Raspberry Revenge (8 page)

“Tell us,” Hazel said eagerly. It was good to see her excited about something, anything.

“Well, it seems she wanted to get out of her contract, but her publisher wouldn’t let her. She owed them one more book, and even though she offered to return her advance, he refused. So what did she do?”

“She killed him in the book,” I said with a grin of my own. It sounded like something that I might do, if I had a fingernail of the combined talent, determination, and luck that most authors had.

“That’s exactly what she did,” Elizabeth said, crowing about it. “I looked up the man online and saw that she had portrayed his physical attributes perfectly, though of course she changed the man’s name. I have a hunch that a great many folks still recognized him, though.”

“That explains why she spent so much time describing his death so graphically. I thought she crossed the line for a cozy mystery.”

“The line is getting blurrier every day,” Hazel said, caught up in our discussion and forgetting about her own woes for a moment. “I’ve seen some themes lately that made me downright queasy.”

“If you think mysteries are bad, then stay out of the young adult section,” Jennifer said. “I’m a grown woman, and some of those topics make me blush.”

“The irony is that the book was so successful, the publisher had no choice but to ask for more.”

“I hope she said no,” Hazel said.

“As a matter of fact, she got double her last advance. She told me in secret that she’s killing a former agent of a friend of hers next. Evidently the woman collected some of her foreign rights royalties and neglected to pass them on. I wouldn’t want to be her enemy.”

“I would think that a mystery writer would make a bad adversary,” Jennifer said.

“Why is that?” I asked her.

“Think about it. They sit around all day trying to come up with new ways to kill people,” she said. “Is that someone you’d want out to get you?”

“No, not when you put it that way.”

Hazel’s cellphone rang, and I knew that she must have forgotten to turn off the ringer, since it was one of our club’s hard-and-fast rules. “Sorry,” she said as she glanced at who was calling her. “It’s him,” she said with distaste.

“Ignore it,” Elizabeth said.

“What could it hurt to see what he wants?” I asked. I hated the thought that Hazel’s world was turning upside down, and the last thing I wanted to happen was for her to give up without a fight.

“I might as well.” After answering it, she said, “Yes? I’m with my book club. What? When? Now? Okay. Yes.”

Her face had transformed during the conversation, going from cloudy to nothing but sun by the end of it. “I’ve been such a fool,” she said when she turned back to us.

“What’s going on?” I asked her.

“My dear husband has been working late so he can make the time to take me on a romantic getaway. It was all in my imagination.”

“What about his cute new secretary?” Jennifer asked her.

“She and her husband have been trying to get pregnant for a year, and it finally happened, so she’s trying to get in extra hours before the baby comes. Do you mind if I duck out early?”

“No, we completely understand,” Jennifer said.

“Elizabeth, I hate to ask, but you’re my ride.”

“It’s fine with me. Let’s go.”

After the two of them left, Jennifer said, “I don’t suppose there’s any reason to continue our discussion, is there?”

“I’d be happy to chat with you about anything that’s on your mind,” I said as I glanced at my watch. “For another twelve minutes, at any rate.”

“I don’t know how you do it, Suzanne.”

“What’s that?”

“Run this shop, have a life outside of Donut Hearts, and still manage to join our little group.”

She didn’t know the half of it. “I’m often tired but rarely bored,” I said with a grin.

“I envy you that,” she said.

“Is there something you’d like to talk about?” Something was clearly troubling her, and if I could help, I wanted to.

Jennifer wanted to tell me, I could see it in her eyes, but finally she patted my hand as she said, “I’m fine. Just being a little wistful, that’s all.”

“I’m here if you need me,” I said. “Being my friend isn’t a conditional thing.”

“I understand that, and believe me, it’s greatly appreciated.”

She stood, gave me a quick hug, and then she left the shop. I wished that she’d confided in me, but when the time was right, I’d be there for her if she needed me. In the meantime, I needed to give her some space. It wasn’t like I didn’t have anything else to do.

After all, I still had a murder to solve and not a great deal of time to accomplish it in.

Chapter 14

“H
i, Suzanne,” Megan Gray surprised
me by saying just before I was ready to close up for the day. We’d nearly sold out of donuts, and the coffee was probably fit only to clean out our drains.

“Sorry I don’t have much of a selection,” I said as I pointed to the display case behind me.

“That’s okay, I’m not here for donuts.”

“Is there something that I can do for you?” I asked her, reaching for my cellphone just in case I needed to call for help in a hurry. Megan didn’t appear to pose a threat, but I’d never gone wrong overestimating one of my suspects’ capacity for violence, no matter how unlikely it seemed at the time.

“I’ve been thinking about our conversation before,” she said. “I know you suspect that I did something to Harley, and I’m here to convince you that I didn’t kill him. How can I do that?”

“You can give me a better alibi,” I said.

