Free A Holiday Donut Steal: A Special Christmas Donut Mystery Short Story (The Donut Mysteries) by Jessica Beck Page A

through our entire stock of treats,” I added, to a chorus of good natured boos.  “I have a few more goodies left, but when these are gone, they’re gone.  You can each have one to take home with you, if you’d like.”
    It was the best way I knew how to get this crowd moving.
    Unfortunately, it didn’t work. 
    Marla Jenson said, “If I take that home, my Hank is going to just eat it.”
    “So will Jason,” Joanie Pritchett said.  “Cassandra?  You should be safe, since you’re alone.”
    The woman in question just shrugged, no doubt used to the jibes about her being single.  “Dorothea, will Phillip get into yours?” she asked my mother.
    “No worries there.  He has plenty of opportunities to eat Suzanne’s goodies,” Momma replied.
    I passed four of the donuts out, one to each woman in turn, and then I handed the nearly-empty tray to Emma.  Before anyone could take their first bite though, Momma raised her donut high in the air as though it were a full champagne flute as she said, “To Suzanne and Emma.”
    “To Suzanne and Emma,” they echoed, touching them all together in the air.
    Before anyone could take their first bite, though, my mother asked loudly in a startled voice, “Where are my earrings?”
    I looked at her ears where they belonged, but they weren’t there.  “Are you sure you wore earrings tonight?” I asked her softly.
    “I’m not senile, Suzanne.  I took them off and put them on the table in front of my chair.  That gold is heavy, and they were beginning to hurt.  Now they’re gone.”
    Everyone lowered their donuts and tried to pitch in.  “Check your purse, Dorothea, maybe they are in there,” Marla suggested.
    “There’s no need.  I distinctly remember leaving them on the table,” she said, and then she looked sternly at the group.  “If this is someone’s idea of a joke, it’s not very funny.”
    The other women started protesting, but Momma held up her hand.  “Save your cries of innocence for the police.  Suzanne, give Jake a call.”
    “Do you really want me to do that?” I asked her.
    “Those earrings belonged to your great grandmother.  No one is leaving here tonight until I have them back, if we have to search every last person present down to their underwear.”
    “You’re not searching me,” Marla said indignantly.
    “Me, either,” Joanie added.
    “Include me in the group who refuses to be put through that,” Cassandra echoed.
    “I’m sorry,” Momma said in a stern voice that I recognized all too well.  “You must not have understood me.  I wasn’t asking.  I was telling you.”
    “Can she do that?” Marla asked me.
    “You’ll have to speak with my husband about that,” I said as I pulled out my phone to call him.
    “I’m not waiting around for Jake to show up.  I’m leaving,” Joanie said as she started for the door.
    “Do you honestly think that’s wise?” Momma asked her.
    “Are you threatening me, Dorothea?” she asked my mother in amazement.
    “No, but if anyone, and I mean anyone, leaves this room before my earrings are recovered, you will be dead to me forever.  Over the years I’ve helped each and every one of you without asking anything in return, but that ends tonight.”  When Joanie stopped in her tracks, Momma said, “Call him, Suzanne.”
    I did as I was told, and Jake was there in a few minutes, since he’d been at his desk at the police station waiting for me to finish up with the party.  As the acting chief of police, Jake was the ultimate authority in April Springs at the moment, though an outside observer would probably have named Momma as the chief, given the way she was acting.  As we all waited for him to come, I studied my three suspects.  The problem was that they all looked guilty about something; Joanie kept staring at the door, as though she was dreading my husband’s arrival, Cassandra was biting her fingernails incessantly, while Marla wouldn’t make eye contact with