Deadly Donuts (24 page)

That’s when I realized that my hunch had been on the money.
 
Ellen had found at least some of the files herself, and instead of turning them in to the police chief, she’d slipped them back into her files.
 
That made her look guilty, or at the very least, culpable in some way.

None of the files for our other suspects were there, though.

“I’m not sure
what
to do now,” I said as I closed the last drawer.
 
“Should we search the place again?”

“Suzanne, we found
one
file,” Grace said.
 
“That’s
got
to be enough proof that she’s involved in her brother’s murder.”

“It won’t work,” I said.
 
“She could have made a duplicate file.
 
Or at the very least, she could lie about it and say that she did.
 
If it’s her word against ours, who is anyone going to believe?
 
We’ve got to find something else.”

“There’s no time,” Grace said as she touched my arm.
 
“Ellen could realize that her keys are gone at any second.
 
If she catches us here, we’re dead, and I mean that literally.
 
We need to come up with another plan later, but right now, we need to go.”

I knew that she was right, but I didn’t have to like it.
 

“Come on,” Grace said as she pulled me out the door.
 
I quickly locked it behind us, and then I asked her, “How are we going to get Ellen’s keys back to her without her realizing that we stole them in the first place?”

“We’ll just drop them on the sidewalk in front of the police station,” I said.
 
“Somebody will surely turn them in.”

“That sounds good,” Grace said.
 
“Let’s get out of here.”

I started to follow her as I walked past the doghouse, touching the roof again lightly as I went past it.
 

And then I stopped dead in my tracks.

Grace looked back at me, clearly puzzled by my hesitation.
 
“We have to
go
, Suzanne.”

“Not just yet,” I said.
 
“Do you remember that I told you that Ellen said she was allergic to just about everything?”

“Sure, I remember.”

“Well, one of the things that she mentioned was that she was allergic to dogs.
 
The question is, why does she have a doghouse on her property, and even more, why is it freshly painted?”

“I don’t know,” Grace said as some of her frustration came out.
 
“Maybe there never was a dog, and she’s just using it as a yard decoration.”

“Or maybe it’s something more.
 
Morgan could have done this himself.”

“Fine, Morgan did it.
 
Does it really matter?”

“It might,” I said as I got down on my hands and knees and started to poke my head inside.

“Are you serious?”

“It’ll just take a second.”
 
I couldn’t see anything on the ground, but then I looked up.
 
There was new wood there, something built like a shelf.
 
Could it be important?

As I was reaching for it, Grace asked me, “Suzanne, why does this matter?”

“Because I just found this,” I said as I pulled out a thickly wrapped envelope.
 
“He must have put the shelf in when he was painting the doghouse.
 
I’m willing to bet that Ellen told him to tear it down, and he knew that if he did that, he’d lose his perfect hiding place.
 
So he bought himself some time by sprucing it up.”

“Are you saying that these files were never in the locker to begin with?
 
Why did he have the key, then?”

“Maybe he kept moving things around so he wouldn’t get caught,” I said.
 
“We can’t exactly ask him now, can we?”

As I tore away the protective wrapping, I could see all four sets of files inside.
 
A quick glance showed us that they belonged to Heather, Rose, Martha, and a name I didn’t recognize.
 
Perhaps she’d been the one who’d paid Morgan off.
 
If I were still investigating Morgan’s murder, she’d be at the top of my list, but I still believed that Ellen was guilty.

And when I heard that voice behind us, I knew that I’d been right, no matter how little satisfaction it would give me if Grace and I ended up dead.

After grabbing the files from me and quickly glancing at them, Ellen said, “I kept wondering why he cared so much about that stupid doghouse.
 
I should have found these myself.
 
I told him to tear that thing down, and that idiot brother of mine fixed it up instead.”

“You found a few other files yourself, though, didn’t you?” I asked.

“Three were in the bus station locker,” Ellen admitted as she pointed her gun at us.
 
“I never dreamed that he’d split them up.”

“When did you discover what he was doing?” I asked her, trying to buy Grace and me as much time as I could.

“There’s no time to talk about that now,” Ellen said as she looked around her neighborhood. “Get in the house.”

“I’m willing to bet my life that you won’t take a chance shooting us outside,” I said as I pulled Grace toward her car.

“I said ‘move!’” she barked out, and then I heard the shot.
 
It hit eight inches from my foot, and I knew that we were dealing with a maniac.

Suddenly, I had no problem believing that she’d shoot us where we stood.

I looked around as Grace and I took our first steps toward the house.
 
“One of your neighbors might be watching,” my best friend said.
 
“That shot was pretty loud, too.”

“Everyone who lives around here is at work right now,” she said.
 
