Jessica Beck - Donut Shop 18 - Dangerous Dough Read Online Free PDF Page A

population of Granite Meadows, though.”
    “I’m listening.”
    “You have to do
your best to fly under everybody’s radar.   You won’t just be ducking Simpson.   You’ll also be trying to avoid antagonizing the police chief there as
well.   All the while, I need you to
find out whatever you can about Alex Tyler and then report back to me.”
    I took a deep
breath before I spoke again.   “Let
me get this straight.   You want us
to amass as many facts as we can, but then we have to turn it all over to you
so you can be the detective.   Is
that about right?”
    To his credit, Jake
didn’t answer immediately.   Instead,
he appeared to mull over my comment before he replied.   After a few moments, he turned to me
with a grin and said, “I’d say that sounds exactly like what I told you to do.”
    “You know in your
heart that it’s not going to work that way, don’t you?”
    Jake
shrugged.   “I can see where there
might be difficulties.   How about
this?   Try to keep from putting
yourselves in jeopardy, but find out whatever you can, and we’ll compare notes
later.”
    “We can do that,”
I said, and then I kissed him quickly.
    “What was that
for?” he asked.   “Not that I’m
complaining.”
    “It’s for being
rational about this and understanding that you can’t always have everything you
want.”
    “No worries
there,” he said with a grin.   “I
know you pretty well, but even if I didn’t, I’m pretty sure that I would have
been able to figure that one out on my own.”

 
    We got back to
the cottage and did a perfunctory job of unpacking, and then we started out on
our separate ways, me in my Jeep and Jake in his old truck.   There was no time for jet lag.   We both had work to do.   Before he could drive to the police
station to be fully briefed, I leaned in through his window and said, “We
really should find you a new truck to drive now that you’re a civilian.”
    He put a hand
over the dash before he answered.   “Not so loud.   She might hear
you.”
    “You, sir, are
too attached to a simple mode of transportation,” I said.
    “Said the pot to
the kettle,” he answered with a grin.   “Tell me again how you feel about your Jeep.”
    “That’s
different,” I said.
    “How so?”
    “It’s
simple.   The Jeep is mine.”
    Jake just
laughed.   “I can’t dispute the logic
of that, so I won’t even try.”
    “Good man.   Stay in touch,” I said as I got into my
Jeep.
    “That goes for
you, too,” he said, and I drove down the road to Grace’s place to pick her up.
    It was a short
commute, yards instead of miles, but it was far enough away for me to start
getting antsy.  
    I wanted to get
our own investigation underway, and I wanted to do it now.

 
    “Welcome back,”
Grace said as she hugged me when I showed up on her doorstep.   “I missed you.”
    “I missed you,
too,” I said as I handed her the bag I’d brought her all the way from
Paris.   “I’m still not sure about the
choice of presents you requested.”
    “Let me see it,”
she said excitedly as her hand dove into the bag and pulled out a black beret
with GRACE embroidered in large red letters.   I thought it was going to look silly on
her, but my best friend had such a style and polish about her that she actually
pulled it off.   “How do I look?” she
asked, cocking it to one side.
    “Spectacular.   Now I’m wishing that I’d bought one for myself,”
I admitted.
    “I’d let you
borrow mine, but we don’t want anyone mistaking us for each other,” she said.
    I looked at her
trim figure and then contemplated mine for a moment.   “No chance of that happening.   Anyway, I’m glad you like it.”
    “Like it?   I love it!   Thank you, Suzanne.”
    “You are most
welcome.   Now, should we talk about
the case?”
    Grace slid the
beret off and put it back into the bag.   “That sounds good.   How about
some coffee while we brainstorm?”
    “Do you happen