A Hopeless Discovery

by Daniel Carson

  He rubbed his forehead with his thumb and forefinger. “That doesn’t make sense. Wanda wouldn’t have been looking at anything related to cooking.”

  “Why not?”

  “Because Wanda hated cooking. I don’t just mean she couldn’t cook, which I’m sure was true, I mean she refused to. She wouldn’t even touch a microwave. She liked to eat food plenty well, just didn’t want to have anything to do with making it.”

  “I don’t know, Kip. When I start wasting time on the internet, I search for all kinds of things.”

  “Did she look at recipes just one time?” he asked.

  “Well, no. There were lots of searches over several weeks.”

  “That doesn’t sound random to me. And I knew Wanda pretty well. I just don’t see her wasting time looking at recipes. That doesn’t fit.”

  “Okay, but… I mean, they’re recipes. What does that have to do with anything?”

  Kip shrugged. “I have no idea. I’m just a farmer. You want to know something about cooking, you best talk to Lucinda.”

  I checked the time on my phone. Five minutes to nine. Closing time. “I’ll never make it back to Apple Donut Lane before everything closes.”

  Kip smiled. “Then you’re in luck. Lucinda’s not at the donut shop this time of night. When she can, she likes to take the last shift of the night over there.”

  He pointed over my shoulder.

  “At the corn maze.”

  As I hustled over to the corn maze, I called Darwin.

  “Hope,” he said, “I don’t have much time. I’ve got a hot date.”

  “Seriously?”

  “No, it’s just you’re always teasing me. I thought I’d try to get you back.”

  “And you did, Darwin. Big time. I’m actually running short on time too. Remember that search history you pulled up on Wanda Wegman’s computer? Can you pull that up again for me right now?”

  “Sure. Just log in and give me access like you did before.”

  “I’m not at her computer right now.”

  “I can’t turn on her computer remotely, Hope.”

  “Darn it! I thought you’d be able to help.”

  “Oh, I didn’t say I couldn’t help. As it turns out, I had a feeling you weren’t done with this yet, so when you logged me in last time, I copied a bunch of stuff over. Including her entire search history.”

  “Darwin, you are the best boyfriend ever.”

  “Stop that right now. What do you need to know?”

  “There were some searches for recipes and baking stuff. I didn’t look at them carefully. Could you skim through them and give me an idea what they were about?”

  “Um, let’s see…” He paused. “Uh… mostly it’s stuff about donuts. Recipes for donuts.”

  “What kind of donuts?”

  “Looks like apple donuts.”

  “You’re sure?”

  “It’s right in front of me, and believe it or not I am capable of reading words, so yeah… I’m pretty sure.”

  “Anything else about baking or recipes or donuts?”

  “Um, well…” Another pause. “Okay, here’s one for a pumpkin patch near Omaha. The landing page is for Annie’s Apple Donuts.”

  “Annie’s Apple Donuts?”

  “Yep. And here’s a search for an award called Best Donut in America.”

  “Is that from 2014?”

  “As a matter of fact, it is.”

  “And who was the winner that year?”

  “Somebody called Lucinda Meadows. Does that mean anything to you?”

  “It means a lot to me. You see anything else that might be related?”

  “Um, no, pretty much just more of the same. Recipes and… okay, this one’s a little different. This site is for a food testing lab.”

  “A food testing lab?”

  “That is what the words say, Hope. She went to a site for someplace called Northwest Food Testing Labs. It looks like you can send in food and they can break down the ingredients, give you nutritional info, that kind of thing. Is that helpful?”

  “Very, very helpful. Hey, when you copied her stuff over, did you grab her email?”

  “Of course. That was the first thing I did.”

  “And did you look through it?”

  “Yeah… um, no. I sort of forgot.”

  I sighed. “Listen, I’ve got to go talk to someone real quick before they leave. Could you quickly search her email for anything related to food or recipes or apple donuts or this food testing lab?”

  “When did do you need this done by?”

  “Thirty seconds ago.”

  I found Lucinda just as she was about to turn off the lights to the corn maze.

