Martha Rizzo pursed her lips into a wrinkled prune. “And you need my help?” She asked.
“Your cooperation would be appreciated,” Heather replied, evenly.
An inner war rattled behind those wireframe glasses. Martha Rizzo glanced down at her book, then up at Heather again. “I was in the middle of a really good part,” she said.
Amy folded her arms across her chest. Her lips writhed. Her bestie didn’t think much of the response.
“All right, all right,” Martha said and marked her place with a slip of paper. Light glinted from the square ring on her middle finger.
A diamond ring. Heather’s heart skipped a beat. “That’s a lovely ring,” she said.
“This old thing?” Rizzo asked. “I’ve had it for years. Family heirloom. Anyway, what did you want to ask me?”
“You were here on the day of the murder, correct?” Heather asked.
The group of teens wandered past, back out the front door, whispering to each other and joking around. Silence fell after their exit. The sanctity of the library resumed.
“Yes, I was here. I heard the crash when the bookcase fell over,” Rizzo said and adjusted her glasses between two fingers. “If you ask me, Helena Chadwick asked for it.”
“What? What do you mean?”
“She was in trouble,” Martha said and leaned toward the front of her counter. She pressed both palms to the top of her book. “She came in here each morning looking paler than she did the last. I’m telling you, someone was after her.”
“You saw someone hanging around?” Heather asked.
“Oh yes,” she said. “A guy with a Mohawk. I asked Helena about him once, and she just kind of, well, she gave me this look which gave me the creeps. Like I’d crossed the line,” Martha said and creaked back in her chair. “She was dangerous.”
“Dangerous.”
“That’s right. She had a history, and I wasn’t happy when she joined us at the library. Having a history like that brings trouble. I was right, wasn’t I?” Rizzo said. “I’m always right about things like this.”
“And so modest,” Amy whispered, loud enough for just Heather to here.
“All I can say is I know trouble when I see it, and whatever Helena landed herself in was the kind of trouble that stuck. It followed her from wherever she came from. Dallas, I think.”
Heather made a note of it. She’d have to check that out later. Ryan hadn’t been able to find Helena’s next of kin, yet. The woman’s history wasn’t shady. It was pitch black.
“Thanks for your time, Miss Rizzo,” she said.
“Uh-huh. Just you be careful, now,” Martha replied and flipped open her book.
Heather shuddered in spite of the ‘care’ in the sentence.
Chapter 10
Dave curled up in Eva Schneider’s lap and snored, happily. He flicked one ear to dismiss an imaginary fly, then settled again. Eva’s small hands stroked the back of his furry neck. “A ring?” She asked.
“That’s right,” Heather replied. “She wore a ring. A diamond ring. Now that I know the diamonds are relevant, they keep popping up everywhere I go.”
“That’s easy to say if you went to a jewelry store,” Amy said. She rammed her thumb into the button on the side of the DVD player. A new one which Eva had bought along with a small, flat screen TV.
“Are you having trouble dear?” Eva asked.
“I’m going to give this thing trouble in a second,” Amy replied and poked the button again.
Lilly clattered around in the kitchen. Heather had offered to help her make the hot chocolate, but Lilly liked doing it on her own. Cooking and baking were two things she’d for which she’d developed a passion.
“You think I’m being unreasonable about the diamond ring?” Heather asked.
“It’s difficult to say,” Amy replied, and gave a triumphant battle cry. The DVD tray slid out from the side of the machine. “Think about it. We don’t know what shape Helena’s engagement ring was. There might not be a connection between her ring and Martha Rizzo’s.”
“But there are so many diamonds,” Heather said and massaged her forehead. “It’s like I’m seeing signs.”
“As long as you’re not hearing voices,” Amy replied.
“Only yours Ames, and that’s enough to drive anyone crazy.”
Amy stuck out her tongue and inserted the DVD into the tray. She pressed the button again, but the thing didn’t close. “Oh for heaven’s sake.”
