Free Sweet Suspects (The Donut Mysteries) by Jessica Beck Page A

for lunch.   I had a few new things to tell her since I’d seen her last, and I was really interested in getting her take on Candy.
All of those thoughts flew out of my head though, as I pulled into Grace’s driveway.
She was out on her wide front porch, but she wasn’t alone.
Billy Briscoe was there, and he didn’t look very happy.
It appeared that I’d arrived just in time.

 
Chapter 7

 
 
“Billy, what’s going on?” I asked him as I walked up the steps.
“Suzanne, this doesn’t concern you,” Billy said as he looked at me.
“Funny, but that’s not really your call to make, now is it?”   I glanced at Grace and asked, “Are you okay?”
“I’m fine,” she said.   “Billy was just leaving.”
“No, Billy was not,” he said.   “I’m not finished with either one of you.   I didn’t kill Zane Dunbar, and the sooner you and the cops understand that, the better off everyone is going to be.”
“Billy, you’re not threatening us, are you?” I asked him innocently.
Grace, who had been looking a little unsettled before, finally smiled.
“Of course not,” Billy said, trying his best to be friendly.   “It’s just so unnerving having people think that I’m a killer.”
“Tell me about it.   Since you’re already here, would you mind sharing with us what you told Chief Martin earlier?” I asked.
Billy stared at me for a second, and then he shook his head and laughed as he brushed past where I stood on the steps.   “I didn’t come by to answer your questions,” he said.   “I’ve said my piece, and now I’m going to go.”
“There’s no need to rush off,” Grace said with a smile, and it was good to see that she was back completely.
Billy just waved as he got into his car and drove away.
“What did I miss?” I asked Grace as I joined her on the porch.
“It seems that Billy Briscoe doesn’t like being on anybody’s list of suspects.”
“Why?   What did he say?”
“About what you’d expect,” Grace answered.
“Do you think that he could be the killer?” I asked her.
“I don’t know, but he hasn’t done anything to take his name off the list, that’s for sure.   Who knows one way or the other at this point?   We both know that it’s pretty miserable being a murder suspect.   Maybe he’s just overreacting to that, not that I can blame him.   It might be nothing.”
“Then again, it might be something after all.   Maybe we should dig a little harder into his relationship with Zane,” I said as my stomach rumbled a little.   “After we have lunch, of course.”
“I’m kind of hungry,” Grace said.   “Should we walk over to the Boxcar, or should we drive?”
The day was finally warming up, and the clouds were beginning to break up.   “Why don’t we walk?   It will give me a chance to bring you up to date on what’s been happening with me since we last spoke.”
Grace looked surprised by my comment.   “Suzanne, we haven’t been apart that long, and I can see that you’ve showered and changed.   What else did you have time to do?”
“Let me tell you all about it,” I said, and then I proceeded to bring her up to speed on my conversations with Candy, George, and finally, Jake.
Grace whistled softly.   “Do you think Candy’s smarter than she looks?”
“She puts on a good act, but the girl’s not stupid, at least when it comes to manipulating people.   She looks like cotton candy on the outside, but I’ve got a hunch that there’s a jawbreaker just below the surface.”
“Then we need to dig into her past with Zane, too,” Grace said.   “We’ve got a lot to do, don’t we?”
“Don’t worry,” I said as we neared the Boxcar Grill.   “We’ll still have time to eat.”
“That’s a relief,” Grace said with a smile.
“I didn’t realize that you were that hungry,” I said.
“I’m not, but I know how you get when you are,” she answered with a grin.
“I’d argue the point with you, but we both know that I’d be