Bad Bites: Donut Mystery #16 (The Donut Mysteries) (12 page)

Chapter 16

“Everybody needs to calm down,” Shelly said as all of our suspects
gathered near the big fireplace in the lobby.
 
It was generating most of the light we
had available to us now, and all of the warmth.
 
“We’re prepared for just such situations
as this here at the lodge, so there’s no need for anyone to panic.”

“That’s easy for you to say,” Nathan Hoff replied.

“Nathan, hush,” his wife, Maggie, said, almost without conscious thought.
 
I had a hunch that shushing him was as
automatic to her as breathing was.

“The first thing we need to do is for everyone to take a flashlight,”
Shelly said as she leaned forward and picked up a large wicker basket full of a
variety of flashlights.

“There’s some light coming from the fire,” Vince said.
 
“Why do we need flashlights of our own?”

“Because everywhere else in the lodge is going to be unlit, so unless you
plan on staying right here the entire time, you’re going to need a way to see.”

Kevin Leeds took a light, tested it, and then he said, “Thanks, Shelly.”

“You’re welcome,” she answered.
 
Everyone took a flashlight, including Jake, Grace, and me.
 
I flicked mine on once and found a
bright, strong beam.
 
Good.
 
It appeared that at least mine had fresh
batteries in it.

“Now, if you’ll all have a seat near the fire,” Shelly said, “I’ll go
over some of the things that you’ll need to know while the power is out.”

There was ample seating around the hearth, so we all took seats, though I
noticed that Jake chose a spot in back where he could watch everyone else
without being easily observed himself.
 
I was happy that he was on the case, but I wouldn’t have minded all of
us having some backup.
 
That was
just wishful thinking, though.
 
Nobody was getting through that flood.
 
I had to focus on what we had, and that
wasn’t entirely inconsequential.
 
While Jake was the only official law enforcement officer present, Grace
and I were not entirely without skills of our own.

After everyone was seated, our hostess moved closer to the fire and began
to speak.
 
“You should all know that
the lodge is prepared for any emergency, not that this qualifies as one.
 
It’s mostly just going to be a minor
inconvenience.”

“When will the power be restored?” Maggie asked.

“Doesn’t this dump have a generator?” Vince asked belligerently.

“I don’t want to be here anymore,” Nathan added.

The statement and questions came close enough together so that Shelly
didn’t have time to answer one before someone else spoke up.
 
“I’ll answer your questions, but then
I’d appreciate it if you’d let me finish speaking before you ask any more.
 
Agreed?”

There were a few reluctant nods around the room, and she took the
following silence as agreement.
 
“The power, as well as the road, will most likely be restored sometime
tomorrow or the next day,” Shelly said as she glanced from Maggie Hoff to her
husband.
 
“A great deal of that
depends on the severity of the storm, and how much longer we’re in for
it.”
 
She then turned to Vince.
 
“We’ve never seen a reason to have a
generator, not that we could have afforded one if we’d wanted it.
 
Besides, sometimes this is a part of the
whole experience.”

“What are we going to do for food while we’re waiting for the flood
waters to recede?” Vince asked, ignoring her request to hold all questions
until the end.

“There are no worries there.
 
We have propane for our stove, and plenty of hot water, as well.”

“But no lights?” Nathan asked timidly.

“Just the flashlights in your hands.”

“What about candles?” Maggie asked.
 
“I see them all over the place.”

“If you’ll look carefully, you’ll see that nearly all of them are
decorative and have never even been lit.”

“Why is that?” Grace asked, clearly curious herself.

Shelly shrugged.
 
“This place
is constructed almost entirely of wood.
 
One errant candle could light the entire lodge on fire.
 
If that happened, then we’d be forced
out into the elements with no immediate hope of rescue, so I think it’s best if
we all just stick with flashlights.”
 
She smiled a little in the flickering light coming from the fireplace,
and I was surprised by just how dark it had gotten so quickly.
 
Though it was late afternoon, we should
have still been getting plenty of sunlight, which we probably would have if it
hadn’t been for the storm clouds that were still pelting us with rain.

“I guess that explains why the place is called Storm Cloud,” Kevin said.

“We’re in a valley where clouds move in and stay sometimes,” Shelly
explained.
 
“I’ve personally always
liked the drama of the name.”

“Well, it’s fitting, I’ll give you that,” Vince said.
 
He looked around and asked, “Where’s
your staff, by the way?
 
Shouldn’t
they be here to take care of us?”

“Unfortunately, my people are taking a much-needed break at the moment,”
she answered.
 
“We’ll each have to
pitch in if we’re going to get through this with the minimum of
unpleasantness.”

“I don’t know about the rest of you, but I for one am hungry,” Kevin
Leeds said.
 
“You said the stove was
working, but who’s going to do the cooking if your staff is gone?”

“I’m going to do it myself,” she said.
 
“As a matter of fact, if you’ll excuse
me, I’ll go to the kitchen right now and start working on our next meal.”

Jake whispered something to Grace, who nodded and stood up as well.
 
“I’ll give you a hand.”

“Thank you, but it’s really not necessary,” Shelly replied.

“Maybe not, but just think about how much fun we can have if we work
together.”

Shelly shrugged.
 
“Fine, if
that’s what you want to do.
 
Follow
me.”

“What are the rest of us supposed to do in the meantime?” Vince asked
curtly.

“You could always play a game while we’re cooking,” Grace said.

“What kind of game did you have in mind?” Nathan asked her.

“I saw Clue earlier,” she answered.

No one in the room thought that was very funny, but if it dampened Grace’s
spirits any, she didn’t show it.
 
For my best friend, life was a game to be enjoyed, and sometimes I
envied her that attitude.

