Raspberry Revenge (7 page)

“I’ll do it,” George said. “I can’t believe this. I play hooky for one day, and look what happens.”

“Some folks are saying that you might have done it yourself,” I told him as he fumbled for his cellphone.

“Of course they are. You don’t think so, do you?”

“George, you are many things, but a killer isn’t one of them. Besides, if you had done it, you certainly wouldn’t have run away.”

“Who says I was running anywhere?”

“There was an anonymous tip,” I said.

“I’ll just bet there was, from the killer, more likely than not.” He dialed my husband’s number, and then he said, “Jake, it’s George. I’m at Donut Hearts. Suzanne just gave me the bare bones of what happened. Should I come over there, do you want to meet me here, or should I head straight to your office? Okay. Sure.” He stopped and glanced at me. “I can do that. I’ll tell her.” He hung up and turned to me. “He says that I should wait in back.”

“That might be a problem,” I said, thinking of Emma and her likely impulse to call her dad to tell him that the mayor was back.

“What’s the matter, are you afraid of harboring a fugitive?” George asked with a grin.

“It’s Emma. Give me one second.”

“Okay, but I don’t know how long I should stand here. Your customers will be coming in soon.”

“Just don’t go anywhere.”

I walked into the kitchen and approached Emma, who was still working on the latest batch of dishes. “I need you to do something for me and not tell anyone about it, most especially your father.”

“If there’s a body that needs burying, I’m your gal. Do you want me to hold the flashlight, or should I start shoveling?”

“Emma, this is serious. George Morris just showed up. He’s out front, and until I told him what happened, he had no idea that Harley had been murdered. I need you to cover the front and not tell anyone that he’s back here, most especially your father. Can you do that for me?”

“Of course I can,” she said, her expression suddenly solemn.

That was good enough for me.

“George, come on back,” I said.

He’d found the time to stop and grab a donut on the way.

“Seriously?”

“I’ll pay you for it, but I’m hungry,” he said. “Hi, Emma.”

“Hello, Mr. Mayor. I’m glad you’re okay.”

“Why wouldn’t I be?” he asked her, genuinely surprised by her statement.

“Something happened to Harley Boggess yesterday. I just didn’t want it happening to you, too.”

“I appreciate that, young lady,” he said.

“Emma, when Jake gets here, send him straight back.”

“Will do,” she said.

“She’s a good girl,” George said after she was gone.

“Despite who her father is?”

“It’s not as bad as all that. Ray provides a service to the community, no matter whether I agree with his reporting or not.”

“Let’s hear you say that after you read today’s paper,” I said.

That brought a look of alarm to his face. “Why, what’s he going to say?”

“I have no clue, but given the circumstances, can you imagine any scenario where it’s good?”

“No, not really.”

“George, I have to ask. Did you see Harley yesterday before you left town?”

The mayor frowned as he nodded. “He’s about the only person I did speak to. He barged into my office spouting off about how he was going to bury me in the next election, and I told him he couldn’t get elected dogcatcher if only the cats were allowed to vote. He stormed out, Moose called me, and I decided that I’d had enough, so I took off. At that moment, Harley could have had my job wrapped in a ribbon, but I didn’t kill him.”

“So, who did?” I asked him.

“I have no idea,” George said. After a moment, he added, “Hang on. He’s been arguing with Nathaniel Bloom in our meetings lately, and by the way Harley’s been acting, there’s a woman making his life more difficult than it already was or I’ll eat my hat. I don’t have a clue who she might be, though.”

“It’s Amber North,” I said.

“No. Really? Amber? Why?”

“I’m sure that some men must see her charm,” I said.

“Well, I’m certainly not one of them. Wow. Harley and Amber. Go figure.” He frowned a moment as he looked at me. “You’re digging into this, aren’t you?”

“With a little help, yes, I am.”

“Suzanne, tell me it’s not because of me.”

“I can’t do that,” I said, meeting his steady gaze with one of my own.

“Your mother is going to kill me,” George said. “She’s been trying to get you to back off with your investigations for years.”

“Funny, she’s helping us out this time,” I said.

“Why on earth would she do that?”

“She cares for you, George, and she doesn’t want to see this undo your political career.”

“She just doesn’t want to have to step in and take the job over,” the mayor said after he bit his lower lip.

“We both know better than that. Before Jake gets here, is there anything else I need to know?”

“Not that I can think of,” he said. “How does Jake feel about you nosing around in his case?”

“As long as I stay out of his way, he’s okay with it,” I answered as the kitchen door opened suddenly.

It had better be Jake, or there was going to be a problem.

If Ray Blake came in, he and his daughter would be escorted off the premises immediately, and I’d be in the market for a new assistant. I couldn’t have loved Emma more if she’d been my own daughter, but divulging what I’d just told her not to would be grounds for immediate dismissal, no matter how much it would have broken my heart to do it.

Thankfully, it was my husband, and from the expression on his face, he wasn’t particularly happy about the situation at the moment.

I had a hunch that things were only about to get worse.

