“Not as much as I like donuts,” Amy replied, then turned to Peter instead. “Did your son tell you anything about Quick Paul?”
“Not really,” Peter replied. “He doesn’t discuss his business matters with many people, and especially not with his old man. Ha. I never had a successful business, like him. Why would he ask me, right?”
Heather blinked. “I see.”
“But I did hear that Quick Paul was into some dangerous dealings. Got in trouble with the bad types over in that, uh, Dallas or Houston or somewhere. Heard he had a lot of enemies.”
Heather whipped out her notepad and pen from her back pocket and made a note of it. Or tried to, at least, her pen had run out of ink. She shook it back and forth, and black ink spurted out of the end and onto her plain, white cotton blouse. “Oh, fantastic.”
“That’s totally in fashion, right now,” Amy said, then hurried to Heather’s side. “Maybe it’s time to call it a day.”
Heather glanced down at her blouse and back up at Peter. He didn’t have much information on Quick Paul, anyway. Just the type of conjecture that Sharon Janis would spew if asked. “Well, Mr. Hill, it was nice meeting you. Take care.”
“And you,” he replied.
Chapter 7
Heather hummed Truly Madly Deeply by Savage Garden and barely managed to keep up with Lilly.
“C’mon, Au-Heather, if we don’t pick up the pace, Dave will never lose any of his puppy fat,” Lilly said and glanced back over her shoulder.
Dave whined and tried slowing down again. Lilly waggled the end of the leash, and he trotted back to her speed.
“Finally, Dave, I feel your pain,” Heather called out, then wiped sweat from her brow. At least, clouds blanketed the sky, and they’d bruised from gray to black in the past ten minutes.
Lilly would have to quit at some point.
“It’s going to start raining in a minute,” Heather said, and more beads of sweat gathered at her hair line.
“That’s why we need to get back to your house. Quick as Flash Gordon.”
“Who’s Flash Gordon?” Heather asked.
“Don’t worry about it.” Lilly broke into a jog, then slowed down again.
Another pair of walkers had appeared just ahead of them, heading in the opposite direction. Lilly stepped aside to let them pass, but the woman froze, instead. She held a young boy in her arms.
“Momma?” Kieran Hill said. “What’s wrong, momma?”
Lilly made doe-eyes at the little kid. “He’s so cute,” she said.
“You.” Katie Hill’s gaze speared Heather directly between the eyes.
“It’s nice to see you again, Mrs. Hill,” Heather said – she wasn’t about a tiny white lie in cases like these. Katie’s attitude stunk to the high heavens.
The woman worked her jaw but didn’t reply. “You want to talk?” She asked, at last.
Shock straightened Heather’s spine. She glanced at Lilly and Dave, then pack to her potential suspect. Or was she the source of a potential lead?
“Sure,” Heather said. The swollen clouds frowned at her. She beckoned to Lilly. “Would you play with Kieran here, until his mom and I are done talking, Lils?”
“Yes please!” Lilly said. “Hello, I’m Lilly.”
“I’m Kieran,” the little boy replied, and grinned. The apples of his cheeks grew chubbier. Katie put the boy down, stretched her back, and then stepped to one side.
Heather followed her example, minus the stretching. “You want to talk to me about something?” She asked, immediately.
Katie ground her teeth, then relaxed her shoulders. “I’m not a fan of anyone who interferes with my family life,” she said. “That’s why I get angry when strangers turn up on my doorstep.”
“I had an appointment with your husband, Katie. I’m investigating a murder, and I have to follow through on my leads. Apologies if that inconvenienced you during family time.” And Heather did mean that.
Katie sighed and glanced at the two children and one, cheeky dog, a few paces away.
“It’s not that,” Mrs. Hill said. “I understand why you were there. These past few months have been difficult for my family. Really difficult, and the minute I saw you, I just jumped to the wrong conclusion.”
“And what conclusion was that?”
“That you’re trouble. Trouble for Jeremy and trouble for my family,” Katie replied. She scraped the heels of her palms across her eyes. “I overreacted. I’m sorry.”
Heather grasped Katie’s shoulder and squeezed. “That’s totally okay. I understand.”
