Evil Eclairs (7 page)

“I know, but let’s not tell him, okay?”

Angelica smiled at me. “I have a feeling he knows how lucky he is, too. Don’t wait so long to come back next time, Suzanne. You, too, Grace.”

“We promise,” I replied.

After we were back in the Jeep, Grace said, “I don’t think I’ve ever had anything so good in my life.”

“She makes magic with some flour, a few eggs, and a pinch of salt, doesn’t she?”

“You’re no slacker, either,” Grace said.

“I wasn’t fishing for compliments.”

“Good, then I won’t have to give you one. It is hard to believe, though, that you two use so many of the same ingredients. Are you ready to tackle Nancy Patton?”

I wasn’t entirely sure at the moment. “It’s almost not worth spoiling that great lunch, you know what I mean? Seriously, if she was married to Lester and they couldn’t stay together, how bad must she be?”

“I’m afraid there’s only one way we’re going to find out.”

We drove a few blocks to the heart of downtown, and Second Acts was right where we’d been told.

I took a deep breath, and then turned to Grace as I parked.

“Remember, I’m the reporter, and you’re the photographer.”

“Got it,” she said, taking her camera out as we walked to the front door.

A woman younger than I’d been expecting was behind the desk of the store. She was more handsome than pretty, with razor lips and a blunt nose that still managed to convey that she was more put together than anyone else on the planet. I had a hard time imagining her with Lester, but then again, who knew what brought people together.

As I glanced around the room at the hodgepodge of items she had for sale, I wondered how she managed to stay in business. At first glance, it looked as though a yard sale had exploded inside, but as I looked a little closer, I saw some really nice things mixed in with the clutter. Something in particular caught my eye. It was a genuine Houpt donut cutter, a different model from the one I owned. An aluminum cylinder the size of a can of peas offered a grid of raised edges for cutting donuts out of dough simply by rolling it across the surface with its wooden handle. It surprised me to see that it was nicer than the one I was currently using. Although Grace and I had a cover story all worked out, in an instant, I decided to abandon it. I had a new plan, and if the price was anywhere near reasonable, I was going to have a new donut cutter, as well.

I turned and winked at Grace, and then picked up the cutter. It was marked $65, and in all honesty, I wasn’t sure if that was a good price or not. I held it up to the woman and asked, “Is there any room to negotiate on this price?”

“Bring it here,” she commanded.

I obeyed, and she took the cutter from my hand. After studying a cryptic code on its handle, she said, “The price is firm, but I can allow a ten percent discount.”

I was about to say that it really wasn’t all that firm after all, when common sense took over. I was trying to ingratiate myself with her by being a paying customer.

“That’s most gracious of you. I’ll take your kind offer.”

She nodded her approval and began the paperwork, no doubt to credit the sale to the proper client.

“You look awfully familiar,” I said as she worked. “Have we met?”

She flicked her glance my way. “I doubt it.”

It wasn’t the warmest response in the world, but I offered my hand anyway. “I’m Suzanne Hart. I run the donut shop in April Springs.”

“I wouldn’t know about that. I don’t eat them,” she said severely.

Wow, I was feeling all warm and fuzzy from her gushing about my livelihood.

It was time to lie. I snapped my fingers and said suddenly, “I’ve got it. You were with Lester Moorefield when I saw you. You two were close, weren’t you?”

She shrugged, not even trying to feign an answer now. Perhaps it had been a mistake abandoning the plan Grace and I had come up with, but it was too late now. Or was it? Maybe I could modify it to make it work.

As I slid the money for the cutter to her across the counter, I said, “I also write freelance articles for a few magazines. As a matter of fact, I’ve been approached to write something on Lester.” It was time to dive in and worry about the consequences later. “You two were married, weren’t you?”

Her pen stuttered across the receipt, and I knew I’d gotten her attention, at least for a moment. “Not were. Are.”

She was using her words as though they cost her money, at least with me.

I was about to say something when Grace said just behind me, “Oh, no. I can’t believe nobody told you. I’m so sorry, but he’s dead.”

The woman looked at Grace as though she’d just slapped her. “I’m sure you’re mistaken.”

