Peach Cobler Murder: A Donut Hole Cozy Mystery - Book 57

by Susan Gillard

  “I think so too,” said Heather. “But the bad guy did a really good job making it look like Mr. Rodney was guilty. He cleaned up all his own prints and evidence that he was there, and then he replaced it with things to point to Mr. Rodney.”

  “So how are you going to catch him?” Lilly asked.

  “That’s what we have to figure out,” said Heather.

  “We have a good idea of who the killer is,” Amy said. “Based on his relationship with the victim and his access to things to frame Rudolph Rodney.”

  “So if you know who it is, can you get him to confess to it?” Lilly asked.

  Dave barked in support of the idea, and Cupcake mewed to follow suit.

  “We spoke to him before,” Amy said. “And he wasn’t talking much.”

  “Except to tell us that he had been with his brother all night,” Heather said. “You father is looking into that alibi now.”

  “I bet together you can figure it out,” Lilly said and gave her mom a hug. Their hug was cut short by Heather’s phone ringing.

  “That’s him now,” she said, before answering the phone. “Were your ears ringing? We were just talking about you.”

  “Were you talking about the case too?” Ryan asked. “I have some interesting news.”

  “About Eric Brant’s brother?” Heather asked. “Did he confirm the alibi?”

  “Adam Brant said that they were together all night, but they were at his house. No one else saw them. And he couldn’t remember any details about what they did that night,” Ryan said.

  “A brother could lie for another brother,” Heather said. “That is interesting.”

  “There’s more,” Ryan said. “Guess who Adam Brant works for?”

  “Who?”

  “Lyle Clarke.”

  Heather had to keep from grinding her teeth. How many murders could be tied back to this horrible man?

  “Mrs. Shepherd, how many times are we going to meet like this?” Lyle Clarke asked as she and Amy were shown into his office. He showed her a toothy shark-like grin. He was completely unphased by the accusations she was hurling at him.

  “I suppose it depends on how many crimes you continue to commit in Hillside,” she said.

  “It seems every time there is a murder, you come in to visit me. I don’t think it ever plays out the way you’d like it to,” he said, smiling. “You always mistake me for some sort of monster. I’m sorry to disappoint you. All you’ll ever find is evidence of my being a friendly neighborhood businessman.”

  “We’re looking at other evidence right now,” Heather said. “About a murder.”

  “And who am I supposed to have killed this time?” Lyle Clarke asked. “A little old lady? A mean young man?”

  “A young woman named Mindy Montrose,” Heather said. “She was bludgeoned to death.”

  “I could never have done that,” Clarke said. “You know I don’t like to get my hands dirty.”

  “I know only too well,” Heather said. She knew that Lyle Clarke had orchestrated several deaths before, but they had never been able to gather enough evidence to convict him. His lackeys had been all too willing to take the blame for his evil deeds.

  Amy had been refraining from making any of her snarky comments and had just been focused on taking notes during the meeting. Heather could tell that she was nervous about this interview. Clarke was a dangerous man, and they had been annoying him lately. However, it also annoyed Heather that he thought that he could get away with murder.

  “Did you know Mindy Montrose?” Heather continued.

  “I don’t know anyone by that name.”

  “She was a waitress at Hannah’s Home Cooking,” said Heather.

  “I tend to visit places that are a little more upscale than that,” Lyle Clarke said. “That’s why I’ve never been able to visit your little bakery.”

  “That’s quite alright,” Heather retorted, “I wouldn’t want my customers to lose their appetites by your presence.”

  Clarke laughed.

  “I’ll miss these conversations when you leave Hillside,” he said. “Or are you leaving after all? I saw an article in the Hillside Reporter that you were going to leave us. But then I haven’t seen anything since they arrested your new investor.”

  “You’re telling us you never knew Mindy Montrose?” Heather asked. “She dated the brother of an employee of yours.”

  “Six degrees of separation,” he said, shrugging.

  “And the crime scene was set up to frame someone,” Heather said.

