Donut Shop Mystery 25 - Devil's Food Defense

by Jessica Beck

“What makes you think he’s going to call his boss and tell him anything?” I asked.

  Grace held up three fingers as she counted down, “Three, two, one.”

  Nothing happened.

  “That would have been so cool if it had worked,” Grace said, just as her phone rang.

  She answered, saying, “Hey. No, nothing to report just yet. Sure. Okay. Tomorrow sounds good.” After she ended the call, she grinned at me. “Do I know my man or what?”

  “Impressive indeed,” I said. “That was smart thinking.”

  “I appreciate that. Now, since we’re finished investigating for tonight, what would you like to do with the rest of our evening?”

  “I’ve got another good hour in me, but after that, we both know that I’m going to nod off and fall asleep on your couch,” I said.

  “I’d be disappointed if you didn’t,” she said.

  As we got back into town, my cellphone rang.

  It was Phillip Martin, former chief of police and my current stepfather. I told Grace who was calling.

  “I wonder what he wants?” she asked.

  “There’s only one way to find out,” I said as I answered the call.

  Chapter 14

  “Hey, Phillip. Is everything all right with Momma?” It was my first reaction whenever I heard from him directly. My mother was healthy and fit, but she wasn’t getting any younger, and I was beginning to wonder how much time I had left with her. I’d taken her for granted over the years, but after my divorce and both of our remarriages, I’d finally understood how lucky I was to have her in my life. I didn’t see her every day, as I had when we’d shared the cottage where I now lived with Jake, but I made it a point not to go too long without spending a little time with her.

  “She’s fine,” he said. “I need to talk to you.”

  “Okay. What’s up?”

  “It’s about Gray Vincent,” he said. “I know it’s approaching your bedtime, but do you have time to come by the house? There’s something I’d like to show you.”

  “Sure. Grace and I will be there in three minutes,” I said.

  As I ended the call, Grace said, “I assume we’ve had a change in plans. Should I head over to your mother’s place?”

  “That would be great. Phillip has something he wants to share with us about Gray,” I said. “It might not be anything, but you never know.”

  “Hey, we were just hoping for something to do. What could it hurt? Besides, it will be nice seeing your mother again. It’s been ages since the last time I saw her.”

  “I was just thinking the same thing,” I said.

  When we got there, though, my mother wasn’t at home.

  “Where’s Momma?” I asked him as I looked around the living room.

  “She had a business meeting in Union Square this evening,” he said. “She won’t be back for hours. Is it okay that I called you?”

  “Certainly. What do you know about Gray?”

  He smiled. “Gray Vincent not so much, but Gary Manchester is another story altogether. I’ve been doing some digging around, and I found out a few things that you might find interesting.”

  “I thought your research was limited to old newspapers stored in dark basements,” I said. The former police chief had become a bit of a history buff since he’d retired, and, no surprise, he’d focused most of his attention on crimes committed in the past.

  “I’ve scanned through more than my share of those, but with the Internet, there’s a great deal of information more available, and a lot easier to access, too.” He frowned a moment before adding, “In the interest of full disclosure, you should know that I’ve already shared this information with Chief Grant. It was at his request that I did some digging into Manchester’s past. Once I passed this information on to him, I asked for his permission to share it with you, which he granted.”

  “I appreciate you thinking of us at all,” I said.

  He looked at me carefully, as though he were trying to discern whether I was being sarcastic or not. I wasn’t, but I couldn’t blame him for his reaction. After all, the two of us had a long history of clashing in the past when he’d been in charge of April Springs’s law enforcement, but since he’d married my mother and retired from the job, we’d finally found a way to coexist peacefully. “Happy to do it. Manchester was interesting, but it took some digging to find much out about him. Officially, he kept a pretty low profile, and there might not have been much about him to uncover if it weren’t for one thing.”

  He grinned as he clearly waited for me to ask. “What was that?” I was happy to oblige.

  “One of his former cohorts decided to come clean and confess every wrong he’d ever committed, seeking atonement for his past sins. He was dying of cancer, so he decided he needed to unburden his soul before it was too late. He wasn’t very smart about it, though. Instead of talking to a priest, or even the police, he wrote an ebook about his past crimes, implicating several of his associates, including Manchester. Apparently, twenty years ago he was in on a private heist that should have lasted him for life, but he found a way to lose it all.”

  “We’ve already heard this story from the chief,” I said.

  Phillip nodded in understanding. “It figures. I don’t blame him for telling you about it first. Anyway, I thought you should know.”

  It was clear that my stepfather was disappointed that he wasn’t the one to break the news to us, so I decided to give him a chance to shine. “He just hit the main points with us, though. He told us about the robbery, the son getting killed, the collector having a heart attack, and the insurance company buying the paintings back.”

  “That’s about it, then,” Phillip said. “Did he tell you the crook turned author is dead?”

