Pumpkin Pleas (The Donut Mysteries Book 26)

by Beck,Jessica

  “Suzanne, just go. I can handle things here on my own.”

  That particular thought hadn’t even occurred to me, even though she ran the shop with her mom two days a week without me. “Are you sure?”

  “You’ve covered enough times for me in the past,” she said. “Go.”

  I didn’t need any more incentive to take off. “Thanks. I owe you one.”

  “Let’s just say that I owe you one less of the ten thousand times you’ve done something sweet for me,” she said happily.

  As soon as I had her settled up front, I took off my apron, grabbed my jacket, and headed for Grace’s. It was so close that it made sense to try there first. Maybe it was all in my imagination, and the reason she hadn’t picked up was because she was already busily back into her paperwork.

  The only problem was that her company car wasn’t there.

  That left Candy’s gym. Maybe she was staking the place out, waiting and watching until I could join her.

  So why hadn’t she picked up her phone?

  I was nearly at Candy’s gym when my cell phone rang.

  It was Grace, and I suddenly felt relief wash over me.

  Then I heard who was on the other end of the line.

  “Suzanne, your friend has been a very bad girl. Unless you meet me at the top of Laurel Falls in fifteen minutes, she’s going to meet the same fate as Tom Thorndike did, and you don’t want that, do you?”

  “Don’t hurt her, Candy,” I said, feeling my face go numb.

  “I won’t do a thing, unless you disobey me. Don’t call anyone, don’t bring anyone with you, and don’t try anything funny. If you do, she’s going to die. I can promise you that much.” From the background, I heard Grace shout, “Don’t do it, Suzanne!”

  I had started to protest when Candy hung up on me. At least I knew that Grace was still alive; for how long, I didn’t know.

  I thought about calling Jake, Chief Grant, or even the mayor, but the idea quickly died in my mind. If I did that, and something happened to Grace because I’d disobeyed Candy’s orders, I’d never be able to forgive myself. She’d sounded so chillingly rational when she’d given me my orders that I was afraid to do anything other than what she’d just told me to do. I didn’t have a weapon in the Jeep, just a tire iron, but if I came up that path with a weapon of any sort, I had a hunch that Grace wouldn’t have long to live. There was no way to sneak around and surprise Candy, either. That path was narrow and more than a little bit steep, hemmed in on one side by woods and on the other by the waterfall itself.

  I was just going to have to wing it and hope for the best if I had any chance to save my best friend.

  Chapter 23

  As I came up the last part of the path, Candy yelled from above me, “That’s far enough, Suzanne. Empty your pockets, and take off that jacket. I want to see you throw your cell phone over the edge before you do another thing, or Grace is going to die.”

  I didn’t do anything yet, though. “Grace? Are you okay?”

  “She can’t answer you. After that last little outburst, I had to gag her, but don’t worry, she’s just fine. At least for the moment.”

  I wasn’t sure if I believed her or not, but I didn’t really have any choice. I took out my cell phone and did as she’d instructed, tossing it into the waterfall and watching it disappear.

  “Very good,” Candy shouted, as though I’d just passed the first of a series of tasks for her. The waterfall was loud here, but I could still hear her. “Now the jacket and your pockets.”

  I was suddenly glad that I hadn’t brought the tire iron with me. As I did as I was told, I asked loudly, “Why did you grab Grace?”

  “The fool followed me up the path. I lost a button and part of my shirt somewhere, and I came back to hunt for it.”

  I realized that the button and cloth had come from Candy and not one of our male suspects. Too late I remembered the work shirt she’d been wearing when we’d talked to her at her gym. Though it was a different material, it was clear that Candy favored those types of shirts. “You get your shirts at the thrift store, don’t you?”

  “Very good. I find them nicely broken in by then. You’ve been busy, haven’t you?”

  I’d made a serious mistake; there was no denying it. I just hoped that my slip didn’t end up costing Grace and me both our lives.

  Candy went on, “When I realized someone was following me, I hid behind a tree until she caught up with me. I called you while I still had a signal on her phone, and then I smashed it on a rock. Nobody’s with you, are they?”

  “No, I came alone, as instructed,” I said. “Can I at least see her?”

  “Come on up, but keep your hands in the air,” she commanded loudly.

  I did as I was told, and when I reached the clearing, I saw that Candy was holding Grace near the edge of the falls where Tom had gone over. It was even louder up there at the moment, but I had to do something to distract her, or Grace was going to die. I was strong enough to run my donut shop, but Candy owned a gym, and she clearly worked as a trainer there as well. Strong and evil was a combination I didn’t really want to mess with, but I didn’t have much choice.

  “What’s your plan now?” I asked her loudly over the sound of the water.

  “Do I look like someone who has a plan?” she asked me, and for the first time, I saw a little of the crazy in her eyes that she’d been so good at hiding.

  “Before you do anything that can’t be undone, wouldn’t you at least like someone to know how smart you’ve been? If you get rid of us now, nobody will ever know.” I was playing on her ego, and I hoped that as she spoke, Grace or I could come up with something that might save us both.