Heather rolled her tongue along the back of her teeth. She smacked her lips. “Eva, you’re sure you didn’t see Martha anywhere near the bookcases?”
“No dear, I’m not sure at all. I saw her go back past them and toward the Ancient History section, which is in the back, nowhere near the crime scene, per say. After that, I didn’t look out for her, anymore,” Eva said. “I’m sorry.”
“Don’t worry about it,” Heather replied. “How could you have known it would matter at the time?”
But the diamonds, they did matter.
“The diamonds don’t matter,” Amy said as if she’d read Heather’s mind.
“Don’t make me fight you, woman.” Heather rapped her knuckles on her forehead. Eva’s sofa was even comfier than hers, but she couldn’t settle into its floral-upholstered arms without thinking this through.
Lilly whistled a tune in the kitchen and Dave’s ears flick-flacked. He let out a muted, sleepy bark. A ‘ruff’ of acknowledgment.
“Tell me about the diamonds,” Eva said.
Amy kept her silence, for once.
“Mr. Krakowski, the jeweler, was robbed a few days before Helena’s murder, and when we went to speak to him, he claimed that she’d robbed him,” Heather said. “You didn’t see him in the library. Right?”
“No. I would’ve recalled the top hat,” Eva said – the woman with her thumb on the pulse of Hillside high, low, and middle society.
“And Helena had a diamond tennis bracelet on her arm. An item that may have been stolen from his store,” Heather said.
“Where does the ring fit in?” Eva asked, and stroked Dave again. Her blue hair bobbled each time she talked or moved.
“The ring, well, it seems someone removed Helena’s ring from her finger,” Heather said.
“Removed? Maybe she took it off herself,” Amy said and poked the button over and over again.
“Maybe. Or maybe, the ring on Martha’s finger is the one and same. She might’ve stolen it from Helena,” Heather said.
“But what’s that go to do with the robbery at the jewelry store?” Eva asked.
Heather opened her mouth to reply but stalled. She wriggled her nose. “I – I don’t know. I’m stumped.”
“That’s because it’s not relevant. I’m the first to tout your investigative prowess, Mrs. Shepherd,” Amy said and mashed the button again. “But this time, I think you’re reaching. I think you’re frustrated by the lack of evidence.”
“You’re not wrong there,” Heather said.
The DVD tray finally slid closed and loaded. “Ha! Success!” Amy said, and Dave woke up fully this time.
He let out a terrific bark.
“Shush,” Eva said and tickled his ribs.
Dave quieted under her gentle touch.
“I’ll figure it out,” Heather said. “I just need more time. And more evidence. And more motive.”
“With a side order of onions,” Amy said.
“Ew, who wants onions?” Lilly traipsed into the room, carrying a tray of mugs, filled to the brim with hot chocolate. Tiny white pillows bobbed on the surface – mini-marshmallows to complete the drink.
“Not me,” Heather replied. “Those look delicious.”
Lilly handed a mug to each of the adults, then settled down beside Heather. Cupcake hopped up beside her and curled into a ball, purr mode activated.
“There, it’s starting,” Amy said and hurried to her seat.
The title screen of Stardust flashed onto Eva’s TV. Heather
focused on the movie, but her eyes glazed over.
Diamonds. Diamonds everywhere. Why couldn’t anyone else see them?
Chapter 11
Lilly dawdled down the porch stairs, her backpack in one hand and a bottle of iced tea in the other. She yawned without blocking it.
“Didn’t sleep well?” Heather asked, and unlocked the Chevrolet with a click of a button.
“No,” Lilly said. “I think I’m too excited for Nicolas’ party. I think about it all the time. I want him to be happy.”
“He will be, hon.”
“I wish he went to the same school as me,” she said and yawned again.
Heather opened the driver’s side door, and Lilly opened hers too. They slipped into their seats and grabbed their belts, then clicked them into place. Lilly fumbled with hers a little, then sat back.
“Do you think those kids are happy?” She asked. “The ones at the shelter.”