  “No, we hadn’t heard that,” I said, suddenly interested. “What happened? Did the cancer finally catch up with him?”

  “All I’ve been able to find out is that he died in his sleep. Whether he had help, I couldn’t say.”

  “Do you think Mickey Wright found out about the ebook and killed him?” Grace asked.

  “You know about Wright as well?” Phillip asked, clearly surprised that we had that much information.

  “We’ve actually spoken with him,” I admitted.

  “Suzanne, from what I’ve been able to find out, he’s a pretty nasty piece of work. You need to be really careful around him.”

  “We are, I promise,” I said. “Has the chief told you everything about the case?” I wanted to know if Phillip knew about the missing cash as well, but I didn’t want to say anything unless I knew.

  “Yes, I’m working as a consultant for him. I’m sure he would have rather had Jake, but I was all he had.”

  “I wouldn’t take it personally,” I said. “Jake was quite a star with the state police.”

  “You don’t have to tell me that. I’m guessing you’re asking me about a bit of money, aren’t you?”

  “Two hundred thousand in cash is more than a bit, wouldn’t you say?”

  He nodded. “I would.”

  “What do you think happened to it?” Grace asked him.

  “It’s either still hidden, or somebody else stole it,” the chief said.

  “What happens if we find it?” I asked. “The chief said that the collector and his last known relative are both dead. Does it go back to the insurance company?”

  “I don’t see how it could,” Phillip said. “There’s no way to prove that any of Gray’s money came from them, or any other robbery. As far as the law is concerned, it’s his, and he came by it honestly.”

  “So, the investments Gray still had with Rand are considered clean,” I said. That made the rightful heir to the man’s money an active player on the scene.

  “I can’t imagine anyone being able to
dispute it,” he replied.

  So then even if the killer didn’t get the two hundred thousand in cash, there was still an equal amount coming to someone, which made it just as much a motive for murder as the cash.

  “I suppose that makes sense,” I said. “My next question is what tipped Mickey Wright off that his former associate was now living in our town under an assumed name?”

  “Who knows? Maybe Gray got in contact with someone from his past life.”

  “He was much too careful for that,” I said. “Unless.”

  “Unless what?” my stepfather asked.

  “Unless he was reaching out to make amends himself,” I finished.

  “Would he do that?”

  “He might, if he was trying to convince someone that he’d changed,” I said.

  “There’s another possibility. Someone could have spotted him and followed him back here,” the chief suggested. “I know the man lived like a hermit most of the time, but he came to town occasionally, and he even went to Charlotte every once in a blue moon. It may have just been his bad luck to be seen on one of the rare times he left his homestead. Chief Grant will have to ask Wright after he catches up with him.”

  “Do you think he’s still in town?” Grace asked him.

  “I don’t have any proof that he is or he isn’t, but if you two saw him after Manchester was murdered, then he clearly hasn’t found what he was looking for yet. My gut tells me that he’s still around.”

  “Do you have anything else for us?” I asked him.

  The former chief of police shut his computer down as he faced me. “No, that’s about it. If it hadn’t been for that true confession published on the Internet, I would have had a great deal less. I sent a link for the ebook to the police chief, but I looked over it myself, too. The only name I could find was Mickey Wright’s, but that doesn’t mean that someone else isn’t in town under a pseudonym as well. It’s not as difficult to create a new identity as you might think, especially back then before we got so computerized and connected. Anyway, I hope it helps.”

  Grace pulled out her cellphone. “Would you mind telling me the title of that book?”

  “Not at all,” Phillip said.

  After Grace had the title, she tapped a few times on her screen. “Got it.”

  “Did you write it down in your phone somewhere?” he asked.

  “No, I bought it. I figure I can browse through it tonight. Who knows? It might help us somehow.”

  “Good luck. I’ll tell you one thing; that book needs more than a good editor; it needs a complete overhaul.”

  “I’m not going to be reading it for the story,” Grace said with a grin.

  “If you manage to get through it without nodding off more than twice, you’re a better person than I am,” he said.

  “Thanks for the information, but we’d better get going. Tomorrow is going to be here soon enough.”

  “I don’t know how you’re going to manage going to work at the donut shop on such little sleep,” he said.

  I didn’t want to tell him that I was off for the next few days. After all, he might want us to linger, and I wanted to get back to Grace’s so we could discuss what we’d just learned.

  “She’s off tomorrow,” Grace supplied happily.

  “That’s great,” the chief said. “Does that mean you two have time for a cup of tea?”

  I couldn’t back out gracefully. “We’d be glad to.”

  Something must have given away my disappointed acceptance, because he quickly added, “On second thought, you two are probably chomping at the bit to dig into that book. I’ll give you a raincheck.”

  He wasn’t a bad guy, and even if I hadn’t been able to see that for myself, the fact that my mother had fallen in love with him should have been enough for me. “Thanks. I appreciate that.”

  “One last thing,” he said before we could go.

