by Jessica Beck
After everyone was gone, I locked the door and turned back to George. “I’m sorry,” I said once I’d managed to calm down a little. “I shouldn’t have raised my voice like that.”
“Don’t apologize to me. I’m just telling you what I’ve heard. We need to do something, to help.”
I grabbed a broom and started sweeping. “Slow down. Whether I look into this or not, you’re not going to be involved in it this time. You’re recuperating, remember?”
“This?” he asked, waving the cane in the air. “It’s no hardship; more of an inconvenience, really. I might not be able to chase anyone down in a footrace, but that doesn’t mean I’m completely useless.”
From the tone in his voice, I could tell that I’d angered George, the last thing I wanted to do. “Don’t you understand? Look at it from my point of view. I can’t risk letting you get hurt again,” I said, the honesty in my answer surprising me as much as it clearly did him.
He just shook his head. “Suzanne, a meteor could fall from the sky in the next ten seconds and I’d be just as dead as if something else happened to me. Just being alive is a constant risk, but it’s not something I’m ready to give up on.” He rubbed his chin for a moment, and then added, “You don’t have to include me in your investigation, but that doesn’t mean you can stop me from digging around into what happened to Emily on my own. She’s a friend of mine, too, and I aim to find out what happened to her, with or without your blessing. Do we understand each other?”
I knew I was fighting a losing battle, so the only hope I had of reining him in was stepping in myself, whether I believed there was cause for alarm or not. “I get it, but I’m still not sure there’s any reason to panic, at least not yet. Want a donut?” I asked.
“No, thanks, I’ve already had my breakfast, and I’m headed out to lunch now.”
“You can put it in a bag and take it home for later,” I said as I grabbed a plain cake donut and slid it into a bag. As I handed it to him, I said, “After all, it’s still all I’m able to pay you for your professional investigative services.”
He took the bag with a smile, and then asked, “What, no coffee anymore? I used to get both when I worked for you. Times are tough, I suppose.”
I laughed, despite my reservations. “One coffee to go, it is. You drive a hard bargain.”
George smiled at me. “I don’t know; you’re no pushover yourself.”
I filled a to-go cup, and then gave it to him.
“Now we’re in business,” I said with a grin.
“When do we start?” George asked.
I’d agreed to enlist his help more to keep him from going off on his own than for a real need to dig into Emily’s life. After all, I wasn’t so sure I’d want anyone overreacting if I stepped away from Donut Hearts without taking out a full-page ad in the newspaper. “As soon as I finish closing up the shop I’ll call Grace. Why don’t you disappear for half an hour or so, and then come back?” Hopefully Emily would show up on her own before that.
“You’re not going to do anything without me, are you?” The look of concern on his face was clear.
“I have a lot of work to do before I can leave Donut Hearts,” I said. “Emma and I have to finish cleaning the place up, and I’ve still got to cash out the register and run my reports. Those things take time.” I touched his shoulder lightly as I added, “Come on, George, don’t be so paranoid. It doesn’t suit you.”
“Point taken,” he said with a shrug. “I’ll go grab a bite to eat. See you later.”
After he left the shop, I watched him walk away. I wasn’t sure if it was just my imagination, but I could have sworn that George’s limp had suddenly gotten better. I suspected that having a purpose again was helping take his mind off his injury. As I replayed our conversation in my head, I realized that he had been completely right. I had no business trying to tell him how to run his life. If George wanted to take a few risks in order to feel alive, I wasn’t about to stop him. All I could do was try to make the dangers more manageable, and I couldn’t do that if he was off investigating on his own.
I kept working in the front, and a little later, Emma came out drying her hands on a dishtowel. “The dishes are done and the trays are clean.” She glanced at the case. “I see you boxed up the last couple of dozen donuts. Anything else I can do to help out here?”
“No, we’re good. You can go on. I’ll balance the register, and then I’m taking off myself.”
She grabbed a broom. “That’s okay. I can sweep up if you’d like.”
“I took care of that already,” I said. I looked carefully at her and then asked, “Emma, are you stalling for some reason?”
“Honestly? I don’t want to go home,” she said, and I saw her fighting tears.
“Why not?” I asked softly. I knew she and her father had difficulties sometimes, but I’d never heard her hesitate about going home after a long shift at the donut shop.
“Dad means well, but he’s going to ask me a thousand questions about Emily, and I don’t know how to answer a single one of them. I’m a little concerned about where she might be, and he’s not going to make it any easier for me. Emily’s not just another story for his newspaper to me; she’s my friend.”
“Mine, too,” I said, touching her shoulder softly. “I’m sure she’s fine, and that she has no idea how worried we all are about her.”
“I hope you’re right.”
“Don’t worry. I’m calling Grace, George has already promised to help, and we’ll all do our best to track her down. In the meantime, you can’t keep avoiding your dad. Tell him what you just told me, and ask him to give you a break. He’s not a bad guy if you give him half a chance.”
“I know,” she said, and suddenly tried to smile. “I’m okay.”