Heather started the car but didn’t pull out of the drive just yet. “That’s difficult to say. I think they’re happier than they were before they arrived at the shelter.”
“I guess,” Lilly said and shrugged.
Heather’s mind scratched for an answer. Her daughter had grown so much in the short months she’d lived with them. Lilly had changed mentally, and she’d sprouted up a few inches, too.
Vague, watered down answers wouldn’t satisfy her. Her father had been a murderer after all – Heather had been the one to discover that.
“All right,” Heather said and checked her seat belt. “You tell me something, Lils. Were you happier after you started living with Bill and Colleen?”
“I was happier there than before I was there,” Lilly said, darting around the mention of her biological father. “I’m the happiest now because I have you and Dad, and Ryan and Cupcake, and Amy and Eva and… and everyone.”
“Because you love everyone and everyone loves you,” Heather said.
“Yeah, that’s right. So, maybe there are people at the shelter who love the kids too.”
“Well, think about what the word ‘shelter’ means,” Heather replied, and made a cradle out of her arms. “It’s to shelter someone. To care for them. The kids there are cared for. They’re loved in their own way, and that’s better than where they came from.”
“You’re right,” Lilly said and grinned at her. “I just wish they could have as much love as I do.”
Heather glanced in her mirrors, and checked her blind spots, then reversed out of the drive. “That’s the thing you have to remember,” she said. “Everyone has their journey in life. They have their own little adventure to lead. All you can do is stay on your path and if you encounter anyone else, you try to help them out a little. Make their journey a little easier.”
They drove down the road in silence. Lilly’s slurped some iced tea out of her bottle and smiled at nothing in particular, her mood lighter after their little chat.
Heather turned right and cruised down a side road, past a few stores on the way to Lilly’s school.
She slowed for the red light and Lilly switched on the radio.
Heather bobbed her head in time to the music and scanned the road, the sidewalk and –
She withheld a gasp.
Jones Krakowski stood just ahead of them, past the light, his arms folded across his chest, top hat nowhere in sight. He glared directly at Martha Rizzo, the librarian.
Why were they together? Jones hadn’t mentioned Martha and vice versa. Could the diamond ring have come from Krakowski’s jewelers after all?
“Uh, mom?” Lilly tapped her on the arm.
“What is it, honey?” Heather asked, without tearing her gaze from the unsuspecting pair.
Martha folded her arms and took a step back, tears in her eyes.
“The light’s green,” Lilly said, just as a car honked its horn behind them.
“Oh shoot, sorry.” Heather drove off down the road and flicked her gaze up to the rearview mirror to catch a glimpse of the librarian and her jeweler friend. Or were they enemies?
Too many variables. Too many questions.
“I’d like to help bake the donuts for Nicolas’ party on Sunday,” Lilly said, from the passenger’s seat.
Krakowski turned his back and marched off down the sidewalk. Neither of them had seen Heather.
“Is that okay, mom?”
Heather switched her gaze from the rearview back to the road. “Of course. We can make them on Saturday in Donut Delights. You can pick the flavor. What does your friend like?”
“He likes chocolate. I think he’d like those Hot Chocolate Glazed ones you made before Christmas,” Lilly said. “Maybe we could make some Strawberry Creams, too.”
“Classic,” Heather said. “We can do that.” She focused on her daughter’s words and the road. She had to force what she’d seen out of her mind until later otherwise she’d lose concentration, and that’d be dangerous.
Heather put on her indicator, turned right, and then stopped in front of Lilly’s school. “Have fun, darling,” she said.
Lilly reached across and gave her a side hug. “See you later alligator,” she said. She opened the car door, grabbed her back, and then hopped out into the sunny morning.
The storm clouds had dissipated overnight. No lightning, no rain, and Heather had developed a killer sinus headache to add insult to injury. She waved goodbye to her daughter.
“What were they doing?” Heather whispered. “Why were they together?” She punched the off button on the radio and cut out the croon of a pop singer. Probably not Britney Spears, but someone similar.
