"Who would want to frame me for murder?" I lowered my voice when I noticed a few heads turn toward us, and I added, "Let's not be ridiculous. I'm a donut shop owner, not some international business tycoon. I can't imagine anyone wanting to pin this murder on me."

"Don't be so sure," George said. "Let's not forget when and where the murder occurred. It was thirty steps from where you were demonstrating donut making. That wasn't exactly random, was it?"

The weight of what he was saying was finally starting to sink in. It appeared that I had an even greater stake in finding the killer now, since someone had so diligently gone out of their way to frame me for their crime.

"I've got to admit that everything you've been saying makes sense. Where do we go from here, though?"

George said, "We come up with a list of people we need to investigate, and then we figure out ways to look into their lives." He looked at me for a second, then said, "Suzanne, I think it's pretty clear that the killer's tying this all in with you, and if you start doing something suspicious, or if he even thinks you're getting too close, you could be in danger yourself."

"I appreciate your concern, but there's no way I can sit by while you take all the risks."

Trish walked over to us with a tray loaded with food. "Here you go."

After she placed our plates in front of us, George and I started to eat. We were halfway through with our meals when the diner's door opened and Officer Grant walked in.

When our gazes met, I told George, "Excuse me for a second, would you?"

He nodded, and I approached the officer at the front counter. "You're not here looking for me, are you?" I asked, trying to keep the dread out of my voice.

"Not unless you're a steak sandwich," he said. Turning to Trish, he asked, "Is my order ready yet?"

"You just called it in three minutes ago," she protested. "Have a seat. It'll be ready in a jiff."

I rejoined George, and Officer Grant finally got his sandwich. After he paid, he saluted me with two fingers and left the diner.

I started to say something when he said, "This place isn't private enough. Any chance we can go to the donut shop and finish our discussion?"

"That's fine by me," I said. "Let me just pay this bill, and then we can go."

"Hang on a second. We're splitting this right down the middle," George said.

"Not this time. You're helping me, so I'm picking up the check, and I don't want to hear any fuss about it."

He didn't fight me, which was a nice change of pace, I had to admit.

I saw George slip his hand to his wallet, and added, "I've got the tip, too."

He laughed gently, but he didn't argue with me. "Then I thank you for a nice lunch."

As I stopped to pay our bill, George left ahead of me. I turned to Trish and handed her the bill, along with enough cash to cover it and a healthy tip as well.

She started to hand me my change, and I said, "The rest is for you."

Trish looked at the bills and whistled softly. "Sweet. I'm putting this in my Alaska fund."

Trish had been saving for the big trip for as long as I'd known her. "How close are you?"

"It varies, depending on whatever emergencies are happening in my life at the moment. But I'm going to make it one day, you just wait and see."

"There's no doubt in my mind about that," I said.

I walked out to find that George was nowhere in sight, and for a moment I panicked. Then I heard him calling me.

He was already standing in front of Donut Hearts, waiting to get in.

There was only one problem. As I got closer to him, I noticed that someone else had joined him while I'd been inside paying the bill, someone I most certainly did not want to add to our meeting.

"Hey, Momma, what are you doing here?"

"I just heard about what happened at Marge's place this morning," my mother said. "You poor child." Though she was a petite woman--a full six inches shorter than me--she managed to wrap me up in her arms and make me feel as though she was towering over me. In times like this, I knew how lucky I was to still have her in my life.

"It was bad," I said, wondering how I was going to explain to her what was going on.

Momma looked around and said, "Why isn't Grace here with you?"

"Momma, she doesn't even know what happened. She's out of town, and to be honest with you, in all the commotion, I forgot to call her."

That seemed to appease her, and it had the added benefit of being true.

She looked me in the eye. "Are you all right? Be honest with me."

"I'm not, but I will be."

"Is there anything I can do for you?"

I shook my head. "No, but I appreciate you coming by."

After pausing a moment, Momma asked, "Are you two hungry? I'm buying."

George said, "Thanks, but we just ate."

She nodded. "Then since you've eaten, and I'm starving, I believe I'll go have a bite myself. Suzanne, we'll talk about this again, yes?"

I hugged her. "Yes. Thanks for being here for me."

"You are my only child, and you are in distress. Where else on earth would I be, Suzanne?"

After Momma was gone, I asked, "Shall we all go inside?"

"Sure," George said, "But we'll have to keep it brief. I've got a feeling your mother's coming back."

"You've got good instincts," I said as I unlocked the door and let him inside the donut shop.

"How should we approach this?" I asked after we were settled in at one of the tables away from the windows.

George said, "We need to look into Peg Masterson's life, and figure out who would want to see her dead. I can dig around the police station to see if there's any buzz there."

"I don't think Peg had a housekeeper, but I can talk to her neighbors. Maybe they can tell me something I don't already know. Before I do that, though, I'm going next door and talking to Gabby Williams."

George asked, "Really? Is it worth it?"

"She's the biggest gossip in April Springs," I said. "If Peg was up to anything she shouldn't have been, you can bet that Gabby knows about it."

"That's brave of you, Suzanne," George said.

"Hey, somebody has to do it. So, should we talk again in the morning and share our discoveries?"

George stood. "I'll be here, bright and early."

After we said our good-byes, I took a deep breath and walked next door to ReNEWed, the classy secondhand clothing shop that Gabby owned, and the hub of her gossip network.

