Cinnamon Sugar Murder

by Susan Gillard

  “There were trace amounts of the poison found in Tormund Brown’s lunch container,” said Ryan. “But nothing else in the fridge was poisoned. We checked everything that was in there.”

  “Maybe it was added directly to the salad. The killer could have carried it in a vial or something like that and poured it in,” Heather mused. “Was there anything else unusual about the fingerprints?”

  “Everyone in the office’s prints were on the milk and creamer,” said Ryan. “Everyone except Phil Hunter’s were on the ketchup bottle. Only Phil Hunter’s and Tormund Brown’s were on the salad dressing.”

  “And all of this was in the fridge?” Heather asked.

  “All of that was in the fridge,” said Ryan. “We did recover Phil’s lunchbox too later. He was going to being it home, but we took it for evidence. There was only a sandwich inside the big box. No trace of poison there either.”

  “Look,” Hoskins said, pointing at the video. “It’s a black car.”

  “And it has a J and K in the license plate,” said Amy. “Just kidding.”

  “You’re not kidding,” Hoskins said. “Those letters are right there. The first two.”

  Amy rolled her eyes.

  “The timing is right,” Ryan said. “I think this is our car.”

  “And our killer,” said Amy.

  “If you run the license plate, you should be able to see who owns the car,” said Heather. “And then you should have a prime suspect.”

  “I’m on it,” said Hoskins. He grabbed one more donut for the road and set off to search for the plate.

  “I’m starting to admire his new enthusiasm,” said Amy.

  “I think we’re really close,” Heather said. “I’m sure we’ll be able to catch both killers.”

  “Of course, we will,” said Amy. “When we work together, there’s nothing we can’t do.”

  Heather smiled at her bestie. Then, she remembered something about the case.

  “Ryan, did you find out anything about the potential buyer?” asked Heather. “Roger Davens?”

  “I can’t believe I didn’t tell you,” Ryan said. “It’s the thing you’d probably want to hear first. But balancing everything at once has been challenging.”

  “I completely understand,” said Heather. “I keep forgetting that we need to sit down and decide which house we want to move into. I keep getting distracted by the cases.”

  “Rogers Davens is a man who buys businesses and properties for other buyers. Guess who his most recent client was?” Ryan said.

  “I have a bad feeling about this answer,” Amy muttered.

  “Lyle Clarke,” Ryan said.

  “A double homicide in Hillside and Lyle Clarke is involved,” said Amy. “Why am I not surprised?”

  “Lyle Clarke wanted to buy Brown & Barrow Buildings,” Heather asked. “Why?”

  “We don’t know that yet,” said Ryan.

  “Then I think we’ll have to talk to him again,” said Heather.

  “I guess so,” said Ryan.

  “Will we finally be able to catch him this time?” asked Heather.

  Chapter 12

  “Shepherds, I was afraid you were going to leave without saying goodbye,” Lyle Clarke said.

  A bulky man with large arms admitted Heather, Ryan, and Amy into Clarke’s office. They passed the intimidating guard and had a seat in front of Lyle Clarke’s desk.

  “I didn’t want to miss my chance to tell you how much I enjoyed our time together,” Lyle Clarke said with a shark-like smile.

  “I wish I could reciprocate,” Heather said, returning the smile.

  “I think that’s what I’ll miss the most,” Clarke said. “That feistiness.”

  “Maybe that’s why you tried to sabotage our move before when you tried to frame our new investor for murder,” Heather said. “Because you’d miss me.”

  “I’m afraid I don’t know what you’re talking about,” Clarke said. “And I thought you already arrested someone for that murder. You’ve arrested every killer that dared show his face in Hillside, haven’t you?”

  “We’ve caught everyone who pulled the trigger,” Heather said. “But not the person calling the shots.”

  “And who is that?” Clarke asked.

