Assault and Batter

ASSAULT AND BATTER


Jessica Beck


Chapter 1


Like a great many things in life, it started with a wedding.

Or is that where it all ended?

All I really know is that when the dead body appeared, it looked as though everything would be ruined.

It’s all very hard to explain, but one thing is certain: I knew that after what happened that day, my life, and the lives of many of the folks around me in April Springs, North Carolina, would never be the same.

But as usual, I’m getting ahead of myself.

Let me back up a bit and start at the beginning.





Chapter 2


“Suzanne, do you have a second?” Emily Hargraves had walked into Donut Hearts a few minutes earlier, but she hadn’t been able to make eye contact with me since she came through the door. Emily owned our local newsstand, Two Cows and a Moose, and I’d been friends with the pretty young brunette for years—even babysitting her once upon a time—as hard as that was for me to believe. She was lovely, especially when she smiled, but her grin was absent at the moment.

“Is anything wrong?” I asked her softly as I refilled Ray Blake’s coffee cup. Ray was the father of my lone employee, Emma, and the editor of our local newspaper.

“You’re going to have to be the one to tell me that. I’ve been putting something off for days, but it can’t wait any longer.” That sounded serious. If whatever Emily had to say was confidential, I doubted that it was good idea to say it in front of Ray.

“Give me one second,” I said as I held up one finger. Opening the door into the kitchen, I found Emma elbows deep in dirty dishes, her iPod earbuds nestled firmly in her ears. Shouting probably wouldn’t have been enough to get her attention, so I tapped her on the shoulder.

“Suzanne, you scared the daylights out of me,” Emma said as she pulled one earbud out. “What’s going on?”

“I need you to cover the front, but there’s something even more important that you need to do for me if you can.”

“Anything. Just name it,” she said with a smile. Emma had quit the donut shop for a little while, but now she was back where she belonged. I knew her tenure with me wouldn’t last forever, but as long as it did, I was going to enjoy it.

“I need you to keep your dad from leaving the shop for the next few minutes. Can you do that?”

“Dad’s up front?” she asked. “Why didn’t he come back and say hello?”

“You’ll have to ask him that,” I said. “Can you do it?”

“Oh, yes,” she said with the hint of a wicked grin.

“Should I even ask you how you’re going to do it?” I asked her.

“Well, there’s no reason that I can’t have a little fun with him, is there?” Emma asked me.

“No reason at all,” I replied, returning her smile with one of my own. I had a love/hate relationship with Ray Blake most of the time. His obsession with breaking news had caused a few rifts between Emma and me over the years, and I always knew who was responsible for them. Still, I understood that he loved his daughter completely, and ultimately I couldn’t hold his fierceness against him.

I followed Emma out of the kitchen, and after she said hello to Emily, my employee said, “Dad, we need to talk.”

He nearly choked on his coffee as he started to stand. “What’s going on, Emma?”

“You’d better sit back down,” she said gravely.

I was torn between talking to Emily and hearing what Emma was about to say, but the newsstand owner touched my arm lightly. “Suzanne, can we go outside?”

“That would be perfect,” I said.

Ray didn’t even notice as Emily and I slipped outside. I figured that Emma would buy us a few minutes of privacy, and I really couldn’t afford to waste a moment of it.

“Let’s sit out here,” I said as I motioned to one of my outside tables. It was late autumn and the leaves were mostly gone, but the air still had a crisp freshness that I adored. Soon enough the weather would turn too cold for lingering time spent outside, but for now, it was just about perfect.

I took a seat at the table, and Emily sat across from me.

“Okay, you’ve got my attention. Now, tell me what’s wrong.”

“Nothing, actually. Well, that’s not entirely true. There’s one thing that’s casting a bit of gloom on everything.”

“Tell me what it is, and I’ll do my best to fix it,” I said with my brightest smile. I was a big fan of Emily and her three stuffed animals that spawned the name of her shop, Two Cows and a Moose, and I’d do anything I could to make her happy.

“Honestly, it’s you,” she said, her voice nearly cracking.