Chocolate Peanut Brittle Murder: A Donut Hole Cozy - Book 45 (Donut Hole Cozy Mystery)

by Gillard, Susan

  “You call me as soon as we’ve got results,” Ryan said.

  Heather pushed off from the side of the car. A day. They’d have to wait a day, maybe longer for expedited results. She wasn’t familiar with the process of fingerprinting or how long it took to match the whorls of a print to one in a database, but it seemed long to her. Possibly, because her two friends had lost their place to live for the foreseeable future.

  “I’d better get back,” Heather said. “I want to tell Eva and Leila what’s happened and let them know they can stay with us for as long as they need. See you at home?”

  “I love you,” Ryan said. “Stay strong for them. Shoot, why am I even saying that? You’re always strong.”

  Heather wasn’t as strong as he thought. She’d been on the verge of tears the entire morning. She couldn’t shake the feeling that Lyle had done this. That he’d come after her and the people she loved at last.

  Chapter 16

  Two days had passed without any news of fingerprints or matches and another dusk hour brought the scents of cooking and the end of the day. Warmth curled around the corners of the Shepherd house and seeped through the cracks in the mortar and between the bricks.

  Heather sat on the sofa again, Lilly at her side, typing away on her pink typewriter – a new story featuring Miss Loci Raptor and the Rexes, her investigative team.

  Eva and Leila sat on the sofa opposite, their blow up bed packed into the corner but soon to be laid out once again. They’d have to come up with a more permanent solution for the old ladies soon.

  Eva never complained but Heather had noticed her massaging the small of her back. Leila had done the same with her neck, though she’d whined a bit in the process. She really did remind Heather of Amy.

  “Does anyone need anything?” Heather asked. “Donuts? Popcorn?”

  “How about a new house, dear?” Eva burst out laughing right after she’d said it and Leila joined in.

  Heather’s face fell. “I – oh, I’m so sorry this has happened to you two. It’s all your fault.”

  “Don’t be ridiculous,” Eva said. “You can’t control the actions of another human being. And do lighten up, dear, it was a joke.”

  “I’d love a donut,” Leila said.

  “You’ve already gained two pounds.” Eva poked her new best friend in the ribs.

  “Ouch, well I didn’t have enough fat to protect me from that vicious attack. I must need to eat more.” Leila shrugged. “Besides, who’s counting? We’re over the hill and far away. Our husbands have passed on. We’re allowed to live a little.”

  “Over the hill, I may be,” Eva said. “But I am certainly not far away. That’s all yours, dear. Your territory.”

  Leila winked at Heather. “She talks a lot, doesn’t she?”

  “Talking is preferable to whining,” Eva said.

  “Oh, if you don’t stop I’m going to poke you back. You’re a tease, Mrs. Schneider.”

  “Rubbish. I’m an innocent old lady.”

  Their banter lightened up the living room. Even Lilly chuckled – she didn’t stop typing though. The girl had become a focused writer. The world could crumble around her and she wouldn’t notice if she was in front of those keys.

  “Donuts?”

  “Yes, please,” Leila said.

  “I’ll take one too,” Eva replied.

  “Oh, now she wants a donut.”

  “If you can’t beat them, join them.” Eva tapped her nose with a gnarled finger.

  Heather pushed off from the sofa and hurried out of the living room. She loved those women to bits but she needed to breathe. She couldn’t shake the slow burn of fear in the pit of her stomach.

  What if Amy had been right and she really had pushed Lyle Clarke too far? Could he have done this? But why?

  They didn’t have any evidence which connected him to the crime scene. It wasn’t as if she’d accused him of murder. She’d merely asked for an alibi. Another worm of fear wriggled in her stomach and she pressed her fists to her flesh.

  “No,” she said, and squared her shoulders. “You’re Heather Shepherd. You’re not going to let some gangster scare you from asking questions and getting to the bottom of a mystery.”

