by Jessica Beck
My call went straight to voicemail though, and when I tried to leave a message, I was informed by a computer-generated voice that the mailbox was full. It thanked me for calling, but I doubted its electronic sincerity. “She didn’t pick up,” I said.
“This is possibly the worst day of my life,” Grace said, grossly over exaggerating the situation. After all, we’d dealt with more than our fair share of killers in the past—and the aftermath they’d left behind their nefarious actions—and though I loved the food and company at Napoli’s, there was such a thing as perspective.
“I’ve got one more idea,” I said.
“Well, I’m too hungry to drive back to April Springs,” Grace said with a pout.
“Get in the Jeep,” I instructed her.
“You’re not dragging me to Go Eats, are you?” she asked with disdain. The place had started off being called Good Eats a thousand years ago, but the second “o” and the “d” had fallen off, and the owner was too cheap to replace them.
“Not if we can help it, though even you have to admit that the last time we ate there, it wasn’t nearly as bad as we thought it was going to be.”
Grace frowned at me. “That’s the expectation I always have when I eat out, for the food not to be quite as horrible as my already low expectations.”
I smiled at her in spite of her mood. “You get grumpy when you’re hungry. Did you realize that?”
“I’m never grumpy,” she said with an exaggerated frown before breaking out into a broad smile. “Okay, maybe sometimes a little bit.”
We drove around the strip mall where the restaurant was located, and I was relieved to see three cars parked behind Napoli’s. “We’re here.”
“Hey, why are there cars here if they are closed?” Grace asked me.
“I don’t know, but we’re about to find out.”
It took a pretty strong series of knocks before anyone answered the back door of the restaurant. “This had better be import…” Angelica said with a scowl until she realized that it was us. “Ladies,” she added, her smile coming through bright enough to lighten the gloomiest day, “how lovely to see you. What a pleasant surprise.”
While I might be considered cute on my best days, I couldn’t touch the spark of beauty that lay within the DeAngelis women. In a way I felt sorry for Angelica’s daughters. Even though they were all lovely in their own ways, their mother outshone them all. I had hoped that Angelica and George Morris might get together someday, and I had a hunch that the senior DeAngelis felt the same way, but so far George hadn’t picked up on the hints we’d been dropping. Now that he was single again, albeit for the most tragic of reasons, I had hopes that he might pursue Angelica, because if anything, the woman was more beautiful on the inside than she was on the exterior, and that was saying something.
“You’re closed,” Grace told her in almost accusatory fashion. “How can that be? It’s not permanent, is it?”
“Of course it’s not,” Angelica said, and then she turned to her youngest daughter, Sophia. “Dearest daughter, what did you say on the sign out front?”
“That we were closed, just like you told me,” Sophia said, narrowing her gaze at her mother. “Don’t tell me I managed to mess that up, too.”
Evidently the women were battling about something, but I wasn’t about to inquire what it might be. “I didn’t mean to start anything,” I said apologetically.
“Please, we’ve been having this exact same argument since I was old enough to cook,” Sophia said, still staring down her mother.
“Perhaps it’s because you don’t listen, and you’d rather do things your way than anyone else’s. Deny it if you dare.”
“Are you kidding? Mom, I embrace it,” Sophia said with a wicked little smile.
“You do?” Her daughter’s reaction clearly took her by surprise.
“Of course. After all, I’m exactly like you.”
Angelica was stunned by the statement, but before she could answer, one of Sophia’s sisters, Antonia, said, “Way to go, Soph. She didn’t see that one coming.”
“Sweet,” Maria added.
“Where’s Tianna?” I asked, naming the missing sister as I looked around the kitchen.
“She’s in Italy,” Maria explained.
“Where we will all be joining her tomorrow,” Sophia added.
“If we finish here in time, which is by no means certain at the rate we’re going,” Angelica added.
“You’re going away?” I asked, hoping beyond hope that this was just a vacation and not something more permanent.
“I want the girls to see where they come from,” Angelica answered.
“I come from Union Square,” Sophia said with a grin.
“If you aren’t interested in going with us, Sophia, you’re more than welcome to stay here while the rest of us go,” Angelica said.
Sophia approached her mother, hugged her, and then she said, “You’d miss me if I didn’t go with you. Admit it.”
“I never claimed otherwise,” she said with a smile. “Now let me go, girl. We have work to do.”
“How long will you be gone?” I asked Angelica.
“Two glorious weeks,” she replied before turning back to Sophia. “Did you put that on the sign as well?”
“That part might have slipped my mind,” she said as she grabbed a marker and headed out the door.
“That girl would forget her head if it weren’t attached,” Angelica said with a grin. I knew that she loved all of her daughters equally, but perhaps, just perhaps, Sophia held a special place in her heart.
“We’ll miss you, but we hope you have a good time,” I said as I started for the back door. It was clear they had more to deal with than feeding us, even though lovely smells surrounded them. The ladies must have been cleaning out their fridge before they left, but my oh my, the aromas coming from that stovetop were enough to break a woman’s heart.
