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

“Unconfirmed as of yet,” Jake said curtly.

“Do you mean to tell me that I’m still a suspect?
 
You’ve got to be kidding me,” Shelly
said.
 
“I never would have allowed
this to happen if I’d known you felt that way.”

“All you had to do was ask,” Jake said.

It was Shelly’s turn to show some outrage.
 
As she stood, the lodge owner said, “I’ll
tell you one thing.
 
I’m not going
to sit in my own establishment and listen to this.”

“As a matter of fact, that’s exactly what you’re going to do,” Jake
said.
 
I glanced over and saw that he
had his hand on his weapon.
 
There
was no mistaking his intent.

Shelly slumped back down in her chair, but she wasn’t very happy about
it.

Jake wasn’t finished with her yet, though.
 
“Are you going to tell them, or should
I?”

“What are you talking about?” she asked.

“I’m talking about his will,” Jake said.

Shelly shook her head.
 
“That’s nothing.
 
It’s barely
even worth mentioning.”

“I don’t know about the rest of you, but I’d surely like to hear about
it,” Vince said.
 
“Come on,
Shelly.
 
We all told our stories, so
don’t leave anything out of yours.”

She huffed a little before she spoke.
 
“Chester left me everything he owned,
but before everyone gets too excited, you should know that what he had left was
extremely modest.
 
I’m not getting
rich by any means, and by the time I finish paying off all of his bills, I’ll
be lucky if there’s enough left for me to buy a nice meal out.”

“Is that true?” I asked Jake.

“She gets it all,” he replied.

“How much?”

“That I don’t know yet.
 
I was
supposed to get an update an hour ago, but that’s going to be tough to do
without my cell phone.”

“So then, that’s one more motive for you,” Maggie trumpeted.

“We’re not keeping score,” Shelly said.

“That’s where you’re wrong, because that’s exactly what he’s doing,”
Grace replied as she pointed to Jake.

“I wouldn’t exactly put it that way,” Jake said.

“You don’t have to,” Grace replied.
 
“I did it for you.”

“Are we through here?” Maggie asked curtly.

“There’s just one more thing I’d like to know,” Jake said.
 
“Did any of you happen to send Chester a
postcard?”

“What are you talking about now?” Shelly asked him incredulously.
 
“What could that possibly matter?”

“What was on the card?” Vince asked.
 
“Did someone say something incriminating?”

“I want to see it,” Maggie said as she spoke up.

Nathan just shook his head.
 
He was slumped down in his chair, and I had to wonder where his thoughts
were.

“It was a photograph of a fire,” Jake said.

There were denials all around, and my boyfriend just shrugged.
 
“Okay, that’s all that I’ve got for
you.”
 
He glanced at his watch, and
then he said, “It’s getting late, so I suggest that you all get a good night’s
sleep.
 
I have a feeling that
tomorrow is going to bring its own set of unique problems.”

“Because today was so much fun,” Vince said sarcastically.

“I need my own room,” Nathan told Shelly.
 
“Do you have anything available?
 
I can sleep out here on the couch if I
need to.”

“Don’t be ridiculous,” Maggie said.
 
“You’re staying with me.”

“No, I’m not,” he said gruffly to her, and then turned back to
Shelly.
 
“Do you?”

“I’ve got a key for one of my spare rooms right here,” she said.

“You still have to come to our room to get your things,” Maggie said
triumphantly.

“There’s nothing there I need anymore,” Nathan said, and then he walked
down the hallway and slipped into his new room.

Maggie stood there watching him and actually stamped her foot before she
retired to her own space, and in short order, Vince and Kevin went to their
respective rooms as well.
 
Shelly
headed for the upstairs to retreat to her own room when Jake spoke.
 
“You have another empty room available,
don’t you?”

“Yes, why?”

“I thought so.
 
That’s where
you should stay tonight,” Jake said.

“Nonsense.
 
I’ll be in my own
room if you need me.”

Jake let her take two steps toward the kitchen hallway before he said, “Don’t
you realize that the killer knows that, too?”

Shelly faltered, and then she stopped dead in her tracks.
 
