Free Tragic Toppings by Jessica Beck Page B

bucks if he’d been a little hungrier.
    I chose one lemon filled and a regular glazed donut, got his two coffees, and then handed him the tray. “Enjoy.”
    “Thanks,” the stranger said. He grabbed one of his donuts before he even moved out of line, took his first bite of the lemon, and then smiled at me and said, “That is awesome! Who owns this place?”
    “I do,” I admitted. “I’m Suzanne Hart.”
    “Donut Hearts for Hart, I get it.” After another big bite, he asked, “Have you ever thought about selling this place? I’d give you a good and fair price for it; fryers, equipment, tables and chairs, recipes, display cases, everything. I’ll even buy the name from you.”
    I looked around the shop, and realized that no matter how much he was offering, I knew I could never give up Donut Hearts, and what it had come to mean to me.
    “Thanks, but no, thank you. This is home for me now.”
    The stranger shrugged, and as he moved on, I called out, “Next.”
    If nothing else, the newspaper misprint made for an exciting morning for us.
    *   *   *
    An hour later, Emily Hargraves came into the shop pushing a child’s stroller. I was about to ask her whose kid she was babysitting when I saw that she had Cow, Spots, and Moose safely buckled into the stroller together. All three of them were wearing sunglasses and brightly colored caps, and I had to admit, they looked rather dapper sitting there.
    I couldn’t hide my grin when I saw them. “Taking the guys out for a walk?”
    She nodded. “I felt that I owed them at least that after leaving them unprotected and unguarded yesterday.”
    I laughed out loud. “You know, there are some folks in town who think you’ve lost your mind. I don’t mean me, but you know how people around here talk.”
    Emily smiled broadly at me. “Are you kidding? Sometimes I think I’ve slipped over the edge myself, but I’m not about to apologize to anyone. It’s fun, and if they don’t get it, then they don’t get me.” She looked down at the stroller and asked, “Right, guys?”
    I swear, for a split second, I waited for one of them to answer. Who did that make the craziest one of us? Emily looked at the cases behind me, now nearly empty, even with the double batch of donuts we’d made that morning.
    “I’m sorry there aren’t many left,” I said. “It’s been a big day.”
    “I heard about the misprint. How bad a hit are you going to take?” It wasn’t the first time I’d been asked that question, each time by another small-business owner. They knew, better than anyone else, how razor-thin profit margins could be when you owned your own place.
    “I don’t even want to think about it yet,” I answered. “We’ll do a rough count when we close, which, judging by this display case, will be after the next few customers. I take it you want our day’s special.”
    As I started to get her coffee, she shook her head and said, “If it’s all the same to you, I’d like one coffee, one donut, and one favor.”
    I turned around and handed her the cup. “A favor?”
    She lowered her voice and moved the stroller aside so she could get closer to me. “Suzanne, I need you to find out what happened to Uncle Tim.” There were tears in her eyes as she spoke, and her voice quivered a little.
    “I’m not really qualified,” I answered. I’d been debating the same course of action no matter how many promises I made to myself to butt out, but as much as I wanted to walk away from the murder case, I wasn’t sure that I’d be able to do it.
    “Come on. You’ve done it before, Suzanne. I know the police chief can follow up on all of the ordinary leads, but you’ve got a knack for looking at things from a different angle than he can.” She looked frustrated as she continued, “I can’t let this go unpunished, but I don’t know what to do. Please don’t say no to me.” She reached into the stroller, and for a second I thought she was going to pull Spots out,