  “Why not? Everybody always thought I was some pretty little idiot. They had no idea I was playing them, including Tom.”

  “Why did you kill him? What did he ever do to you? It was about that note we found, wasn’t it?”

  Candy frowned. “He kept asking me out, that much was true, and I kept saying no. He tried to impress me with his money, and he flashed a bunch of cash around. Tom knew that my gym was in trouble, and he tried to use the money to get me to do things with him that I was never going to do. Don’t ask me what they were. I don’t want to talk about that.” She looked clearly troubled by the memory, and I didn’t want her any more upset than she already was. When I didn’t say a word and instead did my best to look sympathetic, she continued, “I pretended to be interested in him, and once I got him back to his place, I gave him some knockout drops. I searched that pigsty top to bottom, and I finally found his money. He was furious when he woke up! I told him that I’d give it back to him at the top of the falls, and that I’d taken it to teach him a lesson. The fool believed me! I didn’t trust him, though, so I waited beside the path to be sure he was alone. After he passed me by, that moron Ray Blake came up the path right behind him! He was going to ruin everything, so I hit him on the back of the head with a rock. All I can say is that man must have a thick skull. I figured he was dead. Imagine my surprise when he showed up the next day. Anyway, he wasn’t going to give me any more trouble at the moment. It took me a few minutes to deal with him, and when I got to the top, that lunatic Tom was taking a photo of himself at the falls. It was almost too easy with all the noise to sneak up on him and give him a little shove.”

  “So you had no intention of ever giving him his money back,” I said.

  “His money? His?” she shouted. “He stole it, and I took it from him. I needed that cash. He was just wasting it!”

  “Did you take Ray’s notebook after you knocked him out?”

  “You caught that, did you? Yes, when I thought I’d killed him, I figured I’d plant it on Tom’s body later. Murder/suicide, you know? Only before I could do that, I heard someone at the base of the falls, so I threw the notebook into
the woods. As far as I know, it’s still in there somewhere.”

  “You’re not going to get away with this, Candy. I told the police where I was going and who I was meeting up here. Do you think the chief is going to rest one second until he catches you? Or my husband? You might as well give up right now. It’s over. Jake and Stephen will find you and make you pay for what you’ve done.” It was all pure bluff, but I didn’t have any other option at that point.

  “Do you honestly think they’re going to be good enough to catch me once I disappear for good?” she asked, though she was clearly troubled by me bringing logic into it.

  “You’d better believe it,” I said. Grace made a gesture with her eyes, and I realized that she’d come up with a play. Her eyes shot straight down a few times, and I finally got it. She was going to throw herself down away from the falls, and I needed to do something to force Candy over the edge. I didn’t even hesitate, though I had no desire to push this woman to her death. In the end, if I had to choose between Candy’s life and ours, I would choose us every time.

  It sounded like the best plan we could come up with given so little time.

  Neither one of us could be blamed for the fact that it didn’t work out that way.

  Chapter 24

  Grace went down into the water, and I tried to lunge at Candy. At least that much went according to our hasty plan. The main problem was that Grace only managed to partially free herself from Candy’s grip, pulling her down to the busy water along with her. The two of them were in danger of going over the edge, so I did the only thing I could think of.

  I grabbed them both.

  There was a moment when Candy had to release her grip on Grace in order to stand up, so I took the chance to pull Grace up and out of the water.

  Candy slipped on a rock as we climbed out.

  It was just the bit of luck we needed, but would it be enough?

  “Run!” I shouted at Grace as I led her back down the path. There was no sense in trying to fight Candy, not even accepting the fact that it was two against one. We weren’t used to fighting, and I’d seen kickboxing bags at Candy’s gym. In a fair fight, I had a feeling that we’d be easily subdued.

  So I wouldn’t play fair.

  As we stumbled toward the path going downhill, I glanced back and saw that Candy had quickly recovered her balance and was after us. Was it wrong that I’d hoped she’d slip over the falls and share the same fate Tom had? No matter; it wasn’t going to happen.

  As we started down the steep path, I knew that if we stayed on the trail, Candy would quickly overtake us. The only chance we had was to branch off into the dense woods. I pulled Grace off the path. She was gagged and her hands were tied, so she couldn’t say anything, but I could see in her eyes that she was as terrified as I was.

  As we disappeared into the dense forest, I could hear Candy gaining on us. Glancing back, I nearly missed a dramatic drop in the layout of the land. A tree had been pushed over in a heavy storm years before, and it had left a large hole with moss-covered rocks beneath it. I would have tumbled into it if it hadn’t been for Grace pulling me back just in time. Could we use it to our advantage? There was a heavy branch lying to one side of us that had broken off from above. I grabbed it without thinking and urged Grace to go on, skirt around the hole, and act as bait on the other side of it.

  Maybe, just maybe, I’d be able to catch Candy off guard at just the right time.

  It was the only chance we had left. Either it worked, or I had a feeling that neither Grace nor I would live another day.

