Cocoa Crush

by Jessica Beck

  I decided not to worry about it and go about my business.

  After all, I had customers to feed, and now I had a weekend party to get ready to attend. Two weeks would ordinarily be plenty of time for me to get ready for three days away from the donut shop, but this was a different story altogether.

  I decided to do what any sane woman would do who was in over her head and out of her element.

  I called my mother.

  CHAPTER 3

  “Suzanne, that gown looks absolutely stunning on you,” Momma said as I modeled a dress she’d chosen from the ReNEWed inventory. Barely five feet tall, my mother was still a force to be reckoned with, and I pitied anyone who took her tiny stature as an indication of the size of her spirit.

  “Dot is right. That gown could have been made for you, Suzanne,” the proprietor, Gabby Williams, said as she watched from nearby. The owner of the shop was a trim woman in her late fifties who always looked nice, but given her constantly churning inventory, it wouldn’t be too difficult for her to pick out the best things she brought in and save them for herself.

  “I don’t know. It’s awfully expensive,” I said, though I loved the way the dress made me feel. I hadn’t worn anything nearly so frilly since my high school prom, and I was surprised how nice it felt to be out of my usual attire of blue jeans and T-shirts.

  “Nonsense. We all know that the price tag is merely a suggested starting point for the negotiation,” Momma said.

  “Suzanne, are you trying to dicker with me?” Gabby asked with one eyebrow arched in the air as she looked at me.

  Before I could respond, my mother said, “You’re addressing the wrong customer. She won’t be the one buying it, Gabby. This is my treat, so I’ll be handling the negotiations myself.”

  “Momma, I can’t let you spend this kind of money on me,” I protested weakly. If I’d had to pay for it out of my own pocket, used or not, the dress would have blown our monthly food budget, so how could I justify letting my mother treat me to something so extravagant?

  “Nonsense. Consider it a late birthday present, or an early one for next year, if you prefer.” I was starting to waver when she added, “Jake is going to absolutely love you in this.”

  “It’s still too much to spend on a dress, no matter how fabulous it is,” I said, making one last feeble protest.

  “Don’t you worry about that. Gabby, may we talk?” Momma asked sweetly. “Suzanne, you can change back into your jeans and T-shirt now.”

  The shop’s owner was clearly gearing up for battle. Haggling over a price with me was one thing, but we all knew that my mother was in the major leagues. Gabby had her work cut out for her if she was going to hold her ground and make a fair profit, but I wasn’t about to try to rescue her.

  I was getting a fancy new party dress. Well, not new, but new to me. As the two women began to negotiate the price in a whispered conversation, I twirled around once more before I changed to go back to my everyday life. I was starting to really get excited about this party, and I was glad that Elizabeth had invited us.

  Besides, I couldn’t wait to see my husband in a tuxedo.

  It was the day before the party was set to begin. I was busy making sure that we were well supplied with flour, sugar, yeast, and a few dozen other supplies we needed on a regular basis for the next few weeks. I liked to place my orders myself, but it took some time, and once I got back from the three-day weekend, I wouldn’t have time to do anything other than make and sell donuts. While it was true that I’d have Emma’s mother, Sharon, helping me out in the kitchen, it just wasn’t going to be the same. At the moment, Emma was running the front, and I was ensconced in my tiny little office in back, trying to decide how much flour I really needed to get me through until my next order. We were well into the cold-weather months, and folks seemed to like donuts more when it was brisk out. I tried to order based on what I’d needed the year before, but I wasn’t cranking out widgets at the donut shop, and things never seemed to stay the same. The fact was that I never knew from day to day, let alone month to month, which of my donuts would outsell the others or how much inventory I needed to create each day. I hated making too few donuts and turning hungry people away, but at the same time, I was loathe to donate or, worse, throw away, too many unwanted treats at the end of the day. It was a perilous way to make a living, but I wasn’t complaining. I’d been born to be a donut maker. I just hadn’t realized it until I’d bought the place after my divorce from my first husband, Max.

