by Jessica Beck
“All I can say is that I wish you luck, and I mean that sincerely.” I glanced at the remaining donuts, now resting in a half-empty box. “Would you like some treats, on the house?”
“Sure, why not?” she asked with a smile. It was the first time I’d seen her with a full-blown smile, and I could start to see that she was being completely sincere. I just hoped that she didn’t turn out to be the killer, because if she was, I’d still have to nail her all the same for her crime, no matter how much she’d gotten to me.
Once Megan was gone, Emma came out, still carrying the softball bat. “What was that all about, or should I even ask?”
“The truth of the matter is that it was either a courageous act of openness and honesty, or it was an attempt to win my sympathy in order to divert my suspicion from her in Harley’s murder,” I said without thinking about who I was telling. “That’s off the record, by the way.”
“Of course it is,” Emma said. “Do you have any idea who killed Harley?”
“I honestly don’t have a clue,” I said as I handed her the last tray. “We can close up a little early today. As soon as you finish with the dishes, you can take off.”
“What about cleaning the tables and sweeping the floor out here?”
“I’ve got enough time to do that myself,” I said. Honestly, I didn’t mind doing the work. I wanted a little time to process what I’d just learned. It was a fair question Emma had posed. Which scenario did I really believe? After she left Donut Hearts, I was no closer to reaching a conclusion than I had been before, and I still wasn’t sure by the time I’d finished cashing out the register and cleaning the front.
There was a tap at the front door just as I shut off the main lights, and I was kind of surprised when I looked up to see Momma standing outside.
“Was I expecting you?” I asked her as I let her in.
She looked disappointed. “I thought we were sleuthing together today. Why, has something else come up?”
“No,” I said after I let her in and closed the door behind her, being sure to lock it securely before I turned back to her. “As a matter of fact, I just had an interesting visit from one of our suspects.”
“I’m dying to hear who it was,” she said just as my cellphone rang.
“Hang on one second.” It was Grace. “Where are you?” I asked her.
“That’s the thing. I’m going to be late. Can you think of some way to occupy yourself for a few hours without getting yourself into trouble?”
“Momma’s here with me,” I said.
“That doesn’t answer my question,” she said with a laugh.
“Is everything all right?”
“Yes, I’ve just got a rep who’s gotten herself into a jam, and I’m trying to help her figure a way out of it. From the sound of things, it might take a while.”
“Is it work related?” I asked.
“No, the silly nit’s been dating two men without telling either one about the other, and last night while she was stacking two dates on top of each other, they proposed.”
“Together?” I asked, shaking my head in disbelief. I knew there were women who could date a variety of men at the same time, but I’d never been one of them. I seemed to have it coded in my DNA that I could only be with one man at a time.
“Of course not. I just said that they didn’t know about each other. That’s not the real problem, though.”
“I’d love to hear what it is, if that’s just the lead-up,” I told her.
“She said yes to both of them,” Grace said.
“You’re kidding.”
“I wish I were, but you can’t make things like this up.”
“Stay with her as long as you need to,” I said. “I don’t envy you.”
“Yes, I’ve got to admit, I’d rather be there with you than dealing with this mess. Well, I’d better get back inside before she melts down completely.”
“Good luck,” I said.
“Right back at you.”
“What was that all about?” Momma asked me, a look of concern spread across her face.
“Grace is helping one of her workers with a personal problem,” I said, and then I repeated what she’d just told me.
“So I gathered from your end of the conversation. Did the daft woman honestly just accept marriage proposals from two men? How does something like that even happen?”
“I’m not quite sure myself, but it seems that’s the case,” I said.
“The answer is easy enough,” Momma said.
“I’m listening,” I replied, eager to hear my mother’s take on the situation.
“Tell Grace to have the woman flip a coin, making one man heads and the other tails.”
“Seriously? That’s your great advice, flipping a coin? It seems kind of random, if you ask me.”
“Suzanne, think about it. The results of the coin flip don’t actually matter.”
“Now I’m really lost.”
“Have her flip the coin, and then, just as she learns the outcome, have Grace ask her if she’s happy with the result or disappointed. That might not tell her which man to marry, but it will certainly point her in the right direction.”
“Momma, you’re brilliant.”
“So I’ve been told. Well, stop nattering away with me. Call her back.”
I did as she suggested, and to my chagrin, Grace got it immediately. “Give your mother a hug for me,” she said.
“You can do it yourself later,” I said. “While you’re gone, Momma and I are going to go talk to some of our suspects again.”
“Just save at least one for me,” she said.
“I promise.”
After I hung up, I turned back to Momma. “How did you happen to think of that?”
“I do it sometimes myself when I’m faced with a difficult decision,” she said. “It’s amazing how often it works. Now, who should we tackle first?”
