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

What good could it do for you to learn
about it?   I thought it would cause
you only pain, and I was trying to protect you.”
    “I don’t need protection, Dorothea.   I’m a grown man,” he said.   “You should have told me.”
    Momma frowned again, and after a moment’s
consideration, she nodded.   “You’re
right, Phillip.   I’m sorry.   I made a mistake.   Please forgive me.”
    Wow.   I
had never seen anywhere near that kind of capitulation on her part in our
dealings in the past as mother and daughter, and I wanted to scream at the
chief to quit while he was ahead, but instead, he replied, “It’s okay this
time, but don’t let it happen again.”   If he hadn’t added a smile at the last second, I would have been in fear
for his life, but my mother just grinned at him in return.   Who was this woman?
    “What I really want to know is where she got the
money to buy even half of that building,” the chief said.   “I know she didn’t get it from our
divorce settlement.   I didn’t have
much to begin with, and all she got was half of that.   It wasn’t anywhere near the cash she’d
have to have had to buy anything on that scale.”
    “I wasn’t supposed to know anything about it,” Momma
said, “but Beatrice told me in confidence that Evelyn inherited quite a bit
from her great aunt, Ruth.   From
what I gathered, it was in the neighborhood of a half a million dollars, if
Beatrice is to be trusted.”
    “That’s the same figure that we heard,” I said, and
Jake nodded in agreement.   It
appeared that Gabby’s information, at least about Evelyn’s inheritance, had
been spot on.
    “Did Ruth finally kick the bucket?” the chief
asked.   “She was an odd bird, but I
figured that she’d find a way to live to see a hundred.”
    “Evidently she didn’t quite make it there, though she
wasn’t that far off,” Momma said.   “Anyway, Beatrice told me that Evelyn wanted to go into business, but
she was afraid to do it on her own.   Since Beatrice had run a few shops successfully in the past, Evelyn
convinced her that they should be partners.   Evelyn provided the lion’s share of the
financing, and Beatrice would provide the expertise in their daily business
operations.”
    “What kind of business were they going to open?” I
asked Momma.   “Please tell me it
wasn’t going to be a donut shop.”
    “As a matter of fact, it was going to be a candle store,”
Momma said.   “They had a name picked
out for it and everything: Wax, Wicks, and Us.   I’m afraid that dream is gone forever.”
    “What happens to the building now?” Jake asked.  
    Momma thought about it, and then she said, “You’ll
have to ask Beatrice, but while we were finalizing the sale, I overheard them
talking about having just visited their business attorney next to the yarn shop
where she shops in Union Square.   They arranged for a partnership agreement between them so that if one
partner died, the other would inherit the entire business and all of its assets.”
    “So, that would give Beatrice a motive for murder,”
Jake said.   “What’s the building
worth?” he asked Momma.
    “What did they pay for it, or how much was its
value?   They aren’t exactly the same
questions, are they?” she asked with a slight smile.
    “Let’s just deal with actual value,” Jake said.
    “I put its value at one hundred and seventy-five
thousand dollars,” Momma said, “though they paid a tad more than that.”
    “So it’s a substantial amount,” Jake said.
    “I suppose two hundred thousand dollars could be
considered significant in most circles, but is it enough to make someone commit
murder?”
    “That’s what I intend to find out,” Jake said.   “Do you have any suggestions as to who I
should speak with in my investigation?”   He turned to the chief and added, “That question is for you as well.”
    “I don’t know many folks around here who really liked
Evelyn besides Gabby