After a moment, she went quietly to the
desk, drew the last free key, and then she walked to her room, not speaking the
entire time and slamming her door when she got into her temporary quarters.

“I don’t think she’s very happy with you,” Grace said with a smile.

“She’ll have to get in line,” Jake said, returning her grin with one of
his own.
 
“You two need to go get
some sleep.”

“Aren’t you coming?” I asked him.

“Not tonight.
 
I’m going to be
out here on guard duty,” Jake said.

“But you’re exhausted.
 
You
need your sleep more than anyone does,” I said.

He just shrugged.
 
“Tonight it
can’t be helped.”

“Let me at least stay up with you, then,” I suggested.

“Suzanne, you need sleep, too.”

“Not as much as you do.
 
Besides, I’ll be wide awake at one AM, and we both know it.
 
At least let me relieve you then.”

“I’m not going to put you in danger like that,” Jake said.

I grinned at him as I said, “Well, we all know that it’s a little too
late for that.”

“I’ll get up with her so there will be two of us,” Grace volunteered.

I turned to my best friend and said, “As much as I appreciate the offer,
we both know that you’re not used to being up at that hour of the night.”

“So I’ll make an exception,” Grace said.
 
“What do you say, Jake?”

He thought about it for a few seconds, and then he nodded.
 
“Come relieve me at one and then we’ll
talk.”

“Thanks,” I said.
 
I kissed
him on the cheek, and then Grace and I headed to our respective rooms.
 
It was a pretty big concession for him
to make, and I wasn’t going to let him down.
 
I had to grab a few hours’ sleep before
I was on again, and I meant to take full advantage of it.

I never got the chance to, though.

Before my time working guard duty could begin, the world exploded all
around me and shattered every last one of all of our good intentions.

Chapter 23

The first thing that woke me was the smell of smoke.

As I was climbing out of bed, I heard a woman’s scream.

Not the best way in the world to wake up from a sound sleep.

I threw on my jeans and T-shirt, not even stopping long enough to put my
tennis shoes on.

Maggie was in the hallway directly in front of my room when I ran
outside.
 
“What’s going on, Maggie?”

“The lodge is on fire!” she screamed.
 
“Nathan, come on!
 
Answer the door!” Maggie pleaded as she continued
to bang on her husband’s door.
 
She
really must have loved him, because instead of escaping, she was staying behind
to make sure that her husband was safe.
 
I could certainly empathize with the idea of trying to save someone I
loved.

“Have you seen Jake?” I asked frantically as I glanced toward the lobby
and saw flames starting to lick their way up the walls toward us.
 
I knew that he would never leave the
others to fend for themselves.
 
Was
he somewhere that I couldn’t see, trying to fight the fire single-handedly?

“I don’t know, and I don’t care!” Maggie snapped.
 
“I need my husband!”

Nathan’s door finally opened, and from his disheveled look, it was clear
that he had just awoken, despite the smoke, the scream, and the banging on his
door.
 
“What’s going on, Maggie?
 
Is that smoke I smell?”

“The lodge is on fire!
 
Come
on.
 
We need to get out!”

“Let me grab my shoes first,” he said.

“Hurry.
 
I don’t know how much
time we’ve got!”

“We should make sure everyone else is awake before any of us leave,” I
said as I started banging on the other doors, starting with Grace’s.

I knew that she was a sound sleeper, but this was ridiculous.
 
When she finally answered, she was
rubbing her eyes vigorously.
 
“Suzanne,
is there a fire?”

“The whole place is burning down!” I said.

“Where’s Jake?” she asked as she looked wildly around.
 
That was just one more reason that I
loved her so much.
 
She knew more
than anybody how much he meant to me.

“I don’t know.
 
I can’t find
him anywhere!”

“I’ll help you look,” she volunteered, despite the danger that she would
be putting herself in.

“What’s all the shouting about?” Shelly asked as she came out of her room,
clearly bewildered by what was happening to her business and her home.

“Can’t you smell the smoke?
 
Your lobby’s on fire!”

“Has everyone gotten out?” Shelly asked.

