Assault and Batter Read online

  The First Time Ever Published!

  The Eleventh Donut Shop Mystery

  From New York Times Bestselling Author

  Jessica Beck

  ASSAULT AND BATTER

  Books by Jessica Beck

  The Donut Shop Mysteries

  Glazed Murder

  Fatally Frosted

  Sinister Sprinkles

  Evil Éclairs

  Tragic Toppings

  Killer Crullers

  Drop Dead Chocolate

  Powdered Peril

  Illegally Iced

  Deadly Donuts

  Assault and Batter

  The Classic Diner Mysteries

  A Chili Death

  A Deadly Beef

  A Killer Cake

  A Baked Ham

  A Bad Egg

  A Real Pickle

  The Ghost Cat Cozy Mysteries

  Ghost Cat: Midnight Paws

  Ghost Cat 2: Bid for Midnight

  Jessica Beck is the New York Times Bestselling Author of

  The Donut Shop Mysteries

  as well as

  The Classic Diner Mysteries

  and

  The Ghost Cat Cozy Mysteries

  Assault and Batter by Jessica Beck: Copyright © 2013

  All rights reserved. Obcento

  No part of this book may be reproduced, scanned, or distributed in any printed or electronic form without permission. Please do not participate in or encourage piracy of copyrighted materials in violation of the author’s rights. This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents either are the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously, and any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, business establishments, events, or locales is entirely coincidental.

  Recipes included in this book are to be recreated at the reader’s own risk. The author is not responsible for any damage, medical or otherwise, created as a result of reproducing these recipes. It is the responsibility of the reader to ensure that none of the ingredients are detrimental to their health, and the author will not be held liable in any way for any problems that might arise from following the included recipes.

  To P and E,

  Always!

  Chapter 1

  Like a great many things in life, it started with a wedding.

  Or is that where it all ended?

  All I really know is that when the dead body appeared, it looked as though everything would be ruined.

  It’s all very hard to explain, but one thing is certain: I knew that after what happened that day, my life, and the lives of many of the folks around me in April Springs, North Carolina, would never be the same.

  But as usual, I’m getting ahead of myself.

  Let me back up a bit and start at the beginning.

  Chapter 2

  “Suzanne, do you have a second?” Emily Hargraves had walked into Donut Hearts a few minutes earlier, but she hadn’t been able to make eye contact with me since she came through the door. Emily owned our local newsstand, Two Cows and a Moose, and I’d been friends with the pretty young brunette for years—even babysitting her once upon a time—as hard as that was for me to believe. She was lovely, especially when she smiled, but her grin was absent at the moment.

  “Is anything wrong?” I asked her softly as I refilled Ray Blake’s coffee cup. Ray was the father of my lone employee, Emma, and the editor of our local newspaper.

  “You’re going to have to be the one to tell me that. I’ve been putting something off for days, but it can’t wait any longer.” That sounded serious. If whatever Emily had to say was confidential, I doubted that it was good idea to say it in front of Ray.

  “Give me one second,” I said as I held up one finger. Opening the door into the kitchen, I found Emma elbows deep in dirty dishes, her iPod earbuds nestled firmly in her ears. Shouting probably wouldn’t have been enough to get her attention, so I tapped her on the shoulder.

  “Suzanne, you scared the daylights out of me,” Emma said as she pulled one earbud out. “What’s going on?”

  “I need you to cover the front, but there’s something even more important that you need to do for me if you can.”

  “Anything. Just name it,” she said with a smile. Emma had quit the donut shop for a little while, but now she was back where she belonged. I knew her tenure with me wouldn’t last forever, but as long as it did, I was going to enjoy it.

  “I need you to keep your dad from leaving the shop for the next few minutes. Can you do that?”

  “Dad’s up front?” she asked. “Why didn’t he come back and say hello?”

  “You’ll have to ask him that,” I said. “Can you do it?”