I told her about Megan’s visit, and Momma nodded. “I can understand her reaction completely.”
“Momma, was there a Harley in your life at one time? No, of course not. Forget I even asked you that question.”
“Jason Henderson,” she said without hesitation. “Believe it or not, I haven’t always been the self-confident woman you know and love. Jason knew every button to push to get me to adore him in junior high school, and yet he didn’t return a single ounce of my affection.”
“Did he end up breaking your heart?” I asked, seeing my mother in a new light.
“No, actually I broke his nose,” Momma said.
“Seriously? You punched him in the snout?” I knew that my mother could be rowdy at times, but physical violence against a boy who didn’t return her affections seemed a bit extreme, even for her.
“Of course not. Don’t be silly, Suzanne. I accidentally opened a classroom door, and he happened to be standing on the other side of it. It smacked him squarely in the face, and he cried like a little girl. After that, I had no use for him. Do you know what happened?”
“His family sued you for damaging their son?” I asked, half jokingly.
“No, we weren’t nearly that litigious back then. After Jason’s nose healed, he decided that he was smitten with me! My rejections just made him that much more determined, until he finally gave up and went after someone else.”
“My mother, the heartbreaker and the nose breaker,” I said.
“It wasn’t my proudest moment, but there you go. Now, do we believe Megan?”
“I’m not sure,” I said, though I liked her using the word “we.”
“Then we put an asterisk by her name and move on to our next suspect. Is there anyone in particular you’d like to tackle first?”
“I was thinking we’d speak with Curtis and Wendy at the same time,” I said. “Why not kill two birds with one stone
?”
“An unfortunate expression, but that sounds like a solid enough plan to me.”
“I still can’t get over your story about breaking a boy’s nose, and then he falls in love with you.”
“It’s all ancient history, Suzanne. Let’s focus on the present, shall we?”
“We shall,” I said with a grin.
Chapter 15
“You’re back,” Wendy said the moment Momma and I walked into the office.
“We are indeed,” I said. “Is your boss around?”
“He’s at lunch,” Wendy said as she stood. “If you’d like to make an appointment, I’d be glad to see if I can fit you in sometime next month.” Wendy took a great deal of satisfaction in telling us that, but my smile never wavered.
“Actually, we’d love to talk to you instead,” I said. “Right, Momma?”
“Absolutely. After all, you play a vital role here, Wendy, and we need your advice.”
Momma sounded so sincere as she said it that I almost believed it myself. Wow, she was good.
“I’m not really all that important,” Wendy said, suddenly blushing a little.
Score one for my mother! “On the contrary, you know the men you work for better than any of the other women in their lives probably do. After all, you spend more time with them and know just what they need to make them productive, what their strengths are, and more importantly, their weaknesses.”
“I’ll admit that it can be challenging with two of them, since sometimes they wanted two entirely different things, and it was always up to me to figure out what would be best for the both of them.”
I kind of doubted that was even remotely true, but I wasn’t about to spoil my mother’s good work. “Could you tell us a few things about what made Harley tick?” I asked.
“Oh, I couldn’t divulge any company secrets,” Wendy said quickly. “Mr. Daniels wouldn’t like that.”
Momma frowned at me for a moment, and then she said, “What my daughter means is, did he ask you to call him by his first name, or was everything formal around here?”
“Oh, he was friendly with me from the start,” Wendy said. “It was never ‘Mr. Boggess’ with him, but always Harley.”
“And Mr. Daniels? I notice you always use his last name when you speak of him.”
“He likes things a little more formal,” she conceded. “They were both great bosses, but in different ways.”
“You say were. You’re going to continue to work here for Mr. Daniels, aren’t you?”
“He wants me to stay, no matter how he acts sometimes, but without Harley, I can’t see myself hanging around. My sister’s been trying to get me to move to Raleigh to be closer to her kids for years, and I’ve finally decided that’s exactly what I’m going to do. Sooner rather than later, I’m going to take her up on her offer.”
“So, you and Harley were really close then,” I said.
“Sure, but not in a creepy kind of way or anything like that. He used to take time to give me advice, kind of take me under his wing, you know? He always said that the Christmas bonuses I got were from the firm, but I knew that if Mr. Daniels had any say in it, I’d get a card instead of a nice check every year.”
“Was there generally a lot of tension between the two men?” I asked.
“No, Mr. Daniels claimed to be okay with giving me money, too. It was just Harley’s idea, that’s all.”
I hadn’t meant that. “I’m talking more about in general.”
“Well, they were splitting up, but then you already knew that, didn’t you?”
“We did,” I said. “Would you have gone to work for Harley alone if he’d asked you to?”
“Well, I guess we’ll never know that, will we,” she said a little sadly.
“Why is that?”