“I don’t know.
 
I’m still
looking for Jake!” I said frantically.

“Come on.
 
I’ll help,” she
said, and then she turned to everyone else still there in the hallway.
 
“Let’s go, people.
 
Jake could be in trouble.
 
He might need us.”

Grace nodded, but no one else in the group seemed all that eager to help
us.

“That’s too bad, because he’s on his own now,” Vince said as he turned
away from the growing flames and headed straight for the nearest exit.
 
“It’s every man for himself as far as
I’m concerned.”

“Kevin?” I asked.
 
“How about
you?
 
Will you help us look?”

“Sorry,” he said as he joined Vince in the exodus, “but I have to get out
of here.
 
I’m terrified of fire.”

“Will you two help us?” Shelly asked Nathan and Maggie even as they
started for the exit together.

“We can’t do anything to help him now,” Maggie said as she took her
husband’s hand in hers.
 
“We have to
save ourselves.
 
Come on, honey.”

In his groggy state of mind, Nathan allowed himself to be led away from
the flames by his estranged wife.

Shelly did her best to smile when it was just down to the three of
us.
 
“It looks like we’re it.”

“You and Grace don’t have to help,” I told her.
 
“You should both save yourselves.”

“Not until we find Jake,” Grace said firmly, and Shelly nodded in
agreement.
 
I suddenly had new
respect for both women.
 
I
understood Grace’s reaction, but Shelly was going down with her lodge, and no
one was going to die on her watch if she could help it.

“Let’s go, then,” I told them, and then we started toward the flames.

“Jake!
 
Jake!”
 
I kept searching through the flames for
any sign of him, but I didn’t have any idea of where he might be.
 
Was he somewhere else in the building,
trapped under something, unable to move as the fire advanced toward him?
 
Why wasn’t he answering?
 
Was he unconscious from the smoke?
 
Worse yet, was he already dead?

I drove all of those thoughts from my mind.
 
I had to move forward with the belief
that Jake was okay.

It was the only way that I didn’t die myself right then and there.

“You two go that way.
 
I’m
going to check the kitchen,” Shelly said.

I looked at the kitchen door and saw that it was blackened from the
heat.
 
“You can’t do that.
 
It’s not safe in there.”

“I’ll be okay,” Shelly said, but as she opened the door, a wave of smoke
and flame shot out, as though it had been contained, though just barely.
 
Grace and I managed to grab Shelly
before she fell.
 
I don’t know how we
did it, but we somehow managed to drag her down the hallway to the
outside.
 
It was pitch black out
there now and the icy rain was coming down harder than it had yet, but it was a
welcome relief from what I’d just experienced.

The group of survivors had been huddling under a nearby tree looking for
some protection from the storm, but when we brought Shelly out, they broke away
from their shelter and rushed to us.
 
“What happened to her?” Maggie asked.

“She got hit with a wave of smoke and flame,” I said as I turned her over
to the others and headed back inside.
 

Grace, coughing violently from the smoke, was right beside me.

“Where do you two idiots think you’re going?” Vince asked me
incredulously.

“Jake’s still in there,” I answered resolutely.

“If you go back in there, you’ll both die,” Kevin pleaded.

“Maybe so, but if I live and he dies because I was afraid to go in after
him, how will I ever be able to live with myself?”

Grace tried to go with me, but I couldn’t allow that.

“You need to stay here,” I ordered her.

“I can help,” she said even as the coughing fits now doubled her over.

I took her hands in mine when she straightened up and said, “Grace, I
love you like a sister, but if you go in there with me, you’re just going to
slow me down.
 
I need to do this
alone; do you understand me?”

“I can’t let you go,” she said, tears streaming down her face making
tracks in the soot on her cheeks.

“You have to,” I said.
 
“For
Jake’s sake.”

“Just be careful,” she said, and then she started coughing again.

“You know it.
 
Don’t worry;
I’ll be back before you know it.”

I opened the lodge door, felt the wave of heat and smoke hit me like a
closed fist, and then I got as low as I could manage and crawled forward.

If Jake was still in there, I was going to find him.

Or die trying.