Vanilla Vices Read online

  “I hope you’re right, but just in case she doesn’t, I’m going to start looking, too.”

  “There’s nothing I can say that’s going to change your mind, is there?” There was a doggedness in his voice that troubled me, but at least he knew me well enough not to try to talk me out of it.

  “Sorry, but no.”

  “Then at least call Grace and take her with you.”

  “She just left here, as a matter of fact. Apparently she’s got some meetings out of town this morning.”

  “Can you get her back?” Jake sounded earnest in his desire that I not investigate alone. “I’m not all that crazy about you digging into this murder, but I’d feel better if you had her with you.”

  “She practically begged me to ask her for her help, so I’m pretty sure that all it would take would be one phone call.”

  “Then make it, for my sake,” he said.

  After Jake hung up, I dialed Grace’s number. “Is there any chance you can change your plans for this morning after all?”

  “Look out on your front porch,” she said.

  I did as she asked and found Grace waiting for me out front, changed from her suit into a stylish blouse and pants with a nice warm jacket that came down to her knees. It was early winter, chilly in April Springs, and the forecast for the next day was a possibility of snow, though I’d believe it when I saw it. For Grace, her clothing was practically casual attire. I hung up as I smiled at her. “I thought you were tied up all morning.”

  “Well, I thought you were going to let Jake handle the investigation, so it turns out that we were both mistaken. After I left here, I drove home, changed clothes, and then I came back. Are we going to step on Jake’s toes if we do this?”

  “No, someone else is handling the investigation,” I explained. “The state police sent someone. Apparently they think this was just a break-in gone bad.”

  “But we don’t?” she asked me.

  “We don’t know one way or the other, but we’re going to work on the assumption that this planned theft wasn’t related to the others,” I said after I explained to her what had happened in the two other towns. “The only problem is that we can’t go to the junk shop while the state police are there.”

  “That’s okay. There are plenty of other places we can go and people we can talk to without going to Aunt Teeks.”

  “This might all just be a waste of time; you know that, don’t you?”

  “When has that ever stopped us before?” Grace asked me. “The worst-case scenario is that I get to spend a few days with my best friend. How exactly is that a downside?”

  “I agree, but on the off chance that this murder wasn’t just a random break-in, I want to figure out who did it.”

  “I’m with you there,” she said.

  After I got dressed in my usual outfit of jeans, a T-shirt, and a heavier coat than Grace was wearing, we left the house together in search of whoever might have wanted to see my old friend Dan dead.

  Chapter 2

  Once we were outside, I said, “We could probably just walk around town instead of driving, if you don’t care.”

  “Where exactly did you have in mind that we start?” Grace asked me.

  “I have two thoughts, actually, but I have a hunch that you’re not going to care for the first one.”

  “Gabby Williams,” Grace said flatly.

  “Wow, you got it in one. I can go talk to her alone if you’d rather.”

  “No, that’s okay. I’ll go with you,” Grace answered reluctantly.

  “Are you sure?” I knew that my best friend wasn’t a big fan of Gabby’s because of her general disposition, but I’d learned to get along with the woman a long time ago. Running the donut shop beside her gently used clothing store had given me more reason to make an effort with the abrasive woman, and she’d even come to me for help a time or two in the past.

  “I’m positive.”

  “Then let’s do it. Should we cut through the park or walk down the road past your place?”

  “I always vote for the park,” Grace said as she cinched the waist of her jacket. She looked around as we walked from my cottage to ReNEWed through the park and past the Boxcar Grill. “Suzanne, do you believe the forecast?”

  I smelled the air deeply, and then I nodded. “It smells like snow to me.”

  “I’ve never understood how you believe that you can actually smell snow in the air before it gets here.”

  “Have I ever been wrong about it before?” I asked her with a grin.

  “Once, maybe twice.”

  “Fair enough, but how many times have I been right?”

  “At least a dozen,” she acknowledged. “I hope you’re wrong this time, though.”

  “I thought you liked snow,” I countered.

  “Normally I do, but if it does hit us, it’s not going to make our investigation any easier. You know how most folks are around here when we get the slightest flurry. The roads are going to be treacherous, and not because of frozen precipitation.”

  “Don’t worry. We can walk to most of the places we need to go, and if we do need to drive, I’ve got my Jeep. It will climb a tree when I’ve got it in four-wheel drive.”

  “Let’s hope it doesn’t come to that,” she said.

  “Snow?”

  “No, climbing trees in your vehicle.”

  We were a three-minute walk from Gabby’s clothing store, and it took everything in my power not to veer over and go into Donut Hearts to see how they were getting along without me. There was a good-sized crowd inside from the look of things, and I wondered if Emma and Cheryl might need a little help. No, I’d promised myself, as well as them, that I’d stay away for forty-eight hours so that it would be a fair test, and I was determined to do it, even if it killed me.

  “Admit it,” Grace said. “You’re dying to go into the donut shop right now, aren’t you?”

  “No, not really,” I said.

  “Suzanne Hart, when are you going to stop lying to me?” Grace asked with a grin.

  “Apparently not today,” I said with a laugh. We walked up to the front door of Gabby’s shop, and I turned to Grace before I opened it. “Last chance to back out.”