  “Oh, yes,” she said with the hint of a wicked grin.

  “Should I even ask you how you’re going to do it?” I asked her.

  “Well, there’s no reason that I can’t have a little fun with him, is there?” Emma asked me.

  “No reason at all,” I replied, returning her smile with one of my own. I had a love/hate relationship with Ray Blake most of the time. His obsession with breaking news had caused a few rifts between Emma and me over the years, and I always knew who was responsible for them. Still, I understood that he loved his daughter completely, and ultimately I couldn’t hold his fierceness against him.

  I followed Emma out of the kitchen, and after she said hello to Emily, my employee said, “Dad, we need to talk.”

  He nearly choked on his coffee as he started to stand. “What’s going on, Emma?”

  “You’d better sit back down,” she said gravely.

  I was torn between talking to Emily and hearing what Emma was about to say, but the newsstand owner touched my arm lightly. “Suzanne, can we go outside?”

  “That would be perfect,” I said.

  Ray didn’t even notice as Emily and I slipped outside. I figured that Emma would buy us a few minutes of privacy, and I really couldn’t afford to waste a moment of it.

  “Let’s sit out here,” I said as I motioned to one of my outside tables. It was late autumn and the leaves were mostly gone, but the air still had a crisp freshness that I adored. Soon enough the weather would turn too cold for lingering time spent outside, but for now, it was just about perfect.

  I took a seat at the table, and Emily sat across from me.

  “Okay, you’ve got my attention. Now, tell me what’s wrong.”

  “Nothing, actually. Well, that’s not entirely true. There’s one thing that’s casting a bit of gloom on everything.”

  “Tell me what it is, and I’ll do my best to fix it,” I said with my brightest smile. I was a big fan of Emily and her three stuffed animals that spawned the name of her shop, Two Cows and a Moose, and I’d do anything I could to make her happy.

  “Honestly, it’s you,” she said, her voice nearly cracking.

  I frowned in puzzlement. “Me? How am I causing you pain?”

  “It’s not actually you,” she said. “It’s so hard to find the right words to say. I knew that this was all going to come out wrong.”

  “Emily, take a deep breath, and then just tell me whatever is on your mind. We’ve been friends for too long for anything to come between us.”

  “But don’t you see? That’s what makes this so hard.”

  “It doesn’t have to be any harder than you’re making it,” I said. “Talk to me.”

  “Max asked me to marry him,” she said, the words tumbling out of her as though she were afraid that if she didn’t say them quickly enough, she’d never be able to.

  “My Max?” I asked, immediately regretting my choice of words.

  Emily frowned a little as she replied, “Honestly, I like to think of him as my Max now.”

  “Of course he
is,” I answered quickly. I’d been married to Max years ago, and he’d done such a good job convincing me that he would be a better husband than he was an actor that I’d grown to call him The Great Impersonator after our time together was over. “What did you say?”

  “I said yes,” she answered, and at that moment, I could see her happiness spilling out over her dread. “It makes me a pretty lousy friend, doesn’t it?”

  “Emily, he wasn’t right for me. Maybe he’ll be right for you,” I said.

  “Suzanne, you set us up, remember? If you hadn’t come to me and pled his case, I never would have gone out with him again.”

  “Hang on a second. Don’t blame that on me,” I said.

  “I wasn’t blaming you,” she answered curtly.

  “I know that. I didn’t mean it that way.” I took a deep breath and tried to buy a little time so I could wrap my head around the idea of Max marrying Emily. No, I just couldn’t do it. It was going to take some time before I could do that. In the meantime, I didn’t want to alienate my good friend. “What it all boils down to is that if you’re happy, then I’m happy for you.”

  “I knew you’d understand,” she said as she leaned over the table and hugged me. “That makes my next question so much easier to ask.”

  “Would you like me to cater your wedding with donuts?” I asked a little too flippantly.

