Sinister Sprinkles Part 22

She smiled. "I switched right after you left. I can't believe I fell asleep out there. Your mother must think I'm some kind of bad penny, the way I keep showing up on your doorstep like this."

As I got her a cup of coffee and my latest attempt at a wheat donut that might satisfy her, I said, "Don't kid yourself. She loves having you there." I lowered my voice as I added, "Are you ready to talk to Lester?"

"Sure, but there's something else you need to hear first," Grace said. "I just found out from a friend at the bank that Darlene Higgins recently took out a certificate of deposit for one hundred thousand dollars."

I nearly dropped my coffee cup. I'd seen her clothes, and the way she lived, and I couldn't imagine where she'd gotten that kind of money. "Are you sure?"

She frowned at me. "Trust me, I'm sure."

"I'm sorry, I didn't mean to sound like I doubted you," I said. "But you saw her room. Her things weren't all that nice when they were new. I have a hard time believing she would have that kind of money."

"One thing I know for sure is that she didn't steal that much from Wilma. I'm still looking into where the money came from, but I just found this out, so I haven't had time to dig any deeper."

"That's pretty deep as far as I'm concerned," I said. "But that still leaves us with the problem of how to tackle Lester."

"To be honest with you, I've been thinking about it since I woke up, but I haven't been able to come up with any subtle way to interrogate him." She took a sip of coffee, then said, "I'm still not sure what we should do about Max and Muriel."

I suddenly realized that I hadn't kept her up to date on what had been going on that morning. "That's right. You haven't heard. We found Muriel this morning, and she's fine. She was staying at Gabby's, but by now they've already left town."

"Where did they go? Has she been there the entire time?"

"I'm not exactly sure where they're off to," I said, which was the strictest truth. "Gabby owes Muriel some kind of huge favor, so she's driving her wherever she wants to go."

Grace whistled softly. "How big a favor could it be?"

"Gabby's shut down her shop until further notice," I said.

Grace shook her head in obvious disbelief. "That's hard to believe. So, does everyone think Muriel's safe, just because she turned up unharmed?"

"She's anything but in the clear." I recounted her financial woes, and Grace shook her head.

She said, "Muriel's managed to get herself into a real hole, hasn't she?"

"It sounds like it," I agreed.

"Suzanne, what if she owed more money than she admitted to you? Could she be in debt to someone close to home? If they weren't getting paid back, they might have decided to get rid of her as a warning to other deadbeats."

I hadn't thought of that, but in my defense, neither had any of the others. "I guess it's possible."

I took out my cell phone, punched in George's number, and after he answered, I said, "Grace has an idea worth considering." After I gave him the new information, he said, "I'll put it on my list," then he hung up.

I was about to tell her what he'd said when one of the twins decided to liven up my life a little. As she started to shove her tray away from her, a half-full carton of chocolate milk hit the table, bounced, and pivoted in midair, spraying milk everywhere in its wake.

There was a stunned moment of silence, and then the other twin screamed. "You doo-doo head, I'm soaked!" she shouted.

"Hang on, we can take care of this is a second," I told them as I grabbed a few clean dish towels.

I handed one to Grace and said, "Cleanup on Aisle 3."

She smiled at me, and we started attacking the spilled milk, starting on the table and then surveying the floor. How could that carton have held so much? Terri and Sandy tried to wrestle the towels from our hands, but when we wouldn't yield, they attacked the spill with napkins from the dispensers. Emma appeared a minute later with a mop, and we had it contained soon enough.

As Sandy and Terri left, dropping apologies like pennies, all three kids were miserable.

"That was fun," Grace said.

"There's always something going on at Donut Hearts." A handful of brave souls had stayed through the turmoil, though we'd lost several customers. I grabbed one of the display trays and said, "In reward for your patience and understanding, the rest of these donuts are on the house."

At first they were reticent to take any, but after Grace grabbed one, the dam was broken and in two minutes, the tray was empty.

"Hang on. Let me get the rest," I said as I made my way back to the case. It was almost closing time, and I felt they could all use a goodwill gesture. There wouldn't be any donations today, or goodwill sales calls, but that was all right. It felt nice giving some donuts away to my regular customers.

I held one dozen glazed in reserve for an idea percolating in my head, but besides that, we were wiped out seven minutes before closing.

"That's it," I said. "The shop is closed."

A few people headed for the door, but before they could get there, I added, "This didn't happen. If anyone claims it did, there won't be any more donuts for them at this shop. Are we all clear about that?"

There was a flurry of nods, but I knew it would still get out that I was giving away donuts. I just hoped n.o.body told the reason why.

Once the front door was locked, Grace asked, "Are we ready to tackle Lester?"

"No, I have to finish cleaning up," I said.

Emma said, "You go on. I can handle this. I appreciate you waiting until we closed before you left."

"I'm not doing that to you, Emma. You shouldn't have to do all of the work. It's my shop."

"I don't mind," she said.

"Well, you might not, but I do." I turned to Grace. "Will you grab a mop and start on the floor in here? Emma and I will tackle the kitchen, and we'll all be out of here in twenty minutes."

"Just point me in the right direction," Grace said. "You know I'm a whiz with a mop or a broom."