  Rats. I’d hoped we were going to make a clean escape. “What’s that?”

  “You’ve got a trained police officer at your disposal if you ever need some advice, or even just a sounding board.”

  “Jake’s out of town,” I said, “and we hate to bother the mayor with this.”

  “I meant me,” he said, trying to hide the fact that I’d dinged his pride a little.

  “I’m not sure Momma would approve of us getting you involved,” I said with the hint of a grin, trying to make up for it.

  “What she doesn’t know won’t hurt her, though,” he answered, matching my smile with one of his own.

  “It’s just a bit complicated,” I amended.

  He shrugged. “I figured you’d react that way, but I thought I’d make the offer anyway. Happy hunting.”

  “Thanks,” I said.

  Once Grace and I were back out in her car, she said, “Sorry about that. I realized that I should have kept my mouth shut the moment I mentioned that you were off tomorrow.”

  “No worries,” I said. “Deep down, he’s really not a bad guy, is he?”

  “The fact that you could say that given your history with him simply amazes me,” Grace said with a laugh.

  “People can change,” I said in my defense.

  “Including you,” she said.

  “What do you mean?”

  “Suzanne, for the last several years, you’ve grown and blossomed into quite a woman. When you were married to Max, he always tended to overshadow you, something that killed me to see. After the divorce, when you bought the donut shop and moved back in with your mother, I was afraid for you, but you managed to make yourself stronger, and marrying Jake has just intensified that. It was almost as though it took something dark in your life to bring out the best in you.”

  “I don’t know if I should thank you or not for that comment,” I said.

  “You should, by all means. It was the biggest compliment I could pay you.”

  I patted her arm. “Then thanks.”

  “You’re most welcome. Should we go back to my place and read this book?”

  “Do you think it could possibly be as bad as Phillip implied?” I asked her.

  Chapters and see if we can learn anything else about Gray Vincent, or Gary Manchester, as the case may be.”

  We did just that, reading it aloud to each other, trying to make it more dramatic and interesting than it really was. For all intents and purposes, the author had led an exciting life of crime, and yet he’d found a way to make it as boring as reading a telephone book. The parts about our old friend were interesting, but they didn’t add anything to what the police chief or Phillip had told us earlier. We should have taken their words for it earlier, but Grace and I liked to think of ourselves as thorough. “I wonder if that cash is still hidden somewhere on his property?”

  “It is unless someone already found it,” Grace said.

  “If we believe that’s true, then Mickey Wright didn’t do it.”

  “True, but worse news for us, that means that chances are good that one of our fellow residents did. Not only do we need to discover which one of our suspects committed the murder, but we also have to determine whether they found the cash or not.”

  “I’d think whoever did it would have a hard time just sitting around on that kind of money,” I said. “The urge to run away must be really strong in them about now. Think about it. They not only committed a murder in cold blood, but they also stole enough to start a new life just about anywhere.

  “How many folks do you know could stay in April Springs, given those facts?”

  “I guess we’ll see,” I said. “If the killer is still in town, I say we add to their worries.”

  Grace smiled. “I’m all for doing that. Any suggestions about how we should go about doing that?”

  “I say we st
art putting some real pressure on all three of them. Let’s imply that we know more than we really do.”

  “It’s not like we haven’t done that before,” Grace agreed. “But Trish isn’t going to like us strong-arming Gladys.”

  “Maybe not, but we can’t just ignore her. There are too many reasons to think that she might have actually done it.”

  Grace shook her head. “I still can’t believe it.”

  “I’m having a tough time of it myself, but what choice do we have?”

  “None,” she said. “Should we figure out how we’re going to pressure each of them?”

  “Sure, why not?” I asked as I stifled a yawn. I glanced at the clock and saw that ordinarily, it would be well past my bedtime. I didn’t know which was harder, getting up at the same dreadful hour every day, or only doing it five days a week. It was probably the latter. After all, a body can get used to just about anything, but changing a routine just enough to keep from getting used to it was deadly. I’d toyed with the idea of taking the donut shop back over seven days a week, but that wouldn’t be fair to Jake, Emma, or Sharon. My husband liked having more time with me, and the mother-and-daughter team had grown used to the added income the new arrangements provided. That meant that I had a little less money than I was used to, but I still managed to squeak by. I wasn’t sure how long I could keep doing it, though. One extended drought in sales would be enough to force me to take the shop back over full time, but until that happened, I was most likely just going to keep things the way they were. “Any ideas?” I asked her, stifling yet another yawn.

  “Yes. You need to go to bed,” Grace said.

  “I’m not even all that sleepy,” I said as I fought to make myself alert.

  “Tell it to the judge,” Grace said. “Off to bed, young lady.”

  “You’re probably right. I am kind of beat.”

  “And why wouldn’t you be? Not only are you a full-time donutmaker, but you’re fighting crime on the side as well. It’s enough to exhaust anyone.”