“Because Harley never got the chance to ask,” she said. Was there an air of wistfulness in her voice as she’d said that? I’d never thought of Harley Boggess as some kind of lady magnet, but apparently I’d been missing something. It was pretty clear that Wendy had been taken with him, too, just like Megan and Amber.
We were suddenly interrupted when the front door opened and Curtis Daniels came striding in. He was clearly surprised to see us there and just as obviously unhappy about our presence. “Seriously? Again? Unless you’re here to do business with me, I’ve got work to do.”
“We were just having a nice chat with Wendy,” I said.
He wasn’t pleased with that at all. “Oh, really.”
“It was nothing confidential, Curtis,” Momma said. “I bet you’re going to miss her when she leaves the firm.”
“So, she told you that, did she?”
“I didn’t realize that it was supposed to be a secret,” Wendy apologized to her remaining boss.
“Isn’t it time for you to take your lunch?” he asked her icily.
“Yes, sir,” she said, leaving the office without looking at either me or my mother on her way out.
“You were a little rough on her, weren’t you?” Momma asked him after she was gone.
“I never wanted her here in the first place. She was Harley’s hire, and I went along with it, but now that he’s gone, I won’t be needing her services any longer.”
“I thought she just turned in her notice,” I said, honestly confused now.
“She did, two minutes before I was about to fire her. She’s working her last two weeks here, but if she keeps talking to strangers, she’s not going to last even that long.”
“We’re hardly strangers,” Momma said.
“It doesn’t really matter at this point. She had a thing for Harley, can you believe that?”
“Why wouldn’t she? He was handsome in his own way, and he could be quite charming when he wanted to be,” Momma said.
“He never used any of that charm on me, I can tell you that. If I didn’t know better, I’d say he brought her into the firm in the first place just to spy on me.”
“Paranoid much?” I asked him.
“You’re not being paranoid when someone really is out to get you,” Curtis said. “I know for a fact that Harley was planning on forcing me to buy him out just so he could come after me once our company was dissolved.”
“Didn’t you have a noncompete clause in place to prevent that from happening?” Momma asked.
“Yes, but it was basically toothless.”
“But that’s not a problem for you anymore, is it?” I asked him, getting in a little jab.
“Believe me, for every problem that man’s demise saved me, it created seven more to take its place,” Curtis said. “I kept telling Harley that he was spending too much time on April Springs business and not enough time on ours, but he would never listen to me. Now that he’s gone, I’m seeing just how right I was. I’ll tell you one thing: I’m petrified about what the audit is going to show once it’s been completed.”
“You aren’t accusing the dead man of stealing from you, are you?” Momma asked him.
“It’s beginning to look as though it’s not a question of if, it’s a matter of how much,” Curtis said. “It’s a good thing I didn’t know what he was up to. I might have done something drastic to the scoundrel myself.”
“Like plunging a letter opener into his chest?” I asked him softly.
“What? Of course not. I would have done what any businessman worth his salt would do. I would have sued him for every penny he owed me, and then I would have seen him prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law.”
“How much are we talking about here?” I asked.
“Over a hundred thousand dollars that I know of, and that’s just so far,” he said in disgust, and then he must have realized that he’d shared too much confidential information with us. “Why am I telling you two any of this? Dorothea, I’ll ask you one last time: do we have any business t
o discuss, or are you two here on a witch hunt?”
“There’s no business to be done anymore,” she said simply. I might have tried to string him out a little, but so far, there was little to be critical of in my mother’s performance.
“Then I’ll ask you both to leave right now,” Curtis said as he held the door open for us.
Momma and I had no choice but to go.
Once we were back in the car, I said, “You did a fine job in there.”
“I don’t know. I may have gotten more out of him if I’d dangled that deal in front of his nose, but I simply couldn’t bring myself to do it.”
“I totally get that,” I said, “but look how much he told us. He practically gave us another motive for murder.”
“And don’t forget, Wendy isn’t without blame, either. If she was spying on Curtis for Harley as Curtis claimed, it could have gone badly in the end.”
“How so?” I asked.
“What if Harley asked Wendy to do more than she was comfortable doing? Harley had a big personality. Was it just me, or did Wendy seem a little too enthusiastic about her late boss?”
“She made him sound like Saint Harley,” I conceded.
“I have a feeling that she was overcompensating for something. I’d love to know what their real relationship was like, in and out of the office. She has no real alibi for the time of the murder, remember.”
“And no motive that we know of, either,” I said. “That’s crucial for us to make a case against her.”
“Could he have spurned her affection as well?” Momma asked.
“I don’t know. It’s a stretch. I could see Megan falling for him, but Wendy seemed a bit more sensible than that.”
“Then let’s look for another motive. What if she was in on Harley’s thefts, if indeed he even committed them in the first place?”
“I’m listening,” I said. I loved the way my mother’s mind worked, and hearing her think out loud was a real treat for me.