Donut A Day

by Sattler, Gail

  He almost didn’t want to hear the answer. If she was missing classes for the sake of the tape, it had to be something extremely important. The fact that she had the tape, yet didn’t own a camcorder, made him all the more curious as to what it was.

  The kettle whistled.

  Sarah called her answer from the kitchen as she filled the cups with water. “The professor had an accident on the way to school, and there wasn’t enough time to call in a substitute, so we got the morning off.”

  “I think I got caught in the traffic for that one. If it makes you feel any better, the victim looks like she has an excellent chance of recovery.”

  “That’s great to know. Tomorrow we’ll have a substitute, and we’ll have to work extra hard to catch up, so I have to take advantage of today. That’s why I’m here. I want a chance to see what’s on that tape.”

  Matt’s hand froze as he plugged the cable into the A/V jack. “If you don’t know what’s on this tape, then why are we going to watch it?”

  “In case it’s something good.”

  He was afraid to ask.

  He turned on the television and set the camcorder to play. A crooked shot of a warehouse door opening appeared. A truck backed up, the driver and someone in a smock the same as Sarah’s from Donnie’s Donuts unloaded a few boxes, the truck drove off, and the door closed. The screen went blank.

  Matt hit the pause button. “Well. That was certainly very interesting.”

  “I’m sure there’s more. Put it back on.”

  The blank screen became alive again. Once more, the warehouse door opened, but a different truck backed in. The same man unloaded a few boxes with a different driver, the second truck drove off, the warehouse door closed, and the screen once more went blank.

  “Okay. . .” Matt let his voice trail off. “I must be missing something. This isn’t going to win any awards for interesting home videos.”

  “Be quiet and let’s keep watching.”

  “If you don’t mind, this time I’m going to fast forward it.”

  Two more trucks backed in, this time not taking so long to watch the process.

  “That does it. What in the world is this?”

  Sarah sipped the last of her tea and walked back into the kitchen for more hot water and a fresh tea bag. “It’s the back door at Donnie’s Donuts.”

  “I can see that. This doesn’t appear to be an instructional video. The photography is quite bad, and it’s crooked too. Plus it’s in black and white. Where did you get this?”

  “It’s from a spy camera. You told me to keep an eye on things going in and out the back door, but I haven’t seen anyone while I’m on night shift. So I put a hidden camera in the warehouse to watch what goes on at the back door during the daytime when I’m not there. It’s got a motion detector, so it only goes on when something is moving. That’s so it doesn’t run out of film. Pretty cool, huh?”

  Matt jumped to his feet and strode into the kitchen.

  “You’ve got a spy camera set up at Donnie’s Donuts?”

  “Yes. Works pretty well, doesn’t it? Let’s keep watching until we see everything on the tape. I only have two tapes, so this one has to go back in the camera tonight. When can I give you the one that’s in there today? Or maybe I should go buy a package of tapes, so we can watch them a few at a time.”

  Sarah lifted the mug and started to go around him on her way back to the living room. Matt blocked her path, removed the mug from her hand, and wrapped his fingers around her wrist. “Not so fast. I think you better go back to the beginning and explain this.”

  “I already told you. You said to keep an eye on—”

  “I know what I told you. Let’s have a little more detail.”

  “I put a spy camera in the loading area to catch what goes in and out the back door. It’s really well hidden. It’s made to look like a cheap air freshener, so I put it near the door on top of a bunch of junk that no one has touched for the last year. No one will even notice it. At night it’s no problem for me to quickly switch tapes and the battery pack, and it’s good for another day.” One side of her mouth quirked down. “I just don’t know what I’m going to do about the weekends. Although with fewer deliveries, there would be less movement. So if there’s anything going through the back door, it would be bad guys, right?”

  Matt shook his head. “Where in the world did you get surveillance equipment?”