  “Are you talking to yourself?” Leila called from the living room. “I hope you’re talking to the donuts. I’m starving.”

  “Just a sec,” Heather called back.

  Her cell buzzed before she could take a step in the kitchen’s direction. Heather lost all her proposed cool which had slid into place after the self-lecture session. She darted to the entrance hall table, then snatched her phone up.

  “Shepherd,” she said.

  “We’ve got him,” Ryan said. He hooted. “We’ve got his print in the house.”

  Heather stomach jolted as if she’d driven through a dip in the road. “Clarke?”

  “What? No. Of course not Clarke. Steven Baron. S.B. His fingerprint was a match to the one on the door jamb and it wasn’t there during the initial sweep of the house.”

  “Which means it could only have gotten there afterward.” Heather bit down on the side of her tongue. “But that means he’s our arsonist, not necessarily our murderer.”

  “I know. I’m going to head over there to speak to him in a second. You want to join me?” Ryan asked. His excitement was infectious. Clearly, he thought they’d killed two birds with one stone.

  But they weren’t done yet. “Sure. I’ll meet you at the station. Do you know where he lives?”

  “That’s the brilliant part,” Ryan said. “He’s set up camp in his cousin’s back yard. Jessie Baron? Yeah, she finally spilled. Sounds like her cousin dearest ran from the probation officer and she covered for him. She won’t let him in the house. She called us over. Can you believe that?” Ryan exhaled. “I think the fire the other day really freaked her out. She doesn’t want to have anything to do with him. She kept talking about insurance and ankles too. I couldn’t make that part out.”

  Heather couldn’t. It sounded like a trap. No, that had to be her Clarke paranoia kicking in. “All right, hon. I’ll meet you there.”

  Chapter 17

  Jessie Baron stood on her front lawn yet again, crutch tucked under her arm, and greeted them with a half nod and a lot of sweat. Seriously, the fluid poured down her cheeks. “I don’t like doing this,” she said. “He’s my cousin.”

  “He’s also an arsonist, Miss Baron,” Ryan replied. “We just want to talk.”

  Talk? Heather had been sure they’d come to arrest him on those arson charges. Or wait, did Ryan think he could worm something more out of the situation. She followed his lead around to the back of the house where they found Steven Baron, young, sporting that cotton candy beard and depressed in front of a canvas tent in Jessie’s back garden.

  “Mr. Baron,” Ryan said. “We found your fingerprint at a crime scene. Would you care to explain?”

  Steven jerked upright and backpedaled a step. He studied Ryan and Heather by the light of the back porch and his shoulders sagged.

  “So, it’s over then,” he said. “You know.”

  “Why don’t you walk me through it,” Ryan said. “Walk me through what happened.” He hadn’t mentioned murder or arson, yet.

  Heather kept her face straight, though excitement grew within her. Were they about to hear a confession? Perhaps a direct connection to Clarke?

  “He was – Atticus was –” Steven cut off and swallowed hard. “He was my father.”

  “What?” Heather asked. She jammed her teeth together right away to keep the barrage of questions from spilling forth.

  “He, uh, he left my family when I was six years old,” Steven said. “Abandoned us and left to live in Phoenix. He said he’d make it big and that we were holding him back.”

  “What happened then?” Ryan asked.

  “I grew up. I got in trouble a lot. And I realized, man, I realized the reason I was so angry all the time was because of him.” Steven gulped. “And then I saw this art
icle in the newspaper about him, that he’d moved to New York to learn from this rich businessman and I figured that I could do that too. It would be good to work from the bottom up.”

  “Except when you called he wasn’t in New York anymore,” Heather said. Night drifted down from the heavens and replaced the dusk. Crickets chirped in the shrubbery beside the back steps.