“Good girl,” I said, and let her out. The cash register balanced out on the first try, to my unending joy, and I prepared the bank deposit. When I was ready to lock up, I grabbed my phone and called Grace at home. I knew she was there doing paperwork, part of her responsibilities as a supervisor for her company.
“Hey there,” I said when she picked up.
“I was just getting ready to call you,” she answered.
“What’s going on?”
“Believe it or not, I’ve got a problem. Someone I know just disappeared.”
It didn’t even surprise me that she’d already heard about Emily. “Trust me, I know. I’m not entirely certain that it’s worthy of all this fuss, but she was last seen at the donut shop this morning.”
There was a long pause on the other end of the line, and then Grace asked, “What on earth are you talking about, Suzanne?”
I was baffled by her response. “Emily Hargraves is missing,” I said. “Isn’t that who you’re worried about?”
“No, someone else in town has disappeared. It seems as though we’ve got an epidemic on our hands.”
CHAPTER 2
“Who are you missing?” I asked Grace as I clutched the telephone.
“Tim Leander was supposed to be here two hours ago to do some work for me, but he never showed up.”
I knew the town handyman well, and one of the things Tim prided himself on was his punctuality. If he couldn’t make it, he’d always call. Tim was a man we’d all grown to count on. Two years before, our furnace had died in the dead of winter, and Tim had dropped everything and rushed over in the middle of the night to fix it for us without question or complaint. There were dozens of reasons for all of us in town to love him for his willingness to always lend a hand when we needed him. “Maybe he got held up at his last job,” I said, hoping that was true.
“That’s not like him, and you know it. He would have called me,” Grace said. I knew the two of them had a special relationship, though I could never get more specific details for the reasons behind it out of Grace. All I was certain of was that whenever Grace called him, no matter what the circumstances, Tim came running.
“I know it sounds out of characte
r for him not to show up,” I said, “but it doesn’t seem likely that two people from April Springs could disappear at the same time.” A sudden thought struck me. “They couldn’t be together, could they?”
Even as I said it, I doubted that there was any set of circumstances that could explain Emily and Tim vanishing at the same time.
“Sure, maybe they eloped,” Grace said with a laugh. “And to think they’ll miss my coronation as Queen of Bogatavia later today.”
She had a point. On the face of it, the two of them had nothing in common. “I know, it doesn’t make much sense, but how do you explain it otherwise?”
“I can’t,” Grace said, “unless it’s just a coincidence, and I don’t believe in them any more than you do. That’s why I think we should investigate.”
“Funny, that’s exactly why I was calling you. So, who should we look for first?”
“I don’t think we have the luxury of putting either one on the back burner now that we know that both of them are missing,” Grace replied. “This could be serious.”
“Or they could just be in Union Square having lunch together,” I said.
“What if they’re not, though?” she asked. “I can look for Tim, and you can hunt down Emily.”
“You know I don’t like splitting up,” I said hesitantly. There was real safety in numbers, at least for the two of us. George could and did go off on his own at times, but he was a trained investigator, while Grace and I were just amateur sleuths.
“If we’re going to work together, then we’d better get busy.”
There was a tapping at the door of the donut shop, and I looked up, startled. I’d been so engrossed in my conversation with Grace that I hadn’t even noticed someone approach.
George was standing outside, grinning and looking certain that even with his cane, he’d still managed to sneak up on me.
“George is here,” I said to Grace as I opened the door and told him to shush. “He’s going to help us look into this.”
He did as I commanded, but nothing would wipe the smile off his face.
Grace said, “I’ll meet you there. Don’t go anywhere without me.”
“I’m not making any promises,” I said.
“Suzanne Hart,” she said, and before she could get wound up, I butted in.
“Grace, I’m kidding, but don’t take too long. There are two dozen donuts here, and I don’t want to eat every one of them by myself.”
“You don’t have to worry about that. I’ll be glad to help,” George said.
“Save some for me,” Grace said, and then hung up.
I flipped open a box and said, “Go ahead. Help yourself.”
“I was just kidding. I told you I was having lunch when I left here. I’m stuffed.”
“So, my donuts aren’t good enough for you as dessert?”
He started hedging his bets instantly. “I give up. I’ll take one. Have any lemon filled, by any chance?”
I peered into the boxes. “Sorry, there’s no lemon left. I’ve got a German chocolate I can offer you instead.” That was just plain mean. I knew George hated that particular flavor of donut from a test I’d done years ago.
His smile faded as he answered, “Sure, I guess that will be okay.”
He started to reach for one, but I couldn’t take it any longer. I snapped the box top shut and said, “You aren’t getting any, so stop pretending that you like them, or that you even have enough room to eat one.”
The look of relief on his face was comical. “Honest, I’m too full to eat another bite, but I’ll take some coffee, if there’s any left.”
The pot was empty, but that was an easy thing to fix. “I’ll make more. It should be ready by the time Grace gets here.”