  She smiled so brightly her entire face lit up. “e-Bay! You wouldn’t believe what they’ve got on there. There was another surveillance system that was a teddy bear, but I think they would have noticed that, so I bought the air freshener one instead.”

  “You’ve got to be kidding. . .”

  “No, I’m not. It was really cheap too. The ad said some cables were missing and some kind of switch was broken. So I took it to the audio-video department at the university, and some really nice guys fixed it for me. They even gave me the missing wires for free!”

  Matt squeezed his eyes shut. Detective Cunningham was very much on duty. Unfortunately.

  “Sarah, you can’t do that.”

  “Why not? I know you can’t use stuff like that in court, but at least you would be able to see the thugs Donnie is dealing with. Then you guys can do whatever it is you do to catch drug dealers.”

  “What if someone finds it and discovers what it is?”

  “If any of the staff found it, they would think Donnie put it there. They’d just put it back, behave really nice around it, and not admit to Donnie that they found it. If someone throws it out because the air freshener doesn’t work, that would be a shame, but I didn’t pay much for it, so I wouldn’t cry about it or anything. Although I doubt I’d ever find another one at such a good price.”

  “For your information, we’ve already spotted some suspicious characters known to the police lurking around the back door of Donnie’s. We’re keeping tabs on them just fine, without you being a super-spy.”

  “But they’re not watching the back door twenty-four/seven, are they?”

  “No. We don’t have a budget for that yet, until we can determine something really big is going on. For now, all we have is suspicion and the fact that you’ve witnessed a few things go through. But compared to the big picture, what you’ve seen isn’t a lot. We’ve got to find more.”

  “I know that. That’s why I got the spy camera.” She straightened, set her shoulders back, and smiled as if she was extremely proud of herself.

  “Let’s sit down in the living room. We have to talk.”

  He released her hand, allowing her to pick up her mug of tea. Matt escorted her back into the living room, where they sat side by side on the couch. “The drug trade is really serious business. If drug dealers think someone has crossed them, or even think someone is going to, they have no hesitation in bumping them off. To them, life is cheap. I don’t want you getting involved in this.”

  “Don’t you see? If I can help the police find out the crook Donnie is dealing with, then this whole thing will be over so much faster, and then there will be less chance of anyone finding out anything about me. I don’t want this to go on for years. I want my life back.”

  Matt couldn’t agree more. He wanted so much to get to know Sarah better, to involve her in all parts of his life, which meant taking her to church on Sunday and spending more time with her. He found it very encouraging that she’d borrowed his Bible. He didn’t know why she’d borrowed it, but he would do everything he could to help her discover Jesus for herself. When he couldn’t take her to church on Sunday, he was doing the next best thing by taking her to the meetings Wednesday nights. Then, if she had any questions that he didn’t know the answer to, she would be with people who would.

  Having to restrict his contact with her hurt, especially now. He felt safe taking her to a small home group but not the public setting of church. On an occasional Sunday, he actually saw people he’d arrested for various offences. Going to church didn’t instantly erase dishonesty.
In the big picture, it meant there were questionable characters in church sitting alongside the saints. The risk of someone seeing Sarah at church with a known cop was always present. Therefore, he would continue to go to church alone.

  For now, it didn’t matter, anyway. With the rotation changing only by one day each week, he hadn’t been to church for the past two weeks, and he wouldn’t be able to go for two more.

  He turned toward the television, which had been on pause for so long the tape had clicked off.

  He’d experienced the evidence-gathering process for drug rings before. Sometimes they dragged on forever. Even though Sarah’s videos wouldn’t be admissible in court, it was perfectly fine and legal to post the potential perps on the bulletin board. That way, they could identify them as potential perps for real surveillance away from Donnie’s. If allowing Sarah to make the tapes would speed up the case, he had to trust her when she said she knew what she was doing and would be perfectly safe.

  He took a deep sigh. “Okay, you win. Make your tapes. But remember, if there is any chance that someone might see you, even if it means missing a day or two, or even more, then skip those days. My only concern is your safety. The case can drag on all it wants, as long as you’re safe.”