  “I can honestly say I’ve never met this victim,” Lyle Clarke said as if he were enjoying an inside joke with himself.

  “Do you know anyone who knows how to reset a crime scene?” Heather asked.

  “Delightful as this chat has been, I’m going to have to cut it short,” Clarke said. “I have work to do. None of my investors have been jailed for crimes.”

  “Yet,” Amy muttered.

  “Did you know Rudolph Rodney?” Heather asked.

  “All I know about him is that he was investing in your little business,” said Clarke. “Such a pity that isn’t going to work out. I bet you were excited about it.”

  “I’ll be more excited to see the killer of Mindy Montrose behind bars,” Heather said.

  “Good luck with that,” Clarke said. “I have a feeling you’re going to need good luck.”

  Chapter 16

  Heather was so mad when they left Clarke’s that she was practically shaking.

  “Don’t worry,” Amy said, as they walked to her car. “We’ll figure out another way to tie the Brant brothers to the crime and frame job.”

  “Clarke is behind it,” Heather said. “I know it, and I can’t prove it. He’s enjoying that.”

  “He probably enjoys a lot of terrible things,” Amy said. “Kicking puppies and things like that.”

  “But why did he kill Mindy Montrose?” Heather thought aloud. “I think I believe him when he said he never met her. He was too smug about saying that. Like he was proud to be telling the truth in a way we wouldn’t understand.”

  “So he really didn’t know Mindy Montrose?” Amy asked.

  “And she didn’t have any money. She didn’t have any worthwhile property. Ryan has been looking for some business connection to Clarke and can’t find any,” Heather said.

  “I don’t see why he would have her killed,” Amy said. “And why choose to kill her with a clock? It seemed like a crime of passion with what was available in the room. But I guess the crime scene was so altered when they changed it to frame Rudolph that something might be off.”

  “The medical examiner did confirm that the clock was the murder weapon,” Heather said. “But you might be on to something.”

  “What something is that?”

  “That Clarke wouldn’t have chosen to kill her that way.”

  “Meaning what?” Amy asked.

  “Maybe Clarke didn’t put a hit on her.”

  “Nice pun,” Amy said.

  “It wasn’t intentional,” Heather said.

  “And I thought we just decided that this frame had Lyle Clarke written all over it. It was almost professionally staged. It almost tricked us. And Lyle Clarke employs Adam Brant. That can’t be a coincidence.”

  “It’s not,” Heather said. “It’s both at once. Here’s what I think happened. Eric Brant killed Mindy Montrose that night. She let him inside, and he freaked out like he did in the restaurant that one day. He killed her.”

  “So Clarke didn’t tell him to do it?”

  “No,” Heather said. “Eric Brant killed her on his own. But then he called his brother for help. Adam Brant turned to the person he knew could help them – his boss, Lyle Clarke. Clarke told them how to clean up the crime scene and that they should frame someone else. Lyle Clarke chose Rudolph Rodney as the man to frame.”

  “But why?”

  “That’s what really bugs me,” Heather said, angrily. “I think he chose Rudolph Rodney as the perso
n to frame to get to me.”

  “It might be working,” Amy admitted.

  “He wanted to ruin an opportunity for my business and to hurt my new friend,” Heather said. “But he made a big mistake. By doing this, he’s keeping me in Hillside. And as long as I’m in Hillside, I won’t stop trying going after him.”

  Heather and Amy returned to the crime scene with fresh eyes. This time they knew that they were looking for something that the Brant brothers would have overlooked while cleaning the house and framing Rudolph Rodney.

  “What could they have forgotten?” Heather asked. “Something that Lyle Clarke wouldn’t have thought to tell them to do.”

  “This is tough,” Amy said. “We’re not looking for evidence of a murder now. We’re looking for evidence of covering up the real crime scene.”

  Heather went down a list in her head. “The forensic team searched for prints all over the room. There weren’t any prints on the clock, none on the plates and silverware, except for the glasses.”

  “This kitchen is much cleaner than mine,” Amy said. “I bet the Brants cleaned it up to make sure there was no evidence that Eric had been there.”

