by Jessica Beck
“I’m not sure that I’ll be able to get him out of the station,” Jake said warily.
“But you’ll try, right?” Grace asked again.
“I’ll try,” he said, the resignation clear in his voice. “But I handle all of the questions, not the two of you.”
“Of course,” Grace said with a grin that I wasn’t completely certain Jake could see. I knew her well enough to realize that if we were within earshot, we’d be within commenting distance as well. I decided to keep that fact to myself, though.
“Okay,” Jake said. “If I can’t get him to open up with me, you two can try to see what you can get with free donuts. That will be Plan B.”
“What’s Plan C?” I asked.
“Truthfully, I haven’t thought that far ahead yet,” Jake admitted. “That’s not a problem, is it?”
“Are you kidding?” Grace asked. “We’ll be happy to wing it if we need to. Suzanne and I are experts at making things up as we go along. Why should it be any different just because you’re here?”
“Remember, we need to tread carefully,” Jake said. “There could be a great many reasons Durant doesn’t want to talk to us, free donuts or not.”
“Like what?” I asked, curious about how the cop’s mind worked.
“Let’s see. He could feel as though he’s protecting his late partner’s privacy by refusing to speak with us, for one thing,” Jake said. “Then again, if he suspects one of his fellow officers may have had something to do with Alex’s demise, he might not be in the mood to share that, either. There could be a dozen reasons for his silence that don’t have anything to do directly with his own possible involvement, but I’m hoping that if I push the right buttons, he’ll feel obligated to speak with me.”
“With us, you mean,” Grace prodded him.
“Indirectly, of course, but yes, us,” Jake amended.
At least his clarification seemed to mollify Grace a little, so that was something, anyway.
Twenty minutes later, we were in Granite Meadows. The police station was not far from the small downtown area, just as it was in our own April Springs.
After I parked in one of the visitors’ spots, Jake said, “I know that this isn’t how you two usually operate, but I’d really appreciate it if you’d let me handle this my way.”
“That’s fine, but we’re still coming inside with you, aren’t we?” I asked.
“Of course we are,” Grace said as she got out without waiting for confirmation.
After looking at Jake’s expression, I wasn’t so sure that had been his plan, but there was no way that Grace and I were going to stay out in the Jeep while he went inside.
Once we were all out and walking up the sidewalk together, I grabbed Jake’s hand and squeezed it. “Don’t worry. We won’t get in the way.”
“Hey, wait for me. I’m carrying a box of donuts,” Grace said from behind us.
“Come on, a dozen aren’t that heavy,” I told her.
“You made them. You should be the one toting them.”
“I’d be delighted,” I said as I took the box from her with a smile.
“Suzanne, I was just teasing. I didn’t mind carrying them.”
“No, but you’re right. Since I made them, I should be the one who delivers them.”
“Only as Plan B, though, remember?” Jake asked us.
“Oh, we remember,” Grace said with that impish grin of hers.
I wasn’t sure what was about to happen inside, but I was pretty certain that it wasn’t going to play out as it must have in Jake’s mind when he’d first come up with his original plan.
“I’m here looking for Officer Durant,” Jake said as he approached the front duty desk. As promised, Grace and I were holding back to let him have some space, but we still weren’t managing to go unnoticed by the folks around us. Much of that was probably directly due to the dozen donuts I was carrying, but a girl can enjoy the attention anyway, can’t she? Behind the front area were two rows of desks, mostly unoccupied, though I did spot one officer with her nose buried in paperwork off to one side.
“Sorry, Durant’s out on patrol.” The man at the desk had barely glanced at Jake before he’d responded. Evidently the magazine he was browsing through was far more riveting than we were.
My husband was clearly not used to being dismissed so casually. “Who’s the CO on duty?” Jake asked curtly. “Let me speak with him.”
That generated some attention. “The chief is in his office,” he said as he looked up at Jake. “And who exactly are you?”
“My name is Jake Bishop, and I’m with the April Springs police. Until recently, I was a special investigator with the state police.”
“How bad did you mess up to get busted that far down the food chain?” the man asked, clearly not impressed with Jake’s former credentials.
“Just tell the chief he has company,” Jake said dismissively, and then he turned his back on the desk officer and started toward us.
“I’m so sorry, Jake,” I said softly when he rejoined us. “That had to be hard to take.”
“It’s nothing I wasn’t already expecting,” Jake said lightly. “Don’t worry about it.”
“That’s the spirit,” Grace said. “Never let them see you cry.”
He looked at her oddly for a moment before he answered. “Like I said, it’s all good.”
Three minutes later, a tall, slender man in uniform came out of one of the nearby offices and approached us. “Are you Jake Bishop?”
“I am,” Jake said as he offered his hand.
“Robert Willson,” the man said. “I understand you’re filling in for Phillip Martin over in April Springs.”
“Not really. One of his officers is serving as interim chief. I just agreed to step in and help with the murder investigation. Sorry for your loss.”
“I appreciate that,” Chief Willson said. “Alex Tyler was a fine officer and a good man.”
That hadn’t been my impression of him, but then again, I hadn’t really known him all that well.
