Deadly Donuts by Jessica Beck Page A

right now.”
    Jake released me and then he took a step back, looking me over from head to toe.   “Lady, you need to replace that defective mirror of yours, because I don’t know what you’ve been looking at.”
    Grace laughed.   “If I didn’t know it before, I realize it now.   This one’s a keeper, Suzanne.”
    “That’s what I keep telling her,” Jake said with a laugh.   He was in an extremely good mood, and I hope that my company had something to do with it.
    From the front door, Momma asked, “Are you three going to stand out there gabbing all evening, or does anyone want to eat?”   Then she got a closer look at me.   “Suzanne Hart, have you been crawling around in the dirt?”
    “Just the opposite, as a matter of fact,” I said with a smile.  
    “I don’t even know what that’s supposed to mean,” Momma said with a cryptic look on her face.
    “I was on the roof over at Napoli’s this afternoon,” I admitted.
    “What were you doing up there?” Jake asked.
    “It’s a long story.   Momma, do I have time to take a shower before we eat?”
    “Even if you didn’t, I’d find a way to make the time.   By all means, go clean yourself up.”
    I kissed her cheek.   “Thanks.”
    “You’re welcome.   In the meantime, I’ll entertain your guests.”
    “Why don’t you sing for them?” I suggested.
    “What?” she asked.
    “Well, I know that I’d personally find that pretty entertaining,” I answered with a grin.
    “Oh, go on,” she said.
    I turned to Jake.   “Can our updates wait until after we eat dinner?”
    “As a matter of fact, I’d prefer it,” he said.
    I thanked him, and then, as I disappeared upstairs to clean myself up, I paused a moment to take it all in.   I felt loved by everyone gathered there.   I didn’t have any siblings, but Grace was better than any sister I could have ever imagined, and though Momma was stern and could be tough at times, she was perfectly suited to me.   As for Jake, whenever I was with him, I felt as though I belonged.
    Family could be gathered together at any time, in any place, and bloodlines had nothing to do it.   What mattered most was that there was love, and safety, and acceptance, all around me.  
    Murder might have been the cause of the get-together, but it didn’t detract from the spirit of love that existed in my home.

 
    “Oh, that’s much better,” Momma said as I came downstairs after a quick shower and a change into clean clothes.   I’d had to scrub rather hard at a spot on my elbow that the asphalt had marked, but it had finally come clean, too.
    “I don’t know what you’re talking about.   I think she looked great before,” Jake said.
    “That’s just because you’re hungry,” Grace said.   “Susanne, your mother wouldn’t let him eat until you were back downstairs with us.”
    “Grace Gauge, you know that’s not true,” Momma said.   “I even offered him a snack while we waited.”
    “I’m just teasing you,” Grace said as she hugged my mother.   Momma had stepped in when Grace’s parents had died years ago, and the two of them had a close relationship in their own right that had nothing to do with me.
    Jake added, “Besides, I wasn’t about to dull my appetite with cheese and crackers when I knew what was on the menu.”
    “What are we having?” I asked Momma as we walked into the dining room.   No surprise, she’d set the table with some of her formal china.   Any meal could be an event with my mother, after all.
    “Nothing all that special.   I just threw something together,” she said with a grin.
    I smelled the air, and caught the unmistakable aroma of her pot roast.   “Wow, that is heavenly.”
    “I found a new recipe for slow cooking a roast in one of my mysteries,” my mother said with a grin.
    “Well, I can’t wait to try it,” Jake said.
    “Please, everyone sit.   I’ll be right back.”
    “Do you need any help in the kitchen?” I offered.
    “No,