  “Hi, Hope! Burning the midnight oil.” She nodded with her head toward the hayracks. “Talking to Kip?”

  “Yeah, he was just trying to help me sort through things.”

  “And did it help?”

  “Honestly, I think I’m more confused than ever.”

  “I don’t know how you do it.”

  “Do what?”

  “Investigate murders and crimes and mysteries all the time. What I do, making food, is much more straightforward. You have a recipe, you follow the directions, and if you do everything right, you get the result you wanted. But you? You can work your tail off and still never know if you’ll come up with an answer.”

  “Funny you should mention recipes and food. That’s part of what has me confused.”

  “How so?”

  “I’m trying to figure out why Wanda was so interested in baking and recipes at the end of her life.”

  “What makes you think she was?”

  “Her internet search history. Last few weeks of her life, she became suddenly interested in donuts.”

  “Donuts?”

  “Apple donuts, to be more precise. And since you’re the donut queen, I thought I’d ask you why.”

  Lucinda shrugged. “Wanda was pretty handy. Maybe she wanted to make donuts.”

  “But apple donuts? You already make apple donuts. America’s Best Donut in 2014 if I’m not mistaken. Why learn to make donuts when you’ve already got the best donut in America just down Apple Donut Lane?”

  She shrugged again. “I can’t say. Maybe Wanda liked to tinker in the kitchen.”

  “But that’s just the thing. She didn’t tinker in the kitchen. She didn’t do anything in the kitchen. I would have thought you knew that.”

  She looked puzzled. “I don’t know what to tell you. What does this have to do with your investigation?”

  I had a feeling I knew exactly what this had to do with my investigation. Wanda’s search history had included two new topics in the last weeks of her life: apple donut recipes and counterfeit money. She’d confronted someone about the counterfeiting. I thought that had gotten her killed.

  Had she also confronted someone about apple donut recipes?

  “She also looked up a donut shop in a pumpkin patch outside of Omaha, Nebraska,” I said. “Annie’s Apple Donuts. Do you know that place?”

  Lucinda frowned and nodded, as if thinking. “Yeah… I think I have. You know, Bubba and Wanda have visited a lot of pumpkin patches through the years. They’ve probably been there.”

  “That’s interesting. I’ll talk to them about it.” I paused, then added, “Oh, and there’s one more thing that’s the hardest to figure of all.”

  “What’s that?”

  “You ever heard of a place called Northwest Food Testing Labs?”

  Her face twitched. No eye contact. “Doesn’t ring a bell.”

  “They test food and figure out what the food’s made of. What ingredients are in it. Wanda was looking at their web site shortly before she died.”

  “Huh. That’s weird.” She looked about on the ground, like a woman who was lost.

  “Yeah,” I agreed. “That’s really weird.”

  My phone buzzed. Darwin. I raised my finger to Lucinda. “Just a second.”

  I turned and wh
ispered to Darwin. “Find anything?”

  “Plenty. But I suspect the one you’re going to be interested in is an email from Wanda to someone from Northwest Food Testing.”

  “Tell me.”

  “Apparently Wanda sent them two apple donuts, and asked them to compare the two. The lab tested them, and shared its results. The donuts are identical. Exact same ingredients in the exact same proportion. According to the lab, a perfect match.”

  Boom. There it was. The kind of puzzle piece that makes all the rest of the pieces suddenly fall into place.

  “That’s exactly what I needed, Darwin. Call me back if you find anything more.”

  I ended the call and turned back around.

  Lucinda was standing right in front of me, holding a pitchfork a foot away from my face.

  “Put the phone down, Hope. Put it down now.”

  Chapter Thirty-Two

  Lucinda backed me up into the corn maze, the sharp tines of the pitchfork never far from my chest. Thankfully, the overhead lights were still on. But still, it was a corn maze.

  Worse, it was the corn maze.

  “Why’d you have to keep asking questions?” Lucinda said. Her eyes were fierce, her face hard and mean. No joy. No happiness. Nothing friendly whatsoever. The Donut Queen was gone, and in her place was someone else entirely.