“I was at work. I already told you that!” The mouse was roaring a little, and Emma must have heard her.

She came out of the kitchen and looked suspiciously at my guest as she asked, “Is everything okay out here?”

“It’s fine,” I said, though I wasn’t entirely sure that was the case at all. “There are just a few more trays and mugs out here, and then we’ll be finished for the day.”

Emma gathered them up, but I noticed that she left the kitchen door ajar so she could keep tabs on me as she worked. I didn’t even mind if she eavesdropped on this conversation, since it might just save my life.

“Megan,” I said in a calm voice, “there’s no reason to be that upset.”

“You try being a murder suspect and see how you like it.”

“I have been myself, so I know that it isn’t pleasant, but then again, I also knew that I was innocent at the time, so I wasn’t all that worried about it.” That wasn’t strictly true, but I was trying to push her a little to see if she’d crack. It might not have been the wisest strategy in the world, but sometimes I had to take a risk in order to make something happen. Besides, Emma was just in the next room, for all of the good that might do me. I glanced over at the kitchen door. I could see in a little, but Megan couldn’t see her at all, given the angle where she stood. Emma was there all right, but she wasn’t doing dishes. Instead, she was holding our weapon of choice when it came to self-defense, the store’s aluminum softball bat. It should have been behind the counter with me, but somehow it had ended up back there with her. Maybe I should buy another bat so we’d have one for each spot, if I made it out of this alive. Regardless, it felt good having Emma there as backup, so I decided to push a little harder if the opportunity presented itself.

My explanation seemed to mollify Megan a little. “Suzanne, you’ve seen my office. I work by myself all day long. I suppose I could slip away and no one would notice, but the truth of the matter is that I didn’t. I worked all morning, and I never left hospital grounds.”

“Without a decent alibi, and given your rebuffed declaration of love for Harley, what else can people think?” I asked her. “You honestly can’t blame me for considering you a suspect.”

“Suzanne, haven’t you ever had an all-consuming crush in your life, where you idolized someone who didn’t deserve it, only you were too blind and lonely at the time to see it? When Harley laughed in my face, it was as though a veil had been ripped from my eyes, and for the first time in a very long time, I could see clearly again. I know most folks think I’m this quiet, mousy woman, but I live a full and robust life in my mind. When I’m reading my novels, I come alive in them, becoming the person I’m normally too shy to share with anyone else in real life.”

I did know how she felt, and it tugged at my heart. If Megan had been going for my sympathy, it was working. There had been a particular boy in high school, Pat McKinley, I’d been so smitten with that I could barely breathe whenever I was around him. That went on for an uncomfortably long time, until I heard him making fun of my obvious devotion with some of his friends when he didn’t know I was around. I’d undergone the exact same experience that Megan was describing, and Pat had been dead to me for the rest of school. “Megan, I sympathize, I truly do, but I’m just trying to find Harley’s killer.”

“I suppose I understand that,” she said, clearly hoping for a different outcome. “You should know something about me. I’m going to change, Suzanne. As much as I love my books, I’m going to start living my real life on my own terms, as bravely as I do in my imagination. This shyness and insecurity I’ve been feeling my entire life ends right here and now.”

“All I can say is that I wish you luck, and I mean that sincerely.” I glanced at the remaining donuts, now resting in a half-empty box. “Would you like some treats, on the house?”

“Sure, why not?” she asked with a smile. It was the first time I’d seen her with a full-blown smile, and I could start to see that she was being completely sincere. I just hoped that she didn’t turn out to be the killer, because if she was, I’d still have to nail her all the same for her crime, no matter how much she’d gotten to me.

Once Megan was gone, Emma came out, still carrying the softball bat. “What was that all about, or should I even ask?”

“The truth of the matter is that it was either a courageous act of openness and honesty, or it was an attempt to win my sympathy in order to divert my suspicion from her in Harley’s murder,” I said without thinking about who I was telling. “That’s off the record, by the way.”

“Of course it is,” Emma said. “Do you have any idea who killed Harley?”

“I honestly don’t have a clue,” I said as I handed her the last tray. “We can close up a little early today. As soon as you finish with the dishes, you can take off.”

“What about cleaning the tables and sweeping the floor out here?”

“I’ve got enough time to do that myself,” I said. Honestly, I didn’t mind doing the work. I wanted a little time to process what I’d just learned. It was a fair question Emma had posed. Which scenario did I really believe? After she left Donut Hearts, I was no closer to reaching a conclusion than I had been before, and I still wasn’t sure by the time I’d finished cashing out the register and cleaning the front.

There was a tap at the front door just as I shut off the main lights, and I was kind of surprised when I looked up to see Momma standing outside.

“Was I expecting you?” I asked her as I let her in.

She looked disappointed. “I thought we were sleuthing together today. Why, has something else come up?”

