Sinister Sprinkles Part 15

"Should I let him search my stuff? I don't have anything to hide."

"You don't have anything to prove to me."

"But I do to him." Before I could stop her, she walked to the door and said, "Chief, I changed my mind. You can look wherever you want. I don't have anything I'm afraid for you to see."

"Good," he said.

He took her purse, riffled through it, then said, "You've got eleven dollars and change here."

"Surely we made more than that," I said, trying to treat it lighter than it really was. It had shaken me, having Chief Martin suspect Emma of the theft. I knew in my heart she hadn't done it, but had Wilma shared the same confidence in Darlene? It was more than a theft, if it was true. It was a betrayal of trust, and I could suddenly realize how Wilma could have taken it so personally.

"Do you want to search me, too?" As she spoke, Emma took off her ap.r.o.n, revealing an outfit underneath of tight blue jeans and a t-s.h.i.+rt that wouldn't have hidden a quarter, let alone a handful of bills.

"No, you're fine. But I need you two to wait out front for me."

We did as we were ordered, and after about ten minutes, the chief came back up front. "The money wasn't there, or in the alley, either."

"I told you it wouldn't be," Emma said.

"I have to look, Emma. It's part of my job," he said, almost sad about the truth of it.

"Then I feel sorry for you," Emma said as she went back into the kitchen.

He turned and asked Officer Grant, "Did you find anything?"

"Lots of partials, nothing we can really use. Half the town's been in here over the past two days. Sorry I couldn't do more."

"That's fine. Go on back to the station and wait for me there."

After he left, Grace asked, "So, what happens now?"

"I fill out this report, and Suzanne calls her insurance company. That's really all we can do at this point."

I said, "I'm not filing this. My premiums will jump more than I lost. This is one I'm just going to have to eat."

The chief finished the form, then tore off the bottom copy and handed it to me. "Again, I'm sorry about this."

"It'll be fine," I said. "Thanks for coming so quickly."

After he was gone, I asked Grace, "What did he say to you when you were alone?"

"He wanted to know why my hair wasn't wet, too."

"What did you tell him?"

Grace smiled. "The truth. I said that I was too smart to let Wilma within half a mile of my hair."

"What did he say to that?"

"I thought I saw a grin, but it was just there for a second, so I can't be sure. Where do we go from here?"

I glanced at the clock. "It's almost eleven, so I have to stay around until closing." I looked at the display case, which was still loaded down with donuts. When I ran the report, I'd know exactly how much we'd lost, but I had a pretty good idea just seeing the inventory we still had on hand.

"I've got some calls to make, remember?" she asked.

"You can use my phone in the office," I said.

"Thanks, but I'd rather do it somewhere else. I'll be back around noon."

"Okay."

After she left, Emma and I tried to do anything we could think of to dispel the pallor in the air, but nothing seemed to work. Several customers drifted in, but none of the sales were all that large, and the till was practically bare when Grace came back ten minutes before noon. Emma had withdrawn into the back, and I had grown tired of trying to make her feel better, especially since I was the one who'd lost the money.

Grace said, "You look like death."

"Thanks. You're particularly lovely yourself. What did you find out?"

She looked toward the back. "Is Emma still here?"

"She is. Why?"

"I'd rather not talk about this until she's gone," Grace admitted.

I didn't care one way or the other, but Grace had long had a mind of her own. "Help me box these up, and we can all get out of here," I said.

I called out to Emma, "We're closing early. Can you come out here?"

"Sure, what do you need?" she asked as she came out, wiping her hands on a clean towel.

"Would you mind taking these by the church?" I asked as I pointed to the donuts we'd readied for transport.

She patted her hands dry on her ap.r.o.n. "I'd be happy to do it. If there's anything you need, all you have to do is ask."

She grabbed her jacket, then said, "Save the rest of the dishes. I'll take care of them when I get back."

"I'll do them," I said. "You can go home after you drop these off."

"Suzanne, let me do them. That's my job. Please."

I couldn't bear the hurt look in her eyes. "Fine. I won't touch a thing."

After we loaded up the car and my a.s.sistant drove off, I asked Grace back inside the donut shop.

"Were you able to find anything out?" I asked as I started sweeping the floor. I'd leave the dishes for Emma, but that didn't mean I had to put the entire burden of cleaning up on her shoulders. She'd made a mistake, a costly one, true, but I'd forgiven her, and it wasn't in my nature to keep punis.h.i.+ng her for it.

Grace grinned at me. "You're not going to believe this."

"Try me," I said.

Grace nodded. "Here's what I was able to come up with so far. I started with Muriel, and I was frankly surprised by what I found. She looks like she's been doing well to the outside world, doesn't she? It's all a lie. Her house is mortgaged to the hilt, she's taken cash advances out on three credit cards, and her combined savings and checking accounts have less then forty dollars between them."

