Heather thought back to that night. “Jacques cared about the preparation of his table.”
“That’s right,” said Amy. “That’s why he cared so much about being situated next to lowly donuts.”
"When I was at the Donut Delights table, he never let the trays get below half-filled. For the look of it," said Heather. "Before I left to go to get refills in
my donuts and found the body, I saw that there was still chocolate
on his table."
"Could the guests at the party have taken his samples so quickly?" asked Ryan.
"Or did somebody else take them?" asked Heather.
“Does this tie in with the chocolate in the ladies’ room?” asked Amy.
“Possibly,” said Heather, sighing. “I’m not sure if anything in this robbery scenario makes sense. Could the thief have come back and gotten the gold later?”
“I’m not sure,” Ryan said. “The Harts mostly use the hall for private events. It might not have been easy to get back in. But at the same time, if Magee didn’t do such a thorough search of his building after he returned from vacation, the gold might have been able to hide there for a while. We haven’t needed to turn the heat on lately.”
“I feel like I’m missing something,” Heather said. “Can we look at the evidence from the prep room again?”
“Sure,” Ryan said.
“And once we have this all cleared up, we can give you the Donut Delight boxes from evidence back,” said Peters.
“Our boxes,” Heather said, thinking.
"That is if you want them back," said Peters.
“We don’t need to look at the evidence again right now,” Heather said, turning to the group. “We need to talk to Jenny and Gerri again.”
“Are they guilty?” asked Amy.
“I think they are of theft, at least,” Heather said. “And we can ask them about the murder.”
Chocolate Crime
“You’re back,” Jenny said.
“Did you want some more of our fudge?” Gerri asked.
“No,” said Amy. “Though it was quite good.”
"We have some more questions about the night that Jacques O'Lot was murdered," said Heather.
“I don’t know what else we could possibly tell you,” said Gerri.
“What other questions could you have for us?” Jenny agreed.
“I was just wondering whether you were planning on extracting the gold from the chocolate you stole? Or if you planned it sell it as a luxury item?” said Heather.
Jenny and Gerri went pale simultaneously. They wandered into the house and sat down. The investigators followed. Heather and Amy sat next to the women while Ryan remained standing.
She had waited too long to have this response, but Jenny said, “We don’t know what you’re talking about.”
“Moose saw the two of you moving boxes throughout the night,” Heather pointed out.
“We told you,” Gerri said. “We just wanted to put out different types of chocolate fudge.”
“We were indecisive,” said Jenny.
"You were stealing samples from Jacques O'Lot's table," said Heather. "Little bits at a time. That's why you were coming and going. You were taking what you could from his table and packing it up with your fudge in your vehicle."
“I don’t think they can prove that,” Jenny said. “All they know is that we were moving some of our fudge boxes. It could be like we said.”
“My partner is obtaining a warrant now for your home and business,” Ryan said. “Based on the witnesses description of your movements, it shouldn’t be hard to get. He should be here soon.”
“Maybe we should tell them,” Gerri said, quietly.
“No,” said Jenny. “Then they’ll try and wrap us in with this murder business.”
Heather decided to explain how she figured out they were thieves to see if it would get them talking. “It was because we searched everyone’s bags before they left after the murder occurred that I realized that no one could have snuck out the chocolate then. But if you were moving boxes earlier in the night, it could have been easy for you to do it then.”
“It must have been too tempting to refuse,” Amy said. “A table full of gold. And since there were two of you, it would be easy to carry out.”
“Unfortunately for us, I think that because you were stealing at the time, it means that you can’t be the murderers,” said Heather.
“We should tell them,” Gerri said.
“All right,” Jenny said. “It’s true. We did take some of the candy. But we didn’t kill anyone.”
“And we didn’t think of it as stealing,” said Gerri.
“You didn’t think taking gold from someone’s table was stealing?” Amy asked, rolling her eyes.
“It was only some of his samples,” Jenny said. “He was giving it away to the guests anyway.”
"And we thought maybe we could be entitled to some gold after having to deal with Jacques O'Lot at these events every year," said Gerri.
“He could be insufferable. Not to speak ill of the dead.”
“And we were just taking little bits of chocolate from his table when he was distracted.”
“Until he was gone from the table for an extended period of time?” Heather asked.
Jenny and Gerri nodded.
“He seemed to be away from the table for a while,” Gerri said. “We thought he must be getting refills for his display so it would be the perfect time to take what was there.”
“He could assume that hungry guests took the samples,” said Jenny.
“We had no idea that he was being murdered.”
"While I was headed to the prep room to find the body," Heather said. "These two took his remaining chocolates from the table display and packed it up. They were finished before we began detaining guests and checking their bags."
“But why did you put the chocolate in the ladies’ room?” asked Amy.
“What?” asked Gerri. “We didn’t do that.”
“No,” said Jenny. “We put all the chocolate samples we took from his table and put it in my car.”
“Why would we put the gold infused chocolate in the bathroom?” asked Gerri. “That doesn’t make any sense.”
