Deep Fried Homicide (The Donut Shop Mysteries) (6 page)

I thanked him and let him out.  As I did, my cell phone rang.

What a surprise.  It was Jake!

“Hey, I didn’t expect to hear from you until this afternoon,” I said as I locked the front door.

“I’ve got great news.  At least I hope it’s great news.”

“Tell me,” I said, not even trying to kill my smile.  His good mood was infectious, though I didn’t know how he could be so cheerful after being shot so recently.

“My doctor came by early, and he’s discharging me right now.  I know we agreed that you could come by and pick me up later, but is there any chance that you can leave the donut shop and come get me now?”

“I’m on my way, if you don’t mind that I smell like donuts.”

He laughed.  “Mind it?  Are you crazy?  That’s just an added bonus, if you ask me.”

“Then I’ll see you soon,” I said.  After splashing a little water on my face and running a comb through my hair, I was out the door.

It felt odd knowing that when I came back to the cottage, I’d have Jake with me.

A part of me was nervous, but mostly I just couldn’t wait to have him there.

I was surprised to find Officer Terry Hanlan with Jake when I went to his room at the hospital.  The state police inspectors were clearly conferring about something in earnest, and both men had serious expressions on their faces.  Jake was still on the bed, but he was sitting up, fully clothed and obviously ready to get out of there.

“Hey, guys.  Am I interrupting something?” I asked as I knocked on the door.

“No, I was just leaving,” Terry said.  On his way out, he paused beside me and added, “Take good care of him, Suzanne.”

“I’ll do the best that I can,” I said.

“I’m sure that you will.  I’ll see you soon,” Terry added, but he was gone before I had a chance to ask him what he’d meant by that.

Jake forced a smile when I looked at him.  “You’re a sight for sore eyes.  I’m really glad that you could make it, but I’m beginning to feel bad about making you abandon your donut shop in the middle of a workday.”

“I was already home,” I admitted.  “Sharon and Emma had things under control.  When I realized that they didn’t need me, I took off.  What did Terry mean when he said that he’d see me soon?”

“We can talk about that later.”  Jake stared at me a moment before he spoke again.  “What happened, Suzanne?  You’re not having second thoughts about having me come stay at the cottage, are you?”

“Of course not,” I said.  “It’s going to be wonderful having you there.”

“Then what is it?  I know you well enough to know that something’s not right.”

I shrugged.  “This is clearly one of the downsides of dating a police inspector,” I said.  “I can’t get away with anything.”

“Talk to me.”

“Only if you agree to tell me what you and Terry were discussing earlier,” I countered.  I didn’t want to bring up the break-in before we had a chance to get settled in, but if I was going to have to share my bad news, then so was Jake.  We needed to make a few new rules right out of the gate if we were going to make this thing work.

“Tell you what.  Let’s save it all for the ride back to April Springs, shall we?”

“You’ve got yourself a deal,” I said as I grabbed his bag.  “Now, what do we have to do to break you out of this joint?”

“Everything’s already been taken care of,” he said.  “I’ve just been waiting for you.”

“Not long, I hope,” I said as he started to get up.

“No, not long at all.”

“Just what do you think you’re doing, young man?” a nurse asked Jake as she poked her head into his room.

“I’m breaking out, Sally,” he said with a grin.

“Not without one last ride, you’re not,” she said in a commanding voice.  “Sit down, mister.  I’ll be back in two minutes with your wheelchair.”

“That’s ridiculous.  I don’t need it,” Jake protested.

“Inspector, what you think you need and what you’re going to get just may be two entirely different things,” she said to him, and then she turned to me.  “Are you strong enough to keep this man in line while he’s recovering?”

“You’d better believe it.  He doesn’t stand a chance,” I said with a smile.

The nurse sized me up for a moment, and then she nodded her approval.  “No, I suppose he doesn’t.  Don’t let him overdo it, and make sure he keeps that arm in a sling at all times.  Are we clear?”

“I understand completely,” I said.

“Hey, I’m right here, people,” Jake said.  “Need I remind you both that I’ve been taking care of myself long before I met either one of you?”

“Isn’t he cute?” Sally asked.  “I love it when they think they know better than we do.  You and I know differently, don’t we?”

“We do what we can,” I said.

“Can I please just get out of here?” Jake asked, clearly frustrated by our lack of progress in leaving.

“Since you said please, I’ll go get your ride,” the nurse said cheerfully.

Once Sally was gone, Jake looked at me sullenly.  “You’re not going to try to order me around once we get to the cottage, are you?”

“As long as you do as you’ve been told, we’ll be fine,” I said.  “Otherwise, I’m not making any promises.”

“I was afraid of that,” he said, a little more sullenly than I would have liked.  “Suzanne, I truly appreciate you taking care of me, but you should know from the start that I won’t be babied.  Can you accept that?”

“I won’t baby you, Jake, but you have to let me do my job.”

“What job is that?” he asked me with a grin.

“It’s mostly just making sure that you get better, and that means that you need to take care of yourself and not overdo it.”

“I’ll try, but I can’t make any promises.”  He took a deep breath, and then let it out slowly.  “To be honest with you, I’ve been used to doing things my own way for a long time, and I have always had a problem with authority figures.”

“Why on earth did you ever become a cop, then?” I asked out of honest curiosity.

“The truth is that I’ve always hated bullies.  Plus, I’ve been pretty good at solving puzzles since I was a kid.  It seemed like a perfect match for me, once I learned to hold my tongue when I had to.”

“I see where that could be a valuable skill to have,” I said with the ghost of a grin.