  “I had to find out the truth,” I said. “That’s my job.”

  “A grumpy old woman was dead. Dead for three years. You didn’t see anyone carrying on about it, begging to know the truth.”

  “Because they thought she’d run off.”

  “I don’t see that it matters. Gone is gone.”

  “You murdered her!”

  “I took care of a problem, Hope. Nothing more, nothing less. That’s what I do.”

  “I thought you were supposed to be the Donut Queen. A woman who makes a day at the pumpkin patch just a little bit better.”

  “I am that. But you can’t have sunshine without a little darkness.”

  This woman was cold, calculating, and, as I now feared… more than a little crazy. I should never have confronted her alone. That’s what Wanda did, and we all know how that turned out. I should have gotten Alex first. Or at least brought Kip.

  I couldn’t just let her take charge. She would back me into the maze, get me out of sight of everyone, and then…

  And then she would kill me. Like she killed Wanda.

  I had to make my move.

  I looked over her shoulder and widened my eyes as if I’d seen someone. She wasn’t fooled, but she did hesitate just long enough for me to spin around and take off—straight into the maze.

  Of course, I wasn’t worried about following the twists and turns. I busted right through the rows of corn. I needed to put as much distance between her and I as I possibly could.

  And then, with a loud click… everything went dark.

  Lucinda had shut off the overhead lights shut, and the corn maze was shrouded in inky blackness.

  In my youth, the horrible corn maze was haunted by fog—but at least I could still see. This was far worse. There must have been heavy cloud cover, because I saw no moon, no stars, no light.

  And in the distance, Lucinda’s footsteps crunched against the dirt.

  “Running won’t get you very far, Hope. I designed the corn maze this year. I know it backward and forward. I can do it in the dark. You can’t.”

  My heart pounded away in my chest, and my breath was rapid and shallow. I spun around, trying to get my bearings. I stretched out my arms—and felt the tentacles of a monster. In my mind, I knew it was just corn. But my imagination was telling me something very different.

  I turned until I felt open space before me, then slowly made my way forward.

  But I had no idea where I was going.

  “I hope you’re not too scared, Hope. Remember, all of us die. It can’t be that bad, right? When I watched Wanda die, it honestly didn’t seem so bad. She hurt for a little bit, and then it was over. Easy-peasy. Heck, lots of things in life hurt for a long, long time. Don’t worry—I won’t let you suffer. I’ll make sure you won’t hurt for long either.”

  I sprinted forward, crashed face-first into the corn, and screamed.

  Lucinda laughed. “Well, now I know exactly where you are. Now be a good girl and let me finish this.”

  It was clear that I couldn’t escape her in this maze. I had no idea where I was or where I was going. I had to do something else. I had to get her talking.

  And at least I might have a chance.

  “So the testing lab,” I said. My voice shook. “Wanda told you about it?”

  “Can you believe the nerve of that nosy old hag? Testing my donuts behind my back?”

  “She tested your donut against one from Annie’s Apple Donuts, didn’t she? The place in Omaha? And the lab told her they were identical.”

  “Mine are better.”

  “If they’re identical, how could yours be better?”

  Lucinda laughed. “Simple. Because mine are made with love.”

  “You’re a psychopath, Lucinda. Your donuts were never made with love. In fact they’re the most calculated donuts in history. Because you stole the recipe. Didn’t you?”

  “It’s only stealing if you get caught. And even then it’s not stealing if the person who catches you gets a screwdriver stuck in the belly … or something like that.” She laughed. “I forget the saying exactly.”

  “You must have been on one of those trips years ago to visit other pumpkin patches. Bubba said it was a great way to learn. You ate some apple donuts in Omaha.”

  “They were the best donuts I’d ever had,” said Lucinda. Her footsteps crunched relentlessly toward me.

  “And you didn’t forget about them,” I said. “How could you? They’re delicious. And then one day, you got the idea to compete in the Best Donut of America competition. So you stole Annie’s recipe.”

