Sweet Suspects (The Donut Mysteries)

by Beck, Jessica

  “Ten minutes before you both got here. That’s what prompted my fight with Billy.”

  So it appeared that Janet was off the hook, at least as far as committing the murder herself.

  “What about that paper you dropped at the restaurant?” Grace asked.

  “How did you find out about that?” Janet asked, and then she nodded before I had the chance to answer her. “The waitress at the restaurant told you, didn’t she?”

  “I won’t answer that,” I said. I was going to protect Maria and her family as much as I could.

  “So it’s okay to expect me to tell you everything, but you’re not going to share anything with me. Is that it?”

  “That pretty much sums it up,” Grace said.

  “Fine. Whatever. I found the slip of paper hidden in our hotel room. I asked Zane about it, but all he would say was that it was the key to our future. Do you two have any idea what those numbers mean, because it’s been driving me crazy.”

  “We don’t have a clue,” I answered as Grace shook her head in agreement.

  “Of course not. That would make my life too easy, wouldn’t it? I know that those numbers were written in my husband’s handwriting, and that they had something to do with this weekend, but that’s all that I know. Zane always believed in keeping friends close, and enemies closer. I’ve got a hunch that philosophy is what ended up getting him killed.” After a moment’s pause, she asked, “Are we done here?”

  I looked at Grace, who just shrugged.

  “For now,” I said.

  “Forever,” Janet replied, and then she stormed off back to the hotel.

  “Should we follow her, or look for Billy?” I asked as a car sped out of the parking lot to the road.

  Billy Briscoe was behind the wheel, and we were far enough from the Jeep that we’d never catch up with him.

  “Well, there’s no way that we’re going to catch Billy in your Jeep, so we should probably talk to Candy again,” Grace said with a wry grin.

  “That sounds like a plan to me. I have a phone call to make first, though.”

  I dialed the chief’s number, and he picked up on the first ring.

  “I just talked to Janet Dunbar,” I said.

  Before I could get another word out, he said, “I was about to call you, Suzanne, but I had to confirm her story to make sure that it checked out.”

  “And did it?” I asked, feeling better about our situation.

  “All across the board,” he said. “She couldn’t have killed Zane.”

  “Maybe not, but could she have hired someone to do it?”

  “With what? They’re not only flat broke, they’re completely overextended. That was why I looked so hard at Janet. That insurance money will buy her out of most of her problems.”

  “She could have promised a payoff to the killer later,” I said.

  “That might work in the movies, but most paid killers demand something up front, and she just didn’t have it. I’m sorry I didn’t call you sooner, but like I said, I just found out.”

  “That’s fine,” I said. “There’s more, though.”

  He was interrupted by someone just outside my hearing range, because when Chief Martin spoke again, he said, “I’ve got to go. We may have a lead about where Tom Hancock is hiding out. I’ll talk to you later, Suzanne.”

  Then he hung up on me.

  “You didn’t tell him about Zane being a blackmailer,” Grace said as I put my phone away.

  “I never got the chance. He thinks they may have found Tom Hancock.”

  “Has the chief settled on him as the killer?” Grace asked me. “We have three suspects left ourselves. Does he know something that we don’t?”

  “If he does, he’s not telling me,” I said.

  “So then we go talk to Candy,” Grace answered.

  “Since she’s the only suspect left that we have any hope of finding, I think that’s a fine idea.”

  As we drove back to April Springs, I wondered aloud about something. “Where do you suppose Candy got the money to open that gym of hers? Some of that equipment looked pretty expensive.”

  “I have no idea. I can’t imagine someone giving her a bank loan for it, can you?”

  “Hardly,” I said. “What was she doing before she opened it? Maybe she saved her money and she’s financing it herself. She told us that she had an investor, but that could have been a smokescreen.”

  “I heard that she was working at a hair salon in Hickory,” Grace said. “I doubt that she made enough to pay for all of that.”

  “So someone probably is backing her,” I said. “At least she didn’t lie to us about that.”

  “It would appear so,” Grace answered. “But how do we find out who her sugar daddy might be?”

  “We could always just come out and ask her,” I suggested.

  “What makes you think that she’d tell us?”

  “I don’t,” I said. “Still, there’s got to be a way to find out. Who knows the ins and outs of business in April Springs better than anyone else? I’m talking about the behind-the-scenes scoop.” I snapped my fingers and reached for my phone as I knew the answer was right in front of me.

  “Who are you going to call?”

  “Momma,” I said.

  When I got my mother on the phone, I asked her, “Do you happen to know how Candy Murphy is financing her new gym?”

