by Jessica Beck
Momma vanished back into the kitchen, and Grace turned to me. “Did I say the wrong thing just now?”
“With my mother, I doubt you could. She seems to cut you a great deal more slack than she ever did me,” I said with a smile. “You’re always welcome here, and you know it.”
“I know I haven’t been that great a friend lately,” she said as we took turns washing our hands in the hall powder room. “You know how I am when there’s someone new in my life. I tend to get a little tunnel vision.”
“I understand,” I said. “If I had a boyfriend who lived in town, I might be the same way.”
“Thanks for saying that, but we both know that’s not true. When you were married to Max, you still always managed to find time for me.”
“Well, I was married to Max, after all,” I said with a smile. “There were times when a little of him went a long way. You were my relief outlet.”
She smiled. “Still, I’ll try to do better from now on.”
“No worries, Grace. We’re good,” I said.
She lowered her voice as she asked her next question. “Has your mother said much about the murder?”
“She wanted to drop out of the race, but I think I talked her out of it,” I said softly enough so that Momma wouldn’t hear me.
“That would have been disastrous,” Grace said.
“Tell me about it. Can you imagine Evelyn Martin running our fair city? I’m already having nightmares about it.”
“I’m talking about her image,” Grace said. “If she quit now, it would look like she’s abandoning April Springs just when the town needs her.”
“Like I said, she’s agreed to run, but there’s one catch, and it’s a whopper.”
“What is it?” Grace asked.
“There is to be no campaigning for her of any sort,” I replied. “I told her that it’s not going to be easy keeping folks from spontaneously putting signs up, but she expects me to keep the town in check.”
“Good luck with that,” Grace said.
“I know.”
“Ladies,” Momma called out from the kitchen, “the food is on the table.”
Grace and I joined her, and after we sat down, we said a blessing, then prepared to eat. There was enough food on the table to feed half of April Springs, with two kinds of potatoes, yams, green beans, cranberry sauce, and, of course, Momma’s justifiably famous lemon chicken.
“This all looks so lovely,” Grace said. “Thanks so much for inviting me.”
“We’re pleased to have you,” Momma said.
As I filled my plate, I said, “You know, Jake would have really loved this.”
“You could always take him a plate,” Momma said.
“No, ma’am. They are his rules, and I’m going to make him live by them,” I said with a grin.
I’d had maybe three bites when there was a knock at the door. “Momma, did you invite anyone else to dinner?”
“Of course not,” she said. “Perhaps Jake changed his mind.”
“I doubt it. If I had to guess, I’m betting it’s the police chief. He probably smelled your chicken from the station,” I said as I got up and headed to the door.
It was neither man, though.
“George, come in,” I said as I saw my old friend.
“You’re eating,” he said. “I’ll come back later.”
“Who is it?” Momma called out from the dining room.
“George,” I said.
“Invite him in, Suzanne.”
I grinned at him. “You heard her. Come in.”
“I don’t want to impose,” he said, though I noticed that his attention was drawn to the delightful aroma coming from the other room.
“Please,” I said. “We have enough food to feed an army. Grace is here too, so come on. The more the merrier.”
He nodded. “If you’re sure.”
“You don’t want to offend Momma, do you?”
“Not a chance of that,” George said.
We walked into the dining room together.
“Hello, Dorothy,” he said, doffing a hat he wasn’t even wearing. I’d seen Southern men repeat that gesture all my life, and it never ceased to make me smile.
“George, come in. I’ll get you a plate.”
“No need, ma’am. I just wanted to have a word with Suzanne. I can come back after you’re finished.”
“George,” my mother said sternly. “I won’t ask you again. Sit.”
He did as he was told, a broad smile on his face. “Yes, ma’am. I won’t say no to you in your own house.”
As we ate, we discussed many things, but two topics were tacitly off the table: the upcoming election and the murder of our mayor.
After we were finished, Momma said, “I wish I’d baked a fresh pie.”
“I for one wouldn’t know where to put it,” I said.
She frowned as she studied the table. “I have some apple crisp in the refrigerator. I can warm it up and serve it with coffee and ice cream. Grace, would you or George like any?”
After they both declined, Momma stood and said, “Then I’ll just get started on the dishes.”
“We’ll help,” Grace said, and George and I echoed it.
“Ordinarily, I might take you up on it, but why don’t the three of you retire to the front porch? I’d like to keep busy, and I’m sure you’ve got things to discuss.”
“What do you mean?” Grace asked.
Momma smiled. “Don’t try to sound innocent to me, young lady. I’ve already told Suzanne that I approve of the three of you investigating Cam’s murder, and I expect that you have some planning to do.”
I kissed her on the cheek. “Thanks, Momma. It was fantastic.”
“Truly wonderful,” George said, and Grace added her own thanks for dinner.
Once we were outside, George said, “Your mother’s not as happy as she would like us to think.”
“It’s completely understandable,” I said. “She’s between a rock and a hard place right now. After having a pretty public fight with the mayor, he’s found murdered in a building she just happens to own. We need to clear this up, and fast.”