  “Let’s go in,” she said, though I could tell she wasn’t all that pleased about the prospect. The last time Grace and Gabby had been together, there had been real tension between them, and I hoped that they’d resolve it soon, and not just because it would make our questioning easier. April Springs was a small town, and when two members didn’t get along, most folks could feel the bad vibes in the air. It was part of the blessing, as well as a bit of the curse, of small-town living.

  We were barely inside the front door when Gabby approached us. “Grace Gauge. I’m amazed to see you inside my shop.”

  “Hi, Gabby,” I said, trying to distract her. “Do you have a second?”

  The shop owner ignored me completely, keeping her entire focus on Grace. “Well? What do you have to say for yourself?”

  “I’m sorry about the way I acted before,” Grace said, surprising both Gabby and me. “Can you find it in your heart to forgive me?”

  I stared at Grace, wondering where that had come from, and then I glanced over at Gabby. Instead of the hard countenance I’d been expecting, I saw her hard expression start to soften immediately.

  “Nonsense. I’m the one who should be apologizing to you. It’s all my fault, and I’ve been sorry about it ever since I snapped at you.” Gabby then stunned me by reaching out and hugging Grace, who seemed to be equally startled by the action.

  “We’re good,” Grace said after ten seconds, pulling away. “To tell you the truth, I feel better.”

  “As do I,” Gabby said, and then she turned to me. “I don’t even have to ask you why you’re here, do I, Suzanne? You only come by these days w
hen you need something from me.”

  Apparently the warm emotions she was experiencing didn’t extend to me. That was fine. I could deal with it. “What can I say? You know more about what’s going on around here than anybody. I take it you heard about Dan.”

  “Of course I did,” she said. “It’s all this town is talking about. I still can’t believe someone would kill him over less than a hundred dollars in his register.”

  “Is that all he had?” I asked. “How could you possibly know that?”

  “I doubt that he ever had more than that much cash on hand in his life,” Gabby said. “One look at his junk shop would tell any self-respecting thief to move on to a more promising target.”

  “I sincerely doubt that we’re dealing with a criminal mastermind, at least if the current police theory is true, anyway. They believe that it’s part of a pattern of break-ins in the area, and Dan was unlucky enough to be in the shop when they broke in.”

  “Is that Jake’s take on the situation?” Gabby asked me.

  “Jake’s not the one investigating it,” I said, dodging her question.

  “Has he been replaced by the mayor already?” she asked, clearly surprised by the thought of it. “Not that your young man isn’t perfectly capable of handling the job,” Gabby added as she turned to Grace, who happened to be dating my husband’s second-in-command, Stephen Grant.

  “He’s happy with the way things are at the moment,” Grace said.

  “So, does that mean that Jake is still our acting chief of police?”

  “Yes, but the state police have taken this case over,” I said. “Jake is out looking for Linda Harold, along with most of the other law enforcement officers in the area.”

  “Yes, I heard about her disappearance as well,” Gabby said sadly. “So, you don’t believe that Dan’s murder was an accident, is that what you’re saying?”

  “I’m curious. Did you call him Dan while he was alive?” I asked her.

  “Oh, yes. I refused to call him crazy. He always knew exactly what he was doing, no matter how odd his behavior may have seemed to the outside world. I thought that you, of all people, would understand that. He always spoke very highly of you, Suzanne.”

  “I was a fan of his, too,” I said. “Did you know him that well?”

  “We went to school together back when dinosaurs roamed the earth,” she admitted with a wry smile, “more years ago than I care to confess to. Dan always was quirky. He certainly didn’t deserve to die like that.”

  “Gabby, do you have any idea who might have done it? Is there any chance that it was intentional and not just a random theft gone wrong?” I asked her.

  “If you’d have asked me that a few months ago, I wouldn’t have had an answer for you,” Gabby said after a few moments of reflection.

  “What has changed since then?” Grace asked.

  “Several things, as a matter of fact. For one thing, he’s on the outs with Jeffrey Frost, to begin with.”

  “The developer? What could he possibly be angry with Dan about?” I asked her.

  “Hadn’t you heard? He wanted the land Aunt Teeks occupied, and from what I heard, he was willing to pay over twice what it was worth to get it.”

  “So why didn’t Dan just sell it to him?” Grace asked. “He could have opened his shop anywhere. Was he that sentimental about the place?”

  Gabby found that amusing. “Dan? No, he wasn’t sentimental about much. He just hated being pushed. Ever since the second grade, his reaction to bullies was always to push back, but Jeffrey didn’t know that. If he’d asked me how best to approach Dan, none of the bad blood between them would have ever materialized. I have all of this wonderful advice, but most folks refuse to ask me for any of it.”

  I knew from personal experience that Gabby’s advice often came with sharp barbs, so I understood most people’s reluctance to consult her. “We’re here though, aren’t we?” I asked her.

  “That’s because you’re quite a bit smarter than you look,” she said.

  Grace was about to protest the implication when I shook my head. I knew that Gabby was just trying to get a rise out of me, and I wasn’t about to satisfy it. “So, we have one suspect. Can you think of anyone else?”

