Free Bad Bites: Donut Mystery #16 (The Donut Mysteries) by Jessica Beck Page A

Shelly told me that he paid cash, and he filled out
the registration as Joe Jones.”
    “Do you suspect that might not be his real name?” I asked him.
    “It sounds pretty generic to me, but we’ll see.   Anyway, she’s going to call me from the
lodge with his contact information.”
    “Keep me posted.   So, not that
I’m complaining, but what brings you by the donut shop so early?” I asked
him.   “Did you miss me, or were you just
having a donut craving?   If you
were, I’ve got a new one you’re going to love.”
    “None for me; thanks anyway,” Jake said, clearly distracted.   “I just wanted to tell you that I might
not be back for dinner tonight.”
    “Did you get a hot new lead?” I asked him.
    “No comment,” he said with a smile.
    “Not even for me?”
    “No comment,” he repeated.
    “I just have one more question,” I asked him.
    “Go ahead and ask, but we both already know what my answer is going to be.”
    “Do you think so?” Then I asked him softly, “Do you love me?”
    “You bet I do,” he replied with a big grin.   “I’ll comment on that all day long.   See you later.”
    “Bye,” I said.

 
    After Jake was gone, I was glad that he was still in town, even if he was there trying to track down a
killer.   It wasn’t that I didn’t
trust Chief Martin and his deputies to do it, but Jake brought a whole new
level of detection to the table, and if Grace and I could somehow contribute to
the capture, so much the better.   

 
    “Good morning, you two.   What
brings you by Donut Hearts?” I asked as my ex-husband, Max, and his girlfriend,
Emily Hargraves, walked into the shop.   “Did you have a sudden yen for donuts?”
    “Always,” Emily said.   “You go
first, Max.   I’m going to need a
little time to figure out what I want today.”
    Max nodded and smiled at her as he said, “Take your time, Emily.   I’ve got all day.”   I didn’t know how he managed it; the man
I’d once been married to was as handsome as ever.   It may have been because he kept himself
in shape or that he could thank his genes, but I suspected that the real reason
may have been because of the woman he was with.   Dating Emily had changed my ex in many
ways, turning him into the man that I’d always hoped he’d be when the two of us
had been married.   It had taken me a
while, but I was finally able to honestly say that I was happy that he’d
finally found someone.   It probably
didn’t hurt that I’d found someone myself in Jake.
    As Emily studied my offerings in the glass display cases, Max turned to
me.   “How are things with you,
Suzanne?   Can you believe that somebody
killed Chester Martin in the library?   I didn’t know him all that well, but he seemed like a good guy to
me.   The poor man didn’t even get to
enjoy one day of retirement.”
    “It just goes to show you that you can’t ever take anything for granted,”
I said.
    “Tell me about it,” he said as he looked lovingly at Emily again.   “It’s hard to imagine that we both saw
him yesterday morning, and now he’s gone.”
    “Where did you happen to see him, at the library?” I asked, curious about
what the man had been up to the day of his death.  
    “No, he was leaving Kevin Leeds’s place over on Oakmont.   Emily and I were out jogging, and we saw
Chester scowling at Kevin as we ran past them.”
    “What was he upset about?” I asked.
    “I’m not even sure that he was scowling myself,” Emily chimed in.   “Neither one of them said a word to us
as we passed them.   They just waved,
and then we were gone.   It all
happened in a split second.”
    “The man was angry.   I’m sure
of it,” Max said.
    “I’m sure that you are, but Max, we both know that you have an overactive
imagination, especially when you’re not working.   Am I wrong, Suzanne?” she asked me.
    “I’m sure that I couldn’t say one way or the other,” I told her, refusing
to be drawn into