Strawberry Sprinkled Swirl Murder: A Donut Hole Cozy Mystery - Book 49

by Gillard, Susan

  “We have heard of Mr. Worthers, but we didn’t come specifically to see him.”

  Heather nodded. Even though these two guests had made their reservation after Norton Worthers was announced, it did seem that they were not overly interested in seeing him. It was obvious that they were more interested in spending time together away from their office. Still, she had to make sure that there were no connections between these two and the victim.

  “Had you ever met Mr. Worthers before?” She asked.

  “No,” Mike said. “I knew he was very successful. But I had never met him before.”

  “I still don’t think we ever met him,” Rachel said. “We saw him in the lobby before, but he didn’t speak to us. I don’t think he spoke to anyone.”

  “He did seem rather aloof,” Mike agreed. “He didn’t nod or wave a greeting to anyone ins passing. That’s usually the sort of thing you’d do at a small hotel.”

  “He looked like he didn’t want to be bothered with anyone.”

  “I suppose he could have been tired. He might have traveled far.”

  “He did brush off the one guy who tried to approach him,” Rachel said, thinking. “A bland sort of man. He had a notebook during the breakfast.”

  “He brushed him off?” Heather asked.

  “Yes,” Rachel said, remembering. “The man had been sitting in the lobby. When Mr. Worthers was checking in, he got up to try and talk to him. Mr. Worthers gave a sort of non-reply and hurried off to his room.”

  “Did the man look angry?” Heather asked. She checked to make sure that Amy was taking notes. This might be important.

  “I think he looked more sad,” Rachel said.

  Mike nodded as he recalled the scene as well. “He looked crushed. Like he had failed at something.”

  “Thank you for your help,” Heather said. “If we have any more questions, we will be in touch.”

  “Of course,” Rachel said. She and Mike exchanged a look. They both had a guilty look in their eyes, but Heather thought it didn’t have anything to do with the murder.

  “You don’t have to tell our office about this, do you?” Mike asked.

  Chapter 9

  Heather and Amy decided that they talk with Rachel Wright and Mike Delon had given them some useful information. While at first, they thought that the only thing they had uncovered was an interoffice affair, their comments about Norton Worthers’s behavior in the lobby might give them insight into his habits. If he was avoiding talking to people, it might be unlikely that he would open his door to someone in the middle of the night. They had also told them about how the man with the notebook had been dismissed by Norton Worthers before he had been killed. The man with the notebook just happened to be Gary Gray, the only other guest who had made a reservation after the new speaker had been announced.

  They found Gary Gray in his hotel room, holding a box of tissues.

  “Can I help you?” He asked after he opened his squeaky door.

  “We hope so,” Heather said. “I’m Heather Shepherd, and this is Amy Givens. We’re working with the Hillside Police in their investigation.”

  “You’re private investigators? They brought you in to help too?” He asked.

  Heather nodded.

  “Good,” he said. “They need as many people as possible working on this case. They need to figure out who did that to poor Mr. Worthers.”

  She refrained from telling him how much they consulted with the police on their cases, and let him think that the Worthers case was getting special attention. If he wasn’t the murderer and really was only a big fan, then this might endear them to him. If he was the killer and knew that there were many investigators on his trail, he might realize that his ability to fool them all was impossible and might confess.

  “It’s such a travesty,” Gary Gray said as he let them into his room.

  He had only been in the hotel for a day, so his belongs were still mostly packed up. He was a neat man though who had lined his shoes up in the closet.

  “I don’t know why anyone would want to hurt him,” Gary said.

  “You were friends with the victim?” Heather asked.

  They tried to figure out the proper seating arrangements, but there were not many options in the small room. In the end, Amy sat in the chair so that she could type up the notes for their questioning. Gary Gray sat at the end of his bed, and Heather leaned against the small table. She supposed this made her look more intimidating if she needed to ask tough questions. She could tower over Gary Gray if need be.

  However, Gary already looked small and sad. He held his box of tissues close to him and sighed.

  Heather repeated her question. “Were you friends with Norton Worthers?”

  “Oh, I wish,” Gary said. “I never formally met the man. But he was my hero.”

  “We heard that you tried to approach him in the lobby, but that he wouldn’t speak to you,” Heather said.

  “That’s true,” Gary said, sadly. “I shouldn’t have done that. I was so excited to see him that I waited in the lobby for him to check in. I thought he would be so busy with his business, that he would only be able to check in the night before. If he had checked in earlier, I suppose I would have wasted my time. But it didn’t feel like wasting it at the time. I was so excited and so nervous.”

  “But then he wouldn’t speak to you?”

  “I timed everything wrong. I should have realized that an important busy many like him would have things to do. He was tired from his travels and just wanted to get to his room. I shouldn’t have approached him. I just wanted to introduce myself and tell him how excited I was for his talk. But instead, I embarrassed myself. He was curt and walked away. I shouldn’t have bothered him.”

  “Did it make you angry?” Heather asked. “That he ignored you?”

  “No,” Gary said. “Not angry. I felt stupid.”

  “Did you see Mr. Worthers again?”

  “No. I was waiting for his talk, but he never made it. You know that. Someone cut him down in his prime of life. It’s so unfair. The world was deprived his speech.”

