Jessica Beck - Donut Shop 18 - Dangerous Dough by Jessica Beck Page B

help.”
    “I’ll do whatever
I can,” Emma said, and then she started writing down names.
    “What does your
husband make of all of this?” I asked Sharon as Emma compiled her list.
    “You know
Ray.   He sees conspiracies everywhere.   You wouldn’t believe some of the
theories he’s been playing with since this happened.”
    “Sadly, I would,”
I said.
    “Suzanne, I know
you two don’t get along, but you should know that Ray’s heart is in the right
place.”
    “I’ll take your
word for it,” I replied, “but only because you married him, and he helped raise
such an excellent person.”
    “Hey, I can hear
you,” Emma said as she looked up with a grin.
    “Why would I not
want you to hear what I just said?” I answered with a smile of my own.
    After another
full minute, Emma handed me the pad and pen.   “That’s all I could remember.   There were a few folks who came by that
day that I didn’t recognize.”
    “Could you
describe any of them to me?” I asked as I took the pad from her and tore off
the sheet with her list.
    “Let me think
about it a second,” Emma said with a frown.   “Let’s see.   There was a heavyset man in his
fifties.   I remember him because he
was wearing a bowtie.   You don’t see
many of those these days.”
    I made a mental
note of her description in case he turned up later in the case.   “Who else?”
    “We had a plain
woman in her late twenties/early thirties come by for a cup.   She was memorable because of what she
ordered more than because of how she looked.”
    “What did she
get?”
    “Mom and I made
some snowman donuts while you were gone.   I wasn’t sure how they looked after they’d been in the fryer, but this
woman seemed obsessed with them.   She kept going on and on about how lovely anything dealing with snow was.   It was kind of weird, actually.”
    That had to be
Maisie!   What had she been doing in
April Springs?   Was she stalking
Alex in his new home, or was there some other, darker reason for her visit?
    “Anyone else?” I
asked.
    “Yes.   We had the oddest couple come in.   He was barely five feet tall, and she
was well over six feet.   He kept
looking up at her with such devotion that I envied her.”
    “Got it.   Who else?”
    “There was one
woman who was rather striking.   She
sneered at our donuts and insisted on black coffee.   She was quite elegant, but there was
something about the way she acted, as though she were better than everyone else
around her, you know?   When I handed
her the change from her drink, she visibly shuddered when my hand touched
hers.”
    Could that have
been Shannon?   It certainly sounded
like her.   I wished that Grace and I
had taken photos of the folks we’d talked to earlier.   They would have come in handy about now.
    “Is that it?”
    Grace
frowned.   “That’s all that I can
think of.   Sorry.   I’m sure there were a few others, but I
can’t for the life of me remember what they looked like.   You know how it gets around here sometimes.”
    “You did
fine.   If you remember anyone else
later, let me know, okay?   It could
be important.”
    “I’ll try my
best,” she said.   “Suzanne, would
you like to take a few more days off?   It’s okay with us if you do.”
    “Why does
everyone keep asking me that?   To
tell you the truth, I can’t wait to get back to work.”
    “That’s perfectly
fine with us,” Sharon said.   “We
just wanted to make the offer.”
    “Sharon, I can’t
thank you enough for stepping in for me on such short notice.   I’ll have your pay ready tomorrow by
eleven.”
    “There’s no
hurry,” she said.
    “So, which trip
are you saving for next?”   Sharon
and one of her old girlfriends from high school loved to travel, and her working
time at the donut shop helped finance her trips.   Getting Ray out of town was next to
impossible, but Sharon never seemed all that upset about it.   Who could blame her?   If I were