  Her bright smile nearly lit the room. “Deal. Now let’s watch the rest of this tape, and then I’ll go home and let you get some sleep. You look really tired.”

  Matt picked up the remote and fast-forwarded through the tape as they watched. The same warehouse door went up and down more times than he wanted to count. Nothing of any note happened, so Sarah rewound the tape, and tucked it in her purse.

  “I guess this means I’ll see you tomorrow. Is noonish okay?”

  “Noonish?”

  “If that doesn’t work, we can pick another time. It would be nice if we could just pick the same time every day, but your shifts don’t allow that.”

  Her words rolled over in his head. Every day. Her little spy mission with the hidden camera meant that he would be seeing Sarah every day as they watched the back door together.

  He couldn’t tamp down his smile. Perhaps Detective Cunningham was onto something after all.

  Sixteen

  “Matt, wait for a minute. I need to talk to you.”

  Matt turned around and stepped back into the room after the last of the other members left for their squad cars.

  The debriefing had gone well. In the four days he’d been off, Sarah’s hidden camera had come up with a few faces at the back door who weren’t delivering groceries. They’d moved the camcorder hookup from his television to his computer and captured a few stills. They now had grainy but recognizable prints of a number of suspects going out with what Donnie was bringing in. They couldn’t use the pictures in court, but they had something to show the other members as to whom they should be on the watch out for.

  Researching what was coming in to Donnie was beyond Matt’s ability to investigate. Moving Sarah’s spy camera into the closet to keep tabs on Donnie’s office would show only the passing of drugs and money from Kincaid to Donnie, which they already knew about. Therefore, he’d convinced her to keep the camera where it was. They needed to know where Kincaid’s supply came from, and no camera or inside spying was going to answer that question. He had to trust the department to take care of what was coming in.

  Most of all, keeping the camera at the back door kept Sarah out of the closet.

  “What’s up, Jeff?”

  “That informant of yours is really something.”

  Matt forced himself to keep a straight face. “Yeah, she really is.”

  “Your report didn’t say if she’s seen Kincaid recently or how often or regularly Kincaid comes in.”

  All traces of any reason for smiling disintegrated. Sarah could readily find out how often Kincaid came in by moving the camera, but that meant she would be putting herself at risk with the closet.

  “You don’t really need to know that, do you? Me telling you the next day that Kincaid was in isn’t going to help find out his supplier. Nor is it going to tell you who else Kincaid is selling to.”

  “You seem to be pretty tight with your informant. I was just wondering if she had a way of finding out any more. We have to know where he’s going, but we don’t have the budget we need for all the surveillance.”

  “I think you’re pushing it, Jeff. She’s just a counter clerk, and a regular upright citizen. She only found out about Kincaid by accident and was civic minded enough to tell the police. That’s the only reason I became involved with her.”

  “I wonder. . .”

  Matt’s gut clenched. He’d just admitted to his superior officer that he was involved with Sarah, although he hadn’t said exactly how personally involved he was. If they knew, they would have him immediately pulled off the case because personal feelings could affect an officer’s judgment. However, he was in too deep to back off. To any other member, she was simply an informant, willing to take a little risk. But to Matt, she was. . .he wasn’t quite sure, but he was sure enough not to let her go.

  “I know she’s done a lot of work for a civilian, but she’s doing a lot of it for me because I think she likes me. I don’t know if she’d get this involved if she was working with anyone else because as you say, there is an element of risk involved.”

  Jeff frowned. “That does muddy the waters, somewhat, doesn’t it?”

  Jeff had no idea how much it muddied the waters.

  “Well, okay. I guess I’ll have to let it go.”

  “There’s possibly one thing I could get her to do. But we have to make a deal.”

  Jeff’s eyebrows raised, and he blatantly stared at Matt, probably unable to believe a junior officer would be bargaining with his superior. But that was exactly what Matt was doing.