  “Suzanne, do you have a second to spare? You have a visitor,” Emma said as she poked her head in through the door.

  “Is it important?” I asked, distracted by the numbers dancing around in my head. As a small-business owner, I had to wear a great many hats, and the truth was that some of them were more comfortable than others.

  “It’s one of the ladies from your book club,” she said. “She seems a little on edge.”

  “Is it Elizabeth?” I asked, wondering if my friend was having second thoughts about throwing the elaborate party.

  “I’m not sure. Is she the redhead?” Emma countered.

  “No, that’s Jennifer,” I responded.

  “Then it’s Jennifer,” Emma said. “Do you want to come out and speak with her in front, or should I send her back here to you?”

  “Ask her to come back to the kitchen,” I said. I wasn’t sure what Jennifer wanted to discuss with me, but I knew that we’d both be more comfortable chatting out of the public’s view.

  Jennifer Hastings, the fearless leader of our little book club, came back a minute later, dressed as always in an elegant fashion that put even my best friend, Grace Gauge, to shame. No, that wasn’t fair. If Grace had the money at her disposal that Jennifer surely must have had, I was positive that my friend would have dressed just as stylishly.

  “So, this is where the magic happens,” Jennifer said with the hint of a smile as she looked around. “Funny, but I always pictured your kitchen workspace as being bigger.”

  “Oh, it is. There’s another wing just through there,” I said with a smile as I pointed to the back door.

  “Really? No, of course there isn’t. You’re just teasing me,” she answered with a smile of her own.

  “I’m excited about the party tomorrow,” I said. “Is that why you’re here?”

  “In a way,” Jennifer said, and then she glanced down at the papers strewn across my small desk. “I’ve caught you at a bad time, haven’t I?”

  “No worries. I’m just catching up on some supply orders, but it’s nothing that can’t wait for a friend,” I said, doing my best not to show any impatience about wanting to get back to it. It was clear that something was bothering her. “Jennifer, is everything all right?”

  “I’m not sure,” she said with a frown. “Hazel suggested that I come talk to you in person. She would have come as well, but she’s dealing with a minor crisis of her own.”

  “What’s wrong?” I asked, wondering what my friend had gotten herself into. The ladies might have had a great deal more money than I had, but their lifestyles clearly didn’t come without problems of their own.

  “Her cook is threatening to quit again,” Jennifer said. “It happens more often than you might realize. Some of our friends are extremely predatory about other people’s staff.”

  I should have such problems myself. Not really, though. I enjoyed cooking for Jake and me, and I couldn’t imagine letting anyone else do it on a regular basis. Well, maybe Momma, but it would be more of a voluntary thing than a paid position. “She’s still coming to the party though, right?”

  “Oh, she wouldn’t miss it. That is, if there’s still going to be one.”

  “Has something happened?” I asked her, concerned that Elizabeth’s newly found hope for her marriage had somehow evaporated.

  “Yes. No. Perhaps. The truth is that I’m really not sure.”

  “At least you nailed down all of the possibilities with your answer,” I said, standing a
nd moving toward her. This was clearly a conversation that was going to take some time, and I didn’t want to have my order forms staring at me as we spoke. “Why don’t you tell me what’s happening?”

  Jennifer sighed heavily, paused for a few moments to collect herself, and then she said, “It might be nothing, but my husband, Thomas, and Jason belong to some of the same groups. For the past several months, Thomas has been hearing rumors about Elizabeth’s husband that have him concerned.”

  “What kind of rumors? Like extramarital affairs?” I asked her, remembering Elizabeth’s earlier suspicions.

