Blueberry Stars & Stripes Murder: A Donut Hole Cozy Mystery - Book 51

by Susan Gillard

  “How so?”

  “It was almost as if he wanted to walk right into it,” Holt said. “He knew the chair was there because he set it up, but then he crashed into it. I had told him not to bring that chair too, but he insisted.”

  “He was the one who insisted on the broken chair?”

  “I figured it was because he was drunk. But he wanted that particular chair,” Holt said. “I told him I had others in my car. Nice, comfy, non-broken ones. But he wanted that one. And look where it got him.”

  “Look where it got him,” Heather repeated, nodding. She was trying to give herself a moment to think. There was something important about this.

  “Was there anything else unusual you noticed when you arrived?”

  Holt thought about it. “Just that Jay decided to wear pants that night. Most of us had thought that it would be hot and wore shorts. But Jay was afraid of bugs in the field. Actually, he convinced Rossi that there would be bugs. Then he was drunk and upset about bugs. He had to borrow a pair of pants to wear too. But they weren’t exactly the same size, and then things became a competition about who was best in shape. I’ll tell you; this didn’t end up being a fun night for me.”

  “Once you arrived at six thirty, Jay never left the group?”

  “Maybe to go to the bathroom, but he was never gone long. He couldn’t have run off and committed a murder,” Holt said. “He was with the group at his house, in my car, at the bonfire, and going to the ambulance. Then the EMTs took over care for him.”

  “Thank you for all your help,” Heather said.

  She and Amy rose and started for the door. Just before they left, Heather turned back and said, “Maybe you should give Casey a call. She might feel the same way about you.”

  “Do you think so?” he asked, afraid to hope too much.

  Heather nodded. “And I think she could use a friend right now.”

  They left Holt looking hopeful and happy, though also a bit nervous. Heather felt happy that she could turn some part of this tragedy into something positive. Now she just needed to catch the killer.

  Chapter 16

  Heather sat at her kitchen table, so absorbed in thought that she almost ignored her donut. Dave and Cupcake kept reminding her of its presence as they would ask for a piece. Amy joined her at the table with a donut of her own and some more questions.

  “But how could Jay have killed her?” Amy asked.

  “If he killed around six, then a lot of other things fit into place,” she said thoughtfully.

  “Like what?” Ryan asked as he joined them, after letting their guests in. Jamie and Curtis said their respective hellos and sat down.

  Dave and Curtis eyed each other but then wagged their tails. It seemed that peace was made. They would work together to try and charm some donuts from the humans. Heather had to admit that it was working. She told herself that she was rewarding the animals for working together and gave them all a piece of delicious donut.

  Then she focused on the case again. “We’ve heard that drunk Jay Gwynn had a few things on his mind that he was very definitive about. He insisted on taking the broken chair to the bonfire even though his friend told him they had nicer chairs, and he kept telling the doctor he wanted a rabies shot.”

  “How do they fit together?” Amy asked. “Chairs and rabies?”

  “They tie together if you consider Jay’s injury. What if the cut on his leg started as an animal bite? That’s why he wanted the rabies shot. Now, what if this cut tied back to the murder scene, so he had to cover it up?”

  “Are you saying Curtis bit him?” Jamie asked.

  “I think so,” Heather said.

  “Well, I wouldn’t blame him,” Jamie said, petting the dog. “If someone had just killed his best friend, they deserve to be bitten.”

  “And Holt said that Jay was wearing pants that night,” Amy said. “It could have been to cover up the cut.”

  “Exactly. He needed stitches, but he also needed a new way to explain his cut. So he insisted on bringing the chair with jagged edges so he could cut himself in front of witnesses.”

  “The doctor said that the injury was consistent with a metal cut,” Ryan said.

  “And it would be,” Heather said. “Because he actually did cut himself again. And probably deeper than the dog bite to cover it up.”

  “Gross,” said Amy. “Then again, if he shot somebody then he’s not afraid of blood.”