I had a hard time believing it. "Are you sure?"

"My sources are pretty accurate," Grace said. "I didn't see the numbers myself, but I believe it's true."

"So she's in some kind of dire financial trouble," I said.

"That much is pretty clear," Grace said. "What I don't know yet is what happened to all of her money. At one time she was supposed to be loaded. I've got a few people looking into it, and I should know something more pretty soon."

"I'd say that's a lot you found out," I said. "What about Darlene?

"Hey, I only had an hour. I've got some calls out, but I haven't heard anything yet."

"You did great," I said as I patted her shoulder.

Grace asked, "So, where does that leave us?"

"Before we do anything else, I'm going to run a report to see how much I lost today, and I want to finish it before Emma gets back. You can wait here with me if you want, or I can catch up with you later."

Grace grabbed the broom from my hands and started sweeping. "If you don't mind, I'll hang around."

I knew she'd have to go back to her home sometime, but it was clear she wasn't ready to do it just yet.

"Thanks. I appreciate all the help I can get."

As Grace swept up, I ran the report. In the end, we lost a little over two hundred dollars. Not a fortune by anyone's standards, but more than I'd hoped it would be. Still, things could have been a lot worse, and if it taught Emma to be on her guard when she was at the shop alone, it might have even been worth the price it was going to cost me.

I finished the report, bagged the change and the checks left behind, then turned to Grace, who'd completed her task.

"What now?" she asked.

"We forget about the robbery and keep digging into the murder," I said. "There's somebody else I'd like to talk to, and I'm hoping we get more out of her than we did with Wilma."

"Who did you have in mind?"

"Darlene's roommate," I said.

"What do you think she can tell us?" Grace asked.

"There's only one way to find out, isn't there? Let's go."

"Aren't we going to wait for Emma?" she asked.

"No, I think this is something we need to take care of right now." I left Emma a note telling her that we were gone for the day, and urging her to go home as well. There was no use crying over the money we'd lost. We'd just have to get over it, and make amends to try harder keeping our money safe in the future.

Grace and I locked up the shop, and I looked over toward Gabby's used clothing store. Oddly, it was dark inside, and I wondered if she'd closed for some reason. I'd been meaning to go talk to her just before I found out about the robbery, and it had completely slipped my mind in the turmoil.

"My car's this way," Grace said as I started toward ReNewed Clothing.

"I know, but I need to check on something first."

Grace touched my arm lightly. "Suzanne, if we go in there, we're never going to get out, and you know it."

She followed me anyway, and we both stopped by the front door and read the sign posted there.

To our loyal customers, We're closed until further notice. If you have something on consignment with us, try back next month. We appreciate your business. If you want to buy something, I'm afraid you'll just have to try again later as well.

We appreciate your understanding.

Sincerely, The management.

"What's going on?" Grace asked. "I didn't think Gabby ever closed her shop."

"Not without telling me," I said. "Something must have happened to her. Come on, let's go back to the donut shop."

"What good is that going to do?"

"I've got her home number written down someplace there, and there's an emergency contact if something happens at her shop and she's not there. We traded numbers the day I opened, but I've never had to use hers."

We walked back in, and Grace followed me to my office. I had to flip through my numbers notebook twice before I found Gabby's entries. I tried her home number, but there was no answer, and strangely enough, she didn't have her answering machine on, either.

There was an emergency contact, but no name was listed. When I dialed it, it too rang for ten times without anyone picking up, but then the oddest thing happened. Suddenly Muriel Stevens's voice greeted me. "I'm not able to come to the telephone right now, but if you leave your name and number, I'll get back to you as soon as I can."

"That's bizarre," I said as I hung up without leaving a message.

"What is?"

"I dialed Gabby's backup number, but I got Muriel's phone instead."

"No way."

I nodded as I hit the "redial" b.u.t.ton, then I handed her the telephone so she could hear the message for herself.

Grace listened for a few seconds, and after the message ended, she said, "Muriel, I need you or Gabby to call me as soon as you get this. It's important. Oh, this is Grace Gauge. I'm in the book."

"Why'd you do that?" I asked as she handed the phone back to me.

"We want to know what's going on, don't we? I thought it made sense to leave a message. I didn't realize Gabby and Muriel were that good friends."

"Neither did I," I said. "What I don't get is why Gabby didn't mention they were close when we first saw Darlene's body."

"I don't know," Grace said, "but we're not going to figure anything out until we talk to her again. Now let's go find Darlene's roommate, Kimmi Erickson. That's the one thing I was able to find out about Darlene when I started asking around."

"Let me guess," I said. "I bet she spells her name with an 'i' on the end, doesn't she?"

"I don't have the faintest clue," Grace said as I looked her name up in the thin April Springs telephone book.

I found the listing, then said, "It just says K. Erickson here, but we can ask her how she spells her name when we see her. Come on, are you driving, or should I?"