Reggie wasn’t going to allow that, though. “Suzanne, look at me. I want to talk to you.”
I put the tray down and turned to face him. “Go on. You’ve got my undivided attention.”
“I’m sorry I lied to you yesterday,” he said as his words came out in a rush. It was pretty clear that he wasn’t all that used to apologizing to anyone, and it was difficult for him to do.
“I am, too,” I said. “I thought we were friends.”
“I’d like to think that myself,” Reggie replied.
“In my book, friends don’t lie to each other,” I said with a frown.
“I panicked, okay? I didn’t want anyone to know that I was watching Max’s place.” His voice was so low it was hard to hear him, and I was standing pretty close by. There were a few folks in the donut shop, but I doubted that anyone else could hear us.
“What were you doing there, anyway?” I asked as I took a step closer.
“I wanted to ask Max’s friend, Peter, if he was the one who killed Jude,” Reggie said.
“What! Why would you ask him that?”
“I saw them fighting, Suzanne. It’s not that far a leap to go from a fistfight to murder.”
“Excuse me for saying so, but I know that you didn’t have any affection for Jude yourself. Why would you care if Peter killed him?”
“You’re probably not going to understand this, but I was going to give him a reward,” Reggie said.
“A reward? Like a bounty? Are you kidding me?” What had happened to the friendly guy I’d known all these years?
“Jude Williams killed my daughter just as surely as if he’d put a gun to her head and pulled the trigger,” Reggie said. “Maybe I didn’t have the guts to do anything about Jude myself, but I wanted to shake the hand of the guy who did, and show him my appreciation.”
“Reggie, that’s just plain wrong. What would Debbie think if she knew what you were doing?” I asked it without thinking, but it was a fair question. I’d known Debbie Nance, and one thing I was pretty sure of was that she wouldn’t approve of her father’s current vengeful attitude.
“Leave her out of this, Suzanne,” Reggie said with a hard edge in his voice.
“How can I? She’s at the center of this whole thing for you.”
“You don’t have kids. You can’t know what it’s like to lose one,” Reggie said. His stern face began to crack, and tears ran unnoticed down his cheeks.
“I may not have children, but I know what it’s like to lose someone you love,” I said, thinking of my late father.
“Losing a child is different. Why did I even try to come here to explain myself to you? You’ll never be able to understand what I’ve been through.”
Reggie started for the door, leaving his donuts behind. “Hey, don’t forget these,” I called out.
“Keep them,” he said as he hurried away. “I don’t want them anymore.”
I shook my head, wondering why I’d talked to him the way I had. Reggie was right about one thing. I had no idea what it was like to lose a child. That didn’t justify his behavior, but it did help to explain it. If he’d been telling me the truth about not killing Jude, it would take his name off of my list of suspects, but I wasn’t ready to take him off at his word just yet.
I needed to do more digging before I was ready to do that.
Still, his visit certainly gave me something to think about.
“Aren’t you closed yet?” Grace asked as she walked into Donut Hearts a few minutes before eleven.
“Just be glad that I’m not still open until noon,” I said as I finished boxing up the donuts we had left over from the morning’s sales. I loved it when we had around a dozen unsold donuts at the end of the workday, but I absolutely hated it when we had to shut down early because we were out of inventory. Most days I usually erred on the side of caution and made too many donuts. After all, I could always give them away to the church, or even use the extras to help pave the way as I questioned suspects.
“I don’t know how you keep open this late in the morning, considering the time you get started,” she said. “I’ve just been up two hours and I’m already ready for a nap.”
“I’m willing to bet that you were up later than I was last night, though,” I replied. I crammed the thirteenth donut into the box and set it on the countertop. As I pulled the trays and handed them to Emma, I asked, “Did you call in sick today?”
“I didn’t have to. Officially, I’m working on employee evaluations.” Grace grinned at me as she added, “I did them last night, though, so you’ve got me all day today.”