“Well, it has been so far,” he replied.

Sally returned with the wheelchair, and Jake said in mock exasperation, “Finally.”

She pretended to back out of the room.  “If this isn’t a good time for you, I can always come back after my break.”

“No, this is perfect,” Jake said quickly. 

“I thought it might be.  Now, let’s get you loaded up.”

“I meant what I said before.  I can walk just fine, Sally.  You said so yourself this morning.”

“Officer Bishop, once you leave these grounds, you can dance away for all I care, but until then, I’m rolling you to the curb.”

“I might as well give up then,” he said.  “Let’s not dawdle, though.”

Sally was as good as her word.  She rolled Jake through the hospital and out the front door.  The nurse waited for me as I retrieved my Jeep and pulled it around to pick my boyfriend up.  Jake stood on his own, not without a bit of a bobble, but I wasn’t about to help him into the Jeep, and neither was Sally.  Once he was safely belted into the passenger seat, Sally leaned forward and patted his hand as she said tenderly, “Take care of yourself, and try not to get shot anymore, okay?”

“I’ll do my best.”

I started the Jeep, but Sally said, “Hang on a second before you go, Suzanne.”  She walked around to my side and handed me a sheaf of papers.  “You need to read these when you get him to where you’re going.  Everything’s laid out there, but if you have any questions, don’t hesitate to call me, day or night.”  She handed me a slip of paper as well.  “I don’t usually do this, but this is my cell phone number.  I’m available to you around the clock, so don’t be afraid to get in touch, okay?”

“Thanks,” I said as I took the number from her.  “You don’t have to do this, you know?”

“My dad was a cop,” she said softly.  “I really do.”

“Got it,” I said.

As Sally walked back to the curb, I asked Jake, “So, are you ready for your big adventure?”

“You bet I am.  How about you?”

“Well, if nothing else, it should be a unique experience for both of us,” I said as I started the Jeep and drove off.  I could see Sally still standing there waving as we left the parking lot, and I noticed Jake smiling softly back at her as he returned her wave. 

I just hoped that I could do half the job that Sally had done for him.  If I could manage that, I knew that Jake would be all right.

Chapter 7

Jake had his window open, and he breathed the fresh air in deeply as we started to drive.  “I didn’t think I’d ever get out of there.  Can you smell that?” he asked me.

I took a whiff of the air.  “I’m not sure what you mean.  I don’t smell anything out of the ordinary.”

“That’s because you’re not sitting in
my
seat.  Over here, it smells exactly like freedom to me.”

We drove a little more before I finally decided that it was time to break the happy silence of the ride.  “We both know that we can’t keep avoiding it, Jake.  We need to talk before we get back to April Springs.  So, who wants to go first?”

“You should go ahead,” Jake said.  “Mine’s probably nothing.”

“So is mine,” I said.

He wasn’t about to budge, though.  “Suzanne, I still want you to go first.”

“Fine.”  I took a deep breath, and then I said, “There was a break-in at the cottage this morning.”

“What!  What happened?  Are you okay?  Why am I just hearing about this now?”  I hadn’t wanted to upset him, but it was understandable enough.  It was time now for me to downplay it as much as I could.  After all, I didn’t want it to ruin the rest of the day for us.

“Take it easy, Jake.  I wasn’t even there when it happened, so I’m fine.  I came home early after our break at the donut shop, and I found the front door ajar.”

“You didn’t go in by yourself, did you?” he asked me, clearly worried about the possibility that I’d acted rashly.  I couldn’t even blame him for jumping to that particular conclusion, since I hadn’t always acted in the past in the most rational way.

“No, I did what I was supposed to do.  I dialed 911, and Chief Martin came almost immediately.”  I hesitated telling him the rest of it, but if I expected full disclosure from him, I was going to have to do the same thing myself.  “There’s something else that you should know.  After I’d been there about a minute, I saw someone running away from the house.”

“Did you get a good look at them?  Were you able to give Martin a description?”

“It was too dark,” I admitted.  “I couldn’t even tell if it was a man or a woman, to be honest with you.”

“Did he find anything when he got there?” Jake asked, his voice calming down a little as he spoke.

“No, evidently whoever broke in didn’t have time to steal anything.  Chief Martin and Officer Grant checked the house thoroughly, and they even checked the park, but whoever did it was long gone.  The chief thinks that it was just someone who saw us moving Momma out and thought the place would be ripe for a burglary.  The window where they broke in has been fixed, and everything is as good as new.”  I took another deep breath, and then I said, “I would have told you about it sooner, but I didn’t want to worry you.  I knew that you should be aware of what was going on, though.”

“I appreciate your candor,” Jake said, but there was a hint of hesitation in his voice as he said it.  “You’re right.  This is something that I need to know.  Suzanne, before I tell you my news, it’s important that you don’t automatically jump to the conclusion that the two things are related, okay?”

I eased up on the gas pedal as I glanced over at him.  “I refuse to make any promises until I hear your news.  What is it that you have to tell me?”

“Evidently the guy I shot wasn’t working alone,” Jake said guardedly.  “Evidently Jeffrey Wade Monroe had a partner in crime, a guy named Harry Rusk that we didn’t know about.  That’s what Terry was telling me about this morning when you showed up.”

“Do you think that he might have been the one who broke into my place?” I asked.

“Suzanne, according to federal agents up north, there are reports that Rusk was spotted outside a gas station in Pennsylvania this morning.  He couldn’t have been the one who broke into your place.”

“What if the reports are wrong, though?” I asked.  “You said yourself that eyewitnesses are usually the worst kind of evidence you can have.”