“Is Jake coming to give us a hand?” George asked. He’d worked with my boyfriend in the past on some of our impromptu investigations, and I knew how much he enjoyed it.
“Sorry, but he’s working for the other side this time. We’re on a break while he investigates, which honestly gives me even more incentive to find out quickly what happened to Cam. Do we have any thoughts about who might want to see him dead?”
George thought about it, and then said, “We can’t discount Hannah herself. She’s bound to still have keys to the building, so that gives her access.”
I recounted seeing them arguing in front of Donut Hearts, and Grace nodded. “Don’t forget, Evelyn used to work for Hannah, too, and if Cam tried to get in the way of her beating your mother for mayor, she might just be crazy enough to kill him.”
“It’s hard to imagine she’d go that far to get a job I doubt she really wants,” George said.
He clearly hadn’t seen the side of her that I had earlier. “It’s not about the job. It’s about punishing my mother for stealing her husband, no matter how crazy that might sound,” I said. “She has to go on our list. Anyone else?”
Grace nodded. “William Benson is a suspect.”
“William?” I asked, surprised by the mention of his name. William ran an arcade on the other side of town, a place the kids—and many adults—loved. In fact, many of the kids in April Springs called him Uncle William, including me. “Why should his name be on our list?”
“I was going to the Boxcar to meet Peter two days ago, and I was waiting outside when I heard an argument. Cam and William were around back, and from what I heard, they were ready to come to blows. It seems William wanted to put in a go-cart course, and Cam personally stopped the permit process. It sounded as though Cam was shaking William down for a little something under the table to let th
e permit go through, and William wasn’t having any of it.”
“You didn’t tell me about that,” I said. Normally, Grace and I shared things like that.
“I meant to. As a matter of fact, I had my phone out to call you, but Peter showed up just then and it slipped my mind.”
“I’ll talk to him tomorrow,” George said. “William and I go way back. Do you two want to tackle the women?”
I thought about facing Evelyn Martin, and honestly, I wasn’t too keen on the idea, but I’d had to ask tough questions to people in the past who’d liked me even less. “We’ll do it.” I turned to Grace. “Can you take a few days off?”
“I already did,” she admitted. “Peter and I were going away, and I put in for my vacation two weeks ago. I can’t change it now, so I’m sorry, but you’re stuck with me.”
“Does that mean you’ll be volunteering at the donut shop every morning, too?” I asked with a smile.
“Sure, if you change your hours. Why don’t I take advantage of my time and sleep in? Then, when you’re ready to close shop for the day, I’ll be ready to help you investigate.”
“That sounds like a plan to me. So, we all meet up tomorrow evening, right back here.”
“That sounds good,” George said as his phone rang. “Excuse me.” After a hurried conversation, he hung up. “That was a friend of mine on the inside. Cam was spotted an hour before you found the body, so we’ve got a timeline to work from. He was murdered between ten thirty and eleven thirty in the morning.”
“Can you trust your source?” I asked.
“With my life,” he answered. “We need to make tomorrow’s meeting before dinner. I can’t come back here and eat again so soon.”
“Why? Didn’t you like what you had tonight?” I asked.
He looked flustered and was clearly searching for the right thing to say when I added, “George, you’re always welcome here. I was just kidding.”
“I love your mother’s cooking,” he said. “I just can’t make a habit of it.” He stood, and I saw a trace of the limp he’d been doing his best to overcome. I for one would be glad when it was completely gone, since it was a reminder of a time I’d put him in harm’s way with one of my investigations. It had nearly made me stop digging into other people’s troubles, but I couldn’t do that, especially not now. Momma had asked for my help, and I wasn’t about to turn her down.
“See you ladies tomorrow,” he said as he climbed off the porch.
I looked around for his car, but I couldn’t find it. “Where are your wheels, George?”
“I’m out walking for physical therapy,” he admitted. “Treadmills bore me these days.”
“I’d be glad to give you a ride home,” I said.
“No, thanks. I need the exercise.” He waved as he walked around the corner, and I felt Grace’s hand touch my shoulder.
“You need to stop beating yourself up about that, Suzanne. It wasn’t your fault.”
“He was there because of me,” I said.
“George is a grown man. You couldn’t have stopped him even if you’d tried.”
I turned back to her. “That’s the thing, though, isn’t it? I didn’t try, not one little bit, and now he’s got a limp because of me.”
“Which is getting better every day,” Grace said.
Momma came outside with a serving tray and four bowls. “I’ve brought out the apple crisp,” she said, and then noticed George’s absence. “Oh, dear, I assumed he’d still be here.”
“I’ll eat his,” I said with a grin.
“Not without a fight. I’ll flip you for it,” Grace added.
“There’s no need to argue over the extra portion. There’s plenty left.”
“Yeah, but it’s more fun acting as though it’s the last one,” I said with a smile.
BAKED FRUIT DELIGHT DONUTS
We’ve been trying to eat a little healthier lately, so I’ve been playing with more baked, and less fried, donuts. You can achieve some surprisingly good results, and once I got my stand-alone baked-donut maker, I found that making donuts couldn’t be easier. These donuts in particular produce a fruit-filled explosion in your mouth with every bite.