  Heather tried to remain calm. Clarke always knew how to press her buttons. She found it infuriating that he could get away with all the criminal activities that he orchestrated. He also seemed to enjoy having people know that he was behind it all, but that they couldn’t prove it in court. He thought he was untouchable.

  “It’s someone you know very well,” said Heather.

  “Yeah,” Amy muttered. “You see him every time you look in the mirror.”

  “We’re actually here about another person you know,” Ryan said. “We want to talk to you about Roger Davens.”

  “What would you like to talk about in his regard?” Clarke asked, leaning back in his chair. He enjoyed evading their questions.

  “He bought property for you before?” Ryan asked.

  “That’s correct,” said Clarke.

  “Why did you need someone to buy property for you?” Heather asked. “Why couldn’t you buy it yourself? Why were you hiding your interest?”

  “Sometimes it makes more sense for a business to make transactions quietly. There’s nothing illegal about it,” Clarke said.

  “And Roger Davens?” Ryan asked.

  “I found him to be a very capable colleague,” Clarke said. “He was very skilled at obtaining things for me.”

  “And how did he obtain these things?” Heather asked.

  “With skillful negotiation,” Clarke said silkily. “He possessed the same skill I did in that regard.”

  “And did he try to purchase Brown & Barrow Buildings for you?” Ryan asked.

  “There are so many business dealings that I work on every day. I’m not sure I can keep track of them all,” Clarke said.

  “We know that he was trying to buy the business,” Heather said.

  “Then it must have been for me,” Clarke said. “Roger Davens has been looking after my concerns.”

  “Why did you want Brown & Barrow Buildings?” Heather asked.

  “Oh, it must have seemed like a good business decision at the time,” Clarke said. “You pretend to know something business occasionally, don’t you? That is the reason for your move so far away from me?”

  “I can think of few reasons why you might want it,” said Heather. “You wanted the property that their office was located on and were willing to kill for it. You did it before.”

  “I didn’t want the property,” Clarke said.

  “Then you wanted the blueprints and designs to something that they had created,” Heather said. “You would have gotten access to everything if you bought the business. There is something there you wanted. Either something they are working on now or something in the past. Maybe a bank?”

  “I do always love your theories,” Clarke said. “And you’ve had so many of them in the past.”

  “You’ve given me plenty of opportunities to come up with them,” said Heather.

  “What have I been accused of before?” Clarke asked, seeming to savor the memory. “You’ve accused me of murder on multiple occasion, framing a man, robbery, borrowing used cars to commit crimes, stealing a priceless autograph and – did I mention murder?”

  “Yes,” said Heather.

  “That does seem to come up a lot,” said Clarke. “Unfortunately, you’re always proved wrong. I’m an honest citizen.”

  “We have a new murder theory to test out,” Heather said. “That you had someone kill Rick Barrow and try to stage it as a robbery.”

  “How do you know it wasn’t a real robbery?” Clarke asked.

  “Because no one commits the perfect crime,” Heather said.

  “Agree to disagree,” Clarke said with a mean wink.

  “We’re close to catching that killer,” said Heather. “And then we’ll see who he says hired him
.”

  “I’m excited to hear you’re close to catching him,” said Clarke. “The sooner you catch him, the sooner my name will be cleared. And then there won’t be anything to hold me back from buying Brown & Barrow Buildings. You’ll know I had nothing to do with the murder. It is unfortunate that his partner also died, but heart attacks do happen.”

  “Who mentioned a heart attack?” asked Heather.

  “Oh, I must have heard it from the Hillside gossip pool,” Clarke said dismissively.

  “Because it was made to look like a heart attack,” said Heather. “But it was actually poison. And we’ve been treating it like a murder case from pretty early on. So I wonder how you still came to think that it was a heart attack that killed Tormund Brown. Unless, of course, that was what you arranged for it to look like.”

  “I’m very busy,” Clarke said. “We’re going to have to cut this lovely little chat short.”

  “It was a very distinct poison,” said Heather. “I’m sure we’ll be able to tie it back to you.”

