Boston Cream Bribery

by Jessica Beck

“He dislocated his shoulder, cracked a few ribs, and he’s got a nasty bump on his head,” Wes explained.

  “That’s terrible,” I said. He’d missed the point of my question entirely, so I decided to ask it a different way. “Did he blow out a tire or something?”

  “The chief thinks he nodded off behind the wheel, but Bob wouldn’t have done that. He was too careful a driver,” Wes said, and a few other folks nodded in agreement. “We believe he dodged a deer in the road. It happens more often than you might think.”

  It was probably the best-case scenario they could come up with to justify the accident, and for all I knew, it could have even been true. Deer loved to come out and graze, especially at night, and it wasn’t anything to see them dead on the side of the road where they’d lost the battle with four wheels and steel.

  “It happens,” Jake said agreeably. “Did you hear that his former business partner is in here, too?”

  There was a sudden icy pall over the table, but I didn’t blame Jake for asking the question. With this crew, a direct inquiry was the only way we were going to get any answers at all.

  “We heard that somebody clobbered him. It was past due, if you ask me,” Wes said with a shrug.

  “Wesley!” an older woman chided him.

  “Well, it’s true, Aunt Irma. That man screwed Bob over but good, and we all know it. Who knows how many other people he put the shaft to?” Wes asked.

  “He and Bob were fighting recently, weren’t they?” Jake asked. I was trying to keep my voice neutral, but Jake’s had slipped into “cop” mode from habit alone. It almost sounded as though Jake was accusing the man of something merely by his tone of voice.

  “Maybe so, but he’d have to get in line to take a crack at Van Rayburn,” Wes said. “Bob didn’t do it, that’s for sure.”

  “How can you be so positive?” I asked gently.

  “Because I know Bob Casto,” Wes said gruffly. He stood, and the others joined him. I noticed that they left my donut box on the table as they gathered their trays together.

  “Don’t forget your treats,” I said as a gentle reminder.

  “Thanks, but like I said, we’re fine without them. Come on, folks. Let’s go.”

  Once they were gone, Jake frowned at me. “That was all my fault, wasn’t it?”

  “Your voice may have been a little too authoritative there at the end,” I admitted.

  “I’m working on it, but sometimes I can’t help but slip into old patterns. It’s completely different questioning people when they aren’t compelled to answer you. I’m not sure I’m ever going to be able to break those old habits.”

  I kissed his cheek. “Don’t be so hard on yourself. I think you’re doing just fine.”

  Jake merely shrugged as he reached for the donuts. “What should we do with these?”

  “Just throw them away,” I said, no longer wanting them after they’d been so soundly rejected by the group.

  “Are you sure? We still might be able to use them.”

  “I’m positive,” I said as Barton walked out of the kitchen and joined us.

  “Hey, you can’t bring food into a cafeteria,” he said, teasing me.

  “You’re right,” I said as I took the box and chucked it into the nearest can.

  Barton looked devastated by my action. “I was just teasing, Suzanne. I’m sorry.”

  “I didn’t throw them out because of you,” I told him with a smile. “They served their purpose, at least as much as they could, anyway.”

  “You’re trying to figure out what happened to Van Rayburn, aren’t you?” Barton asked softly.

  “What makes you say that?” Jake asked him.

  “Come on, I won’t tell anyone. You asked Emma and her mom to sub for you this morning, and I know for a fact that you’re not sick. What else could it be?”

  “Maybe I just wanted to spend the day with my husband,” I said.

  “It looks to me as though you’re managing to do both,” Barton said, “but that’s none of my business.”

  “Have you heard anything about Van?” I asked him. After all, working where he did, Barton was bound to pick up tidbits every now and then that might be helpful to us in our investigation.

  “Well, I know that he’s on a pretty bland diet, but at least he’s awake,” Barton said.

  “How about Bob Casto?”

  “I couldn’t say, since there are no food orders for him at all,” Barton said. “Would you like me to give you a call if there’s a change in either diet?”

  “Sure, if it won’t get you in trouble with your bosses here,” I said.

  “I’ve got pretty free rein around here these days,” the chef said with a grin. “They are all afraid that I’ll leave, so I can get away with just about anything, as long as I keep cooking.”

  “Emma told me that you were planning a pop-up restaurant,” I said. “How’s that coming?”

  “What can I say? It’s a work in progress. How was your food today? I spotted you two eating earlier, but I didn’t have the chance to come over and chat.”

  “It was amazing, as always,” I said. “I don’t know how you do it.”

  “It’s really not all that hard,” Barton replied, blushing a little. “It’s just simple ingredients prepared with care.”

  “You don’t give yourself enough credit,” Jake said. “By the way, you still owe me a catered lunch, you know.”

  “Give me a day’s notice, and I’ll be ready whenever you are,” Barton said with a grin.

  “Chef, we have a problem in the kitchen,” one of his underlings said as he approached us.

  “What did I tell you before, Gavin?” Barton asked in a serious voice.

  “Sorry. There’s a situation that needs your attention,” he corrected himself.

  “Thank you. I’ll be there in a minute.”