After Grace and Shelly disappeared into the kitchen, I moved to Jake and
asked softly, “Why did you send her after Shelly?”

“No one should be alone right now,” he said just as softly.

“That’s a good idea,” I answered as I moved a little closer to him.

“I’m not playing a stupid child’s board game, but that doesn’t mean that
I want to just sit here and wait for our meal either,” Maggie said to no one in
particular.

Jake took the opportunity to speak, and when he did, all gazes turned
directly to him.
 
“We can go about
our business and do the things we need to do despite the lack of electricity.”

“Do you honestly want to grill us while the world’s coming down around us
outside?” Vince asked with a sneer.

“You’re being a little overdramatic, but think of it that way if you want
to.”

“How do
you
think of it?”
Maggie asked him.

“I’d like to believe that I’m here to help you eliminate yourselves as
murder suspects,” he replied.
 
“I
don’t see why a lack of electricity should stop us from doing that.”

“You mean that you’re going to try to eliminate all but one of us,” Vince
replied as he stared hard at my boyfriend.

“That’s right.
 
All but one,”
Jake repeated.
 
“I’m going to be
holding the interviews in the dining room, one at a time, so we might as well
get started.
 
Now, who wants to go
first?”

“If you ask me, this is all utter nonsense, but if we must, we must.
 
There’s just one condition,” Maggie said.
 
“My husband and I will speak to you
together.”

“No, you won’t,” Jake said firmly.
 
There was clearly no room for disobedience in his voice.
 
For a second I thought Maggie was going
to fight him on it, but after a moment’s hesitation, she nodded.
 
“Very well.
 
Let’s get this nonsense over with.
 
I’ll go first.”
 
Without waiting for Jake to answer, she
stood and walked past him on her way to the dining room, turning her flashlight
on as she left the light from the fire.

Before Jake joined her, he told the rest of the group, “I’d appreciate it
if none of you wanders off.
 
This
shouldn’t take long, and I don’t want to have to go looking for you.
 
Is that understood?”

The three men remaining clearly didn’t like his orders, but they didn’t
dare cross him either, so they all reluctantly agreed.

I started to follow Jake into the dining room when he stopped and turned
to me.
 
In a soft voice, he said,
 
“Suzanne, I’m truly sorry, but I need
you to stay here and watch the rest of them for me.”

“I can do that,” I said, though I had really wanted to be in that room
with him.
 
This weekend wasn’t about
what I wanted, though.

“Thanks,” he said with a grateful smile.

Maggie paused at the door, then turned and looked at us with a
frown.
 
“Well?
 
Are we doing this, or not?”

“I’m coming,” Jake said.

I didn’t envy him one little bit.
 
Maggie Hoff could be wholly unpleasant when she wanted to be, and I had
a hunch that she wasn’t going to take it easy on Jake during their interview.

Perhaps I was in the right room after all.

Three minutes after Maggie and Jake closed the door, Vince Dade stood up
from his seat.

“Where are you going?” I asked him.

“I need to find a bathroom,” he said.

“Jake asked you to stay here.”

“I heard him,” Vince said as he shook his head and started to walk away.
 

I wasn’t about to let that happen, so I stood up and followed him.
 
I caught up with Vince out of earshot of
everyone else.
 
“Hang on a second.”

He clearly didn’t like the fact that I was following him.
 
“What do you want, Suzanne?”

“Aren’t you afraid of looking guilty, running away like this?”

“I didn’t do it, so that’s not an issue,” Vince said.

“Why should anyone believe you?”

Vince looked around, and then, his voice a near whisper, he said, “If you
tell anyone this I’ll call you a bald-faced liar, but Chester didn’t hurt me
one bit by pulling out of that deal, and neither did your mother or the police
chief.”

“I find that hard to swallow,” I said.
 
“You were angry, and everybody in town
knew it.”

“That’s because that’s what they were supposed to think, you idiot,” he
snarled.
 
“That deal was meant to
fail from the outset.
 
I had way too
many investors to ever pay off if it succeeded.
 
All Chester did was give me a public way
of wailing about how much I’d lost.”
 
The man’s wicked grin wasn’t lost on me.
 
“I might have lost a little capital when
the three of them pulled out of the deal, but I gained a world of credibility
from it, and I milked it for every ounce I could squeeze out of it.
 
Now leave me alone.”

Vince stormed away, and I was too dumbstruck to even protest.
 
Could it possibly be true?
 
If it were, it would explain a lot.

When I got back to the lounge area, I took my seat again.

“Well, that went well, didn’t it?” Kevin said with the hint of a
smile.
 
“Don’t worry about
Vince.
 
He’s been in a bad mood
since the day he was born.”

“Have you known him that long?” I asked the bank clerk.

“Sometimes it feels as though I have,” he said.

Even though Jake was interrogating suspects in the other room, there was
no reason that I couldn’t ask a question or two of my own.
 
“How long did you know Chester?”

“Almost as long as I’ve known Vince,” he replied.
 
“That’s why I’m so happy that we finally
patched things up between us.
 
It
took until the day he died, but he made things right with me.”

“Did he really pay off that ten dollars?”

“As a matter of fact, he did,” Kevin answered with a smile as he dug out
his wallet.
 
He selected a bill and
handed it to me.
 
In the flickering
light from the fire, I read where someone had written,
“This is my acknowledgment that all debts I have ever owed to Kevin Leeds
have now been paid in full.”
 

It was signed Chester A. Martin.

As Kevin took it back, he said, “Chester told me the day he died that he
was going to start fresh, and getting rid of his debt to me was just one of the
things he was going to do before he started his new life.”