  “But how could he think this sweet little thing had rabies?” Jamie asked.

  “And wouldn’t asking for a rabies shot potentially give away his new alibi?” asked Ryan.

  “My guess is that he wasn’t actually drunk when his friends first arrived at his house. He was pretending to bolster his alibi and make it convincing when he fell on the chair. However, once the other men were drinking, he had to actually start as well. He might have really been drunk at the hospital,” Heather said. “And the doctor dismissed his rabies ramblings as a drunk request, so asking didn’t hurt his alibi.”

  “Except when Heather Shepherd is on the case,” Amy said with gusto.

  They laughed but then Ryan brought them back down to earth. “It does make sense, but how did he do it? The neighbors didn’t hear a shot that early, and they would have.”

  This stumped Heather. “You’re sure that a silencer wasn’t used?”

  “The lab said that a silencer barrel wasn’t used on the gun. It would have left marks on the bullet.”

  “About the gun,” Amy said. “Where did that come from?”

  “Well, if Jay is the killer, then I think it was Lacy’s gun that he used,” Heather answered.

  “He did file a police report about it being missing like he said,” Ryan said. “But you think that was fake?”

  “It would be the easiest way for him to get a gun for the crime. He had an inkling that he might want to murder, so he faked the theft of Lacy’s gun. He got to act like a good guy when he handed his over to her for protection, but meanwhile, he was planning to use hers to kill her.”

  “I really don’t like this guy,” Amy said.

  “But,” Ryan said. “This is all conjecture. We don’t have any evidence. And we can’t place the killing before the loud fireworks.”

  They fell into silence, as they considered the possibilities.

  Then Jamie said, “Was there anything helpful in the baggies I prepared? From Curtis’s grooming?”

  “I do really appreciate what you did,” Ryan said. “But after Curtis traveling around, the dirt was too contaminated to be much help. The only interesting thing was a fiber from a blue piece of clothing.”

  “Could that be from the killer?” Heather asked.

  “It’s possible,” Ryan said. “Though it’s not much to go on. It could also be from something in Lacy’s wardrobe. She just wasn’t wearing blue when we found her.”

  Heather sighed. “I wish Curtis could talk. Then he could just tell us who the killer was.”

  “I bet he wishes that too,” said Jamie. “I’m sure he misses Lacy. But we have been having a good time together, haven’t we? And it’s a bit like home. The police were very kind and let him have some of his personal items.”

  “Like what?” asked Amy.

  “Actually, it was very official. They gave me a list,” Jamie said, showing her.

  “Food bowl, dog toy, brush,” Amy said, reading it off. “Wait a second. I don’t see a dog bed here. You have been letting him sleep on the bed.”

  “Is that really such a big deal?”

  “It’s a bad habit to get into.”

  “I think it’s sweet to have a loving dog at your feet,” said Jamie.

  “I think I won’t be able to sleep if I’m afraid of crushing a dog,” said Amy.

  “Wait,” Heather said. “What did you say?”

  “I wouldn’t intentionally crush a dog,” Amy said. “But I can’t be responsible for what I do while asleep.”

  “The police didn’t give Jamie a do
g bed?”

  “We didn’t find one in the house,” Ryan said. “Why?”

  “Because Casey said that Lacy didn’t let Curtis sleep on her bed. But she spoiled him too. She would have gotten him something to sleep on. Why is the pillow missing?”

  The gears started spinning.

  “Ryan, you said that a silencer barrel wasn’t used on the gun.”

  “Right.”

  “Could something else have softened the sound? Like a pillow?”

  “I was so caught up in the lab report that I wasn’t thinking about other possibilities,” Ryan said. “I think it could be possible.”

  “He had lived in the house, so he knew how important sound was. That’s why he planned this on the day of fireworks. He knew he could give himself an alibi for when we thought the murder occurred.”

  “He was also lucky the air conditioner was malfunctioning,” Amy said. “Going off and on, so the time of death was uncertain.”

