Sugar Coated Sins

by Jessica Beck

  “No, what Ben wanted from me was strictly business.”

  I couldn’t wait to hear this. “I’m listening.”

  “Suzanne, he wanted me to ‘misplace’ a deed book,” she admitted. “He wanted to buy some land outside town that was under contract to someone else. He thought if he could stall the sale, he might be able to outbid the buyer and get it after all. There couldn’t be a legal transfer without the book, and it would give him time to make his move. I refused, but he kept upping his offer. It’s important to remember that I was dead broke at the time. I know that it’s no excuse, though. The morning of the meeting, I called him and told him that I couldn’t do it after all. When he threatened to expose me, I told him that I hadn’t done anything wrong yet. He said that he didn’t need any proof to taint my character, and that if I didn’t go through with it, he’d have me fired.”

  “Is that why you killed him?” I asked softly, looking around for something I could use as a weapon against her if she decided to strike out at me.

  “What? I didn’t kill him!”

  “It’s understandable,” I said, reaching behind me for the drawer that held some of our knives. “You were scared, and you didn’t know what to do.” I had to be careful not to grab the blade end of a knife, but fortunately Emma and I had a system for stowing them, so I was fairly confident that I would be okay. Sure enough, my hand found the handle of one, and not the blade.

  “I told him to do his worst, and then I hung up on him. I never kept the meeting, and the next thing I heard, he was dead. I didn’t wish any harm on him, but at least his threats were idle after that. I went about my business, relieved that I hadn’t gone through with it, and then I did my best to forget about him completely—until that note appeared. Even though I didn’t write it, if the truth got out about what happened, I’d be ruined. My only hope was that Benjamin hadn’t kept any record of our meeting. Now that I know he did, I guess there’s nothing I can do but resign.”

  “Hang on a second. I didn’t think you did anything wrong,” I said.

  “Maybe not in actuality, but if the thought were the deed, I was guilty, and what makes it worse is that I’m running the office now. I have to be above reproach.”

  “Jan, there’s no need to quit, especially if you didn’t kill him.”

  “I didn’t. I swear it. But this is going to come out one way or the other; I just know it. Ben approached me, and I didn’t tell anyone about it. True, I didn’t do what he wanted me to do, but I still compromised the office.”

  “Don’t beat yourself up too badly about it,” I said, “and don’t do anything you might regret later.”

  “I don’t know,” she said.

  “Trust me, you’re not in any shape to make that kind of decision. Let our investigation play out, and if you still feel that it’s important for you to quit, go ahead, but don’t do anything until then.”

  “Why are you being so nice about this?” Jan asked. “You barely know me, when it comes right down to it.”

  “I’ve been judged in the past based on things I didn’t do as well, so I know how it feels. He approached you to do something unethical, and in the end, you refused. What more can you ask of yourself? Let me ask you something. If it happened today, what would you do?”

  “I’d refuse, of course, and then I’d call the sheriff.”

  “So that the criminal could be prosecuted for tampering with a government official?”

  “Exactly.”

  “And then, in the course of time, you’d expect justice to be carried out.”

  “Yes, that follows. I don’t get your point, Suzanne.”

  “Jan, Benjamin Port died the very next day. He was beyond any more punishment at that point. The only person you can hurt now is yourself.”

  “Okay. I’ll think about staying.”

  “There’s no one better for the job,” I said as I slid the knife back into the drawer, hopefully without her seeing it.

  “I’d like to think so, but some days I’m not so sure.” She surprised me by hugging me tightly. “Thank you.”

  “I haven’t done anything,” I said after a moment.

  “Getting that off my chest has made me feel years younger.”

  “I’m glad that I could help, then. I don’t see how what happened with you could affect the case, so why does anyone else need to know? Just out of curiosity, who was the buyer he was trying to outbid?”

  “It was your mother,” she said.

  “I’m not all that surprised. My momma has been wheeling and dealing around this town since before I was born.”