Gabby was with a customer when I walked in--though I couldn't see who it was--so I moved near one of the racks of clothing halfway through the store and pretended to consider a purchase or two. I heard voices that had been heated suddenly drop into whispers across the room, and the front door was hurriedly thrust open as the customer left in a huff. I only saw her a second, but it was pretty clear from where I was standing that it was Janice Deal, the woman who owned Patty Cakes, a cake and cookie shop on Springs Drive down the block from Donut Hearts. What on earth had they been talking about, and why had Janice left the shop so abruptly?

Gabby made a telephone call but she hung up quickly as I approached. "Are you all right?" I asked as I walked over to her. The woman's spirit was normally indomitable, but at the moment, she looked as if the weight of the world had crashed down onto her shoulders.

I asked quietly, "Gabby, have you been crying?"

"I'm fine," she said as she dabbed at her eyes with a well-used tissue. "It's these blasted allergies."

Funny, I hadn't heard anyone else complaining about them. "You're sure you're okay? I can come back later, if you'd like."

"Nonsense," she said, wiping her eyes again.

I wasn't going to let her get away with that. "Gabby, you can talk to me; you know that, don't you?"

She looked surprised by my offer to listen. "Janice was rude to me, and the sad thing is, she wasn't the only person to bite my head off today."

"Who else has been giving you trouble?"

I thought for a second she was going to tell me, but the notion clearly passed as quickly as it had come. Apparently, Gabby was finished sharing with me.

"What brings you next door?"

"I wanted to talk to you about Peg Masterson."

"What about her?" Gabby's voice was flat and devoid of any emotion as she asked the question. It appeared that I'd made exactly the wrong query.

"I've just been wondering who could do such a thing, no matter how abrasive the woman could be."

She stared hard at me a second, then without breaking eye contact, she said, "I've been wondering the exact same thing."

"Hang on a second. You don't think I had anything to do with it, do you?" I couldn't believe anyone who knew me could honestly think I was capable of such a thing, and yet I was getting the impression that most folks around April Springs were giving that thought much more merit than it ever deserved.

Gabby took a deep breath, then said, "She died with your donut in her hand, and you were five feet away from her at the time."

I shrugged. "Okay, I'm willing to admit it was one of my donuts, but I'm telling you, it was fine when it left my shop. And I never got within five feet of Peg. It was twenty feet, at least."

Gabby bit her lip. "You two didn't get along, though, did you?"

"Can you name one person who liked her?" I asked. "I mean really enjoyed being around her?"

"Me! I liked her. She was my friend, and now someone's killed her. If you didn't do it, who did?"

"That's what I'm going to try to find out," I said. "I'm sorry, I never should have come in here. I didn't realize you two were so close."

Gabby waved off my apology. "Some of us have to work a little harder to make friends."

She was openly glaring at me now, and I was glad her shop was empty so no one else was witnessing it.

I said as calmly as I could manage, "Gabby, I'm sorry you lost a friend, but I didn't do it. If you really cared about her, wouldn't you want to help me find her killer? Isn't that the best way to honor her memory?"

"You need to go, Suzanne."

I did as she asked, because really, what other choice did I have? If Gabby wanted to lash out at me because she'd just lost one of her few friends, I couldn't make her talk to me.

I walked out of her shop, and a few seconds later, I saw some movement inside. She slapped the OPEN sign over to CLOSED, then pointedly dead-bolted the door behind me.

It appeared that Gabby, a resource I normally depended on in my informal investigations, wasn't going to be available to me this time. I briefly thought about getting Grace to talk to her when she got back into town, but Gabby was too shrewd not to realize she would be asking questions at my bidding.

It was a dead end, and now it was up to me to find a new way into Peg Masterson's life, and to figure out why someone had decided to end it.

CHAPTER 5.

"Janice, I'd like to order a cake," I said half an hour later when I walked into Patty Cakes. "I was wondering if you could help me with something special."

It was the only excuse I could come up with to spend some time grilling the woman about her relationship with Gabby, and to see if she knew something about Peg that I didn't. Janice's shop, which specialized in custom cakes for all occasions, had a large selection of cookies for sale as well. They were pretty enough to look at, but in all honesty, I'd never cared for the way they tasted, much too bland in my opinion. It wasn't very politic to bring that up at the moment, though.

"What's the occasion?" Janice asked. Her body type did nothing to help advertise her business. For a woman who made cakes and cookies all day, Janice was so thin that when she turned sideways, she just about disappeared. In my opinion, if you're going to own a shop where you're offering decadent treats, you should at least look like you enjoy indulging in them every now and then yourself. That was my excuse, anyway.

"It's for my mother," I said, lying on the spot. "It's her birthday soon, and I want to get her something special."

"Your mother hates cake," Janice said, which wasn't entirely true. Momma hated Janice's cakes, but she liked everyone else's just fine.

"How about a big cookie, then?"

The store owner put her pen down. "Why are you really here? We both know it has nothing to do with your mother. You overheard Gabby and me talking in her shop, didn't you? Admit it, Suzanne, you never were a very good liar."

"It was kind of hard to miss," I said. "What on earth were you two arguing about?" Was it really going to be that easy? Did I just have to ask the question to get the answer I was looking for?

"That's none of your business," Janice said.

So much for it being easy. "That's not a good way to treat your customers, you know," I said.