Kieran burst into laughter, and they turned to the kids. Lilly made a funny face, then danced on the spot, and the boy mimicked her. Dave barked and ran in circles, tail set to permanent-wag.
“I want to help in whatever way I can,” Katie said. “If you have any questions, go ahead and ask me, please.”
Heather risked a small smile. “Thank you.” She hadn’t brought her notepad and pen with her on this trip. She’d have to memorize the details. “Did you know Quick Paul?”
“I met the guy once,” Katie said, and her lips turned down at the corners. “I don’t want to lie and say I liked him. He was a creepy guy. Real creepy. Always hanging around when he shouldn’t.”
“What do you mean by that?” Heather asked. Another bout of laughter from the kids.
She kept her eyes fixed on them, but her concentration on Katie’s words.
“Jeremy invited him over for dinner once to talk business. I made a casserole, and he complained about it, then hung around smoking cigarettes in my living room,” Katie replied, and venom dripped from her tone. “My house is a non-smoking house.”
“Oi vey.”
“Yeah, and when I asked him to stop, he called me ‘doll’ and told me the big men were talking so I should head back to the kitchen,” Katie said.
“Wow. Sounds like a real nice guy,” Heather replied.
“Precisely. Then they spoke, and he stayed way past Kieran’s bed time. It was a total mess. And he burned a hole in my sofa cushion.”
Heather chewed the inside of her cheek, then released it. “You don’t happen to know what Quick Paul and your husband were discussing, do you?”
“No,” Katie snapped. She sucked in a deep breath, then exhaled. “Sorry, I mean, no I don’t. It probably had something to do with Jeremy’s business. That’s my best guess.”
“I see,” Heather replied. “Do you have any other information for me? Anything at all?”
Katie sighed and shook her head. “No. All I can say is a guy like Quick Paul probably had a lot of enemies. If he treated other people half as bad as he treated me, then I can only assume that’s the case.”
“Thanks for talking to me, Mrs. Hill,” Heather replied.
Together, they walked to the kids. Heather placed a hand on Lilly’s shoulder, and Katie grasped Kieran’s chubby hand. She smiled at Lilly, then flicked her gaze to Heather. “Your daughter is wonderful with kids. What a lovely girl,” Katie said.
Heather beamed at Lilly and drew her into a one-armed hug. “Thanks. She’s our little star.”
“Thank you.” Lilly’s cheeks reddened, and she grinned from ear-to-ear. “C’mon, we’d better get walking. The clouds are about to pop, and Dave’s not going to lose all this weight by himself.”
Heather groaned, but she didn’t voice a complaint.
Chapter 8
Amy bustled around in Heather’s kitchen. She stopped in front of the fridge, opened it, and then stuck her head inside.
“They’re on the top shelf,” Heather said. “You’ll see them right away.”
“Got ‘em,” Amy replied, and brought out the raspberries. She carried them to the kitchen counter and set them down beside a pile of mint. “I’d never have thought of this flavor.”
“Yeah, it came to me the other day after Lilly mentioned berries. You can’t go wrong with Raspberry jelly, am I right?”
“Ooh, we’re making jelly?” Am
y rubbed her palms together. “This evening just keeps getting better and better.”
Heather placed her hands on her hips and scanned the ingredients on her kitchen counters. “Yeah, we’ve got to make something totally delicious for the opening next week, and I wanted to surprise Lilly with a taste tester tomorrow.”
“Where does the jelly come in?” Amy asked.
“Oh boy, you sure have a one track mind.” Heather nudged her bestie in the ribs, then nodded. “So, I loved what we did with the Caramel Glazes, last week, and I wanted something equally yummy, but with a bit of change. Fruitier.”
Amy folded her arms and nodded. “Uh huh, uh huh, go on.”
Heather placed two fingers on either side of her ceramic mixing bowl. “This is what we’re going to make. A crispy mint- flavored base donut, subtle mint, though, we don’t want to overdo it, with a mint glaze, once dipped, very light.”
“All right, but where does the raspberry come in?” Amy asked, and her fingers crept across the countertop, toward the raspberries.
Heather slapped at it, and her bestie retracted it.