  “She keeps us busy,” Jan said. “You mustn’t think your mother had anything to do with the murder, Suzanne.”

  I laughed, though it was probably a tad bit inappropriate. “Jan, I know without a doubt that my mother would never use poison as a murder weapon. Now if he’d been run over by a car or pushed off a cliff, I might be a little more worried, but if she were going to get rid of someone, it would be face to face.”

  “You sound pretty sure about that,” Jan said.

  “It’s money in the bank as far as I’m concerned.”

  After the Register of Deeds left, I called Grace to tell her what had happened.

  “So, her name goes off our list. Have you told Jake about it?”

  “To be honest with you, I forgot to tell him in the first place. Let’s just keep this between the two of us, okay?”

  “Are we back to keeping secrets from the police again?” she asked a little gleefully.

  “Just this one, and only because I don’t think it has any bearing on the case. If it turns out that I was wrong, Jake will be the first person to know. Are we still on for after lunch?”

  “I won’t be able to come by until two p.m.,” she said. “One of my sales reps is in dire need of a stern talking to.”

  “Is she goofing off during regular business hours?” I asked playfully, since the same could often be said of Grace.

  “No, she’s been suspected of stealing from the company.”

  “That’s terrible,” I said.

  “It happens more often than you might think. We can’t prove anything yet, but I figure she deserves one opportunity to make things right before we lower the boom on her.”

  “Good luck with that,” I said. “I’m happy that I just have one employee.”

  “I envy you that sometimes, but certainly not your business hours.”

  “You can have the kitchen again,” I told Emma as I walked out front. To my surprise, she was smiling. “Why the big grin?”

  “I just sold the giant donut you made.”

  “You’re kidding. Who bought it?”

  “Max,” she said. “He thought it looked cool, and he wanted to show Emily before he ate it.”

  I had to laugh. My ex-husband didn’t ordinarily indulge in my treats, but lately he’d loosened up a little on his strict diet. “Is he seriously going to eat the whole thing?”

  “He claimed that Cow, Spots, and Moose were going to get bites, too, but I think he’s really going to share it with Emily,” Emma said. “You should make more of them tomorrow. A couple of customers commented on it.” Constantly and consistently referring to the stuffed animals as being alive had most likely been the way that he’d won Emily’s heart.

  “No, that one was just a happy accident. I think I’ll stick to single donuts from here on out.”

  “Suit yourself,” she said.

  Chapter 21

  “Judge, what brings you here?” I asked Judge Hurley after he walked into Donut Hearts a little bit later.

  Instead of replying, he shoved a newspaper into my hands. The banner said, The Morning Star, Wilmington, NC, and it was dated the day before Benjamin Port had been murdered. “What’s this about?”

  “Read the story, Suzanne.”

  I shrugged and scanned the headlines. One in particular caught my eye. “I remember this case. It was the Lee Myerson murder, wasn’t it?”

 
“Yes. Now look at the presiding judge. Go on. It’s in the body of the article.”

  Sure enough, I saw Judge Hurley’s name printed there. The article said that he’d been there all week and that the case would probably go on for another ten days at least. Wilmington was nearly eight hours’ drive from April Springs, so the judge wouldn’t have been able to make it back, poison Benjamin Port, and then get back to his trial before it started again the next morning.

  “Have you shown this to Jake?”

  “I just left him,” the judge said. “And now I expect you both to leave me alone.”

  “You came to me, remember? And besides, I only spoke with you once,” I protested.

  “Which was once too much, in my opinion. I admit that you bothered me a bit, but your husband was even worse, and I want to make it crystal clear that I had nothing to do with Benjamin Port’s death. Now good day, madam.”

  “Good day to you, too,” I said in reply.

  A few of my customers looked at the judge oddly as he stormed off, but they quickly went back to their donuts and coffee. Judge Hurley was known around town for being flamboyant, so everyone seemed to take his histrionics in stride. No wonder Jake had focused some of his attention on the man. He was clearly a hothead. How had he ever gotten on the bench, and more importantly, how in the world was he still a presiding judge? The man was clearly many things, but in this particular case, he’d pretty effectively taken his name off our list of suspects.