“No,” I said after I let her in and closed the door behind her, being sure to lock it securely before I turned back to her. “As a matter of fact, I just had an interesting visit from one of our suspects.”

“I’m dying to hear who it was,” she said just as my cellphone rang.

“Hang on one second.” It was Grace. “Where are you?” I asked her.

“That’s the thing. I’m going to be late. Can you think of some way to occupy yourself for a few hours without getting yourself into trouble?”

“Momma’s here with me,” I said.

“That doesn’t answer my question,” she said with a laugh.

“Is everything all right?”

“Yes, I’ve just got a rep who’s gotten herself into a jam, and I’m trying to help her figure a way out of it. From the sound of things, it might take a while.”

“Is it work related?” I asked.

“No, the silly nit’s been dating two men without telling either one about the other, and last night while she was stacking two dates on top of each other, they proposed.”

“Together?” I asked, shaking my head in disbelief. I knew there were women who could date a variety of men at the same time, but I’d never been one of them. I seemed to have it coded in my DNA that I could only be with one man at a time.

“Of course not. I just said that they didn’t know about each other. That’s not the real problem, though.”

“I’d love to hear what it is, if that’s just the lead-up,” I told her.

“She said yes to both of them,” Grace said.

“You’re kidding.”

“I wish I were, but you can’t make things like this up.”

“Stay with her as long as you need to,” I said. “I don’t envy you.”

“Yes, I’ve got to admit, I’d rather be there with you than dealing with this mess. Well, I’d better get back inside before she melts down completely.”

“Good luck,” I said.

“Right back at you.”

“What was that all about?” Momma asked me, a look of concern spread across her face.

“Grace is helping one of her workers with a personal problem,” I said, and then I repeated what she’d just told me.

“So I gathered from your end of the conversation. Did the daft woman honestly just accept marriage proposals from two men? How does something like that even happen?”

“I’m not quite sure myself, but it seems that’s the case,” I said.

“The answer is easy enough,” Momma said.

“I’m listening,” I replied, eager to hear my mother’s take on the situation.

“Tell Grace to have the woman flip a coin, making one man heads and the other tails.”

“Seriously? That’s your great advice, flipping a coin? It seems kind of random, if you ask me.”

“Suzanne, think about it. The results of the coin flip don’t actually matter.”

“Now I’m really lost.”

“Have her flip the coin, and then, just as she learns the outcome, have Grace ask her if she’s happy with the result or disappointed. That might not tell her which man to marry, but it will certainly point her in the right direction.”

“Momma, you’re brilliant.”

“So I’ve been told. Well, stop nattering away with me. Call her back.”

I did as she suggested, and to my chagrin, Grace got it immediately. “Give your mother a hug for me,” she said.

“You can do it yourself later,” I said. “While you’re gone, Momma and I are going to go talk to some of our suspects again.”

“Just save at least one for me,” she said.

“I promise.”

After I hung up, I turned back to Momma. “How did you happen to think of that?”

“I do it sometimes myself when I’m faced with a difficult decision,” she said. “It’s amazing how often it works. Now, who should we tackle first?”

I told her about Megan’s visit, and Momma nodded. “I can understand her reaction completely.”

“Momma, was there a Harley in your life at one time? No, of course not. Forget I even asked you that question.”

“Jason Henderson,” she said without hesitation. “Believe it or not, I haven’t always been the self-confident woman you know and love. Jason knew every button to push to get me to adore him in junior high school, and yet he didn’t return a single ounce of my affection.”

“Did he end up breaking your heart?” I asked, seeing my mother in a new light.

“No, actually I broke his nose,” Momma said.

“Seriously? You punched him in the snout?” I knew that my mother could be rowdy at times, but physical violence against a boy who didn’t return her affections seemed a bit extreme, even for her.

“Of course not. Don’t be silly, Suzanne. I accidentally opened a classroom door, and he happened to be standing on the other side of it. It smacked him squarely in the face, and he cried like a little girl. After that, I had no use for him. Do you know what happened?”

“His family sued you for damaging their son?” I asked, half jokingly.

“No, we weren’t nearly that litigious back then. After Jason’s nose healed, he decided that he was smitten with me! My rejections just made him that much more determined, until he finally gave up and went after someone else.”

“My mother, the heartbreaker
and
the nose breaker,” I said.

“It wasn’t my proudest moment, but there you go. Now, do we believe Megan?”

“I’m not sure,” I said, though I liked her using the word “we.”

“Then we put an asterisk by her name and move on to our next suspect. Is there anyone in particular you’d like to tackle first?”

“I was thinking we’d speak with Curtis and Wendy at the same time,” I said. “Why not kill two birds with one stone?”

“An unfortunate expression, but that sounds like a solid enough plan to me.”

“I still can’t get over your story about breaking a boy’s nose, and then he falls in love with you.”