  If she’d caught my tone of voice, she didn’t let on. “What a wonderful idea! Why didn’t I think of that? Of course I’ll have you cater it. Do you think you’ll be able to do that, too?”

  “What do you mean, too?” I asked her.

  “Since you’re the one who’s responsible for getting us together, it’s only fitting that you be my maid of honor.”

  I couldn’t help it. My jaw nearly hit the ground. “Surely there’s someone else who might be a more appropriate choice. How about friends you had growing up?”

  “We’ve all drifted apart,” she said. “I understand if you say no, but it would mean a great deal to me if you’d say yes.”

  I had to stall a little. “Have you run this idea past Max?” Surely my ex would get me out of this jam. I couldn’t imagine he’d be all that interested in seeing me walk down the aisle ahead of his new bride. It had to be too much of a déjà vu experience for him to even entertain.

  “Are you kidding? He thought it sounded wonderful,” Emily said, that smile resurfacing in all of its glory again.

  “You really do love him, don’t you? Emily, I hate to ask this, but isn’t this all kind of sudden? After all, you haven’t been dating that long.” I’d been with Jake a lot longer than she’d been with Max, and we hadn’t even discussed the possibility of getting married. My boyfriend had lost his first family in a car accident, and I knew that it had taken nearly everything he’d had to let me into his life.

  “How long do you need, when you know that it’s going to last forever?” Emily asked me.

  “And you’re sure you want me in your wedding party,” I said. “It’s not too late to change your mind.”

  “I can’t think of anyone else I’d rather have standing up with me than you,” she said. Were those tears tracking down her cheeks into her smile? That just wasn’t fair. How could I possibly say no to that?

  “Okay, if you’re sure it’s what you really want,” I said.

  “This is wonderful,” Emily said as she stood quickly. “I can’t thank you enough. We’ve got a lot of work ahead of us. The wedding is in three days.”

  “Three days! Why the rush?” I asked, standing as well. And then I thought of the one reason there might be urgency to the pending nuptials. “Emily, you’re not…” I just couldn’t seem to bring myself to finish asking that particular question.

  “What? No, of course not. I just don’t see any reason to wait. I want to be his wife right now, Suzanne. Don’t worry about the details. Mom has already said that she’s willing to pitch in, and Dad’s been saving for this for years.”

  “Then I suppose we’d better get started,” I said as I looked at my watch. “I’ve got another fifteen minutes until I close the donut shop. Why don’t we grab lunch at the Boxcar and talk about it there?”

  “That sounds perfect,” she said. “There’s just one more thing. Max insists that his old college roommate be his best man. I hope that won’t be a problem.”

  “You’re not talking about Peter, are you?” Peter Hickman was the last person in the world I ever wanted to see again, let alone be with in the wedding party. While I knew that most of Max’s sins over the years had been committed out of sheer thoughtlessness, Peter could be malicious in his motivations. He’d been the best man at our wedding, too, and I still woke up in horror sometimes in the middle of the night reliving his drunken speech at the rehearsal dinner.

  “He’s changed, too, Suzanne. Just you wait. You’ll see.” Emily frowned for a moment, and then she said, “I really must be going. There are a million things I have to do. I’m so glad that you’re going to be a part of it all. Do me a favor, would you? If you’d keep this quiet for now, I’d appreciate it.”

  “How long do you need?” I asked. “I hate to keep anything from Momma or Jake.”

  “I need an hour, and then you can tell whoever you’d like to about it. I’ll see you soon at the Boxcar.”

  “Bye,” I said. As I walked back into the donut shop, I wondered what I’d gotten myself into. It was too late to back out now though, even if I wanted to.

  It appeared that I was not only going to be present, but I was also going to be a part of my ex-husband’s wedding.

  If I’d known that morning what was going to happen that day, I wouldn’t have gotten out of bed, but it was too late for that now.

  Apparently I had a wedding to plan and cater, and just a few days to do it.

  Ten minutes after Emily was gone, a man I hadn’t seen in ages came into the donut shop.