“No,” Heather said. “It doesn’t quite seem to.”
“What does this mean for the case?” asked Amy.
“It means that we found a pair of thieves, but we’re still missing a piece of the puzzle to catch the killer,” said Heather.
Hot Chocolate Ideas
“Are you okay, mom?” Lilly asked.
“Sure, I am,” Heather responded. “I’m just thinking about the case.”
“I was asking because it looks like you’re cooking something, and while your donuts are always amazing, not everything else turns out right. I wanted to make sure that you didn’t need help.”
Heather groaned. It was worse because her daughter was being sincere and not teasing her. For some reason, Heather's tremendous talents with donuts didn't transfer into other areas of the kitchen. Her Thanksgiving dinner attempts had been epic failures, and she had been known to burn toast.
“I’m making hot cocoa. And it’s going fine,” Heather said. She immediately hoped that she hadn’t jinxed herself by saying that out loud. “It’s pink too.”
“I love that,” Lilly said. “Do you think you could make other colors with cocoa too?”
“Maybe,” Heather said. “Like for other holidays? I like the idea of that. I’d have to work on it though.”
“No problem. Could we have the Pink Hot Chocolate Donuts to go with it today?”
“Of course,” said Heather.
Mother and daughter were soon joined by dog and cat, eagerly begging for a bite. Heather asked to hear all about what Bernadette had said when she babysat Lilly. She was pleased to hear that Bernadette was as impressed with her daughter's stories as she was. After they chatted for a while, Lilly picked up another donut.
“Do you min
d if I bring some donuts next door to Eva and Leila? I think they’re still feeling a little blue. Maybe some pink will help.”
“I think that’s a wonderful idea,” Heather said. “Tell them I’ll be over a little later too. I don’t want to miss a girls’ night.”
She helped Lilly with the donuts and then her phone rang. It was Luz.
“Hello,” Heather said. “Is everything all right?”
“Yes,” Luz said. “Everything was fine at the shop when I left. I’m home now. But I was talking to my husband about the case. And I think we have some information that is helpful.”
“Have you been doing some sleuthing, Luz?” Heather asked with a smile.
“Not exactly. I was complaining to my husband about how I felt bad that I couldn’t help with the case because I didn’t remember who was coming and going from their tables to the prep room. And then he said that he thought he did remember who was going where that night. He said while I was handing out donuts and telling people about the flavors he was people watching.”
“Why didn’t he tell us this before?” asked Heather.
“That’s exactly what I said! And he responded to me that I never asked,” Luz said with an exasperated laugh. “My husband is a man of few words, but I did get him to talk. And this is what he said about the other bakers’ movements. Are you ready?”
“Ready,” Heather said, after getting a piece of paper to take notes on.
“Now he didn’t know exactly where they went after they left his field of vision, but this is the direction they were headed. First, the girl from the cookie table headed towards the bathroom.”
“That’s Kayla.”
“She came back to her table. Then Jacques, the victim, headed towards the prep room and my husband never saw him return.”
“I suppose he wouldn’t,” Heather said. “That must have been right before Jacques was killed.”
“The big mousse man went towards the prep room. He wasn’t gone very long, and then returned. Then, the short lady with the mini cupcakes went to the prep room. He didn’t see exactly when she returned because one of the fudge ladies was walking back and forth in front of him. He didn’t see the fudge ladies head to the prep room, but he did see them walking around all over one at a time. Does that make any sense?”
“I think that does,” Heather said.
“He says he is sorry that he didn’t realize that you didn’t already have this information,” said Luz. “He hopes you won’t cut him off from donuts in the future.”
“I wouldn’t do that to him,” Heather said. “But I do have one more question.”
“Sure. I will ask him.”
“Could he see if someone traveled from the prep room to the bathroom?”
Heather heard as Luz moved the phone away from her ear and spoke to someone else. When Luz returned, she said, “He thinks it’s possible for someone to head down a separate hall and he wouldn’t have seen them moving back and forth.”
“Thank you,” Heather said. “Tell your husband he’s welcome to all the donuts he wants.”
“Don’t tell him that!” said Luz. “It will perpetually ruin his appetite for dinner.”
Heather smiled as she wished Luz a good night, but then she began frowning. She kept thinking about the case until Amy and Jamie came to visit.
“What are you frowning about?” Amy asked. “Did Jamie already show you his newest gadget?”
"I've just been thinking about the case," said Heather. "I might have gotten a timeline of everyone's travels the night of the murder, but if it's true then the only person who could have killed him is the person who couldn't have killed him."
“Did that make any sense to you?” Amy asked Jamie.
Jamie shook his head. “But that’s okay. Forget about the case for a minute and let me show you this really cool new device.”
“I thought you wanted to become more high-tech because you wanted to help your business,” Amy said. “You should either be getting devices to help you with dog grooming or with balancing your books. You don’t need all these random gizmos.”
“I’m becoming high-tech in all areas of my life,” Jamie said. “Including in the kitchen.”