“Why?” She sat a moment longer. The school bell rang, and the kids disappeared inside. The parking spaces around her cleared of the Volvos and Audis. Everyone was off to work, but here she sat.
Heather shook her head to clear it of the deluge of questions. She started the car and checked her rearview mirror.
They’d been up to something, all right, and Heather would have to figure out what it was. First, however, she had to get to work and make a few donuts for the hungry masses in Hillside.
Those Pecans wouldn’t sprinkle themselves.
Chapter 12
Heather tied on her Donut Delights apron and smiled at the glazed beauties beneath the glass in front of her. Her grandmother would’ve loved the place. It was only a pity she’d never gotten to see it or bake in the kitchen.
She’d only just managed to force Krakowski and the librarian from her mind. It might’ve been a coincidence, or it might be something deeper, but she didn’t have time to ponder it.
Donut Delights wouldn’t run itself.
The kitchen doors barged open, and Jung rushed out of them, chased by a cloud of donut and vanilla scents. “Heather,” he said and waved. “I’m glad you’re here.”
“Me too,” she replied and punched buttons on the coffee machine. She brought out two cups and placed them under either spout. “Coffee?”
“Not for me, thanks,” Jung said. “I’ve got good news, though.”
“Lay it on me.”
“I’ve been speaking with a few web developers. The kind who develop professional looking sites, and I think I can get one of them to do our site for a little less than his usual price,” Jung said. He mimed firing an arrow into a bull’s eye.
“Jung, that’s fantastic!” Heather clapped her hands. “Oh wow, that will definitely help us increase our online orders.” They’d dropped a little in that department of late, and Heather had had difficulty figuring out why.
She brought her steel silver beaker out from its spot and placed it beneath the milk frothing machine.
“Yeah, I’ll speak to him about it and ask for a quote,” Jung replied. “The minute I get more information, I’ll let you know.”
“Thank you so much,” Heather said. “I really appreciate this.” And it was the last thing she’d expected. She hadn’t asked Jung to go ahead and find out more about the website.
A mere suggestion from t
he other assistants had chased him off in that direction. Ken had also made a big deal of carrying his camera around lately, and she’d caught him capturing a few snaps of the building from different angles.
No doubt, he was in on the whole website thing too.
“I’d better get back,” Jung said and waved. He straightened his apron and strode back toward the kitchen doors.
Heather bent and grabbed the milk from the bar fridge, then straightened and sloshed it into the beaker. The great bonus of owning a donut and coffee store was the lifetime supply of donuts and coffee.
Cappuccinos remained Heather’s favorite beverage, despite her new love of Chai tea. Heather made to turn on the milk frothing machine and fill the interior of her store with its buzz.
The front door crashed open, and the bell above it tinkled. A couple of shrieks cut through the rumble of chatter and coffee sipping. Customer’s who’d been spooked.
Heather narrowed her eyes at the source of the disturbance.
Kate Laverne strode between the wrought iron tables and chairs, her gaze liquid fire. “Shepherd,” she said, the sibilant words tickled Heather’s nerves.
“You again?” Heather asked.
Amy would’ve had a field day with this one, but Heather had given her the morning off, along with Emily and Maricela.
“I’ve come to warn you, Shepherd,” Kate said.
“You’re always here to warn me, Kate. I’ve gotten bored of it. You don’t have anything interesting to say?” Heather’s finger itched toward the milk frothing machine’s black dial.
She’d have loved to tune Kate out, but she owed her customers a peaceful atmosphere, and the minute the buzz of the machine sounded, Kate would match it with a few choice screams of her own.
“Go ahead,” Heather said, in her best Clint Eastwood impression. “Make my day.” Amy would’ve been so proud.
“You’re not going to let my store in on the action at this fair of yours, correct?”
“For once, Kate, you are correct,” Heather said. “Congratulations.” She couldn’t help her anger at this woman. She’d burst in where she wasn’t wanted and demand things she couldn’t have.
Pecan Nut Crunch Murder: A Donut Hole Cozy Mystery - Book 35 Page 4