  “Hey, Jude,” I said, trying not to smile. I wasn’t a big fan of Gabby Williams’s nephew, but I couldn’t help myself from repeating the Beatles song every I saw him. We’d gone to high school together, but we’d never been all that close. Jude had been a bit of a bully back then, and I hadn’t seen anything over the intervening years to show me that he’d changed. He and Max had been close for years, but in the past several months I heard that they’d had a falling out, which just proved to me yet again how much my ex had changed for the better. I especially wasn’t thrilled to see Jude because Emily had gone out with him for awhile six months earlier before she’d gotten tired of his antics. When she’d dumped him, he hadn’t taken it well at all.

  “Hey,” he said gruffly. He wasn’t a fan of the greeting, but what could he do? It was his name, after all. “Give me three glazed and a coffee to go.”

  “What brings you back to town?” I asked him as I got him his order. I knew that he and his aunt had a tumultuous relationship. When his folks had died, Gabby had taken him in at sixteen. He’d left on his eighteenth birthday, but he still came back to April Springs on occasion.

  “Are you kidding? There’s no place else I’d rather be,” he said, but his grin told me that he was up to something. “I heard a rumor that something was going to be happening here, and I wouldn’t miss it for the world.” I wondered how Gabby felt about him just showing up?

  After he got his change and his order, he left without another word. Trouble usually followed him around.

  I hoped that this time things would be different, but I wasn’t counting on it.

  Chapter 3

  “There she is, Little Miss Sunshine herself,” I heard an old familiar voice say as he walked in the door of Donut Hearts three minutes before we were supposed to close for the day. Why hadn’t I locked the doors when I’d had the chance?

  “Hello, Peter.” At least there was a counter between us. Blast it all, he was even more handsome than he’d been the last time I’d seen him. If there were any justice in the world, his exterior would reflect his rotten interior, but no s
uch luck.

  “How about a kiss?” he asked loudly, causing my last three customers of the day to stare at me as though I’d suddenly sprouted horns.

  “I’m not even sure that I want to shake your hand,” I said.

  He laughed at my comment, though I hadn’t meant it to be a joke. “It’s good to know that some things don’t change. You still have that charming sense of humor of yours. What do you say the best man and the maid of honor spend a little time getting reacquainted?”

  “I wouldn’t be interested even if I weren’t seeing a state trooper,” I said.

  Peter smiled, but there wasn’t much warmth in it. “Is he stationed around here?”

  “No, he’s a special investigator, so he goes wherever he’s needed.”

  “Good for him,” Peter said, the relief obvious in his voice. Had he been serious about trying to strike something up with me? The man had to be madder than a hatter if he thought there was a chance of that happening. “Still, I hope you’ll save at least one dance for me at the reception.”

  “I wouldn’t count on it,” I said.

  Emma came out of the back just then, and her gaze took Peter in immediately. She usually didn’t go for older men, and I wanted to make sure that she didn’t start now. “Hello,” she said tentatively.

  “Suzanne, why on earth would you keep someone so beautiful in back? Is it so she doesn’t outshine the customers? They must all be drab and dull compared to her.”

  Emma actually blushed at the lame compliment. “Thanks,” she said as she tucked a few errant strands of hair behind her ear.

  “Aren’t you going to introduce us, Suzanne?” Peter asked, his attention never leaving Emma for a single moment.

  “Emma, this is Peter. Peter, meet Emma.”

  He reached for her hand, and then he started to actually kiss it. I stepped in between them at the last second, breaking Peter’s focus. “Emma, let’s start getting everything ready to close.”

  “I’m on it,” she said, still looking back at Peter as she walked through the kitchen door.

  I leaned over the counter after she was gone and said in a harsh whisper, “That girl is off limits. Do you understand me? She’s not just an employee; she’s a dear friend of mine. If you so much as glance in her direction again, I’ll make sure that you live to regret it.”