“Uh-oh,” Heather said.
“Uh-oh is right,” said Amy.
“No. It’s really cool,” Jamie said. “I know you’ve been making a lot of hot chocolate lately.”
“It was the inspiration for a new donut,” said Heather.
“Well, no longer will you have to deal with pots and pans,” said Jamie. “Behold!”
He revealed his newest gadget.
“It’s a coffee maker?” Heather asked.
"No," Jamie said. "This is exclusively for hot cocoa, and it's very high-tech. See all the buttons on it? You can select the consistency and temperature and what type of chocolate. All I need to do it set it up for you and making cocoa will be a snap. Let’s see. I have the direction booklet here. It estimates setting up all the features will only take an hour.”
“An hour?” asked Heather.
“I’m sure it will be worth it,” Jamie said, placing it on the table. “Let me just set it up.”
“Try setting it in the trash,” Amy muttered.
Annoyed, Jamie turned around to face her. However, as he turned, he knocked the device off the table. He moved as quickly as he could to catch it but ended up catching it by its power cord.
“I’m sorry,” Amy said. “I thought it was dumb, but you really liked it. Is it broken?”
“The cord is loose from my pulling on it,” said Jamie. “Does that make it unsafe to use?”
“The cord is loose?” Heather asked.
“That’s right,” said Jamie.
“I need to look at the murder weapon,” she said. “I might have cracked the case!”
The Vent
"I'm glad the Harts decided to play along," Heather said thinking about the trap they set to catch the killer.
“You were so persuasive they didn’t have a choice,” said Ryan.
“I just hope this works,” Amy said. “Otherwise, we’re hanging out in a bathroom all day for no reason.”
“Yeah,” Detective Peters agreed. “And I don’t feel very comfortable in the ladies’ room.”
“It should be all set,” Heather said. “Teresa and Benedict told the bakers that they should come in today to get any supplies that they might have left at the Sweet-Hart event because of its abrupt ending. Everyone will have the chance to enter the building, and I think the killer will use the opportunity to get rid of the rest of the evidence.”
“Only Jenny and Gerri knew we mentioned the ladies’ room in relation to the crime, and they haven’t talked to any of the other bakers about it,” said Amy.
Ryan nodded. “Chief Chet agreed to a lesser charge for their candy robbery as long as they didn’t interfere with our plan.”
“What if someone comes in here just to use the facilities?” Detective Peters asked.
“Heather thought of that too,” said Ryan. “She had Teresa Hart tell all the female bakers that this restroom was going to be closed. That the water was shut off in here because they’re going to remodel it in a few days.”
“So, the killer will have to come back here to get the chocolate today,” said Amy. “Otherwise, the chocolate would be found when the renovation would begin.”
Heather shushed the others. “Shhh! I think I hear someone.”
They all remained silent as they heard someone in the hall. Slowly, the person opened the door and crept inside.
Annie froze when she saw others inside.
“What are men doing in the ladies’ room?” she asked.
“Waiting for a killer,” said Heather.
“What?” Annie asked. “That’s ridiculous.”
“No,” Heather said. “We know that you’re here to retrieve the chocolate you hid in the heating vent.”
“I’m just here to wash my hands.”
“In the bathr
oom that Mrs. Hart told you the water was turned off in?” asked Amy.
“That’s right,” Annie said. “I forgot about that. I guess I’ll go and find another restroom.”
"Annie, we know that you killed Jacques O'Lot," said Heather. "You coming here only further proves it."
“There were lots of people who hated Jacques. Why do you think it was me?”
“There were many people who had issues with Jacques,” Heather agreed. “And the bakers all had access to the room where he was killed. But you were the only one who was there at the right time.”
“There’s no way you could know that.”
“We have a reliable witness who gave us the order of everyone’s travels. After Jacques went to the prep room, there were two people who went in after him. Moose was there for a short time. And you.”
“Then Moose must have killed him. Jacques told me that Moose hated him.”
“If Moose killed him, then Jacques would have been dead when you went into the prep room after him. You would have said something.”
“No,” Annie said. “He was dead when I went to the prep room. Moose did kill him. I was just too afraid to say anything.”
"No," Heather said. "You were mad about your break up, and you were the one to hit him on the head."
“How could I even have done it?” Annie asked. “He was a tall man. And I’m so short. There’s no way I could have hit him on the head.”
"I have to admit that almost stumped me," said Heather. "I had thought that the killer held the handheld mixer by the handle and slammed it down on the victim's head. And if that were the case, then the killer would need to be tall. That would only have allowed for Moose."
“Or for the taller of the fudge ladies,” said Amy. “Which one was that? Jenny or Gerri? Well, either way, they weren’t by the prep room. They were stealing chocolates from the table.”
“Then Moose must have killed him,” said Annie.
"No," Heather said. "I realized how you did it when I saw how the cord on an appliance in my house became loose when the power cord was pulled on."
Pink Hot Chocolate & Murder Page 6