Heather picked up a wrench as Otis advanced. She held it out in front of her. Otis waved his weapon menacingly.
“Do you really think you could stop me with that?”
“I think a gun could,” Amy said, announcing Ryan and Hoskins arrival on the scene.
“Drop the weapon,” Ryan ordered. “And step away from my wife.”
Otis could tell he was beaten. He dropped the tire jack and fell to his knees.
“Why couldn’t he leave well enough along?” He whined as the officers arrested him.
Ryan called for medical assistance for Tim, and they quickly arrived to bring him to the hospital. They hurried to give him the care he needed, but one EMT spared a second to thank the private investigators.
“He should be okay. You got to him just in time. Another minute in there and he’d be dead.”
They were glad that their effort had saved a life. Inspector Lemon had been lost, but Tim Timmons had been saved.
They walked away from the car lot together, suddenly tired after all they had been through.
“I love investigating with you, but let’s try and avoid these close calls. Okay?”
“Deal,” Heather agreed.
Chapter 18
“It’s nice that we can finally have a happy surprise,” Amy said.
“Agreed,” said Heather. “I hope they like it.”
“Of course they will.”
They put the finishing touches on their surprise and stepped back to admire their handiwork.
“They’re going to love it.”
Ryan popped his head in. “They’ll be here in about ten minutes. Are we ready?”
“All set,” Heather assured him, smiling. “But while we have a minute, give us an update on Tim.”
“He’s going to be fine physically. Mentally, he’s shaken up about a coworker trying to kill him. He’s hesitant about testifying about anything either. He’s insisting that he doesn’t really know anything. He just thought the promotion sounded suspicious.”
“I suppose you can try and track the money. See who at the dealership was receiving funds.”
“So far, we’ve only noticed Otis having more money than usual. But we’ll keep looking. Otis isn’t taking a deal either. It seems he wants to protect the higher ups.”
Heather nodded and stifled a sigh. It was too much to hope that this case would have taken down Lyle Clarke too. However, she chose to focus on the positive. Tim Timmons was alive, and Clarke certainly wouldn’t be able to use the used cars for his plans anymore. They had stopped one aspect of his endeavors. Maybe the next time, they could stop the criminal activity permanently.
She looked at Amy and saw that she was lost in thought too.
“What’s wrong?”
Amy shrugged, “I guess I’m still wondering why Inspector Lemon said my name. Did he blame me for what happened?”
“I’ve been thinking about this too,” Heather admitted. “I don’t know for sure, but based on the newspaper clippings he had on his wall, I have a theory.”
Amy and Ryan looked at her with bated breath.
“What is it?”
“I think he admired you. I think he liked how you went from Gal Pal as the paper called you to a real investigator. I think he found it inspiring that you solved murders the way you do now. He wanted to do that too.”
“It didn’t seem like he admired me in Donut Delights that day. It seemed like he hated me.”
“There might have been some jealousy in the admiration, but we also caught him at a bad time. He needed a job.”
“I don’t know, Heather. It seems like you’re pulling this out of thin air to try and make me feel better. To reassure me I won’t be haunted by his ghost.”
“Think about what he said,” Heather countered.
“Give Amy. Yeah, he was saying my name.”
“But was he? Maybe he wasn’t saying ‘Givens, Amy’. Maybe he was saying ‘give Amy.’ Like, ‘give Amy the case.’ I think he wanted you to solve it.”
“Makes sense to me,” Ryan said.
“Well,” Amy said, warming up to the idea. “That plan almost completely backfired.”
“Yes. But I think he wanted you to investigate. He knew how good you are.”
Amy covered her face. “You’re embarrassing me now. And I might cry. And I already thought I might cry based on this surprise.”
They heard the front door open and then it was time for the surprise. Eva and Leila entered with Lilly, back from their walk with Dave and Cupcake. Lilly cheered at the surprise, but the older ladies were too stunned to respond at first.
Heather ushered them into the new and improved living room/guest room.
“Ta da!” Lilly cried.
“What did you do?” Eva finally asked.
“Well,” Heather explained. “With all the sleepover parties we’ve been having, I thought we needed a more fitting setting for it. Besides, I couldn’t let you ladies sleep on an air mattress for the next month.”
Eva and Leila wandered around the new layout. Heather had replaced a couch with a bed and rearranged the room to accommodate. It was a little cramped but overall would make for more comfortable nights.
“You didn’t have to do this for us,” Eva said.
“We wanted to. We can rearrange the pillows during the day, so it will be like a giant couch, and it will make for better sleeping arrangements at bedtime,” Heather said. “The only downside is that I don’t think we’ll be able to stop Dave from lounging on it from time to time.”
“I don’t mind that.” Leila joked, “It’s been a long time since I had a man in my bed. Especially one so hairy.”
Dave wagged his tail.
“The cost?” Eva said.
“My furniture is sharing a storage locker with your stuff. And I found a good deal on a bed that would fit this room.”
Eva was still touched and stunned. “But you already opened your home up to us.”
“We wanted you to know that this is your home too. You’re part of the family now, so even after your house is fixed, you’re still always welcome here. But until then, we wanted to make things as homey as possible.”
“Remember what you said you needed to make a house a home?” Amy asked, and pointed out a mirror on the wall.
“My mother’s mirror,” Eva said, tearing up.
“And we’ve added some photos from both of your collections to the walls,” Heather said.
They all admired the photos. Next to a school picture of Lilly were now pictures of Eva and Leila: Eva on her wedding day, Leila at a dance hall, Eva as a child with her mother and Leila in a festive Halloween costume. In the middle of all the photos was a recent photo of them all together: contentedly enjoying each other’s company with a pile of donuts.
“This is the nicest and kindest gesture,” Eva said. “I don’t know how to thank you.”
“How about by drying those tears and helping us decide what we should do for our sleepover tonight.”
Eva gratefully accepted a tissue and the offer. It seemed that the first activity of the evening was describing the photos to Lilly, and the night was sure to continue to be enjoyable.
Heather smiled, surrounded by the people she loved. It truly felt like home.
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
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Chocolate Chip Custard Murder: A Donut Hole Cozy Mystery - Book 46 Page 7