“There are going to be two pockets of raspberry jelly either side of the donut, to offset the minty flavor,” Heather replied. “The mint glaze will be sweet, the dough beneath it more neutral and the jelly will be tart.”
Amy swallowed. “Okay, my mouth is officially watering, right now. Let’s start making them so I can start eating them, right away.”
Dave barked agreement from the doorway.
“No, Davey, you go back to the living room, this instant,” Heather said.
Dave whined, but turned and trotted off down the hallway again.
Amy stole a raspberry, quick as a flash, and popped it into her mouth. “Yum. I can’t wait until these guys are jelly.” She sniffed then narrowed her eyes at Heather. “So, now that the plan is out of the way do you want to talk about the case?”
Heather couldn’t pretend it wasn’t on her mind. Not successfully, at least. “It’s another case with a severe lack of evidence. Useful evidence, I mean.”
“And there are plenty of suspects, am I right?” Amy asked. She lifted her fingers and ticked them off. “Bob the Bug Debunker, Jeremy Hill and Katie Hill.”
“Yeah, though I’m not sure about Bob. Oh, who am I kidding? I’m not sure about anything, right now. Wash these for me, please,” Heather said, and pointed to the raspberries.
Amy hurried off to the kitchen sink. “What about Katie?”
“I told you I spoke to her this morning, right?”
“Yeah,” Amy replied.
“She was nice and her son is adorable. I can’t picture her jeopardizing that relationship for Quick Paul. She seemed to detest the guy,” Heather said. She reached for the flour and shifted it closer to the bowl. “Not that rules her out.”
“She’s got a bad attitude,” Amy replied, then turned on the faucet. Water gushed into the sink.
Heather measured out the flour in her steel cup and dumped it into the bowl. She gestured with the measure and wriggled her nose. “I don’t know enough about Jeremy.”
“What do you mean?”
“Well, his wife told me he had some kind of business deal or meeting with Quick Paul, and that’s about all I know. I need more,” Heather said and reached for more flour.
“What does Ryan have to say about it all?”
“Oh, he’s been super busy at the station. Apparently, there’s a strong chance that Davidson might come back, and he’s been putting in extra hours to try to get this case down before that happens. I’ve hardly seen him this week.” Heather tried to keep the lonely edge from her tone.
“He doesn’t have any leads on Jeremy?” Amy asked.
“No, he’s been pursuing other leads. Quick Paul had a lot of enemies and a lot of business partners. Some of them weren’t exactly legitimate,” Heather said. She put down the cup measure and brushed her hands on her apron. Flour smeared down her front.
“So, then we need to find out more about Jeremy Hill. Don’t you have that card he gave you? The business card?” Amy asked. She turned off the faucet and hurried back to Heather’s side.
“Ames, I don’t know what I’d do without you. I completely forgot about that,” Heather said.
She hurried through to the entrance hall, then grabbed her tote bag from the entrance hall table. She strode back into the kitchen, plopped it on the counter, then rifled through it. “I put the card in here when I got home the other day. Let’s see, let’s see.”
Her fingers brushed past tubes of lipstick and the cold plastic of her Taser. She touched vellum, grasped and pulled the card from her bag. “Here it is.” Heather raised the card and narrowed her eyes to read the fine print. “Jeremy Hill, his cell number, email and the name of his business is –”
“What?” Amy asked.
Heather blinked, then laughed, and blinked again. “I’m not sure whether I can take this seriously.”
Amy snatched the card from Heather’s grasp and read it herself. “Diaper Pop.”
“You see that too, right?” Heather shook her head. “What does it even mean?”
Amy turned the card over, but the back was blank. “There’s only one way to find out. To the laptop!”
Chapter 9
Amy scooched her chair closer to Heather’s dressing table and squinted at the screen. “No jokes, I think I need to get reading glasses. I’m not getting any younger. I swear my eyes are starting to give out.”
Heather cleared her throat and placed the card on the wooden surface, just beside her laptop. “You don’t look a day over thirty.”
“That’s because your eyesight is getting worse too,” Amy replied.
Heather nudged her in the ribs, then clicked on the Google Chrome icon on her desktop. The browser opened up on a Google search bar. “What should we start with?” Heather asked, then picked up the card and examined the writing on it. “Jeremy Hill?”