INGREDIENTS
Wet
• 1 egg, beaten slightly
• ½ cup whole milk (2% can be substituted.)
• ½ cup granulated white sugar
• 1 tablespoon butter, melted (I use unsalted; salted can be used, but cut the added salt by half.)
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
Dry
• 1 cup all purpose flour (I prefer unbleached, but bleached is fine, and so is bread flour.)
• 1 teaspoon baking powder
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• ½ teaspoon salt
• ½ cup dried fruit (any combination of fruit bits like raisins, cranberry [Craisins], apple, apricot, plum, peach, cherry)
DIRECTIONS
Combine the dry ingredients (flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt) in a bowl and sift together. In another bowl, combine the wet ingredients (beaten egg, milk, butter, sugar, and vanilla extract). Slowly add the wet mix to the dry mix, stirring until it’s incorporated. Don’t overmix.
The donuts can be baked in the oven at 350 degrees for 10–15 minutes in cupcake trays or small donut molds, or for 6–7 minutes in a countertop donut baker.
Once the donuts are finished, remove them to a cooling rack. These are best served as is, but they can be embellished with any topping of your choice. Sometimes I make an apricot glaze by reducing apricot jam on the stovetop by half, and then use that to lightly cover the tops.
Makes 5–9 donuts, depending on baking method
CHAPTER 6
To my surprise, the next morning Emma was in front of the donut shop, waiting for me though she wasn’t due in for another half hour. I hated that she’d been standing out in the cold. She must have been freezing.
“What’s going on?” I asked as I unlocked the door and let her in. “You’re here early, aren’t you?”
As she rubbed her hands together, she said, “Don’t worry, I’m not on the clock. I found out some stuff from Dad that I just couldn’t wait to tell you.”
As we both hung up our coats, I said, “I don’t want to get you into trouble with him. Are you sure he’s okay that you’re sharing?”
Emma laughed. “It was his idea. He’s hoping that if you and your gang crack the case, you’ll give him a heads-up so he can write it up for the newspaper.”
“As much as I appreciate the spirit of cooperation he’s proposing, I’m not sure I can do that,” I said. Getting Ray Blake’s take on things could be helpful, but if he printed anything that disparaged Jake or even the police chief, I would hate to feel responsible for it.
“How about this: What if you just did whatever you were most comfortable with doing?” she said.
I decided that I could live with that. “What have you got, then?”
She clearly couldn’t wait to tell me. “Dad was able to uncover two pretty big bombshells. You know what a ladies’ man Cam always thought he was?”
I’d had a few friends who’d made the mistake of dating him, though he’d never been crazy enough to ask me out. If he had, I would have turned him down, even before Jake came into my life. Cam wasn’t my type, more flash than substance, trying to impress women with his wad of money more than his personality. “He was delusional,” I admitted.
“Well, it turns out that some women weren’t quite as discerning as you. He dated the vet in town, didn’t he?”
“Sherry broke up with him,” I said. “She told me that she was glad to be rid of him.”
“Well, clearly not everyone he ever dated felt that way. It turns out that he dumped a woman named Kelly Davis four days ago, and it was a bad breakup. From what Dad heard, she threatened to kill him for dumping her, in front of witnesses, too.”
“I didn’t even realize they were dating. Has Jake heard any of this?”
“I’m not sure,” I said.
Emma looked puzzled. “That doesn’t sound good. You two didn’t have a fight, did you?”
“We’re not seeing each other at the moment,” I said, and before I could finish, Emma looked as though she wanted to cry.
“That’s terrible! You two are perfect for each other, Suzanne. You have to make this right while you still can.”
“Easy, let me finish. As long as Jake’s here working on the case, we aren’t going out, but we’re still solid. There’s no reason to worry about us,” I said.
“Are you sure? That doesn’t sound all that solid to me.”
I took her hands in mine. “Emma, it’s what we have to do, and we both understand it.” It was time to get her off my love life. “Who else did your dad come up with?”
Emma took a deep breath, and then let it out. “William Benson made his list, too.”
I knew about William as a suspect, but I didn’t want to say anything just yet. I wanted to know if Ray was working off of the same information we were. “William’s always had a pleasant word for me and a nice smile whenever he comes by the donut shop. What did your dad find out about his relationship with Cam?”
“They had a problem about money,” Emma said.
It sounded as though we had the same information. “Cam expected to be paid off for the go-cart permit, right?”
“How did you know?” Emma asked, clearly disappointed that I knew about the scheme.
“Don’t worry, it’s good to hear it confirmed from a different source.”
Emma shook her head. “Do you really think that William might have killed him? I have a hard time believing that.”
“Don’t worry, we’ll talk to him,” I said.
My assistant looked expectantly at me. “‘We,’ as in ‘the two of us’?”
I had to nip this right now. “Emma, you know the rules.”
She was clearly deflated by the reminder that I’d promised her parents not to involve her in any of my criminal investigations. “Okay, fine.”