to Grace for our exit.

As we started for
the front door, Emma said, “Keep looking for now, but don’t take any
chances.
 
The second
any
of you feel threatened, shut the
investigation down.
 
I can’t bear
the thought of something happening to one of you because of me.”

Once upon a time
George had been badly hurt while helping me during one of my investigations, so
I knew exactly how she felt.
 
The
memory of that incident still haunted me, even though George had made a
complete recovery.

“Be careful,”
Sharon echoed as we walked out.

“Always,” I said,
giving the mother and daughter my brightest smile.

“Now what should
we do?” Grace asked me as we got back into my Jeep.

“I don’t know
what your plans are, but I need to get some sleep,” I said as I stifled a
yawn.
 
“Just don’t do anything
without me,” I added a few minutes later when I dropped her off at her place
just before reaching my cottage.

“You don’t have
to worry about me.
 
I’m done
sleuthing for the night if you are.
 
I have a pile of paperwork that I have to put a dent in before morning,
so I’ll be busy until it’s time for you to wake up to make donuts again.”

“Sorry about
pulling you away from your day job,” I said, “but I really do appreciate your
help.”

“You know that
I’m happy to do it,” she said.
 
“Good night.”

“Night,” I said,
and then I drove up to the empty cottage.

Only it wasn’t
empty after all.
 

There was a light
on in the living room, one that I knew with complete and utter certainty that
I’d turned off that morning.

Clearly someone was
inside.