  “Hazel and I have suspected for some time that Elizabeth’s husband is a little too close to his personal assistant, but it’s not just that,” she said. “Evidently Jason’s company is in trouble. He came to Thomas about securing a loan last week. When my husband asked to see his books as a matter of course, Jason said there was no real need for him to do that. He said that they had known each other for years, and that he should trust him. If you knew my husband, you’d know that it’s not a matter of trust. He always wants to make sure of what he’s getting himself into. After all, we’re talking about a great deal of money here.”

  “I understand completely,” I said. I knew that these people were all wealthy, clearly well beyond my means, but that didn’t mean that they didn’t have more serious problems than who was poaching whose chef at any given moment. “It sounds like a reasonable enough request to me. Why would Jason refuse to show your husband his books?”

  “That’s one of the things that alarms Thomas so much. That led my husband to ask around, and while he didn’t learn anything specific, he heard enough to worry him about some of Jason’s current business associates. Also, if things are so dire with his firm that he needs a sizable cash infusion to bail out his business, why are he and Elizabeth throwing this lavish party? I understand keeping up appearances, but it doesn’t seem prudent to me, given the circumstances.”

  “What can we do?” I asked. “Should we talk to Elizabeth?”

  “That’s just it,” Jennifer said with a frown. “We can’t say anything directly to her, at least not without proof. Elizabeth hasn’t been this happy in months, and I for one would hate to be the one who ruined it for her.”

  “Even if she’s heading straight for a train wreck?” I asked.

  “Especially then. Think about it, Suzanne. What if Thomas is wrong about Jason and his situation?”

  It was time to turn the tables. “You know your husband better than anyone. Is he usually mistaken about things like this?”

  “Never in my memory,” she admitted. “That’s not all, though. It gets worse.”

  “Worse than what you’ve told me already?”

  “You knew that Hazel’s husband, Reg, owns a chain of insurance agencies, didn’t you?”

  “I hadn’t heard, no,” I admitted. It had never come up during our book club meetings, just as I was fairly certain none of the ladies knew that my husband was a former state police investigator.

  “Well, one of his employees told him that Jason recently applied for a great deal of life insurance.”

  “Maybe he’s just trying to protect Elizabeth,” I posited. “It could be that he’s trying to take care of her if something should happen to him.”

  “That’s the thing. The policy wasn’t on him. It was for Elizabeth.”

  “Now I’m worried,” I said.

  “What should we do?” Jennifer asked, clearly distraught about the situation.

  “I’m going to talk to my husband,” I replied.

  “No disrespect intended, but what can he do about it?” Jennifer asked, clearly puzzled by my suggestion.

  “You may not be aware of it, but he was the best state police investigator on the force,” I said. “If anyone can get to the bottom of it, it’s Jake.”

  After letting out a sigh, Jennifer said, “I feel better knowing that.”

  I didn’t want her to get the impression that he was some kind of miracle worker. “He’ll do what he can to help, but I’m not sure he can prevent anything bad from happening,” I said.

  “I understand that. Just knowing that he’s going to be there takes a load off my mind.” Jennifer glanced back at my paperwork before she added, “I’ve kept you long enough. I’ll see you tomorrow evening.”

  “You can count on it,” I said.

  After she was gone, I stared at my order forms for another minute before finally giving up and calling my husband. I wanted to share what I’d learned with Jake, but I didn’t want to do it over the phone. Was Jennifer just being paranoid, or did we all have a reason to fear for Elizabeth’s happiness, not to mention her safety? Either way, her husband would bear watching at the party.

  Unfortunately, what had begun as a fun and festive event had now turned into an investigation, not of murder but of the possibility of something bad happening.

  It was one thing to hunt a killer down.

  It was quite another to prevent something from occurring before it happened.

  But that was exactly what Jake and I were going to have to do if Jennifer’s and her husband’s hunches turned out to be correct.

  “What’s wrong?” Jake asked me the second I walked into the cottage we shared after I finished work for the day. I’d shut the donut shop down, run my reports, made my bank deposit, and finally, I’d driven the short distance home to find him sitting on the couch, engrossed in a book. I glanced at the title and saw that it was on poisons, an odd topic for most folks but just standard reading material for him. Though he was officially retired from the force, his mind tended to focus on all things criminal, which might be a good thing, given what I was about to tell him.