  “Yeah. I thought my dad would give me an opportunity, you know? I figured he owed me one after he left us like that. We couldn’t afford anything. Mom got sick when I was ten and died and there was no one after that except Grandma and she always hated me,” Steven said. “But my dad, he didn’t want to give me an opportunity. He told me to get lost because he had to deal with something important down in Hillside.”

  “What?” Heather asked. “What important thing?” It had to be something to do with the cash he’d had on him the day he’d died.

  “He didn’t tell me,” Steven said. “So I phoned the other guy instead. The Clarke guy. I asked him for help. Told him all about my story with dad and how I needed a job to get me out of the mess back home.”

  “You ran away from your probation officer, Steven,” Ryan said. “You were already in trouble the day you arrived.”

  “I know, I know, but I figured if I showed everyone I was worth something they’d back off.” Steven sobbed and sank into a crouch beside the tent. He rocked on his heels. “Clarke said I could work for him but real low down and I took it. Everything was fine for the first couple weeks. I stayed here with Jessie and she was traveling a lot until she hurt her ankle.”

  Heather snorted but buried it in a fake sneeze.

  “And then one day I saw my dad walking by. I don’t know where he was headed but he looked crazy. Wild eyed and like he meant business and I just got so angry. He had to know that I was in Hillside. He had to have heard from his friend, Clarke. Right? Right?”

  “Did Clarke tell you that he’d spoken with your father?” Ryan asked.

  “No. I just assumed.” Steven took a couple minutes to calm down. He made a ‘snurping’ noise with his nose. “I got mad seeing him there, you know? I got so mad. I’m here and he’s here and once again, he’s not talking to me. He doesn’t care. That was what I thought.”

  “What happened next?”

  “I grabbed my letter opener off Jessie’s desk, she brought it back for me, you know? And I ran around the back of the house. Jessie was inside getting another soda or something.” Steven shook his head as if he couldn’t carry on.

  “And you fought with him.”

  “First out in the street. Then he tried to walk away. I pushed him up the driveway of the house next door and he fell. He tried to run. He hit the door and when he did that I just came after. I don’t know why. I don’t know. I just lost it. All the years built up and they just, like, they spilled over. They crashed out of me and onto him and now he’s dead and it’s all my fault.”

  There. They had him. A full confession and Heather hadn’t helped Ryan get it. She hadn’t found the print. She’d suspected Steven but couldn’t connect him with the –

  “What about the trailer?” Heather asked. She’d lost her touch. “Why was your trailer in Atticus’ back yard?”

  “It wasn’t my trailer. Jessie rented it out for my dad. They were close, at least. I was just there the day she did it. He needed a mobile office.”

  Heather didn’t buy that for a second, but what could she do? They’d have to check the story with Jessie, but this was over, now. Over but she didn’t feel satisfied. Someone had cleaned out the trailer and they didn’t know who.

  She had her suspicions.

  “You set fire to the house,” Ryan said.

  “Yeah, Jessie wouldn’t let me live with her anymore. I didn’t have anywhere to go and I figured if I burned down the house all the evidence would be gone and she’d have to believe I didn’t do it.”

  “You going to stay for the next part?” Ryan asked, under his breath.

  Heather shook her head. She’d witnessed enough. They had their murderer, teary-eyed and regretful, but something didn’t add up to her. The clean trailer, the wad of cash in Atticus’ back pocket and the connection to Clarke.

  It was the second time she was sure they’d been foxed. That the course of justice had been obscured by an external force.

  But Heather couldn’t do a thing about it. All she could do was head home to her family and friends and enjoy what was left of their weekend.

  Chapter 18

  They sat at a group table in Lil Mama’s restaurant and feasted on pizza and pasta. Lilly had chosen a pepperoni, like Ryan, and Amy and Jamie couldn’t tear their gazes from one another. Leila and Eva each had creamy Tagliatelle with pancetta, and shared jokes.

  Heather couldn’t join in on the happy vibe. It was the second time this month she’d felt that the case had been stolen from them rather than solved. Sure, their suspect had admitted to the crime, but certain elements didn’t add up and that drove her up the wall.