Chapter 13

“H
ow long have you been
here, George?” Jake asked him pointedly.

“I just got back into town not ten minutes ago.”

He glanced at me, and I nodded. “That’s true, as far as I know. I had to tell him about Harley.”

“I wish you’d have let me do that, Suzanne,” my husband said.

“He didn’t know before I told him, Jake. Trust me.”

“Let me get this straight. Do you actually think that I killed him?” George asked as he looked incredulously at my husband.

“George, you were a cop once yourself. Think about it, and then tell me how you’d look at the situation objectively.”

The mayor frowned for a moment, and then he nodded. “Truth be told, I’d probably lock me up.”

“That’s not going to happen though, not unless you did it.”

“
Saying
that I’m innocent is pretty worthless, isn’t it?” he asked.

“Not to me,” Jake said. “Let’s go somewhere and figure out how you fit into this.” He turned to me. “Nobody’s outside waiting to get in, but we can’t hang around much longer. Suzanne, we’ll talk later.”

“Sounds good. Now go.”

I walked out with them, and after the two of them made it safely outside without being seen, I turned to Emma. “Thanks for not calling your father.”

“Susanne, I would never betray your trust like that. You asked me to keep it quiet, and that’s what I’ll do.” She hesitated a second, and then she asked, “Exactly how long does that have to be?”

“I’d rather you didn’t say anything about this happening at all.”

Emma nodded. “Consider it done.”

Hillary Teal, the older woman who often made costumes for Max’s seniors’ theater group, came in. “Suzanne, did I just see your husband with the mayor?”

“I don’t know, did you?” I asked her, trying not to give anything away.

“I don’t honestly know myself. I really must go see Dr. Sedgewick. I believe my eyesight is getting worse by the minute.”

“What can I do for you, Hillary?”

“I’ll take a dozen of your most deadly donuts, dear,” she said with a grin. “The girls and I are having a little party, and they all so love your tasty treats.”

“I’m honored,” I said as I put together a nice selection. After I took her money and made change, I asked, “Are there any new plays on the horizon?”

“I’ve been meaning to ask Max that very question. He’s so in love these days that there’s not as much time for us anymore.” Her face reddened for a moment as she quickly added, “That was rather tacky of me, wasn’t it?”

“No worries on my account. I’m happy for Max. He found Emily, and what’s even better, she found him. It’s hard enough in this world to find someone you belong with, so I won’t begrudge either of them their happiness. After all, if Max hadn’t cheated on me, I never would have found Jake.”

“You are wise beyond your years, Suzanne Hart.” With a twinkle in her eye, she added, “But not beyond mine.”

“Well, I hope there will be time enough for me to get there, too.”

The donuts were selling briskly, and I was already out of my latest experiment of pumpkin apple spice treats. I might just have a winner on my hands, but one day’s sales weren’t enough to give me reason to put it in the rotation of my offerings. I’d have to have at least two more successful runs before it made the grade. I was just returning from the kitchen after dropping off the empty tray to Emma for a sound cleaning when I saw someone unexpected waiting for me at the counter out front.

Nathaniel Bloom was paying a visit to my donut shop, something that was definitely out of the norm for him.

“Good morning. What can I do for you, Councilman?”

“Nathaniel will do just fine,” he said. “I’ve got a meeting in an hour, and I thought a dozen donuts might make for a nice change of pace from our usual fare.”

“You came to the right place, then,” I said as I grabbed an empty box. “Do you want anything in particular?”

“Let’s make it half a dozen plain glazed, and you can pick out the rest.”

“I can do that,” I said as I chose some of my slower sellers to fill out his dozen. He shouldn’t mind, since he had made it my choice, and besides, he was one of my suspects. If he was a cold-blooded killer, I didn’t feel good about giving him the best I had to offer. It might have been petty, but I could live with myself doing it, especially since I never sold
anything
that I wouldn’t eat myself. “We don’t see you around here all that much,” I said as I collected his donuts.

“I realize that, and I decided it was high time I changed that,” he said with a grin. The man was a born politician, and I wondered if his ambitions were strictly local. Had Harley known something that would have prevented Nathaniel from going after a bigger and better office sometime down the road? If he had, it wouldn’t be impossible to believe that Nathaniel might try to remove the stumbling block sooner rather than later. “How’s the investigation going?” he asked me casually.

“You’ll have to ask my husband about that,” I said after I told him the cost of the donuts.

As he paid me, he said, “I was talking about the unofficial one you are conducting.”

“We’re making progress,” I said. It wasn’t a total fabrication. Grace and I had managed to accrue five suspects in less than twenty-four hours, which was quite an accomplishment, at least in my book.

“Do you have any strong leads yet?” he asked me. “I bet you’re leaning toward Amber North, aren’t you?”

There was no one else in Donut Hearts at the moment, so Nathaniel clearly felt free to talk.

“She’s on our list,” I said as I made change.

“But the mayor is probably at the top, isn’t he?”