  That left us Gabby Williams, Hilda Fremont, Lisa Port Smith, and Hillary Mast. Four suspects were three too many in my book, but at least we were making progress. In my mind, at that point, Gabby was a long shot, though still a remote possibility, but it was time to spend a little more time concentrating on Lisa, Hilda, and Hillary. From most likely to least, if I were rating them at the moment, I had to go with Lisa, Hilda, Hillary, and then finally Gabby. I didn’t believe that Gabby Williams would be capable of murder, but I hadn’t actually known her fifteen years earlier. Even though she’d had motive enough and opportunity, I still didn’t want to admit that she was a viable suspect without more justification.

  It was time to put a little more pressure on our last three real suspects, and as soon as I closed the shop for the day at eleven, I planned to see if I could manage to do it on my own.

  Emma came out of the kitchen at three minutes until eleven. “Dad just called. He’s on his way. It took him all morning, but he found what you wanted in the archives.”

  “That’s perfect. Thanks, Emma.”

  “It’s the least he could do,” she said with a smile. “I finished up in back, so as soon as you’re ready, we can start closing up.”

  There were no customers left in the dining area, and we had fewer than a dozen donuts left in the display cases. “Let’s go ahead and get started now.”

  “Excellent.”

  As I closed out the register and ran the report, Emma swooped in, boxed the remaining donuts, and collected the last three trays. She was still in back when there was a tap at the front door.

  “Come in, Ray.”

  “I can’t stay,” he said as he shoved a manila envelope into my hands. “Here’s what you asked for, with a little extra.”

  “Thanks for doing this.”

  He nodded. “Suzanne, I’m truly sorry about earlier. Tell Emma that I delivered on my promise, would you?”

  “Ray, she’s in back, if you’d like to tell her yourself.”

  “No, thanks. I’ll see her later.”

  “At least take these donuts as my way of saying thank you. I could have been nicer to you, too.”

  “Really? Do you mean it?” he asked me.

  “I do.”

  He took them gratefully, and then the newspaperman was gone. It was almost as though he were ducking his own daughter. Maybe he was. Emma could be a force to be reckoned with at times.

  I opened the tab and pulled out the envelope’s contents. To my surprise, there were five photos included, not just the one I’d requested. They all appeared to have been taken around the same time, when the time capsule was being prepared, but they showed different configurations of the participants. Unlike the blurry newspaper copy I’d seen earlier, these shots were crystal clear.

  “Was that dad?” Emma asked as she rejoined me up front.

  “He came through beautifully for me,” I said, sliding the photos back into their envelope. I wasn’t going to get Emma any more involved in my investigation than I already had, as a favor to Ray for delivering on his promise. “I offered to give him a chance to say hi, but he had to go.”

  My assistant grinned. “He knows he’s in dicey waters with Mom and me, so he’s making himself scarce until we forgive him for blowing you off like that.”

  “You should really let him out of the doghouse, Emma. He went above and beyond my request.”

  “That’s good to know. Mom will be pleased.” She looked around. “The kitchen is finished. All I need to do is wipe the tables down and sweep. How’s the report looking?”

  “I’ll know in a minute,” I said as I laid the photos on top of the box of Benjamin’s things that Gabby had given me.

  “What should I do with that?” she asked.

  I moved it to one of our couches. “It’s out of your way now.”

  She studied it for a moment. “I don’t suppose you’re going to tell me what’s inside, are you?”

  “Probably not,” I said with a smile.

  “It’s about the case, isn’t it?”

  I was thinking about how to answer her question when the register stopped printing out its report. “Just in time.”

  I was ten dollars off.