“I’m afraid she’s not,” I said. “The police found him this morning.”

Nancy Patton started to take a step forward, and then suddenly thought better of it. “I’m not feeling well,” she said just before she collapsed into my arms.

CHAPTER 5

“Great job. You killed her,” I told Grace as I tried to keep Nancy, and me, from falling to the floor. She hadn’t looked all that heavy before, but as dead weight, she felt like a sack of rocks in my arms.

“She’s not dead,” Grace said. “She couldn’t be. The woman just fainted, Suzanne. There’s no reason to overreact.”

“Do you mind giving me a hand before we both topple over?” I asked.

Grace offered a quick hand, and we moved Nancy to a nearby sofa. The
FOR SALE
sign got a little crumpled as we put her down, but that was the least of my worries. Could she have a bad heart? If she did, the shock Grace had just given her might have been enough to push her over the edge. I couldn’t wait any longer for her to come to on her own. I started to dial 911 when Grace saw what I was doing. “Hang on a second. Let me try something else first.”

There was a glass of water on the desk, and she got it and flicked a good amount of it into Nancy’s face. It took a second, but her eyelids finally began to flutter, and she woke up.

“What happened?” she asked as she looked at us both. Her gaze turned suspicious as she asked, “Did you two drug me?”

“You fainted,” I said, surprised to hear what her first notion was about us. There wasn’t a whole lot of trust there.

Grace leaned in and added, “I’m so sorry that we were the ones who told you.”

Nancy’s face reddened. “I had to hear it eventually. It was such a shock hearing it blurted out like that.”

“I’m sure it was,” Grace said.

“Who would want to see him dead, Nancy?” I asked.

She shook her head as though to clear the cobwebs, then took a few moments to compose herself. “Lester always had a way of bringing out the worst in people, you know? It could be anybody he’s offended. The police should look into his editorials and question those people he exposed most recently.”

I wasn’t about to volunteer the information that I’d been the last one in his sights. “I’m sorry for your loss.”

She dabbed at a tear as she said, “I just can’t believe he’s really gone. What happened to him?”

“He was choked,” I said, having no desire to divulge that one of my pastries had been jammed into his mouth. It hadn’t killed him, even the police knew that, though I had to wonder if most folks in April Springs would believe that it wasn’t my éclair that had done him in, no matter what the official cause of death was.

“That sounds dreadful.” Her face went even paler at the news, and I was beginning to worry that she might be on her way to passing out again.

It was essential to ask questions while she was still conscious. “Your arrangements were unusual, wouldn’t you say?”

She frowned at me as she answered. “I don’t see how. There are many married couples who choose to live apart in different areas.”

“It’s usually more bicoastal than towns half an hour apart, though. I’ve known Lester for years, and I just found out about you today.”

Nancy shrugged. “It worked for us. We never felt the need to explain anything to anyone else.”

Lester’s widow was starting to get some of her bristle back, and I knew that I had to speak quickly if I was going to find out anything else. “Besides his radio program, can you think of any other ways he might have antagonized someone?”

Nancy appeared to think about it, and then she said, “Nothing, unless this has something to do with his book.”

“What book?”

Nancy’s smile lacked warmth as she explained, “The last time we spoke, Lester told me that he was writing an exposé on someone in April Springs that would blow the lid off the town. He was more excited about it than I’d seen him in years.” She paused, and then added, “Then again, I never could read the man. There might be no book at all.”

This was news to me. “Any idea who it might have been about?”

“Not a clue, and if I know Lester, it won’t be easy to figure out. He played things pretty close to the vest, even with me.” Another tear tracked down her cheek. “I know it’s going to strike a great many people as odd, but I’m going to miss him.”

“Since you two are married, I suppose you’ll inherit everything,” Grace said. She’d been standing there so quietly listening to us that I’d nearly forgotten she was there.

“I’m not concerned about that at the moment.” Nancy stood and brushed imaginary wrinkles out of her outfit. “If you’ll excuse me, I need to close the shop. I suppose I have to see to the arrangements.”