  “Suzanne, contrary to what you might think, I don’t know everything that goes on in April Springs.”

  “But you can find out, can’t you? I wouldn’t ask if I didn’t think it was important.”

  “Give me five minutes and I’ll call you right back.”

  “She didn’t know?” Grace asked me as I hung up.

  “No, but she’s going to poke around a little.”

  Two minutes later, my phone rang. “Hello?”

  “Well, you’re not going to believe this,” Momma said.

  “At this point, I’m willing to believe just about anything,” I said.

  “Leonard Branch is footing all of the bills for Candy’s new venture.”

  “Mr. Branch?” I asked out loud. “You’re kidding.” Leonard Branch was in his late fifties, a portly man who owned a few small businesses around town. He was married to a woman who was unfortunately named Olive, a married name alone that should have kept her from tying the knot with him long ago. I couldn’t imagine going through most of my life being married to that man and also bearing the burden of being known as Olive Branch. It was too much to ask of anyone.

  “I only wish that I were kidding. The worst part of it is that Olive doesn’t have a clue how Leonard is behaving.”

  “Are you telling me that there’s more there than a business relationship between the two of them?” I asked. It was difficult imagining the sultry Candy with the heavyset Leonard under any circumstances.

  “If my sources are to be believed, which I do, it’s been going on for some time.”

  “Thanks for the information,” I said, and then I added, “I think.”

  “Don’t ask a question if you’re not ready for the answer,” she said happily, and then she hung up.

  “Who would have ever believed it? Apparently Candy and Mr. Branch have been canoodling for some time. No wonder he financed her business venture.”

  “Canoodling?” Grace asked with a laugh. “Is that what the kids are calling it these days?”

  “Call it what you will,” I said. “I wonder if he’s who Candy was trying to hide the pictures from? Could he withdraw his support if he knew they were out there?”

  “He hardly has the right to take the high moral ground here, does he?”

  “Given what he’s been up to, I’m sure that he has no problem having double standards about anything,” I said. “Now, how can we make this information work in our favor?”

  “I’m not sure,” Grace said. “I’ll have to think about it.”

  I glanced at the clock on my dash. “Well, you’ve got five minutes un
til we get there. Think fast.”

  As I pulled up in front of the spa and gym, I asked Grace, “Have you come up with anything?”

  “I’ve got nothing,” she said. “How about you?”

  “I guess we’re going to have to just wing it,” I said.

  “Oh goody. I love it when we do that,” she said as we both got out of my Jeep.

  As we were walking toward the front door, I saw movement in a Cadillac in the parking lot. I couldn’t believe it! Candy and Mr. Branch were actually making out in his car!

  “I don’t believe this,” I said as I instantly changed directions.

  Grace spotted it just after I did. “What are we going to do?”

  “Just watch,” I said as I approached the driver’s side door. They still hadn’t seen us, so I rapped loudly enough on the window to shake them both up. I didn’t even feel guilty about doing it, even though I might have given Mr. Branch a heart attack.

  They popped out of the car on either side, Candy smoothing her hair while Mr. Branch adjusted his loosened tie. “Suzanne, Grace, what are you two doing here?” she asked as nonchalantly as she could manage.

  Before I could say a word, Grace answered, “Well, clearly we’re not having as much fun as you two are.”

  “I don’t know what you thought you saw, but we were just conferring about a business matter,” Candy said sharply.

  “Save it, Candy,” I said. “We saw exactly what you were doing.”

  “I’m going to ask you this one more time. Why are you here?” Candy asked. Apparently Leonard Branch had been struck mute by our presence, because he couldn’t manage a single word.

  “We came to ask you if Zane was blackmailing you, and if you killed him because of it.”

  “You’ve lost your minds, the both of you,” she said. “Nobody was trying to blackmail me.”

  “That’s where you’re wrong,” Mr. Branch finally said.

  She whirled around to face him. “What are you talking about, Lenny?”

  “Zane Dunbar came to see me four days ago. He had photographs of you he was threatening to release to the public if I didn’t pay him off.”

  “Why would he come to you?” Candy asked.

  “Clearly because I’m the one with the money,” he answered. It was almost as though they’d both forgotten that we were even there.

  “But how did he know about our … situation?”

  “Do you honestly think it’s that big a secret?” he asked.

  “What did you do, Lenny?” Candy asked softly.

  “Why, I bought them, of course,” Mr. Branch answered. “What choice did I have? I couldn’t let him hurt you.”

  “Mr. Branch, where were you the night of the murder?” I asked, suddenly realizing that he’d just supplied us with another, and quite unexpected, suspect.

