Custard Crime: Donut Mystery #14 (The Donut Mysteries) by Jessica Beck Read Free Book Online Page A

you?”
    “No, it’s fine with me,” he said, suddenly aware that
he’d clearly lost control of the interview before it had even had a chance to
begin.   “This shouldn’t take long.”
    “Take your time, dear,” Momma said as she patted her
husband’s hand.   “We have nothing to
hide.”
    Jake looked steadily at the chief for a few seconds before
he spoke again.   “Are you sure that you’re
okay hearing this?   I completely
understand why it wouldn’t be easy for you to be involved in this case in any
way, shape, or form.”
    “I appreciate you asking, but it’s fine.   Evelyn and I made our peace, what there
was of it, years ago.   I wasn’t the
woman’s biggest fan, and she certainly wasn’t mine, but she was my wife for many years.   It was a bad way for her to go.”
    “There was nothing anyone could do about it.   Accidents happen, my love,” Momma said
reassuringly.
    It was too big an opening to ignore.   “Only it wasn’t exactly an accident
after all.”
    “What are you talking about?” the chief asked.   “Jake, I know that you had your doubts
at the scene, but have you uncovered anything else that makes you certain that it
was anything but exactly what it looked like, that Evelyn slipped and fell in a
dark building that wasn’t safe to be walking around in?”
    “I’m afraid that I have,” Jake said.   “I don’t want to get into the specific reasons
with you just yet, but suffice it to say that this is now an official murder
investigation being conducted by the North Carolina State Police.”
    It sounded kind of ominous the way that he said it,
and I felt the hairs on the back of my neck stand on end as he spoke.   Jake was in full police inspector mode,
and again, I almost didn’t recognize his voice without its normal warmth
reserved for me.   It would take some
getting used to hearing him speak in such an authoritative manner.
    “If it was indeed murder, then what can we do to help,
Jake?” Momma asked as she gently touched the chief’s shoulder.   It was clear at that moment that she
truly loved him, something that I hadn’t doubted, but still couldn’t get used
to seeing.
    “I need to know why she was inside that building in
the first place,” Jake said.   “It
just doesn’t make sense her being there.”
    “How odd.   It makes perfect sense to me,” Momma said.
    “Would you care to enlighten me?” Jake asked her.
    “I’d be happy to.   I had no problem discovering that Evelyn
was in that building.   After all,
she owned half of it.   Why shouldn’t
she be there?”
    “What?” the chief asked her incredulously.   “Why didn’t you tell me that before?”
    “I honestly didn’t see that it mattered,” Momma
replied as she turned to him.   “Phillip, I own a great many properties in and around April Springs, and
do a fair amount of business on a daily basis.   Is it your contention that I should tell
you about every transaction that takes place just because we’re married now?”
    “No, of course not.   We agreed that your business was just
that when I signed the prenup.”
    “You have a prenuptial agreement?” I asked loudly.
    Momma frowned.   “Of course we do.   I signed
one as well.”
    “Not that I have any real assets to protect,” the
police chief said good-naturedly.   “I was happy to do it.   After
all, your mother was just looking out for your inheritance on down the road.”
    “I don’t want to talk about this,” I said
suddenly.   Thinking of my mother
planning for her own mortality, a reasonable, even responsible, thing to do,
was more than I wanted to consider at the moment, especially since death had
just paid us all a visit way too close to home.
    “Suzanne, we don’t have to say another word about it,
since it’s not the subject of our discussion,” Momma said, and then she turned
back to her husband.   “Honestly, I
didn’t think you’d want to know about my business deal with Evelyn.