  Chapter 25

  Grace stumbled as she neared the other side of the hole, and she went down in a heap. Had it been planned, or was she really hurt? I couldn’t afford to check on her, at least not yet. I had to deal with Candy one way or the other and hope that Grace was okay.

  “There you are,” Candy said as she nearly tumbled over the edge that had nearly caught me. She looked insanely happy about finding Grace, and she must have forgotten about me for an instant.

  That was what I’d been counting on.

  Stepping out from behind a tree, I swung the branch with everything I had, aiming for her head.

  She saw it in time and somehow managed to grab the limb out of my hands.

  My plan had failed completely.

  Chapter 26

  “You’re going to pay for that,” Candy said as she looked down at me. When she’d intercepted the branch meant for her head, I’d lost my balance, and I’d slipped on the damp leaves. The sun didn’t reach that deep into the canopy, and I wondered if they’d ever find our bodies if she took the slightest care in hiding them.

  I was trying to scramble up to my knees when Candy lifted the branch high above her head, and I prepared myself for the impact of her blow.

  But it wasn’t just slippery under me.

  Somehow the momentum of lifting the branch caused Candy to lose her footing, and I saw the instant of panic in her eyes as she fell over backward into the hole that I’d planned to send her into in the first place.

  There was a dull thunk as she hit, and I scrambled to look over the edge to see what had happened.

  “My leg is broken,” she said in a cry. “Get down here and help me, Suzanne.”

  Had the woman completely lost her mind, demanding my aid after trying to kill me and my friend both? “Sorry. I have something else I need to take care of first,” I said as I hurried toward Grace, who was on her feet now. The fall had been a feint after all, and I felt relief flood through me. “Are you okay?”

  She’d pulled the gag away, though her hands were still bound. As I untied her, she asked, “Is she dead?”

  “No, she just broke a leg,” I said happily.

  “Help me,” Candy screamed.

  Grace laughed, more from relief from humor. She called out, “We’ll go get someone. Now don’t you go anywhere, you hear?”

  The language coming out of that hole was enough to burn the bark off the trees around us, and I was a little surprised that her temper didn’t set the whole forest on fire.

  Chapter 27

  The next day, things were back to normal at the donut shop, or at least as normal as they could be. Emma came in grinning, and I had a hunch what had caused it. “How did your date go last night?” I asked her as she put on her apron.

  “Barton’s decided to stay,” she said with a smile.

  “Wow, that was quick,” I said.

  “It’s not all because of me, Suzanne. He told me that he was having second thoughts before he met me. I’m just the icing on the cake, so to speak.”

  “How does that make you feel?” I asked her, doing my best not to smile, just in case she’d been offended by the comment.

  “I don’t know about you, but there are times for me when the icing is the best part. Anyway, we’re going to take it slow, but I’m really happy he’s staying.”

  “So am I,” I said. “He’s a good guy. How’s your dad doing?”

  “He’s upset, if you can believe that,” Emma said.

  “Because you’re dating a chef?” I asked.

  “He could care less about that. The biggest story to hit April Springs in years, and he missed it! I think he’s relieved to know what happened and that he wasn’t responsible for Tom Thorndike’s death, but he couldn’t even run a special edition.”

  “I wouldn’t worry about that if I were you. I’m sure that he’ll find a way to write a firsthand account of this. You just wait and see,” I said, not entirely unkindly.

  “I’m sure you’re right. Can you believe what Candy Murphy did for money?”

  “I’ve seen enough over the past few years to believe anything when it comes to greed,” I said. “I’m just sorry that Tom had to pay for it. Once upon a time, he was a good guy. It just goes to show you what your choices can do t
o you.”

  Emma nodded. “If you’ll drop those cake donuts, I’ll get started on setting up in front. Then I can tackle the dishes.”

  “Sounds good to me,” I said.

  We’d been open a few hours when Jennifer, Emma’s jilted friend from the park, came in holding hands with a boy who looked as happy as anyone I’d ever seen before in my life. Before they ordered, she said, “Suzanne, do you know Lee?”

  “Hey, Lee. How’s it going?” I asked, feeling the contagious nature of their happiness.

  “Couldn’t be better, ma’am.”

  I could have done without being called ma’am, but he was a polite young man, so I decided not to hold it against him. After they got their donuts, I cleaned up a little. It felt good working in my shop again and getting back to normal. I’d seen yet again what greed and the unending pursuit of money could do to people, and I was just glad that I hadn’t been bitten by that particular bug myself. I had more than enough to be happy. Who needed anything more than that? I was rich in many ways, just not my bank account. Having money wasn’t necessarily bad. My mother was one of the richest people I knew, but she never let it control her life. She’d taught me well as a child, and I was happy to have had the lessons. I was certain she’d be amazed to realize just how much she’d showed me, mostly by example, and I meant to share it with her as soon as she got back from her trip.

  In the meantime, I had a lunch date with my husband in Union Square as soon as Donut Hearts shut down for the day.

  His description of his meal at Napoli’s had made me decide that I couldn’t wait another day for Angelica’s wondrous offerings.

  And we had plenty of money to cover our bill, with a nice tip to boot.