  Gabby frowned before she spoke again. “This isn’t common knowledge, but he’s been seeing a woman from April Springs.”

  “Romantically?” Grace asked, the skepticism thick in her question. She’d better be careful, or she would find herself on the wrong side of Gabby Williams yet again.

  “Don’t act so surprised,” Gabby said. “We are older; we’re not dead.”

  “Is it you, Gabby?” I asked her.

  She turned to me, frowned for an instant, and then the woman chuckled softly. “You never fail to amuse me, Suzanne, even if most of the time it’s done inadvertently. No, I wasn’t keeping company with him, but one of my friends was.”

  “Would you mind telling us her name?” I asked.

  “As a matter of fact, I would, at least until I get her permission to disclose it to you.”

  “We can wait, if you’d like to go ahead and call her,” I said helpfully.

  “That won’t be necessary. I’ll let you know after I speak with her,” she replied.

  Apparently that was going to have to be good enough. “Is there anyone that you can tell us about?” I asked.

  “Someone who had animosity towards Dan? No. You’ll have to ask someone who knew him even better than I did.”

  “Who might that be?” Grace asked her.

  “If it were me, I’d talk to Benny Flint. He has been selling his finds to Dan for more years than I can count. He most likely passed for the man’s best friend, if you could call him that. If anyone knows who might have had a vendetta against Dan, it would be Benny.”

  “Thank you, Gabby. You’ll let us know once you speak with Dan’s secret paramour, won’t you?” Grace asked her.

  “If the answer is yes, I’ll let you know immediately,” she said. As we started for the door, Gabby added, “Thank you for coming by, Grace. I feel much better about things between us.”

  “So do I,” Grace said.

  Once we were outside, I asked, “I didn’t see that coming, did you?”

  “You’ll have to be a little clearer than that.”

  “All of it,” I admitted. “It all caught me off guard, especially the hug. I had no idea you were going to apologize to her, Grace.”

  She grinned at me. “Neither did I. It just seemed like the right thing to do at the time.”

  “Was it sincere, though?”

  “Surprisingly, it was,” Grace said. “When she hugged me and apologized in return, I nearly fainted, and we both know that I’m not the fainting kind.”

  “Wonders never cease,” I said. “Who do you think Crazy Dan was dating, Grace?”

  “If it’s all the same to you, I’m going to just call him Dan from now on.”

  “Gabby can’t hear you out here,” I said.

  “Maybe not, but it just feels better to me, as though it’s the right thing to do. You can call him crazy all you’d like to, but I’m going to go with just Dan.”

  “Dan it is,” I said.

  “Good. Should we go off in search of Benny Flint now?”

  “There’s no need,” I said as I pointed to the Boxcar. “Unless I miss my guess, Trish will know where he’s likely to be.”

  “Why is that?” Grace asked me.

  “Gabby might know the town’s secrets better than anyone else around, but Trish knows where to find folks. I don’t know how she does it, but we should go speak with her.”

  “Are you sure you don’t want to stop by Donut Hearts before we head over to the grill?” Grace asked me. “After all, we could be there in thirty seconds.”

  “Thanks, but I’ll pass. Come on. Let�
��s go.”

  “I have to say, you’re made of sterner stuff than I thought,” she said with a smile.

  “Don’t think I’m not dying to go over there right now,” I said, “but a promise is a promise.”

  “Then let’s go see if Trish has any idea where we might find Benny,” she answered.

  Chapter 3

  “Wow, it’s really odd seeing you here this time of the morning, Suzanne,” Trish said when Grace and I walked into her diner.

  “How about me?” Grace asked her, smiling. “Aren’t you surprised to see me?”

  “I expect to see you any time, day or night,” she answered with a grin of her own. “Are you two hungry? As you can see, I’ve got plenty of room.” She waved a hand around the diner. It was empty, with one notable exception. Old Mr. Quimby, the man Jake had rented a room from before we’d been married, was sitting by a window doing a crossword puzzle in ink. He smiled at us briefly and then went back to his puzzle. “He spends every morning with me after my breakfast rush is over,” Trish explained. “I think he’s got a bit of a crush on me, and the way my love life has been going lately, I might just learn to reciprocate the emotion.”

  Trish’s luck with men was horrid, and I’d hoped once that she’d found her true love when she’d started dating a friend of mine, but James Settle had been murdered, and she hadn’t had the heart to pursue anything since. “Don’t worry. I believe your time will come,” I said.

  “I hope you’re right,” she said. “So, if you aren’t here for brunch, you must be looking for information.”

  “You’ve heard about Cr…er, Dan, haven’t you?”

  “You’re kidding, right? It’s just about the only thing the entire town is talking about,” she said, nodding. “He was in here a few days ago saying that he was going to die alone. Who knew how right he’d turn out to be?”

  “Actually, someone was with him,” Grace said.

  “Yeah, you’re right, the killer was there, too. It’s just a shame that it wasn’t someone who cared about him.” She looked at us both askance. “You two aren’t digging into this, are you? I heard the state police sent some hotshot from Raleigh over to handle it. How does Jake feel about getting knocked off the case?”