“Where are you rushing off to in such a hurry?” Angelica asked.
“We don’t want to get in the way,” Grace replied, though she was clearly as taken with the aromas of goodness as I was.
“Nonsense. We have more food here than we could ever eat, and any leftovers will just have to be thrown out. You aren’t going to make me do that, are you?” she asked severely. Angelica felt the way I did about wasting food. It was to be avoided at all costs if at all possible.
That gave me an idea. “We’ll eat with you on one condition,” I said. Grace shot me a withering look, but I refused to budge.
“You are not going to pay for your meal,” Angelica said firmly. “I would rather throw it all in the dumpster than take your money for something offered out of friendship.”
Angelica was bluffing, and what was more, we both knew it, but that hadn’t been my condition at all. “I’ll trade you two meals for a box of donuts I have in my Jeep.”
“That’s not a fair trade at all,” Angelica said.
“Okay, I can probably give you two boxes, but that’s my final offer,” I answered with a grin.
“I meant that we aren’t bartering here. I’m asking you two to be my guests.”
“And I’m trying to give you something as well. Surely you don’t want to offend me any more than I want to show you disrespect,” I replied.
We stayed that way, stare for stare, for what felt like forever but was most likely not more than sixty seconds. Still, a full minute of intense silence could seem like a very long time.
Finally, it was Maria who broke the logjam. She whooped with laughter as she clapped her hands. “Mom, I believe we found someone as stubborn as you.”
“What about Sophia?” Angelica asked, her intense gaze loosening up a bit.
“Oh, she’s a mere amateur compared to the two of you,” Antonia answered.
“Should I be offended by that?�
� I asked Angelica.
“No, quite the contrary. Coming from my girls, it’s the highest compliment they could possibly give you. Very well. I accept your offer.”
“Two boxes of donuts for two meals?”
“One,” Angelica said firmly.
“Eighteen, and that’s my final offer,” I said, laughing when I was unable to hold my position without letting my enjoyment of the situation slip out.
“It’s a deal,” she said, joining in my amusement as well as she stuck out her hand.
“I’ll be right back,” I said as I took it.
“The transaction can surely wait until after you eat,” Angelica said, as Grace was starting to sit down at the table in the kitchen reserved for family and only the closest friends. It had been my honor and privilege to eat there many times in the past, and I hoped it would be again in the future.
“Come on, Suzanne. Everything smells wonderful,” Grace pled, but the girls had been right. In my own way, I was just as stubborn as Angelica was, but then again, like them, I’d had an excellent teacher of my own. I had a fair chance of going up against Angelica, but with my mother, it was another thing altogether. That woman could out-stubborn a rock if ever the need arose, and I was painfully aware of it.
“I’ll just be a second,” I said as I walked out the back door to my Jeep. We still had our original four dozen donuts that we’d left April Springs with, but since Beatrice had rejected my generous offer, I now had enough to spare. Taking two donuts each from three of the boxes, I found a way to cram all eighteen into the remaining one. They looked a little worse for the wear being shoved in all together like that, but I didn’t have any spare boxes on hand, and a deal was a deal, especially one I’d fought so hard to get.
“The box is a little too full,” I apologized as I extended it to Angelica upon my return.
“I’ll see if I can help make the situation better,” Sophia answered, now back in the kitchen with everyone else. She took a cherry-iced yeast donut and then handed the box to her sisters. “Come on. Dig in. This is a rare treat for us.”
“I can’t believe you’d rather have my donuts than your own delicious cooking,” I said in true wonder and astonishment.
“Think of it this way,” Maria answered as she took a chocolate-iced-and-sprinkled cake donut for herself. “We can have our food any time we want. Your donuts are a real treat.”
Antonia nodded with enthusiasm as she selected an old-fashioned cake donut, one of the plainest ones I served. “Plus, we didn’t have to make these. How about you, Mom? Aren’t you having one yourself?”
“I was just waiting for you all to get your first choices,” Angelica said. She peered into the box, and I nearly apologized for the limited offering when she smiled brightly. “Is this cream filled? I love these donuts!”
“It is,” I admitted, still shaking my head in wonder. “Now that I’ve kept my end of the bargain, I expect you to feed me in turn,” I said with a grin.
“Just as soon as I have another bite,” Angelica said, savoring my treat almost as much as I was about to enjoy hers.
“You go ahead and finish your donut, Mom. I’ll take care of Grace and Suzanne,” Sophia said, washing her hands in the sink and drying them on a nearby towel.
“Did you finish your treat already?” Angelica asked her.
“Hey, I’m a growing girl. I need as many calories as I can get,” she said with a grin, sticking her tongue out at her sisters, who were both starting to round off a bit to look more and more like their mother. These three daughters might just be heading toward their mother’s level of beauty after all. There was something to be said for Angelica’s mature loveliness, a rounding and a softening of edges that most of us don’t have in our youth. For me, I felt as though I just looked a little squishier, but for these three young women, they were, if anything, developing a new and deeper beauty that their youth had not been able to produce.
