Free Jessica Beck - Donut Shop 18 - Dangerous Dough by Jessica Beck Page B

that he was dirty.”
    “He might not
have been,” Jake said, scolding me, “and until we have solid evidence
otherwise, the man is innocent until proven guilty.   Understood?”
    I didn’t care for
my husband’s tone of voice, but I could certainly understand it.   “Sorry.   I didn’t mean to jump to any
conclusions.”
    My contriteness
hit home with him.   “Suzanne, I’m
the one who’s sorry.   I shouldn’t
have snapped at you.   It’s just that
I hate assuming anything bad when it comes to a cop’s honor and integrity.”
    “Hey, you were
right and I was wrong.”
    “Care to repeat
that into my microphone?” he asked with a grin as he held a pretend one forward.
    “Not a
chance.   So, what do we do about
this new twist?   Do we just drop
that part of the investigation and let the state police worry about it?”
    “I’m not sure
yet,” Jake said.   “I’d really like
to sleep on it before I give you an answer.”
    I stifled a
yawn.   “That’s not a bad idea.   Speaking of sleeping, I have to get up
pretty early tomorrow morning.”
    “Bedtime it is,
then,” Jake said as he stretched for a moment.
    I put a hand on
his chest.   “Hang on there,
mister.   I know that you keep
regular business hours.   There’s no
way that you need to keep my sleep schedule.   You can’t.   It will wear you out in no time.   Just because I’m going to sleep doesn’t mean
that you have to.   I have a decent
library here, and there’s always television if you get tired of reading.”
    “I never get
tired of reading,” Jake said. “Nonetheless, at least for tonight, I’m going to
sleep when you do.   Okay?”
    “Okay, as long as
you don’t make a habit of it,” I said with a grin.
    “I’m not making
any promises,” he said, smiling back at me.

 
    To my surprise, I
had no trouble bouncing out of bed the next morning at an hour that most folks
considered the middle of the night.   Even though I’d partially adapted my sleeping schedule to what many
people considered normal over the past ten days, there had always been
something in me that had been dying to get back to my old routine.   I kissed Jake’s cheek, half expecting
him to wake up as I got up, but he just muttered something and fell right back
asleep in our bed.
    And to be honest,
I wasn’t all that unhappy about it.   I liked my morning rituals, all accomplished while most of the world
around me slept.   There was
something about the solitude of it all that gave me peace knowing that while I
worked, the folks I’d be feeding soon were home and safely asleep.   Driving down the street toward Donut
Hearts, I found myself reveling in the darkness.   Soon I’d have the lights on inside,
coffee brewing in the pot, and donut batter mixing, but for now, for that
moment, I had the night all to myself.

 

 
    Chapter 9

 
    “Hey there,” Emma
said later that morning when she finally came for her shift.   I’d been there for some time prepping
things for the day, and while I’d loved my solitude, it felt good being back
with her in the donut shop kitchen again.
    “How did it feel
to sleep in?” I asked her as I put the finishing touches on the last of my cake
dough batters.   Working in the donut
shop was really two distinct jobs, no matter what most folks believed.   The cake donuts were all done with
batters, varying the ingredients until we had a nice range of the old-fashioned
type of donuts ready to sell.   After
they were fried and iced, it was time to start on the second stage of our day
and make the raised donuts so many of my customers loved.   I’d been tempted on more than one
occasion to skip making one type or the other over the years, but in the end, I
couldn’t bring myself to do it.   Such was the lot of the donutmaker, a mantle I’d gladly taken on.
    She laughed happily,
a sound I’d missed lately.   “Only
you could think that getting up at three in the morning qualifies as