  “Hey,” Ryan said, and squeezed the sensitive part of her thigh, just above the knee.

  She jerked and giggled. “Ouch, hon, that hurts.”

  “I thought it might wake you up. You’re obsessing again.”

  “How do you know?”

  “I know you, that’s how I know,” Ryan said. “Forget about him.”

  “What?”

  He lowered his voice and leaned close to her ear. “Forget about Clarke. You can’t take him down on your own and he’s not going to go down for this one, so forget him. I think there are more important things to focus on, now.”

  “Like what?” She asked, in a sulky voice that would’ve suited a five year old better than her. And she heard it too, and hated that Clarke and her inability to ‘take him down’ as Ryan had put it, had turned her into a child.

  “Like Amy,” Ryan replied. “Those two are up to something and I’ve got a feeling we’re about to find out what that is.”

  Amy tinged her fork against the side of her glass. “Can I have everyone’s attention, please?”

  The chatter around the table quieted. Eva, Leila and Lils sat back and focused on Amy, their expressions mirroring each other.

  “Oh boy, ha-ha, I’m nervous now,” Amy said. “So, okay, so –”

  “Best speech ever,” Leila called out, and clapped.

  “Shush, dear.” Eva poked her in the ribs.

  “Right, so we have two announcements to make.”

  “We?” Heather asked.

  “Yeah, Jamie and I,” Amy said. “Firstly, Jamie’s got a new job. He went for an interview at Lawless’s Pets n’ Things Boutique this week and he got it. Turns out he’s really good at keeping the animals calm.”

  A round of applause greeted the news. Ryan shot Jamie a thumbs up from across the table. The man, broad-jawed and handsome, gave one back but his cheeks had colored. He wasn’t accustomed to attention and he hadn’t spent too much time with their little group, yet.

  They’d have to remedy that. He seemed like a nice enough person and Amy hadn’t hinted at any trouble in paradise. No Kent Bentley style drama, thank heavens.

  “And our second announcement,” Amy said. “Oh boy, uh. Well, Jamie’s new job is part of the reason we’ve decided that it was time for us to take the next step in our relationship.”

  Heather’s vision hazed. Was her bestie about to announce an engagement? Oh goodness, would she get to be a maid of honor and watch Amy walked down the aisle in white? She teared up.

  “We’ve decided to move in together,” Amy said.

  “Oh!” Heather cried out.

  Everyone looked at her.

  “No, I mean, that’s wonderful. It’s awesome.” She didn’t show the disappointment. She was overjoyed they’d taken the next step – perhaps, she’d gotten a little ahead of herself with the whole marriage thing.

  “We’re currently seeking a new apartment. So, hopefully it will happen pretty soon. Anyway, ha, that’s all my news. All ou
r news I mean. Thanks,” Amy said, and plonked down in her seat.

  Everyone gave a second round of applause. Lilly patted Amy on the back and whispered something. They laughed and the merriment continued.

  The waiter brought them a refill on their sodas. They got dessert menus and everything was right again.

  In truth, Heather couldn’t complain about a missed opportunity and focus on all the negative aspects of the week when so much good had come to their little family. After all, Eva and Leila were in fine spirits in spite of losing their home for the next few months.

  Heather rested her head on Ryan’s shoulder. “Right again,” she said.

  He kissed her forehead. “What was that?”

  “Nothing, nothing.” But she glowed regardless. She wouldn’t have traded this night, this town and this life for anything else in the world. Not even Lyle Clarke locked up for good.

  THE END

  A letter from the Author

  To each and every one of my Amazing readers: I hope you enjoyed this story as much as I enjoyed writing it. Let me know what you think by leaving a review!

  I’ll be releasing another installment in two weeks so to stay in the loop (and to get free books and other fancy stuff) Join my Book club.

  Stay Curious,

  Susan Gillard