  “Well, not so fast, Hope. I tried my own recipe. Many versions of it. But I never could recapture the taste of Annie’s donut. And why would I settle for second best? So I found a woman who worked at Annie’s, and she was willing to part with the exact recipe for a few hundred dollars. It was really quite easy.”

  “And then you submitted the donuts to the contest, claiming the recipe as your own.”

  “Well, it is my own now, isn’t it? I bought it, didn’t I? It’s amazing how easy it is to cheat.”

  “That’s it. Wanda hated cheaters. I bet she visited that same pumpkin patch in Omaha. Ate those same apple donuts. The woman couldn’t cook, but she liked food. I’m guessing she noticed right away that your donuts were awfully similar to Annie’s donuts. Maybe even the same. But she probably thought that was coincidence. She would never have suspected such devious behavior from someone she had worked with for years. Until… until she discovered that maybe she should have suspected exactly that. Because one of her co-workers was a counterfeiter.

  “That’s what happened. She got caught with fake bills. Bills that came from her employer. That made her furious. She hated cheaters. And she was no longer willing to give anyone the benefit of the doubt. So she went home and she did some digging. Not just into Mary Riley the counterfeiter, but into someone else. Lucinda Meadows the recipe-stealer. And she caught you both. Dead to rights.

  “She confronted Mary. Told her to stop counterfeiting immediately. And Mary agreed. But when Wanda confronted you, the meeting had a very different outcome.”

  Suddenly, Lucinda emerged from the darkness before me. I couldn’t see much, but I make out her shape, the pitchfork that was aimed at my heart, and the whites of her teeth as she smiled.

  “I’m surprised Mary had the guts for a counterfeit scheme,” she said. “I’ve gained respect for her. I always thought of her as a bit of a pushover. I, however, am not a pushover. I wasn’t about to let old Wanda Wegman threaten me. Yes, she confronted me. I couldn’t believe she’d put it all together. But I also knew what I had to do. I didn�
�t panic. Didn’t sob like some fool. I had a problem, so I fixed the problem.

  “I’d been fixing some kitchen equipment and had a screwdriver nearby. I grabbed it, stabbed her, and dragged her body over to the train. I loaded her on the train, drove her over to the pumpkin patch, and buried her body. If I made a mistake, it was only that I didn’t bury it deep enough. Now…” Her teeth glinted in the darkness once more. “I’m sorry, Hope, but that is the end of our little story. And this is the end of the road for you. For what it’s worth, I respect you. Hell, I respected Wanda. But you’re a problem. And problems need to be fixed.”

  The overhead lights flicked on and voices screamed, “Aunt Hope! Aunt Hope!”

  I didn’t hesitate. Batting the pitchfork to one side, I threw myself at Lucinda, pinning her arms to her sides. She stumbled backward but didn’t fall. She was strong. She freed one of her hands and punched me in the head, knocking me onto my butt in the dirt. She raised the pitchfork above me.

  But I was quick. I jammed my heel as hard as I could into her knee. She howled and buckled over.

  The kids’ screaming was getting closer.

  I scrambled to my feet just as Lucinda raised the pitchfork again. She swung it at me, and I ducked under the tines and grabbed the handle. We were face to face, both of us trying to gain control of that pitchfork. I needed to get it away from her.

  And then she headbutted me right in the nose.

  I felt to the ground, my head spinning.

  Lucinda raised the pitchfork once more.

  I saw Lucy and Dominic crashing through the corn on my right. Lucinda saw them too. What she didn’t see was the person flying in from my left.

  Katie.

  My best friend came sprinting through the corn, clenched fist raised high, and before Lucinda had time to react, Katie crushed Lucinda’s jaw with the greatest punch I’ve ever seen.

  Lucinda crumpled to the dirt like a rag doll.

  I rose groggily to my feet.

  Katie was standing over Lucinda like Cassius Clay standing over Sonny Liston. “You think I should sit on her just to make sure?”

  Lucinda’s eyes were rolled into the back of her head. She was breathing, but it was shallow.