  “It’s a pretty important and urgent situation, Chef,” Gavin said, looking a little bit worried about his boss’s lack of prompt response.

  “I’d better go see what’s going on,” Barton said to us. “I’ll talk to you later.”

  “Looking forward to it,” I said.

  After he was gone, I asked Jake, “What do you say? Should we take another shot at Wes and the rest of Bob’s family and friends?”

  “We could, but I’m not all that sure that it would do any good,” Jake said. “Besides, I have something else in mind. What say we go visit the mayor at city hall?”

  “Do you think there’s anything more we can get out of George?” I asked my husband.

  “Not particularly, but while we’re there on a legitimate errand, I thought we might drop by Van’s office and see if we could find anything that might help us in our investigation.”

  I kissed Jake, and then I smiled at him. “That’s absolutely brilliant. I knew there was a reason I married you.”

  “Do you mean besides my charm and good looks?” he asked, clearly happy about the praise I’d just given him.

  “Of course. That all goes without saying,” I said as we made our way back to the Jeep.

  “Trust me. Feel free to say it anytime you’d like,” Jake answered.

  Chapter 8

  “The door’s locked,” I whispered to Jake as we tried to get into Van’s office. “What should we do?”

  “We need to figure out a way to get inside. Let me take a look at it,” Jake answered. “You keep a lookout for me.”

  “Should I whistle or something if I see someone coming?” I asked him as I glanced up and down the hallway.

  “You can if you want to, but just saying, ‘Jake, somebody’s coming’ is good enough for me,” he answered with a grin.

  “Okay, Smarty Pants,” I said as I stood with my back to him. I could see George’s office from where we were standing, but his secretary’s desk was empty.
Sue Boggs was his latest assistant, and I wondered where she’d wandered off to. It was a good thing for us that she was gone, though.

  Beside Van’s office on one side was the one reserved for Buford. I was fairly certain that he was still at the hospital, so I tried his door, just in case.

  This one happened to be unlocked. “Jake,” I whispered.

  His head shot up as though he were a gopher coming out of his hole. “Is somebody coming?”

  “No, but Buford’s door is unlocked.”

  “That’s nice, but we need to get into Van’s office, not Buford’s,” Jake reminded me, as though I needed him to tell me that.

  “Is there a chance we can get into it through here?” I asked him as I gestured to the door.

  “I don’t know, but I suppose it’s worth a shot,” Jake said as he stood. “This lock is a lot sturdier than I was expecting. What is Van hiding in there?”

  “I don’t know, but we need to find out,” I said.

  “Hang on a second,” Jake said, and then he examined the lock on Buford’s door.

  “It’s open, remember?” I asked.

  “I know, but this lock is older, and it looks more in line with the others in the hallway.” He gestured back to Van’s. “On the other hand, this one is nearly brand new. Do you see what I mean?”

  “I do. Listen, we can stand out here for hours discussing it until someone comes along, but why don’t we duck in and see if we can get through to Van’s office in the meantime?”

  “Sure. Of course. Sorry,” he said. “I just found it interesting, that’s all.”

  I suddenly felt bad about chiding him. “It makes me wonder about what he might be hiding, too,” I said as I opened Buford’s door and stepped inside. Jake was close on my heels, and he shut the door behind us so at least no one would know that we were there.

  The room was small, but Buford made up for it by being as neat as he could possibly be. The place was immaculate, and it was difficult for me to believe that anyone could get any work done in such a sterile environment.

  Unfortunately, there were no doors there leading to Van’s office.

  “It’s a dead end,” I said. “Sorry.”

  “That’s okay,” Jake said as we backed out into the hallway.

  The only problem was that someone must have spotted us going into Buford’s workspace after all.

  We’d been caught red-handed, and there was nothing we could do about it.

  “What happened? Did you two come looking for me and get lost along the way?” George asked with a wicked grin on his face.

  “As a matter of fact, we were just on our way to see you,” I said as lightly as I could muster.

  “Through Buford’s cubbyhole? What did the poor old guy do to merit your attention?”

  “The truth is that we were looking for a way into Van’s office,” I admitted, deciding a little belatedly that honesty might just be the best policy, at least in this case.

  “You know, you could have just asked me. I have a key to every door in the building,” George replied as he jangled his oversized key ring. After glancing at Van’s lock, he frowned. “Huh. That’s odd.”

  “It’s new, isn’t it?” Jake asked him.

  “Yes, and besides that, it’s against the rules to change these door locks without written permission from my office. Hang on a second,” he said as he grabbed his phone from his pocket. “Denise, I need you up at my office. Sure, that would be fine. Okay.” After George hung up, he told us, “Denise Osmond is our new custodial lady. She was born into a family of farmers, and there’s nothing around here that she can’t fix. This should be a snap for her.”

  “Since when did Denise start working for the town of April Springs?” I asked.

  “Do you know her?” the mayor asked me.

  “She’s been coming into Donut Hearts for years. At least she did up until six months ago. For some reason, she just stopped showing up. I figured I must have offended her somehow, but I never got the chance to apologize, just in case it was something I said.”