“What can I do for you?” the chief asked.
“I’d like your permission to speak with his former partner, Officer Craig Durant, if I may.”
“Sorry, but he’s out on patrol,” Willson said. “I’m not sure what he could tell you, though. I knew Tyler better than just about anybody around here. I’d be happy to assist you in any way that I can.”
“Maybe you could help me, then,” Jake said without a glance back in our direction. I had the feeling that the chief didn’t even know that we were together.
“I’ll do what I can. Come on back to my office and we can talk. We’ll have a little more privacy there.” So, he must have noticed Grace and me eavesdropping on their conversation after all. Perhaps Chief Willson was a little better than I’d given him credit for so far.
“Out here is fine with me,” Jake said gamely.
“Naw, come on back. It won’t take a second,” the chief insisted.
“Fine,” Jake said as he started following the chief back to his office.
If I didn’t do something quickly, Grace and I were going to be out of the loop.
“Jake, aren’t you forgetting something?” I asked loudly.
He didn’t turn around immediately, but the chief did. When we made eye contact, I held up the donuts. “These are for you, Chief.”
“What are they, cookies?” he asked as he looked at the box.
“Even better. They are donuts,” I replied.
The chief frowned a little. “Isn’t that a little too on the nose, bringing a box of donuts to a squad full of cops?”
“Hey, don’t blame me. I make them for a living,” I said lightly. “If I ran a flower shop, I would have brought you roses. There’s no hidden message here. We’re all sorry for your loss, and this is the best way we have to show it. We didn’t know Alex that well, but he’d already made an impression on the folks in April Springs.” It wasn’t completely a lie. He’d certainly mad
e an impression on me, just not a good one.
“Sorry. I guess I’m a little touchy about the subject,” Chief Willson said as he took the box from me and lifted the lid for a peek. “These look great. Tell you what. I’ll put them in the break room. Thanks for your thoughtfulness. Jake, are you ready?”
“Actually, they’re with me,” Jake said, though I could see that he was pained to admit it.
Chief Willson frowned at him for a moment, glanced quickly at us, and then he looked back at Jake. “Surely they aren’t helping you with your investigation, are they?” It was clear that he didn’t approve of that prospect at all. Clearly Jake had been right. Without him, we never would have even gotten this far.
“Allow me to introduce them. This is Suzanne,” he stumbled a moment before adding, “Hart, my wife, and her best friend, Grace Gauge.” We hadn’t really discussed the possibility of me taking his last name, and this obviously wasn’t the time or place to do it, either. I’d kept Hart through my marriage to Max, and now that I owned a shop called Donut Hearts, it seemed to make more sense to keep it rather than change it to Bishop. Still, that was something we were going to have to discuss somewhere down the line.
“Ladies, it’s a pleasure to meet you,” he said as he extended a hand to each of us in turn. “Now, if you wouldn’t mind waiting over there, we won’t be long.” It was as blunt a dismissal as I’d received in quite sometime.
I was about to push a little and ask if we might not join them when Grace surprised me by saying, “Take all the time you need. Suzanne and I need to catch up on a few things while you two are talking.” She’d said it with that sweet Southern belle accent she used sometimes to get what she wanted. It usually worked.
“We’ll be back in a flash,” the chief answered, and then he smiled broadly at her.
Grace returned it in kind, and a moment later we were sitting by ourselves.
“Well, that was a little unexpected,” I told her softly.
“Suzanne, let’s face it. There’s no way the police chief was going to speak freely in front of us. At least this way Jake has a chance to come up with something we can use.”
“I’d come to that same conclusion myself, but I never expected you to come around so quickly on your own.”
“What can I say? I’m reasonable if I’m anything,” she said.
I choked back my laughter. “Seriously? You do remember who you’re talking to, right?”
“I’m willing to admit that I have my moments,” Grace said, “but I can behave myself when the situation calls for it.”
“It just doesn’t call for it very often, does it?” I asked her with a smile.
“Not so far,” she replied with that grin of hers that always made me think that she was up to something, even on those rare occasions when she wasn’t. “Besides, I’ve got an idea about something we can do while we’re waiting.”
“This ought to be good. I can’t wait to hear it,” I said.
Chapter 14
“First of all, it entails finding the restroom,” Grace said as she stood and approached the cop at the front desk. “Is there a ladies’ room nearby?” she asked.
“Not on this floor. You have to go upstairs,” he answered abruptly.
“Surely you all don’t use that one,” Grace said.
“Ours is only for staff and visitors who are here on official business.”
“You saw that we came in with Inspector Bishop, didn’t you? The chief himself said hello to us. That must count for something.”
At that moment, his desk phone rang, but Grace wasn’t about to stand quietly by and let him take the call in peace. She raised her eyebrows as she put a hand on his phone before he could answer it, and he finally waved her through. I doubted that her argument had been all that persuasive. He most likely had just wanted to get rid of her. I stood and quickly followed her before the desk cop could protest. He wasn’t pleased about me following her, but he didn’t try to stop me, so I was okay with his disapproving frown.