“Don’t go to any trouble on my account,” he said.
“I won’t,” I said with a grin. “I want some, too.”
George nodded, and then asked, “Do you mind me asking if it’s your blend, or one of Emma’s?”
“You don’t care for our more exotic offerings?”
It was clear that George wasn’t sure if I was teasing him or not, but he said, “You know me; I’m usually up for something different, but Emma’s taste in coffee and mine aren’t even close to being the same.”
“Trust me, I’m not always a fan of what she brews myself. It was all I could do to get her to agree to one exotic flavor one day a week.”
As I started to prepare the coffee, I asked, “What do you think happened to them, George? Are they somewhere together, or did they just vanish? Are we worrying over nothing?”
“They?” he asked, clearly perplexed by my question. “Suzanne, what are you talking about?”
“That’s right. You haven’t heard.” As I filled him in on our discovery that Tim was missing as well, I could see George take it all in.
When I was finished, he said, “They aren’t together. I’m sure of that.”
“How can you possibly know that?”
He frowned as he pondered it all, and then said somberly, “Call it a hunch, or a cop’s intuition, but I’ve got the feeling that one of them is in trouble, and the other’s just fine.”
His statement sent a chill through me, and for some reason, I believed what he said with all my heart, though he didn’t have a single fact to back up his statement. “Why would you say that?”
“Suzanne, I honestly don’t know. It’s just a feeling.” But let’s keep our minds open and hope for the best until we learn differently.”
That effectively killed our conversation, and we were both left to our own dark thoughts.
The coffee was ready just as Grace tapped at the front door. I’d made it a point to watch for her so that I wasn’t startled twice in fifteen minutes.
I opened the door for her, and Grace took a deep breath as she stepped inside the shop. “My idea of civilization is anywhere there’s coffee to be found,” she said.
I smiled gently at my friend, always happy to be in her presence again. “I’d disagree with you, but I know it would be a lost cause.”
After I locked the door behind her, I poured us all cups, and we sat at the bar side by side. I hadn’t meant to snack on one of the leftover donuts, but it was so natural to have one with the coffee that I instinctively grabbed one and passed the boxes down to the other two. It was no wonder I never managed to lose weight. I should be thankful I rarely put much on, either. Somehow I’d found an equilibrium I could live with, even though it was quite a few pounds over what I considered my ideal weight should be.
I was about to tell Grace George’s theory about the fates of our subjects, but I couldn’t make my lips form the words. There was just something too depressing about it for me to voice the thought aloud.
It was Grace who finally broke the silence. “That was great, but we’re burning daylight here. Where should we get started?”
I was about to answer when George said, “You two should look for one of them together, and I’ll tackle the other.”
“How should we decide how to split our subjects up?” I asked. I knew George would never let us take the one he believed was in serious trouble, and I was curious about his answer.
Grace kept me from ever finding out. “I think we’ll have more luck with Emily’s mom than George will.” She swiveled in her chair and faced George. “You two don’t exactly get along, do you?”
George put his mug down and pivoted so he could make eye contact with Grace. “How did you know that?”
“My dad used to tell me how you two would tease Christine in school, and she always held it against both of you.”
George smiled. “Hey, we were a couple of rambunctious boys. In our defense, we teased everyone pretty mercilessly, including each other.” He took another sip of coffee, and then added, “I really miss your father.”
“I do, too,” Grace said softly.
“I’m sorry, Grace,” George stammered.
“Relax. I know you two were best friends growing up.” She
patted his hand, and then added, “I’m sure you miss him nearly as much as I do.”
George nodded. “Yes, that sounds just about right.” He drained his mug, and then asked, “Are you two ready to get started?”
“It sounds as though we have a good game plan,” I said.
“Then we divide and conquer,” Grace replied as she took a last sip of her coffee, finished the bite of donut in front of her, and added, “We need to meet again this evening to compare notes on what we’ve found.”
George stood as he said, “I’ll see you both later, then. If anything major comes up before that, call me.”
“You do the same,” I made him promise. I might not be able to dog his steps, but I still wanted to know what he was up to.
After I let George out of the shop, I turned to Grace. “As soon as I rinse out these mugs, I’ll be ready to go.”
“That sounds great,” she said as she threw the napkins we’d been using into the trash while I walked in back with the three mugs.
When I rejoined her at the front, I found Grace looking into the boxes of donuts I’d left behind.
“You’re welcome to take some of those home with you if you’re interested,” I said.
Grace shook her head. “The offer’s tempting, but I don’t think so. Thanks for the gesture, though. I hate it, but you’re just going to have to throw them away.”
I smiled. “Don’t worry; it won’t be anything that drastic. I have an idea.” I combined the boxes into one, and though it was crowded, it looked quite festive with my little offerings wedged in close together. In particular, the iced éclairs and the sprinkled donuts were really very pretty side by side.
“Don’t hold out on me,” Grace said. “What are we going to do with them?”
“We’re going to use these to get in Christine Hargraves’s front door.”