  “The neighbors didn’t pay attention to what they saw on the street because they figured that they would hear anything important that happened,” Heather said. “Jay Gwynn snuck over to the house, used the dog bed to muffle the shot, and then headed home to give himself the perfect alibi.”

  “Can you find the dog bed?” Jamie asked.

  Heather frowned. “I’m sure he’s gotten rid of it by now.”

  “It all makes sense,” Ryan said. “But how can we prove any of this?”

  Before they could admit that they didn’t have a clue how to prove it, Curtis started growling out the window. Dave joined him for good measure.

  Heather had never seen Curtis so angry before.

  “Who’s outside?” she asked.

  Chapter 17

  “Everybody calm down,” Ryan said. “It’s not a killer out to get us.”

  “Who is it?” Heather asked as she peeked out the window.

  “After seeing the other air conditioner malfunction, I decided to call someone to check ours out for routine maintenance. With so many people in our house, it could be quite unpleasant if the air went out.”

  Heather nodded at that thought.

  “But why is Curtis so upset?” Jamie asked. He tried to calm the dog down, but Curtis continued to bark and growl with every ounce of his little body. Cupcake climbed onto Amy’s shoulder for safety.

  Heather looked at where Curtis was growling. His anger was directed to the heating and cooling repairman in blue coveralls. A thought occurred to her.

  “Ryan, why did you choose this company to come here?”

  “Actually,” he said. “I discovered them because Lacy had their business card in her house. Why? Is it important?”

  “I think it is,” Heather said. “Curtis can talk. He’s telling us who the killer is.”

  “The heating and cooling man?” Amy asked.

  “Well, not that heating and cooling man,” Heather said. “But someone in a similar uniform looks enough like him to put Curtis into this frenzy.”

  “That’s where the blue fiber came from,” Ryan said.

  “So I did help!” Jamie said, triumphantly.

  “The neighbor said that he might have seen a heating and cooling man repairman by Lacy’s house. He couldn’t quite remember when. He didn’t think it was important,” Amy remembered.

  “In this uniform, Jay Gwynn could have gotten close to her house the day of the murder without anyone noticing,” Heather said.

  “Except for Curtis,” Amy said.

  “And he might have gone to the house before. Maybe it wasn’t lucky that the air conditioner wasn’t working properly and confused the time of death. Maybe he orchestrated it.”

  “A cold-blooded killer,” Amy said.

  “What do you think?” Heather asked Ryan.

  Ryan nodded and then said, “I also think I need to tell this repairman to come back when he won’t give Curtis a heart attack.”

  When Curtis did calm down, they made sure to tell him what a good boy he was. He had helped them crack the case. He ended up as their star witness after all.

  ***

  “I don’t normally like to give out my customers’ information.”

  “What if it’s helping with a murder investigation?” Heather asked.

  “Then I’d be only too happy to help,” the man said with an expansive gesture. He pushed his glasses up his nose and pulled up the customer log at Costumes, Costumes, Costumes.

  Heather and Amy had been running around all day, as had Ryan and Detective Hoskins, investigating costume rental stores to see if Jay Gwynn had rented the heating and cooling repairman uniform from them. This was by far the sleaziest place they had visited that morning, but the man Mark behind the counter had been convinced to be helpful.

  “Let’s see,” he said. “We’ve had one rental for that blue repairman uniform. It was to a Jay Doe.”

  “Jay Doe?” Amy asked.

  “You’d be surprised how many Does and Smiths there are that come in here,” Mark said. “Many of our customers like to rent sexy uniforms for their partners. They’d rather use a pseudonym.”

  “And people find heating and cooling repairmen sexy?” Amy asked.

  “Well,” Mark said. “Some like it hot. Some like it cold.”

  “Forget I asked.”

  “If you two are interested in anything, I could give you a discount,” Mark said.

  “The only thing I’m interested in is finding a murderer,” Heather said.

  “Fair enough.”

  “Were you working when Jay Doe came in?”

  “I believe I was.”