  I hated when that happened, especially when I had more money than I was supposed to. That meant that sometime that morning, I’d shortchanged one of my customers. I would have rather lost a hundred dollars than taken ten that didn’t belong to me. I counted the money again carefully and found that this time, it was a perfect match. That happened sometimes when I was preoccupied with something else, and I certainly had a lot on my mind at the moment outside the world of donuts. I was just making out the deposit slip when Emma announced that she was finished.

  “Would you like me to take that to the bank for you? I know you’ve got a lot going on right now, and I have to go cash a check anyway.”

  “That would be great,” I said as I stuffed everything into the deposit bag. “Thank your dad for me again, would you?”

  “Sure. I’d be happy to. Did you get what you wanted?”

  “I’m not sure yet,” I said.

  Emma frowned for a moment. “I thought he gave you more than you even asked for, Suzanne?”

  “Oh, he delivered as promised. I’m just not positive that it’s going to do me any good.”

  “Well, at least he came through. I’ll see you tomorrow morning.”

  “Bye. Have a good afternoon.”

  “Happy hunting,” she said as she unlocked the door.

  I wanted to take a much closer look at those photographs, but it wasn’t going to happen just yet.

  As I locked the door behind Emma, I saw Trish rushing toward Donut Hearts from the Boxcar Grill. Something was clearly wrong, and she was heading in my direction to tell me about it.

  “What’s up?”

  “It’s Hilda,” she said worriedly. “Jake was talking to her for the past half hour, and the minute he left, she ran again.”

  “Ran? What do you mean?”

  “What do you think I mean? She got into her car and left. Suzanne, I’ve got Gladys working like crazy in the kitchen, and right now I’m running the register on the honor system, and we both know how that’s going to turn out. You need to find her before Jake discovers that she’s gone again. Imagine how it’s going to look that she took off again the moment he left.”

  “Trish, you’re not suggesting that I keep this from Jake, are you?” I was loyal to my friend, but my allegiance to my husband had to take precedence over even tha
t.

  “I’m not asking you to lie to him; just don’t volunteer the information,” she said. “Please. Can you help me? I don’t know who else to ask.”

  I decided that I’d give myself ten minutes to search for Hilda, and if I came up empty, then I’d have to tell Jake. “I’ll try, but I can’t keep it from him for very long.”

  “That’s all that I’m asking,” she said. “Suzanne, I’m really worried about what she might do.”

  “What do you mean?” I thought about the poisoned pie, and I wondered if she was concerned that Hilda might do something even more rash after being pushed into a corner.

  “I don’t think she’d hurt herself, but I can’t be sure anymore.”

  That was an angle I hadn’t considered. If Hilda was innocent, our constant pushing might lead to her doing something foolish. And if she’d been the one who’d killed Benjamin after all? Well, it was clear that she’d felt remorse; hence the note. Either way, I needed to find her to make sure that she was all right. “I’ll do my best.”

  “Thank you,” she said. “Now I have to get back to the diner before my customers steal too much from me.”

  “Do you honestly think folks will take advantage of you?” I asked her as we started to walk out.

  “No, but why tempt them? Thanks. Call me when you find her.”

  “I hope I get the opportunity to,” I said. At the last second I remembered the box of Ben’s things and the photos Ray had supplied, so I grabbed everything and took it all out to my Jeep after I locked up Donut Hearts.

  The real question was where would Hilda go? It suddenly occurred to me that I didn’t even know where the woman lived.

  I took out my cellphone and dialed Trish’s number.

  “That was fast. Did you find her already?”

  “No. Where does she live, Trish?”

  “Over on Farrar Street. She’s at 2513.”

  “Okay. I’m going there first.”

  “Good luck,” she said.

  As I drove to the address, I found myself wishing that Grace were with me. After all, Hilda was one of our last remaining viable suspects for murder. Was I being foolish going to her place alone? If Jake had made her feel trapped, it was hard to tell how she’d react to me just showing up out of the blue. I wished that I had some way to defend myself, but I couldn’t very well approach her with a tire iron in my hand. I’d just have to keep my wits about me if I managed to track her down and be ready to react if she showed any signs of aggression toward me.