“Now what?” I asked Grace softly. “Do you really need to go to the bathroom?”
“We might end up there eventually, but for now, I’d like to speak with her.” She pointed to the policewoman I’d seen earlier, and we veered off in her direction.
“Excuse me,” Grace said to her. “May we ask you something?”
Before she could get anything else out, the woman pointed down the hallway. “Restrooms are on the right down that way. You can’t miss them.”
“Thanks, but we were wondering if you could tell us anything about Alex Tyler,” Grace asked.
The woman, who had FARLEY engraved on her name tag, looked sharply at us both. “Who wants to know?”
“I’m Grace and this is Suzanne,” she said warmly. “We met Officer Tyler when he first came to April Springs.”
“Did he hit on you, too?” she asked harshly.
“Not me,” I said, and Grace acknowledged the same.
Officer Farley shrugged. “What do you know. He told me he was going to turn over a new leaf when he left, but I didn’t believe him. Maybe I was wrong about him, after all.”
“To be fair, he didn’t have that much of an opportunity,” I said with the hint of a grin.
“Trust me. He wouldn’t have let a chance pass by. I don’t know. He said that he was going to make himself into a new man from top to bottom. I just didn’t believe him.”
“He did try to get my assistant to go out with him, and when she refused, he was pretty persistent pursuing her,” I said.
“That sounds more like the Alex I worked with,” she said smugly.
“Did you know him very well?” I asked her.
“Are you asking me if we ever dated? No way. Not a chance. I wouldn’t date any of the men on this force.” She didn’t even lower her voice as she said it, though perhaps that was because no one else was around.
“Slim pickings around here?” Grace asked sympathetically.
“You don’t know the half of it. I have to be able to trust a man before I’ll go out with him.”
“That’s why you don’t ever go out, Farley,” the desk cop said with a mean laugh. Evidently he was off the phone, and now he was eavesdropping on our conversation. At least he hadn’t made a move to throw us out. Not yet, at any rate.
“Nash, nobody’s ever going to go out with you, either,” she said wearily.
“I happen to have a date tonight,” the man said smugly.
“Your mom doesn’t count.”
“It’s not my mom.”
“Your sister, either, then,” Farley said.
The desk cop waved a hand in dismissal and then turned his attention back to the magazine he’d been reading when we’d first walked in.
“Officer Farley, do you know anybody who might have wanted to hurt Alex?” I asked her.
“Look around. Half the guys on the force had a beef with him,” she said.
“Really? What about?” I asked.
She was about to answer when I heard Chief Willson just behind us. “Farley, don’t you have a beat to patrol?”
“On my way, sir,” she said as she stood and left hurriedly.
Jake joined us all a moment later. What had delayed him?
“Don’t mind Officer Farley,” Chief Willson said warmly as he turned to us. “She sees conspiracies behind every tree. Did she share any with you this afternoon?”
Grace was about to say something; I could see it in her body language. I decided to beat her to it. “Actually, we were just getting directions to the ladies’ room,” I said.
“Nothing more than that?” the chief asked me, letting his true interest show for a moment.
“Nothing more,” I said with my sweetest smile. Grace wasn’t the only one who could use charm to her advantage. I didn’t have to always rely on donuts to win people over, though I was the first to admit that they often helped my cause.
“Very good,” he said, seemingly satisfied with my response. “What w
ere you doing back here, anyway?”
“We were looking for the ladies’ room,” I answered.
“I’m afraid you’ll have to use the facilities upstairs. No exceptions. I’m sure you understand.”
“Completely,” I said as I touched Grace’s arm lightly. “Come on. Let’s go.”
Once we were outside, I turned to Jake. “What did you find out?”
“Maybe I should ask you first,” he replied. “It appeared that you and Grace were having more success than I was.”
“We might have gotten a few things out of Officer Farley before you and the chief showed up,” I admitted, “strictly due to Grace’s spur-of-the-moment idea.”
“What can I say? I came up with Plan C,” she said.
“This I’ve got to hear,” Jake said with a smile as we walked back to the Jeep.
I felt as though someone was watching us as we made our way back, and when I turned suddenly to look back at the building, there was movement in the curtains, as though someone had been peeking out from behind them. Could it have been Officer Farley, afraid that she’d told us too much? Or perhaps the police chief wasn’t quite as innocent as he’d presented himself to be in all of this. Then again, it could have been nothing more than the heat kicking on and blowing air from the registers into the drapes.
But thinking like that wouldn’t do me any good, so I decided to stick with my theory that we’d rattled a few cages on our visit to the police station, and we hadn’t even spoken with Officer Durant yet.
“Why don’t we wait until we’re out of earshot of the police station?” I suggested, and Jake and Grace quickly agreed.
Chapter 15
“You go first,” I prodded Jake as we got into the Jeep and left the police station. I wanted to get out of there as fast as we could.
“According to Chief Willson, Alex Tyler was a man without fault and an officer above reproach,” Jake started. “I couldn’t see his files, because according to his boss, there was nothing to see, but it sounded as though it would have been full of commendations and no signs of the slightest negative.”