  Lyle Clarke gave them his biggest smile. “Please let me know when you can prove it. Until then, the door is that way.”

  They left the office. Heather was angry.

  “We should have known that we’d need more than accusations to rattle him,” Ryan said. “He’s escaped charges so many times. He’s not going to just confess to us.”

  “It makes my blood boil,” Heather said. “He’s getting bolder with his crimes. And he knows that we’re leaving. He thinks we can’t catch him. He thinks he’s going to get away with it.”

  “Lyle Clarke has always been smug,” Ryan said.

  “But we’re not going to be here anymore,” Heather said. “What if he’s even worse when we’re gone? Imagine what he could do to Hillside if he’s not stopped.”

  “Don’t give up yet,” Amy said. “We’re still on the case. And we’ve still got another day and a half to solve it all.”

  Chapter 13

  “Say cheese!”

  “Cheese?” Amy asked. “We better be saying donuts here.”

  They all laughed. The entire Donut Delights staff was gathered outside for a picture. Heather insisted that she needed one so that he could hang it up at her new location. The first shop would be recognized in its new incarnation.

  Ken had allowed his beloved camera to be used by Amy so that he could be a part of the staff picture.

  “Donuts!” Everyone called out, smiling for the photo.

  “I bet that was a great photo,” Heather said. “But I think I need another one too. The staff is what makes Donut Delights run smoothly, but there are few other people that make it special for me too. I think I need another photo with Amy in it. And with our favorite customers, Eva and Leila.”

  The two women looked pleasantly surprised.

  “That’s so sweet, dear,” Eva, said. “We’d love to be commemorated as part of Donut Delights.”

  “I’m ready for my close up,” Leila joked, making dramatic poses for the picture.

  Most of the assistants were eager for the others to join the picture, but Ken was hesitant.

  “And who is going to take the picture if everyone we know and trust is in it?” he asked. “I’m not handing my camera over to just anybody.”

  “What about to me?” a voice asked.

  Roadkill Rodney who was a Hillside resident, loyal customer and Rudolph Rodney’s nephew had just joined them outside. His girlfriend Cicada Katie stood next to him.

  “We were just coming over to pick up some donuts,” he said. “But if you need an extra hand, I’d be willing to help.”

  “I guess I can trust him,” Ken said.

  Roadkill Rodney took the camera and waited for everyone to get into position.

  “Everyone pick up their favorite donut for this picture,” Heather said.

  “Our favorite?” Maricela asked. “How are we supposed to pick that, boss?”

  “That could take weeks to decide,” said Angelica.

  “Fine,” Heather amended. “Take your favorite flavor for today. Or pick up a donut that you think would look pretty in the photo.”

  They all laughed and picked up a donut. Heather and Amy stood in the center together. Eva and Leila hooked arms and held their colorful donuts up triumphantly. Maricela and Jung were holding hands with their ones that were free of Cinnamon Sugar Donuts. Emily Potts held her notebook full of donut secrets in one hand and chocolate “chip” donut in the other, in honor of her new pet. Angelica and Ken had the same idea. They both held two donuts – one in each hand.

  They all smiled, and Roadkill Rodney snapped some photos.

  “Thank you all for that,” Heather said. “I’m really going to appreciate having this little piece of home at my new store. And as a reward for your posing, you can all have the donuts you’re holding.”

  “No fair,” Jung said. “I should have picked up two too.”

  They laughed.

  Heather thanked Roadkill Rodney for taking the picture.

  “No problem. It’s the least I could do,” he said. “We were coming over to get your donuts, but we also wanted to see you before you left. We wanted to make sure you knew that we appreciated how much you did for us for helping us get together.”

  “I didn’t do much,” Heather said. “I think you two were bound to end up together.”

  “I do like to think that we’re gonna stick together,” he said. “Like the stripes stick on a skunk.”

  Cicada Katie smiled. “We go together like the two wings of a butterfly.”

