Free Custard Crime: Donut Mystery #14 (The Donut Mysteries) by Jessica Beck

looking for me, or was this meeting just a coincidence?”
    “Truthfully, we’d love to talk with you if you have a
second,” I said.
    The older woman glanced at her watch.   “I suppose it couldn’t hurt, but be
warned, I don’t have much more than that.   I can give you two minutes, but that’s about it.   I’m heading home to meet someone.”
    “Is it about selling the building you just bought
with Evelyn Martin?” Grace asked her.
    “What are you talking about?   That’s not mine to sell,” she said
huffily.
    “At least not yet,” Grace amended.   “We understand that you had a
survivorship clause in your partnership agreement, though.”
    “I need to fire that lawyer and report him to the bar
for talking out of turn,” she said.
    “That’s not where we heard it.”
    “Of course it wasn’t,” Beatrice said as she shook her
head.   “You got that straight from
your mother, didn’t you?”
    “Is it true, then?” I asked her.
    Beatrice shrugged.   “I suppose it can’t hurt anything
admitting it.   Yes, Evelyn insisted that
we agree to share the business fifty-fifty.   I couldn’t match her financial
investment, not even close, actually, but I was bringing my expertise to the
table.   Now I’m afraid that particular
dream is ruined forever.”
    “Does that mean that you’re not going to open the
candle shop without her?” I asked.
    “Sadly, I don’t have the capital I’d need for
supplies, shelving, utilities, licenses, and a dozen other things.”
    “Then what are you going to do with the building, now
that it’s yours?”
    “I haven’t a clue,” she said.   “Is that why you came all the way to
Union Square?   Just to pepper me
with questions about my relationship with my late business partner?”
    “It’s one of the reasons we’re here,” Grace
said.   “Do you mind if we ask you
where you were this morning?”
    “Are you asking me for an alibi?” Beatrice asked her
incredulously.
    “Why not?   If you have one, it will clear you as a suspect quickly enough.”
    Beatrice just shook her head.   “What nerve you have.   I didn’t kill Evelyn.   Why would I?   I can’t run the business without her,
and I gave up everything to do this with her.   If you’re looking for suspects, you
should dig into her love life.”
    “I didn’t even realize that Evelyn was seeing
anyone,” I said.   “It seemed to me
that she wasn’t over her ex-husband yet.”
    “Well, appearances can be deceiving,” Beatrice said a
little smugly.   “Perhaps you two
don’t know everything.   While it’s
true that Evelyn wouldn’t go out with anyone from April Springs, that didn’t
keep her from dating someone here.”
    “She was going out with someone who lives in Union
Square?” I asked her.
    “Yes, a car salesman named Conrad Swoop.   They’d been dating four months, but from
what I heard from Evelyn, they were on the outs lately.”
    “Do you know why?”
    “Apparently, there’s a woman named Violet Frasier in
town who thought she and Conrad were exclusive as well.   When she found out about Evelyn, she
went ballistic.   It seems Violet
doesn’t like to share.   There are
two wonderful suspects for you right there.”
    “I can understand why Violet wouldn’t care for
Evelyn, but why would Conrad kill her?” Grace asked.
    “Evelyn confided in me that she’d foolishly loaned
him some money when she inherited a bundle from her aunt, and Conrad had no
intention of paying her back.   It
put a strain on their relationship, and what do you know?   Now that she’s gone, he’s off the hook
for good.”
    “Not exactly.   He still has to pay back the estate,” I said.
    Beatrice smiled softly.   “Perhaps you’d be right if there were
any written record of the transaction.   However, I have it on good authority that there isn’t any proof that the
loan ever took place.”
    “How do you know so much about Evelyn’s personal life?”
I asked