  “Your kitchen isn’t clean?” Heather teased. “You just moved in.”

  “I know, I know,” Amy said. “I need to unpack my cleaning supplies.”

  “What are we missing?” Heather asked aloud. “We know they cleaned the house. We know they set up the table. We know they added the hair.”

  She scanned the room. Then her eyes fell on the cabinet under the kitchen sink.

  “Do you think the forensic team searched under there?” Heather asked.

  Amy carefully opened the door.

  “It’s just cleaning supplies,” Amy said.

  “I think we better call the forensic team back in,” Heather said. “I think it’s just possible the killers could have made a mistake.”

  Chapter 17

  Heather was happy to be at the interrogation table with someone besides Rudolph Rodney on the other side of it. She, Ryan and Amy were seated on one side, and the Brant Brothers were on the other. Eric Brant was crossing his arms, and hiding his face with his long bangs. Adam Brant also had dark hair and looked angry at having been brought to police headquarters.

  “Should we get a lawyer?” Eric asked.

  “Not yet,” Adam told him. “If this goes any further, my boss will get us a lawyer. But right now we’re just answering some questions. They won’t be able to prove we did anything because we didn’t.”

  “Right.”

  “Wrong,” Heather said. “We did discover something.”

  “What?” Eric asked. “You can’t prove we killed Mindy.”

  “I didn’t even know her,” Adam said. “I knew that Eric had dated her a while ago. But I never met her, and I certainly wasn’t in her house.”

  “Your perfect crime wasn’t perfect,” Heather continued. “You did make us consider Rudolph Rodney for a while, and I guess it was your misfortune that he ended up having a solid alibi. Perhaps when you plan to frame someone, you should do your homework on them, instead of trying to pin the blame on who your employer wants to hurt.”

  “How do you know this guy you’re talking about didn’t do it?” Adam asked. “Alibis can be faked.”

  “Sometimes they can,” Heather admitted.

  “Like when a family member vouchers for another,” said Amy.

  Eric shot Adam a dirty look.

  “But records and eyewitness accounts of car sightings are harder to fake,” Heather said. “We know where Rudolph Rodney was that night, and we know he wasn’t at Mindy Montrose’s house. But you were.”

  “You don’t know that,” Adam said.

  “You can’t prove that,” said Eric.

  “We can,” Heather said. “Because you made a little mistake. You were very careful about cleaning up the crime scene. Wiping your prints off of the murder weapon. Bleaching the kitchen to erase any trace that you had been there. Making sure none of your hair had fallen on the floor.”

  “But not careful enough,” Amy said.

  “There was one thing you forgot to clean your prints off of,” Heather said.

  “You’ll feel silly when you hear this,” said Amy.

  “You forgot to wipe your prints off of what you used to erase all the other evidence of you in the house. You didn’t clean the cleaning supplies.”

  “That doesn’t mean anything,” Adam said, trying to come up with a solution. “Maybe Eric helped her clean when they were dating before. That’s when his prints got there.”

  “But when did your prints get there?” Heather asked. “You told us that you had never been in her house before.”

  The brothers didn’t know what to say to that.

  “Based on this physical evidence and the corresponding testimony of seeing you at the restaurant the following day, we believe we have a strong case,” Ryan said. “However, we would be willing to talk to the district attorney and ask for leniency if you cooperate.”

  “Cooperate with what?” Eric asked.

  “With nothing,” Adam said. “No thanks.”

  “We want to know if anyone else was involved in the cover up of this crime,” Ryan said. “We believe there was.”

  “There was no one else,” Adam said.

  “Maybe there was,” Eric said, appealing to his brother. “They could get us a deal.”

  “That’s not the sort of deal we want,” Adam responded.

  “Did your boss help you cover up the murder?” Heather asked. “Was it his idea to frame Rudolph Rodney?”

  “He didn’t have anything to do with it,” Adam said. “Mr. Clarke doesn’t know anything about criminal activity. Even if I had told him about this, which I didn’t, he wouldn’t have known what to do.”