  Heather showed him a picture of Jay Gwynn. “Is this him?”

  “Yes. It is,” Mark said. “You know he still hasn’t returned that costume. Could you add theft to the charges against him?”

  “We’ll look into that,” Heather assured him.

  They left the store, and Heather called Ryan. “We found out where he rented the costume. There’s an eyewitness,” she said. “We got him.”

  Chapter 18

  “What do you think?” Amy asked.

  “I think it feels like home,” Heather said.

  “This is the house you looked at on the Fourth of July?” Ryan asked.

  “It is,” Amy said. “So it’s only fitting that we continue our celebration today.”

  The landlord had graciously agreed to let Amy and Jamie invite everyone over to see their potential new house and have some festive donuts as a mini party. He might not have been expecting the big guest list that attended, that included Eva and Leia and Lilly, as well as the three pets. However, the landlord took it all in stride. He seemed like a kindly old man and graciously accepted a box of donuts as a thank you gift for letting them all assemble together.

  Heather was feeling happy all around. They had proved that Jay Gwynn was the murderer. When faced with the evidence of the rental costume, he had promptly confessed. Their advice had also reunited the friends of the former couple, Casey and Holt, who seemed destined to become more than friends. To top it all off, it looked as if Amy and Jamie had finally found their new home.

  “Is it official?” Heather asked.

  Amy and Jamie looked at each other and then nodded.

  “We’re going to take it,” Amy said.

  “Welcome to our new home,” said Jamie.

  “We’ll have an official housewarming when it’s all set up.” Amy joked, “So you can give us lots of presents.”

  “But this already seems perfect,” Jamie said. “Good friends and good desserts.”

  They all said “cheers” to that and broke open the donut boxes. Because they had not all been together on the Fourth of July, it was a good opportunity to enjoy some more Blueberry Firecracker Donuts.

  “Your landlord is such a lucky man,” Eva said. “He’s gaining a tenant who comes with donuts.”

  “As long as he doesn’t mind the murder cases that also come with it, we should be fine,” Amy said.

  “Don�
��t worry,” Jamie was telling Ryan. “I already talked to him about installing a security system here. We’re going to make sure it’s safe.”

  “It looks like a great house,” Lilly said. “Can we have sleepovers here sometimes too?”

  “Of course,” Amy said. “Though we might have to watch Beaches at all my sleepovers.”

  Lilly laughed but agreed. They all enjoyed some donuts and good company. Then Heather found a moment to talk to her bestie apart from the rest.

  “So, one step accomplished.”

  “That’s true,” Amy said.

  “Dave and Cupcake and Curtis are getting along now,” Heather continued. “And you seem much more attached to the dog now.”

  “That’s also true,” Amy said.

  “So,” Heather asked. “Is he joining the family?”

  “Well,” Amy said. “No. He’s not.”

  “I thought he won you over,” Heather said.

  “He did. But Lacy’s brother Lou wants to adopt him. And I think it will be good for both of them. Lou can feel like he has a part of his sister back. Curtis might find the family resemblance comforting. And they can both dote on each other.”

  “That probably is for the best,” Heather admitted.

  “But I have to admit,” Amy said, with a quiver in her voice. “I am going to miss the little guy.”

  Jamie joined them. “What’s going on here?”

  “Amy was just telling me about how Curtis was going to live with Lacy’s brother.”

  “Yeah,” Jamie said. “I’ll miss him though.”

  “I don’t think that’s all she was telling me though,” Heather said.

  Amy gave her a dirty look but then turned to Jamie. “No, she’s right. This whole experience has got me thinking about the future, and I would be ready to move to the next step with you. Sooner than I thought.”

  “Do you mean it?”

  “Yes. I would like to get a dog with you.”

  Jamie gave her a kiss. Heather smiled at her friends. They moved back into the center of things to enjoy some more celebratory donuts. Surrounded by friends and the walls of a new house that was sure to fill with happy memories, Heather couldn’t help but feel excited about the future; except, of course, for what Amy joked about next.