As she hustled us both out, I was nearly to the door when it occurred to me that I was forgetting something. I wasn’t about to leave without the cutter I’d just bought, and I walked back to the desk to retrieve it.

Nancy looked annoyed to see that I wouldn’t leave. “What is it? I’m afraid I have a great deal of work to do before I lock the doors.”

“I almost forgot my donut cutter,” I said.

She put a hand on it before I could pull it away. “After you pay for it, it’s yours.”

“But I already paid you in cash,” I said.

She looked at me skeptically. “I’m sorry, but I don’t believe so. Did I give you a receipt?”

What was she trying to pull here? “You were writing one when my friend told you about your husband.”

Nancy pretended to look through a pile of papers on her desk. “I don’t see it. Sorry, I wish I could help.”

I could see that Grace was about to explode when I said calmly, “Let’s call the police. I’m sure they can straighten this out. Once you balance your cash drawer, you’ll see that you already collected my money for it.”

When Nancy realized that we weren’t backing down, she looked once more on her desk. What a surprise. She suddenly “found” my nearly completed receipt after all. I took the cutter from her, as well as the receipt, and thanked her for her time.

Once we were outside, Grace said, “She’s got nerve trying to steal your money right out from under your nose. From what we’ve heard, the woman’s consistent, if nothing else; I have to give her that.”

“I can’t believe she could lie so convincingly. If I hadn’t seen her take my money, I would have started to doubt it happened myself.”

“It might just have worked on someone meeker than you,” Grace said. “I wonder how many times she’s gotten away with that particular tactic.”

As we got into my Jeep, I said, “Too many to count, most likely. One thing’s certain. We can’t trust a word she says to us.”

“That’s easy,” Grace said with a laugh. “I rarely believe the people we talk to when we’re investigating a case.” She paused, and then added, “I wonder who this mystery book is about?”

“Funny, I was just wondering if it was even true. It almost sounded like she was trying to deflect our attention away from herself with that outlandish story. Did Lester strike you as the type who would even read a book, let alone write one?”

Grace smiled at me, and I asked, “What?”

“You don’t trust much, do you?”

I shook my head. “If nothing else, I like to think that I learn from my past mistakes. Are you ready to look into this some more?”

“You know me. I’m game for anything.”

As we headed back to April Springs, I couldn’t help wishing that Jake were in town. We didn’t often coordinate our investigations, since his work was official and mine was always under the radar, but I would have felt a lot better having him handling the case from the other side. It was wishful thinking, though. He was tied up, and Chief Martin wasn’t all that likely to give me a hand with my private search. If I was going to figure out what happened to Lester Moorefield, I was going to have to do it myself.

And with a little help from my friends, too, of course.

*   *   *

We were almost back to April Springs when my cell phone rang. I dug it out of my pocket and said, “Hello?”

“Hey, stranger,” said a voice I’d been longing to hear.

“Jake,” I yelled as the wheel slipped a little in my hands. “Hang on a second.”

“Pull over before you kill us both,” Grace said.

I took her advice and pulled into the parking lot of an abandoned storefront for lease. “Where are you?”

“I’m still in New Bern,” he admitted.

Some of the punch suddenly went out of me. “How’s it going?”

I could hear his grin as he said, “We just wrapped the case up and managed to catch three bad guys, so it wasn’t a bad day at all. How would you like to go out on a date with me tomorrow evening?”

“Why wait?” I asked as I glanced at my watch. “If you hurry, you can be here by seven.” I couldn’t believe how much I’d missed him since he’d been gone.

“I wish I could, but I’ve got a deskful of paperwork I have to finish first. I can leave here around noon tomorrow, though.”

“That would be great.” I’d never been the kind of woman who needed a man around to be happy with my life, but I had to admit that it was nice having someone close who really cared about me.

Jake said abruptly, “Sorry, I’ve got to go. I’ll see you tomorrow.”

“Bye,” I said.

I hung up the phone and looked at Grace. “He’s coming home tomorrow.”

“I thought he was headed to April Springs,” she said.

“That’s what I meant.” I glanced at Grace before I pulled back out into traffic. “What’s that grin for?”

“It’s just nice to see you so happy.”