  “If you don’t tell us the complete truth,” Ryan said. “We won’t be able to help you.”

  “Come on,” Eric said. “Let’s tell them. We don’t want to go to jail forever for murder.”

  “You’ll go for murder,” Adam said, completely losing his cool. “You’re the one who killed her. Then you went and got me involved in this mess. I was trying to help you, and now you’re about to get us killed.”

  “Did you just say that if you testify about Lyle Clarke, he’ll have you killed?” Heather asked.

  “No,” Adam said. “You’re putting words in my mouth. I didn’t say that.”

  “You don’t have to be scared,” Ryan said. “As long as you tell us the truth we can protect you.”

  “The only thing I’m going to tell you is that now I do want a lawyer,” said Adam. “He’ll get me off on a reduced charge already. I didn’t kill anyone.” Then, he folded his arms and closed his lips. He was done talking.

  However, Eric wanted to keep talking.

  “I didn’t kill anyone on purpose,” Eric said. “It was an accident.”

  Adam kicked his brother under the table, but Eric kept going. “She let me inside. I thought we were going to get back together. But then she told me it was over again. Why did she do that to me? She just made me so mad. I grabbed the clock from the wall. I wasn’t thinking. I wasn’t planning on it. I didn’t mean to kill her.”

  “And what did you do after you killed her?” Ryan asked.

  “I called Adam and asked him what to do. And Lyle Clarke gave us advice. I’ll testify against him. I will.”

  They had never gotten so close to proving Clarke’s guilt. Heather wanted to be happy but was still afraid it would slip through her fingers again.

  “He told us to frame the Rodney guy. It was his idea,” Eric said.

  “How do you know that?” Adam asked.

  “You spoke to him,” Eric said. “He told you what to do.”

  “Did you ever hear his voice? Or speak to him directly? Or see him?” Adam asked.

  “No,” said Eric. “But you told me it was him. You said he was an expert at this sort of thing. That he would make sure we weren’t caugh
t.”

  “I wasn’t talking to him,” Adam told them all. “I was just trying to reassure you. I came up with a story to get you to keep calm. I never talked to Lyle Clarke at all.”

  “You talked to him on the phone,” Eric said.

  “I called a burner phone,” Adam said. “I didn’t actually talk to anyone. I just wanted you to think I was talking to somebody.”

  Heather felt that it was indeed slipping away from her again. Someone was willing to testify against Clarke, and it was being undermined from the get-go. She was certain that if they checked the phone records for Adam Brant’s phone the calls would be listed as going to a burner phone. They wouldn’t be able to prove that Clarke had picked up.

  “Now just be quiet,” said Adam. “And we’ll get you a good lawyer too.”

  “Did you actually hear Lyle Clarke’s voice?” Ryan asked.

  “No,” Eric said. “But I know it was him.”

  “How?” Adam asked.

  “I don’t know how to prove it,” Eric said. “But I know it was him.”

  Heather shook her head. That was the problem that she kept running into herself. She was happy that soon these two criminals would be off the streets, but it looked like Lyle Clarke was going to be roaming them a little bit longer.

  Chapter 18

  “I hope he comes,” Rudolph Rodney said. “An out-of-jail celebration wouldn’t be the same without him.”

  * * *

  “I’m sure Roadkill Rodney will come,” Heather said.

  * * *

  “He’s your family,” Eva agreed. “Regardless of how annoyed he was, he should be pleased that you’re out of prison.”

  * * *

  “Hear, hear,” said Rudolph. “Let’s have a toast to that. But in more fitting toast, let’s raise our donuts up.”

  * * *

  Heather smiled. Everyone had gathered in her home for a small celebration. They were celebrating Heather solving the case, Rudolph Rodney being cleared of all wrongdoing, and that the move to Key West was back on. Heather stood with Ryan. Lilly was with Eva and Leila and the pets. Amy was standing next to Jamie who had dressed up in a suit again. The other guest in the room was Cicada Katie, who was feeling a bit out of place.