I set her up, then helped Emma tackle the last of the dirty dishes and trays that had once held donuts and other confections. It was amazing how many loads' worth of suds we went through every day. It was nearly a full-time job just keeping up with them all, and I didn't know what I'd do without Emma. I didn't have the budget to buy a dishwasher, and besides, I never thought things got clean enough in them.

As we scrubbed the last few trays, I said, "I want you to know how much I appreciate you working so hard around here."

Emma brushed a bit of her red hair out of her face with the back of her wrist. "That's a tough compliment to take, after what happened yesterday."

"Enough is enough. Emma, I don't ever want to hear you say that again. It's in the past, so let's move on."

She hugged me, and I didn't even mind the soapsuds on my back. "You're such a cool boss."

"And you're a great worker, and a good friend," I said.

Grace walked into the kitchen, then started to back out. "Sorry, I didn't mean to interrupt."

"We're just finis.h.i.+ng," I said as Emma rinsed the last tray.

As I shut off the lights in back, I said, "Let's get out of here."

"I'm beat," Emma said. "I've been here since midnight."

"Why don't you come in a little later tomorrow?"

"Like six?" she asked, the grin clear on her face.

"I was thinking two-forty-five," I said, "but we can compromise. Let's make it two-forty-six."

She laughed as I let her out, and once the three of us were on the sidewalk, she quickly hurried to her car.

I looked at Grace and said, "It's good having Emma work here."

"She's right, you know. You are a great boss."

"Were you eavesdropping?" I asked.

"Of course I was. It's a small shop, so it's kind of tough not to hear everything that's going on. You're a pretty wonderful friend, too," she added.

"Right back at you. Now, what do you say we go talk to Lester about our little mystery? Is there a chance in the world he'll have an explanation that either one of us is going to accept as true?"

"I guess we owe it to him to at least ask," Grace said.

"Then let's go."

EASY AS PIE RAISED DONUTS.

These donuts are light, airy, and have just the right touch of sweetness. When you don't have time for two rises, choose this recipe!

INGREDIENTS.

* 2 packages fast rising yeast (12 ounce total) * 212 tablespoons granulated sugar * 1 cup water, warm * 1 egg, beaten * 13 cup b.u.t.ter or margarine, melted * 1 teaspoon cinnamon * 1 teaspoon nutmeg * 1 teaspoon vanilla extract * 12 teaspoon salt * 34 cups flour DIRECTIONS.

Mix the yeast, water and sugar. Wait five minutes for the yeast to start working. Add egg, b.u.t.ter, cinnamon, nutmeg, vanilla and salt, blend thoroughly, then start adding flour until the dough is not sticky to the touch. Knead the dough for about a minute, then roll out to 14 to 12 inch and cut out donut shapes, diamonds, or ravioli cutter shapes.

Set these aside to rise for 30 minutes, then fry in 360F canola oil, turning once so both sides cook evenly.

Drain on paper towels, then enjoy!

CHAPTER 11.

"I'll drive," Grace said. "Everybody in town can recognize that Jeep of yours, and we don't want the world to know exactly what we're up to, now do we?"

"Are you telling me that you actually risked your precious company car driving over here?" I asked. "I thought you were supposed to stay off the roads until you got approval from your boss."

"What she doesn't know won't hurt her," Grace said. "That doesn't mean I have to go back to work as soon as the roads are better. If I have to, I'll take some vacation until we find out what really happened to Darlene."

"I don't want you to miss out on anything because of me," I said.

"Suzanne, there's nothing else I'd rather be doing. Since I can't get you to leave that shop of yours for a real vacation, I'd just as soon burn my days this way."

"You know I can't just shut down, and it's not fair to dump it all on Emma and her mother. I'm sure they're fine, but then I'm not the one making the donuts, you know? Never mind. I'm sure it sounds crazy to you."

"No more than anything else you do," she said, smiling to take the bite out of her comment.

We pulled up to the radio station, a nondescript brick building with no windows that I could see from the parking lot. There was a huge tower of steel beside it, the only sign that it was a radio station and not a laundromat or a copy center.

The door had more warnings on it than a box of razor blades, and I wondered if we'd even get in. I rang the bell, then knocked, all to no avail.

"They have to eat, don't they?" I said. "I guess we'll just wait until someone comes out."

Grace shook her head. "You know, I've never been a big fan of waiting. Let me make a few calls."

"Do you honestly think you'll be able to worm your way into the station?"

"You never know. Besides, it's got to be better than standing around out here in the cold waiting for someone to come out."

"By all means, phone away," I said.

"Let me grab my cell phone. I left it in the car."

She disappeared into her vehicle just as the door to the station opened. A tall, pretty woman in her thirties rushed out, and when she saw me, a look of obvious relief spread over her face.

"It's about time," she said, obviously startled to see me. "How long have you been out here waiting?"

"I just got here," I admitted.

"Come on in, then. Lester's waiting for you. He's been tap-dancing for the last four minutes, and as much as I love seeing the man squirm, it doesn't make for a very good radio show."

She grabbed my arm and hustled me through the door before I could protest, or at least wait for Grace to catch up.

"My friend's still in the parking lot," I said.