  “Then you haven’t seen her lately?” George asked with a smile.

  “Didn’t I just say that?” I asked Jake, confused about the mayor’s comment.

  The moment I saw Denise, all my confusion was ended. The woman must have dropped thirty pounds since I’d seen her last. When she came up the stairs, she was practically trotting. The moment we made eye contact, she said, “Suzanne Hart! Aren’t you a sight for sore eyes.”

  “What happened to you?” I asked her as we hugged. “You look fantastic.”

  Denise beamed. “You’d think I’d get tired of hearing that, but not so far,” she said. “What’s up, Mr. Mayor?”

  “This lock doesn’t meet our specs. Did you have anything to do with installing it?”

  She looked at the lock in question and shook her head. “No, sir, I’ve never seen it before. To be fair, I might not have noticed it, but I surely didn’t install it.”

  “That’s all I care about, then. Can you open it?”

  “You bet I can,” she said without even glancing at it again.

  “Don’t you even need to study it a little first before you make that claim?” Jake asked her.

  “I could, but I wouldn’t need to. All I need is my drill and three uninterrupted minutes to take care of it.”

  “We can arrange that, can’t we?” George asked us.

  “You bet,” I said as Jake nodded in agreement.

  It took Denise only two of the three minutes she’d asked for. Using her drill with practiced skill, she had the door lock at her mercy in no time at all. After pulling the entire lockset apart, Denise manipulated something inside the opening, and the door swung inward. “Is there anything else?” she asked with a grin.

  “Do we have any extra door handles with locks in storage?” George asked her.

  “I’m sure I could rustle something up,” she said. “It might take me half an hour to make it happen, though.”

  “That’s perfect. Don’t forget to let me have a copy of the key when you’re finished,” the mayor said.

  “Will do,” Denise said, and then she smiled at me again. “See you around, Suzanne.”

  “I hope so,” I said.

  “If I know her, it will take her under ten minutes before she comes back. Can you do much with that time?” George asked us quietly.

  “We’ll take whatever we can get,” Jake said.

  “Then start your clocks right now,” George said. “Come see me when you’re finished.”

  “You’re not coming in with us?” I asked him, in all honesty a little bit relieved.

  “It might not be prudent if someone were to catch me snooping around my main rival’s office while he’s laid up in the hospital,” George said.

  “Good thinking. That’s why you’re the mayor instead of one of us,” I said.

  “Tick tock, tick tock,” George reminded us.

  It was all the push we needed.

  Nobody was going to be outside standing guard this time.

  Jake and I were going to search the office together.

  While Buford’s workspace was immaculate, Van’s was a real mess. Papers were strewn everywhere, and files were stacked up in every available nook and cranny. “How are we going to do this in just ten minutes?” I asked Jake.

  “Hurriedly, and yet still with as much care as possible. We don’t have time to consult each other with what we find. Take photos with your phone, and I’ll do the same. We can share our notes after we’re finished.”

  “That sounds like a plan to me,” I said. I started scanning the desktop as I pulled out my phone. On the very top of the pile was a form that looked extremely official. None of it had been filled out yet, but the heading was enough to get my attention, and it took everything I had not to shout
to Jake what I’d found. I took a few pictures of it, and then I continued to dig as Jake went through the stacks on the chairs. Digging down into the mess, there was a great deal of official correspondence, but none of it looked pertinent to our case. Still, I took a few more photos until I found a credit card bill at the very bottom. Opening it up, I couldn’t help but whistle out loud when I saw its outstanding balance, as well as the bold PAST DUE stamped in, appropriately enough, red ink. The minimum payment alone would have drained our joint bank account.

  “What did you find?” Before I could reply, Jake added, “Strike that. Back to work.”

  I nodded as I took a few shots of the bill. At least it was itemized. There might be a few clues hidden in it, but that would have to wait until later.

  I noticed that Jake must have found a few things himself, because he was busy taking a few photos along the way himself.

  I opened the top drawer in the middle of the desk and found a greeting card. How nice. Then I read it, and I immediately changed my mind. The front of the card, which I photographed, featured a flowery heart with the words “I Missed You” embossed on it. Inside was written, “But My Aim is Improving, So Watch Out.” Below it, in a woman’s handwriting, it read, “Don’t push me away, Van. You won’t like what happens if you try.” It was signed simply, “Vivian.”

  Wow. My hands shook a little as I photographed the evidence before putting it back where I found it. I was about to say something to Jake when I heard footsteps approaching from the hallway. “Denise is coming back!”

  “I’m nearly finished,” Jake said, and we both barely managed to make it out into the hallway before she arrived.

  “I’m surprised to find you two still here,” she said with a frown as she approached us. There was an old, dull lockset in one hand and a toolbox in the other.

  “We didn’t want to leave Van’s office unguarded,” I said. It was the first thing that sprang into my mind. I just hoped she bought it.

  “That’s very considerate of you both,” Denise said with a smile, “but I’ve got it from here. Nobody is going to get into this office without a key from now on.”

  “Unless they have a cordless drill of their own,” Jake joked.