“Oh, come on, I’m dying to know what Diaper Pop is. Aren’t you?” Amy dragged the laptop toward herself and typed the words into the search bar.
“Honestly? I’m a little bit afraid to find out. It sounds like some type of horribly flavored lollipop.” Heather grimaced and shook her arms out.
Amy’s eyes widened. “Oh my gosh, it’s worse than that,” she said and grabbed Heather’s arm.
“Worse than a poop flavored lollipop? Amy, there’s nothing worse than that,” Heather said and studied the side of her bestie’s face. “And frankly, I’m concerned you’d even suggest there is.”
“Shush, and focus.” Amy pointed at the web page.
Heather turned her attention to the laptop. The homepage of Jeremy Hill’s company, Diaper Pop, sat front and center.
Two Diapers flashed on either side of the site title and tagline.
Diaper POP!
The first diaper to pop off when it’s time for a change.
“He can’t be serious,” Heather said, in a monotone.
Amy giggled and read the follow-up paragraph out loud. “Diaper POP! Is the new and improved solution to fit your diaper changing needs. Have you ever walked into your baby’s bedroom after their nap, only to find their diaper full and a diaper rash developing? Well, with Diaper POP –”
“Do you have to shout the ‘pop’ part?” Heather asked and inserted her pinky finger into her right ear. She wiggled it up and down. “My eyesight’s failing, don’t add hearing to the list.”
“Rude,” Amy replied and rolled her eyes. “Well, with Diaper pop – there is that better? With Diaper pop, you’ll never have to deal with a nasty diaper rash again. Just strap on the diaper, leave your baby to nap, and when you return, pop! The diaper’s already off.”
“That is just a shocking idea. Just terrible,” Heather said. “Homes across America will be littered with nappies and, well –”
“With Diaper pop, you can kiss moisture and rashes goodbye. Call now to get a free sample,” Amy said.
“Wow.”
Heather sat back. “I’ve seen some pretty weird stuff in Hillside, especially for a small town, but this sure takes the cake.”
“Takes the donut, you mean,” Amy replied. She scratched the bridge of her nose and scanned the paragraph again. “How does he not realize that this is a terrible idea? Surely, his wife would’ve told him.”
“They don’t seem to talk much about his business,” Heather replied.
She pushed up from her seat and strode to her bed, then stared down at the plain white sheets. “That makes sense.”
“What does?” Amy asked, and clicked on the mouse pad.
Heather turned back to her bestie. “Think about it; Quick Paul Jackson was the kinda guy who set up Pyramid Schemes, right?”
“Yeah,” Amy replied.
“I bet he was also the kind of guy who loaned people money when they needed it. I’ll have to ask Ryan to look into that for me, but I bet he ‘invested’ in businesses like Jeremy’s, only to bankrupt them afterward.” Heather walked to the window and stared out at the clouded night sky.
A lone car drove down the road and past the front of her house. She froze. A white car? No, no, just a regular old silver Honda. She had to let go of that fear.
“Boy, Jeremy dodged a bullet missing out on that meeting, then.”
“Or did he? What if Jeremy already had some kind of shady deal with Quick Paul that went sour?” Heather asked. “And Jeremy got mad and decided to get rid of Paul.”
Amy typed something into the search bar, and Heather turned back to the computer.
“Look at this. You might just be right, Mrs. Sleuth Extraordinaire,” Amy said and pointed at the screen. “A picture of Jeremy and an article about Diaper Pop.”
Heather walked to the laptop and sat down to read.
Diaper Pop entrepreneur, Jeremy Hill, is determined to revolutionize the diaper industry with his new line of diapers which pop off once filled.
“I’ve never met a man who comes up with such brilliant business ideas,” Paul Jackson says, “I’m proud to be his partner.”
“Whoa,” Heather said. “Partner. So, Jeremy lied. He did have dealings with Quick Paul, and that means he has a pretty solid motive.” She sat down beside her bestie and scanned the article, which carried a date from two months prior. “Things aren’t looking good for Jeremy Hill.”
Raspberry Mojito Murder: A Donut Hole Cozy Mystery - Book 20 Page 3