“I really don’t mind,” Angelica said, starting to put her donut down so she could serve us.
All three young women protested. “Mom, take a minute and enjoy the moment, okay? Isn’t that what you’re always telling us?” Antonia asked.
Angelica laughed as Sophia began to load our plates. “It’s a terrible thing to have your own wisdom thrown back at you,” she said with a grin, though it was clearly not so terrible at all. After examining the plates her youngest daughter had prepared for us, Angelica nodded in approval. “Well done, Sophia.”
“Thank you kindly,” she said with a half curtsy. “After all, I learned from the best. As a matter of fact, we all did.”
As Grace and I began to tackle more food on just one of our plates than either one of us could eat, I asked Angelica, “Tell us about your trip.”
By the time the meal was over, we’d been given a full itinerary of their planned travels, and I found myself wishing for an opportunity to go overseas again. Jake and I had honeymooned in Paris, and it had been wonderful, but there was so much more I longed to see there. Maybe, if things ever turned around at Donut Hearts and I actually started making a decent profit again, we could go back. That was an awfully big maybe.
After hugging all four of the women good-bye, Grace and I headed out to the Jeep so we could be on our way again.
“I don’t know about you, but after that meal, I need a nap,” I told her as I felt the seat belt straining across my waist.
“That sounds great, but sadly, we have work to do. At least we have an hour’s drive ahead of us to recover, though I might nod off along the way, if you don’t mind.”
“Tell you what. I’ll join you,” I said with a grin.
“Perhaps that’s not the best plan,” she replied. “I’ll make a deal with you. If you can manage to get us back to April Springs, I’ll finish up the drive and get us to Maple Hollow.”
“I might just take you up on that,” I said as I started the drive.
Three minutes later, I was about to say something to Grace about the case we were investigating when I glanced over and saw that she was sleeping soundly.
At least one of us was getting some rest, and who knew? By the time we got to April Springs, I might just have to take her up on her offer to drive to Maple Hollow.
After all, it wasn’t fair that she was the only one who got to take a snooze along the way, and she’d been right about something else, too.
We still had a great deal of work ahead of us if we were going to solve Maggie Moore’s murder.
Chapter 11
“Where are we?” Grace asked me quite a bit later as she finally stirred in her seat. I loved my Jeep, but it wasn’t the most comfortable ride in the world, and yet somehow Grace had managed to sleep for nearly an hour.
“We’re just pulling into Maple Hollow,” I said with a smile.
“I thought you were going to wake me up,” she protested rather weakly.
“I considered it, but you were sleeping too soundly,” I answered. “Besides, I wasn’t in any danger of falling asleep. Your snoring made certain of that,” I said as I laughed.
“At least let me drive back,” she asked.
“We’ll see. In the meantime, let’s go have a chat with Ashton Belle. At least we know where to find him,” I added as I pulled into the bank parking lot.
“If he’s in,” Grace said.
“Where else would he be on a workday at two in the afternoon?” I asked her.
“You never know.”
Fortunately, we could see the man we were looking for through a large window in his office, seated at his desk and leafing through some paperwork. “Mr. Belle, these two ladies would like to see you,” his assistant said as she led us into his private workspace. “They brought you donuts,” she added with a bright smile. The woman seemed happier about that prospect than she probably should have been.
“Put them in the brea
k room, Stella, if you wouldn’t mind,” he said before he even looked up at us. Ashton looked a little distracted for a moment, but the expression was soon replaced by a steady and clearly artificial smile when he finally focused on us. “Thank you for your kind gesture. Now, what can I do for you ladies?”
“We’re here about Maggie Moore,” Grace said, brushing aside all pretense of subtlety.
“What about her?” he asked as his smile instantly vanished at the mention of the woman’s name. “I’m not doing any more business with her until she drops her ridiculous claim that I owe her eight dollars. If she thinks sending two of her goons to my office is going to bully me into refunding a fee she clearly owed, she’s sadly mistaken.”
I looked at him and laughed, despite his serious tone. “You’re kidding, right?”
“What’s so funny?” he asked, suspicious that we were mocking him, because Grace had joined in as well. “Eight dollars might not seem like a great deal of money, but the fee was incurred, and it has to be paid.”
“Do you actually think we’re here on Maggie Moore’s behalf, and what’s more, that we’re her goons?” Grace asked with a grin. “I’ve been called many things in my life, but never a goon.”
“You know what I mean,” he said brusquely, not finding our amusement enjoyable in any way, shape, or form. “Tell her I personally said for her to go bark at the moon. I’m finished with that woman, and that’s that.”
“More than you realize,” I said, my earlier delight now gone.
“And why is that?” he asked me sternly.
“Because Maggie is dead,” I said. “Someone poisoned her yesterday.”
Ashton Belle shook his head with mild irritation. “I’m sorry, but I don’t find your brand of humor amusing at all. I’ve been at a conference in San Francisco for eight days, and I just got back into town this morning. I’m jetlagged and sleep deprived, so if you’ll excuse me, I’ve got real work to do.”
“It’s true. She’s really dead,” Grace said.