“Why do you say that?” I asked him without letting on that I knew more than he did about the situation.

“Come on. It’s obvious, isn’t it? Harley was murdered in George’s office with his letter opener, and the mayor is gone. How much clearer does it need to be?”

“It so happens the mayor is back in town, and he has an airtight alibi,” I said. Why had I just told him that? For one thing, I didn’t want anyone to know that George was back in town, and for another, I had no idea if his alibi was any good or not. It was just that Nathaniel had been so smug and certain about George’s presumed guilt that I couldn’t let it pass without comment. Doing so would have felt disloyal to him somehow. It suddenly dawned on me that I was no better than Momma or Grace, and most likely, I owed each woman a heartfelt apology.

Nathaniel was clearly surprised to hear the news. “How can you possibly know that?”

“He came by here first thing this morning and cleared it all up with Jake,” I answered, hoping that it was indeed true.

“Interesting,” Nathaniel said as he absently picked up the box of donuts. “I suppose that I’ll see you later, Suzanne.”

“You can count on it,” I replied.

Nathaniel looked at me for an instant with something a great deal less than warmth, but then it was quickly gone. With a smile that felt quite a bit less sincere than he must have meant it to, the councilman left Donut Hearts. I’d been rash telling him about George and his alibi, but it was a sin I could live with. After all, defending a friend was never a bad thing to do, at least as far as I was concerned.

Promptly at ten, the ladies from my book club arrived. It was always a pleasure meeting with them, even if I happened to be in the midst of a murder investigation occasionally. “Emma, they’re here,” I said as I called back into the kitchen.

She’d been warned about the impending meeting earlier, so she was ready to work the front while I spent a pleasant half hour discussing our latest book. Jennifer, an elegant redhead who was our leader, approached the counter. “Don’t forget, this one’s on me,” she said as she put her customary fifty-dollar bill on the counter. I’d given up trying to make change for her, as it had only left us both feeling less than happy about the exchange. “You’re too good to me, Jennifer.”

“Don’t kid yourself, Suzanne. Your treats are worth every penny.”

“What would you ladies like today?” I asked the three of them as they clustered around the front. Jennifer had been joined by our other two members, Hazel and Elizabeth. Hazel was on a perpetual diet, so I knew she’d be ordering as lightly as possible, so she surprised me by saying, “I’ll have four bearclaws, please. I don’t know what the rest of you want.”

“Hazel, what’s wrong?”

“My husband is having an affair,” she said, and then she started softly crying.

“I’m so sorry,” was all that I could manage to say.

“She doesn’t know for a fact that he’s cheating on her,” Elizabeth said.

“Why else would he work late every night with that cute young secretary he just hired?” Hazel asked.

“Maybe we should cancel the meeting today,” I suggested.

“No, please don’t,” Hazel said. “Right now, you three are all I’ve got.”

Jennifer frowned a bit, and then she said, “Hazel, we’re not going to stand by and watch you destroy all of your hard work dieting and exercising. You may have one treat, just like the rest of us.”

I wasn’t at all certain how Hazel would react to the edict, but she stopped crying, dabbed at her eyes, and then nodded in agreement. “You’re right. He’s not worth it.”

“That’s the spirit,” Elizabeth said. “Now that you mention it, a bearclaw sounds great to me, too.”

“Elizabeth,” Jennifer chastised her.

“What? It does. Besides, I’m only getting one.”

I put three bearclaws on individual plates.

“I just asked for one,” Elizabeth said.

“I’m having one, too,” I said. It was time for me to indulge a little myself.

“You might as well make it four,” Jennifer said with a sigh. After I plated the last one, she carried the tray to our favorite couch and chairs, since she was the official hostess for the meeting, while I grabbed our coffees. Once we were settled in and we’d enjoyed our treats, Hazel asked, “Shall we get started?”

“If you’re sure that you’re up to it?” I asked her.

“That’s why we’re here, is it not? Let’s talk about
Killing the Publisher
.”

“I’m getting awfully tired of these mysteries where the main character is a writer. Don’t these people have any imagination at all?” Jennifer asked.

“It’s how they spend their lives, sitting in rooms by themselves making things up. What else would you have them do?” Hazel asked.

“Not the ones who have co-authors,” Elizabeth said.

“They probably still don’t get out much,” I said. “Besides, there have been plenty of mystery writers on TV for quite a while.”

“I love Castle,” Hazel said. “He’s so cute.”

“I’m an Ellery Queen fan myself,” I said. “I never miss a Jim Hutton marathon.”

“Maybe I spoke a little hastily,” Jennifer said. “I still watch
Murder She Wrote
every time I catch a rerun. At least this book was cleverly plotted; I’ll give Gwendolyn Fry that much. She’s really good, isn’t she? I thought her publisher was a really nasty fellow.”

I looked over and saw that Elizabeth was grinning. “What’s so funny?”

“You should hear the story of how the book came to be,” Elizabeth said smugly. She prided herself on being able to find the most private email addresses of our authors and often had correspondences with them.