My lips quirked upward. "That would be so great, Donna. Wow. Thank you so much."
Donna nodded. "Of course. I have to show you what I've done with the place. I hate to toot my own horn, but I really love the new setup."
Sweets, the rusty town candy store, had been around ever since my parents were born. There was an old-fashioned soda fountain, a counter full of enough ice cream to give you a brain freeze for years, and so much sugar your teeth decayed a little bit every time you walked into the store. It was glorious.
"I'm thrilled that you've found something you want to do," I said. "I don't know how you manage your time. Are you Superwoman?"
She shifted, uncomfortable as usual with a direct compliment. In addition to being awesome in all sorts of ways, she was also humble. But as soon as Donna resumed talking about her new business, the sheen returned to her eyes, and her voice sizzled with life. "I can do it part time when the kids are in school and have the high school students help out in the other seasons. It'll keep me busy—plus it's good for the town. They were gonna shut it down. But anyway, more about that later. Right now, we gotta focus on getting you out of this mess."
"How do you figure we do that?"
Donna shrugged. "Well, if it wasn't you, then it's gotta be somebody else. We could start by trying to figure out who might've wanted Anthony Jenkins dead."
"Or at least what he was doing in the alley behind my studio, or who else was around on Wednesday," I said thoughtfully. "But it's been so long since I've been back in town, I can't think of who Anthony might've had a beef with recently."
"Good thing you have me on your team then," Donna said with a wink. "Like I said, Sweets is great for gossip!"
"By the smile on your face, I'm guessing you have an idea where we could start?"
"I would suggest starting with his wife," Donna said, looking at her watch.
"So soon? Do you think she'll want to talk about her husband's murder already?"
"Mr. and Mrs. Jenkins had a very unique relationship," Donna said slowly. "Strained might be the word to describe it. Let's see if she's open to us stopping by. If not, we'll leave."
"I don't know what I'd do without you," I said, leaning in toward my friend and nudging her gratefully. "You're one of the main reasons I moved back."
"Little Lake's not the same without you," Donna said happily. "I'm glad you're back."
A decent line of cars had built up behind Donna's ginormous van on Main Street. There was plenty of space for them to go around, but Little Lake was full of the nosy type of citizens, small-town folk who loved to gossip. Seeing me have a breakdown on the side of the road would be the beauty parlor equivalent of obtaining a front-page scoop. They'd be rich in gossip for the week.
"You'd better go," I said. "Thanks again."
"Call me!" Donna said as she waved at all the cars and took a small bow. "I want to help you with this thing."
The drivers honked and hooted and catcalled, most of them over seventy years old.
"I will," I said, gesturing for her to get in the vehicle.
"Hey, why are you walking, anyway?" Donna asked.
"No car." I shrugged.
"You got food?" she asked.
"Froot Loops."
"Get in."
TEASED TO DEATH
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The Killing Green Page 19