  “What makes you think something’s wrong?” I asked him as I slipped out of my jacket and hung it up by the door.

  “Suzanne, I don’t need a mood ring to tell me that something is bothering you.” Tall and thin, Jake sported a shock of sandy blond hair that was just beginning to thin, a sign that we were all getting older. It wasn’t fair, though. While I was starting to look more and more like my great-aunt Louise, Jake seemed to get more handsome with every passing day.

  “Jennifer Hastings came by the shop this morning,” I said as I plopped heavily down beside him. “She told me some things about Elizabeth Martin and her husband that are troubling.”

  “You’ve got my attention,” he said as he put a marker in his book and set it to one side. “Go on. Is he seeing his personal assistant again?” I’d shared my suspicions with him when Elizabeth had first come to me, and Jake hadn’t forgotten a single detail of our conversation.

  “I’m beginning to wonder if he ever stopped,” I said, “but that’s just the tip of the iceberg. He asked Jennifer’s husband for a loan recently, but when Thomas wanted to check his financial records, Jason changed his mind and withdrew the request.”

  “That could mean a great many things,” Jake said reasonably enough.

  “Maybe, but that doesn’t explain why Jason took out a large life insurance policy on Elizabeth recently.”

  Jake took that in for a few moments before speaking again. “I admit that that is a bit curious. Did he take one out on himself as well at the same time?”

  “I didn’t think to ask her that,” I admitted.

  “Do me a favor. Give her a call and find out.”

  I shrugged as I pulled out my phone. I was sure Jake had his reasons to make the request, and I wasn’t about to question what they might be. Luckily I had Jennifer’s number in my phone’s memory. “Hey, it’s me.”

  “You’re not coming, are you?” Jennifer asked, clearly troubled by the prospect.

  “Don’t worry. We’ll be there. Jake wanted to know if Jason took out a policy on himself when he took the one out on Elizabeth,” I said. “Is there any way you can find out?”

  “Give me one minute and I’ll call you right back,” she said, and then she disconnected the call.

  “I’m waiting for an answer,
” I told Jake as I put my phone down. “Jennifer’s worried about Elizabeth’s situation, and so is Hazel. No matter what we find out about the life insurance, could we dig around a little into Jason’s business and his life before we go to the party?”

  “Are you talking about starting an investigation today?” Jake asked, clearly surprised by my suggestion.

  “Well, next week would probably be a little too late, don’t you think?” I asked my husband with a grin.

  “Yes, I see your point, Suzanne, but there are questions that need to be asked of people who are under no compulsion to speak with us. It has to all be handled delicately and, if at all possible, under the radar. You realize that, don’t you?”

  “It’s usually the only way I know how to operate. I know it’s not going to be easy, but we at least have to try, don’t we?” I asked him.

  “Of course we do,” he said as he patted my hand. “Take it easy and let me make a few calls. Like I said, this needs to be done delicately.”

  “Are you implying that I’m not subtle?” I asked him with a grin.

  “You are many things, my dear lady, but subtle is not one of them.”

  Jake was just reaching for his telephone when mine rang.

  “Hang on a second before you make your first call,” I said.

  As I suspected, it was Jennifer. “Hazel said the two of them took out policies on each other. Is that significant?”

  “I’m not sure. It could be. Thanks.”

  Jennifer paused a moment before she asked again, “We will see you tomorrow evening, won’t we?”

  “I wouldn’t miss it for the world,” I said.

  “Excellent. That’s great news.”

  After we hung up, I told Jake, “They took out policies on each other.”

  “So, there may not be any cause for alarm there after all. If he’d taken out a policy on her life only, it might be suspicious, but it could just mean that they’ve decided to make sure they are each taken care of if something were to happen to either one of them.”