  “I might be able to get her to signal me, to let me know when Kincaid walks in the door. If she can, I have to be assured that no member will be anywhere in sight. An undercover car can follow Kincaid from Donnie’s Donuts and see where he’s going, and that’s it. I don’t want any surveillance operation to be associated with Donnie’s Donuts. Besides Donnie himself, there are only two women working there at night. Kincaid would think nothing of having one or both of them terminated if he thought that’s where the trouble was starting.”

  “I could probably live with that. It’s better than what’s happening now. We can’t seem to find Kincaid when he’s up to something, so this would be a good start. Donnie’s Donuts is probably his first delivery because he’s dropping off cash when he makes his rounds.”

  Matt shook his head. “I think Donnie’s is his last drop-off because he’s collecting the cash as he goes.”

  “I don’t think Kincaid would take cash from one drop-off to another, in case he gets bumped for it. Donnie’s is his first stop.”

  Both men stared at each other in silence.

  Matt dragged one hand down his face. “The bottom line is we really don’t know. Give me a few days to think about it, and I’ll discuss it with her, but no promises. I gotta get going, my calls are backing up.”

  Matt hurried out to his squad car, where for another day, he would simply be “16Bravo4,” facing a typical Saturday of shoplifters, speeding tickets, and following up on his breaking and entering and theft files. Between that, he would simply cruise around to show the colors, which told people the RCMP was on duty in their neighborhood, and to make his presence known enough so that at least some of the bad guys would behave for a while. As he and all the other members had been instructed, he stopped for his break at Donnie’s Donuts. It felt different, even wrong, not seeing Sarah there.

  But when he got off work that evening, Sarah was coming over for dinner. The thought made the whole day worthwhile.

  ❧

  Sarah pushed the doorbell to Matt’s townhouse. When he called for her to come in, the delicious aroma of a pot roast wafted up to her the second she opened the door.

  Sarah smiled. Apparently, Matt enjoyed cooki
ng for her as much as she enjoyed cooking for him. Either that or he was trying to one-up her after the honey baked honeyed ham she’d made for him on the weekend.

  She immediately walked to the kitchen and smiled at the sight of him. He looked bigger than ever in the kitchen, leaning over the open oven door, a dishtowel slung over one shoulder, oven mitts on his hands, as he gently set a roasting pan on the stovetop.

  “Constable Walker, you are going to make me fat.”

  “I doubt that.”

  “It’s true. I’ve put on a pound and a half in the past two weeks since you’ve been cooking for me.”

  “That’s not my fault. I’ve been cooking good, healthy dinners. It’s your cooking that’s putting any weight on because you make desserts and I don’t.” He smiled as he patted his stomach with one still-mitted hand. “Although I have to admit, I sure do enjoy dessert, and I’m not going to turn you down. I also couldn’t help but notice that you brought donuts with you again today.”

  She grinned back, placing one hand on her own stomach just as Matt had done. “Sorry. Staff discount.”

  While Matt sliced the roast, Sarah set the table and poured two glasses of milk. They worked together to put all the food on the table, said a prayer of thanks, and began to eat.

  As hungry as she was, Sarah only took one bite and began to toy with a piece of roasted carrot. “Something strange happened today, and it’s really bothering me.”

  Matt stabbed a potato, and ate it. “What?”

  “Kincaid came in with another duffel bag. It felt really creepy, knowing what was in it. Anyway, later in the night, I was in the kitchen, and I dropped a knife between the counter and the donut cooker. I was almost all the way underneath when I heard Donnie walk into the kitchen. He kept checking over his shoulder like he didn’t want anyone seeing what he was doing, then he took a bag of icing sugar out of the cupboard and into his office. He closed the door, and he was in there a long time. He looked really guilty, like he was stealing it or something. Do you think he’s hiding drugs in the kitchen supplies? What if drugs get used in the donuts, and customers eat them?”