  “We were together,” he said.

  “You and Zane?” Grace asked him.

  He shook his head. “No, Candy and me.”

  “Leonard Branch,” Candy said with a warning tone in her voice. “You need to stay out of this.”

  “Why should I?” he asked. “I’m not ashamed of what we’ve been doing.” He looked at me as he added, “Candy was with me that night. Olive was at her sister’s, so Candy came over to my place. We’re in love, and we’re going to get married.” The last bit he said with a shaky voice, as though he hadn’t actually broached the subject with Candy yet. “Isn’t that right, Candy?”

  She looked at him in complete and utter shock. “Married? What gave you the impression that I’d ever marry you?”

  “But you told me that you loved me,” he said accusingly.

  “I said a lot of things,” Candy said icily.

  “If you don’t love me, then what has this all been about?”

  “Don’t play dumb with me,” Candy said, the edge hard in her voice. “This was a business arrangement, plain and simple, and you knew it.”

  Mr. Branch couldn’t have looked any more shocked if she’d shot him. Actually, that might have been kinder than the cutting words she’d just used on him.

  “But I was going to leave Olive to be with you,” he whined.

  “I never asked you to do that,” Candy said.

  It finally sunk in that Leonard Branch had badly misinterpreted the situation. As he began to realize just where he stood, I could see his backbone stiffen. “I don’t care what you thought. This was more than business to me.”

  “I’m sorry that I can’t say the same thing,” Candy said. As soon as she said it, it was clear by her expression that she knew that she’d finally stepped over the line. Getting a little closer to him, her voice softened as she said, “Forgive me, Lenny. I didn’t mean it. I’m just distraught over all of this mess.”

  As she tried to put her arm in his, he jerked away as though she were on fire. “On the contrary, I have a feeling that was the first time that you’ve been honest with me since we met.” He took a step away from her, and then he added, “You have thirty days to show a profit, or I’m withdrawing all of my funding.”

  “But I need more time,” she said. Now Candy was the one who was pleading.

  “Sorry, but that’s all that I can spare. Now, if you ladies will excuse me, I’ve got some fences to mend with my wife. I just hope that she’ll forgive my utter foolishness and stupidity.”

  “If you lead with that, you might just have a chance,” Grace said to him.

  “Then that’s exactly what I’ll do,” he said as he got into his car and drove off.

  “See what you did?” Candy asked as she looked murderously at Grace and me.

  “We didn’t do anything,” I said. “You managed to do that all on your own.”

  She stared at us both for a moment more, and then Candy walked straight past us and into her gym. At least it was still hers for the next thirty days, anyway.

  “I didn’t mean for that to happen,” I said, “but at least we finally got an alibi out of her.”

  “I’d say we got a lot more than that,” Grace said. “And then there were two.”

  “The question is, which one is our killer: Tom Hancock or Billy Briscoe?”

  “That’s what we have to find out,” Grace said. “I’m just not quite sure how we’re going to go about it.”

  “We’d better come up with something soon,” I said. “We’re running out of time.”

  “Then I suggest that we get busy,” Grace replied.

  “I agree. The question is, what’s our next move?”

  We both spent a few moments thinking about it, and then finally Grace said, “Let’s go back to Union Square.”

  “What is there left for us to do there? We’ve already eliminated Janet as a suspect, and Billy sure didn’t look as though he was in any mood to talk to us anymore.”

  “That’s a shame, then, because he’s the last one left that we can talk to. I wonder where Tom is right now? Is the chief really hot on his tail? Do you think he’s still around the county, or has he taken off for greener pastures?”

  “If you ask me, I don’t think he’s gone far,” I said.

  “What do you base that on?”

  “All I’ve got is intuition,” I answered.

  “Woman’s?” Grace asked.

  “No, investigative. I might be wrong, but what does it really matter at this point? We don’t know where he is. If anybody catches him, it’s going to have to be the police.”

  “So Billy it is,” Grace said.

  “Why not?” I asked as I started the Jeep and began to drive toward Union Square, and one of our last two suspects in the murder investigation of who really killed Zane Dunbar.

  Chapter 18

  On our way to Union Square, we drove past the high school gym where the reunion had been held. Out front, a teenaged boy struggled with a bike lock, evidently getting the combination wrong. We made eye contact as I drove past, and a look of pure frustration was clear on his face.

  And that’s when it hit me.

&nb
sp; I pulled the Jeep into a nearby parking spot and shut off the engine.

  “Why are we stopping here?” Grace asked me. “I thought we were going to go find Billy?”