  “We get the picture,” Amy said.

  “Let’s get you some of those donuts you came in for,” Heather said. “And then we can catch up some more.”

  Heather provided the donuts and listened to the couple’s plans for the future. The parts related to vermin and bugs didn’t appeal to her, but she was happy that they were both happy.

  When they left, Heather felt content. Her detective work and donut baking had both been a part of helping the two lovers come together. She started to think about just how much Donut Delights had touched others’ lives. She smiled and thought about how all of this came about from her grandmother’s cookbook and Heather’s dream.

  She was lost in this nostalgic reverie until her cell phone rang.

  “Shepherd,” she said.

  It was Ryan. “We finished tracking down who the car from the bank footage belonged to.”

  “Who is it?”

  “Roger Davens.”

  Roger Davens sat across from them in the interrogation room. He folded his arms and stared at them sulkily. The four investigators stared back.

  “I don’t know anything about this,” Roger said.

  “We know that you killed Rick Barrow,” Ryan said. “Your car was seen fleeing the scene of the crime. You match the description of the suspicious man on the street, and our search warrant of your house will reveal the clothes you wore when you committed the crime. We know that some of the victim’s blood transferred to your clothes because we found it where you unplugged the TV. Maybe they’ll find the gun too.”

  “Looks like you’ve got it all figured out,” Roger said.

  “Except why you did it,” Heather said. “Did someone put you up to it?”

  “No,” Roger said. “I chose to do it.”

  “Why?” Heather asked.

  Roger Davens shrugged. “Because I wanted some of the stuff that was in that house. It had expensive stuff. I was going to take the TV too, but I got interrupted. I didn’t mean to kill anyone.”

  “I don’t think that’s what happened,” Heather said. “I think you did mean to kill him. I think you went there specifically to kill Rick Barrow. And then you tried to cover it up with the façade of a robbery.”

  “Why would I want to kill him?” he asked.

  “Maybe because your boss asked you to do it,” suggested Heather. “Because he wanted some blueprints that were designed there.”

  “He didn’t ask
me to do anything,” said Roger. “And we didn’t need any bank blueprints.”

  “We never said anything about a bank, did we?” Amy asked.

  “Nope,” said Hoskins.

  Roger Davens swallowed.

  “If someone did put you up to it and you testify against them, we could put in a good word with the DA,” said Ryan. “We could make a deal.”

  “Clarke didn’t put me up to it,” said Roger.

  “It wasn’t a robbery,” Heather said. “So if it wasn’t for Clarke, then why did you kill him?”

  “Because…” Roger said. “Because he made me mad when he wouldn’t sell to me. It hurt my feelings. It made me think I was a bad negotiator. I became consumed with it. I decided I had to kill him.”

  “That’s your story?” Heather asked, disgusted.

  Roger nodded.

  “Fine,” Heather said. “You can go to jail for the crime you committed, and I’ll find another way to prove Clarke’s guilt.”

  Chapter 14

  “Don’t get discouraged,” Amy said. “We’ve been in tight spots with a case before. We’ve already caught one killer.”

  “I know. I just hoped he would confess to Clarke’s involvement,” Heather said.

  It was the next day. She and Amy were going to visit Col and Mona at their teashop. However, they couldn’t stop thinking about the case, even when they were saying their farewells to their friends.

  “Today is the last day before my flight,” said Heather. “Then I’ll be gone from Hillside. It doesn’t look like I’ll stop Lyle Clarke.”

  “Like I said, don’t give up. Heather Shepherd shouldn’t give up,” said Amy. “How many killers have you caught already?”

  “I’m not sure,” Heather said, allowing herself a small smile. “Close to sixty.”

  “And if we’ve caught all these killers, we should be able to catch one or two more,” said Amy.

  “You might be right,” said Heather. “And we have had some good cases together, haven’t we?”

  “We’ve caught stabbers and shooters and someone who set a barbecue to explode,” said Amy. “We did some good work.”