“That’s what I like about this neighborhood.
 
Nobody’s going to save you.”

“Then why should we go inside at all?” Grace asked.
 
I would have been happier if she hadn’t raised that particular question, but Ellen had an answer for her.

“If you want me to shoot you out here and drag you both inside, I’m happy to oblige you.
 
If you go inside, I’ll make sure that the shots are clean hits.”

Was that supposed to be a real incentive?
 
“Just tell us why you killed Morgan,” I asked.
 
“At least give us that before you kill us.”

I could tell that Ellen wanted
someone
to know what had really happened.
 
She stopped urging us forward as she said, “As a matter of fact, it was an accident.
 
I discovered that some of my files were missing, and I followed Morgan to April Springs to see what he was up to.
 
When I confronted him about what he was doing, he actually laughed at me.
 
I shoved him, and he had the nerve to shove me back.
 
I wasn’t about to take that, so I swung at him one more time.
 
It knocked him back, and he lost his footing.
 
He hit his head hard on the concrete, and the next thing I knew, he was gone.”
 
She cried softly as she spoke, and I could see the pain on her face.
 
I knew that didn’t mean that she wouldn’t shoot us in cold blood, though.

“Why didn’t you call the paramedics?” Grace asked.
 
“They might have been able to save him.”

“I’ve had all of the training that they had,” she said, dismissing us briskly.
 
“No one could have saved him.”

“Someone else is going to figure out what you did,” I said.
 
“After all, we did.”

“Suspecting and proving are two different things,” she said.
 
“Once you two are gone, I’m willing to take my chances.”

“I’ve heard enough,” Chief Martin said as he stepped out from behind the house.
 
“Put down your weapon, Officer.”

Ellen started to turn her weapon toward him when another voice barked out from the other side, “Do it now.
 
You can’t get both of us.”

She looked daunted to learn that her boss was there as well.
 
“Chief, I caught these two breaking into my house.”

“Save it for your lawyer,” he said.
 
“For now, drop your weapon.
 
This is your last warning, Officer.
 
We
will
shoot.”

I cringed, knowing that Grace and I were directly in the line of fire.
 

If this was going to turn into a shootout, we were in serious trouble.

I saw Ellen’s grip on the gun tense for a split second, and I was ready to pull Grace to the ground when the shooting started, but all of a sudden, I could see Ellen’s hand slacken, and the handgun tumbled harmlessly onto the ground.

The rest of it was routine for the pair of police chiefs, but Grace and I didn’t stop shaking until hours later.

Chapter 20

It felt as though I was interviewed for days instead of hours, and I was hoarse by the time Chief Martin told me that I could go.
 
I wasn’t headed anywhere until I found Grace, though, but I still had one more surprise headed my way.

I never expected Jake to be waiting on me.

“I’m so happy that you’re here,” I said as I hugged him longer than I ever had in my life.
 
“How did you manage it?”

“I was on my way back while you were being interviewed,” he said.
 
“Nobody would let me see you.
 
As a cop, I know that it’s just protocol, but I was ready to start tearing walls down when you came through.”

“Does that mean that you caught the bomber?” I asked him as I pulled away.

“I never got within twenty miles of him.
 
Another team traced the components he used in the device and they arrested him in his apartment.
 
They say that he cried like a baby when they broke in and threw him to the floor.
 
I wish I’d been there, but the only thing that really counted was that he was caught.”

“That’s wonderful news,” I said as I squeezed him again.

Grace came out of another interrogation room.
 
She looked beaten down, and I was sorry that there was no one there to comfort her as well.

No one but me, anyway.

I broke free from Jake’s embrace and wrapped Grace up in my arms.
 

“I can’t tell you how glad I am that it’s finally over,” she said, nearly sobbing from the strain of what we’d just gone through.

“We made it, though, didn’t we?”

“We did,” she said.
 
“Can we go home now?”

“You’d better believe it,” I said as Jake walked toward us both.

“Hey, I see that you made it back,” Grace said to him with a smile.

“A day late and a dollar short, but I’m finally here.”

“That’s all that counts,” she said, and I couldn’t agree with her more.

Our world had gone through quite an upheaval in the past few days, and I for one was ready to get back to my quiet life of making donuts and spending time with the people I loved.

It was more than I ever could have asked for.

I wanted to believe Ellen Briar’s story that her brother’s death had been an accident.
 
After all, she’d lost her family, two brothers lost years apart, and she would most likely spend the rest of her life in prison, alone.

I was never more grateful for my family than I was right then, and I promised myself to give my mother a bone-crushing hug the next time that I saw her.

Just knowing that she was there, and always on my side whether I was right or wrong, was enough for me.