  “We saw you had a notebook for the speech,” Amy added. “You were all prepared to take notes.”

  “Just like you,” Gary nodded. “Though that tablet does seem like a good idea. Maybe Mr. Worthers would have been more impressed if I had updated my technology.”

  “It’s safe to say that you came to Hillside Humly Hotel because you wanted to see Norton Worthers, correct?” Heather said.

  “Yes. He was my hero, and I wanted to see him talk. I work in a department store now. But I dream of being a successful businessman like him.”

  Heather thought about this. Gary Gray was clearly a fan. Was it possible that he was obsessed with Norton Worthers? Could that obsession have led to murder when Mr. Worthers wanted nothing to do with him?

  It was all speculation. She needed to get some facts. However, first, she needed Gary Gray to stop complimenting Norton Worther and tell her about his whereabouts during the night.

  “I had a late dinner at the restaurant down the street. Then I considered knocking on Mr. Worthers door to apologize for bothering him earlier, but then decided against it. Then I watched TV and went to bed. I was in my room until it was time for the Business Breakfast.”

  “Did you go to Mr. Worthers room?” Heather asked.

  “I went to the A hallway,” Gary admitted. “I knew he had the hall to himself. But I didn’t know what room he was in. And I decided that bothering him to apologize for bothering him was counterproductive. It could have annoyed him more.”

  “What time was this?”

  “Probably ten o’clock. I didn’t know if that was too late for him too. If I bothered him when he was asleep, he would have been so annoyed.”

  Heather nodded, then said, “Did you notice anything suspicious in the hallway?”

  “No,” Gary said. Then he reconsidered. “I didn’t think this was weird at the time, but I think I saw the maid do
wn the hall. It might not mean anything. But that does seem late to be cleaning the rooms.”

  “Thank you for answering our questions,” Heather said.

  “Thank you for trying to catch the monster who killed a great man,” Gary replied.

  Chapter 10

  “I don’t know if I buy the I-was-such-a-big-fan-that-I-would-never-hurt-him routine,” Amy said. “It’s also strange that he was such a fan of a businessman. Norton Worthers wasn’t a rock star.”

  “Gary Gray aspired to be just like him. I could see how millionaires could have fans,” Heather said.

  Amy had taken her up on the offer to sleepover at her house after being spooked by a bedtime murder. Amy had started joking and saying how “death by pillow” seemed like a terribly silly way to describe a way to die, but Heather saw that she had goosebumps on her arms when she thought about being snuck up on at night.

  They had all had a fun sleepover party that night, but because it was a school night the party had to end early. Eva and Leila had convinced them that they should have a board game night, and the group had been entertained with game Clue. Most of them were convinced that Heather would win the “whodunit” board game, with Amy close at her heels. However little Lilly had been the one to catch the killer on the card.

  Lilly was very proud that she had won the game against all the mystery solving adults, and Heather beamed as she saw how her daughter was following in her footsteps. She certainly didn’t want her daughter getting into some of the dangerous situations that she found herself in, but she did like to see that Lilly was very good at deduction.

  After the others had gone to bed, Heather and May moved to the kitchen with the animals. Cupcake was perched on Amy’s shoulder getting a good view of the room, while Dave snuggled close to Heather’s feet and kept her toes warm. He would look up whenever their talk turned to donuts in the hopes one would be given to the sweet little doggie at their feet.

  However, once the topic of the case came up, Heather and Amy found themselves talking mostly about murder.

  “I think it’s unlikely that Gary Gray is the killer,” Heather said at last.

  “Because he liked Norton Worthers too much?”

  “No,” Heather said. “Because I don’t think Mr. Worthers would have opened the door for Gary. If he wouldn’t talk to him in the lobby, why would he invite him into his room?”

  “Could he have broken in?”

  “Mr. Worthers needed his copy of the key in order to enter his room, so no one could have stolen that key before he went in. And it would be pretty hard to steal a key from inside a locked room.”

  “Could he have taken Caroline’s?”

  “I don’t think the guests knew how the key system worked,” Heather said. “It’s possible they found out. But that’s an awful lot of work to do very quickly because someone was rude to you in the lobby. Gary Gray would have had to discover what room Mr. Worthers was in, figure out how many keys there were, steal Caroline Humly’s key from her pocket without her noticing and then commit the murder.”

  “Plus he’d have to return the key without her noticing because she had it when we questioned her,” Amy said. “I guess that would be hard for a guest to do in that timeframe.”

  “The police are conducting background checks to make sure that all the guests are who they say they are. But if they are guests and not hired assassins, I think it would be hard for them to commit the crime.”

  Heather pet Dave’s head as she tried to make sense of it all. How could the killer have entered the room? It seemed most likely that Norton Worthers had his key in his room with him the whole time. It also seemed likely that he would not have admitted anyone into the room. So that only left Caroline’s key. Was it possible that someone could have stolen her keys? Was she the killer?

  She didn’t feel any closer to solving the case when Ryan arrived home and threw another wrench into their gears.

  First, he told them that the background checks on the guests that he and Hoskins had been conducting revealed that the guests were who they said they were. Based on that information, no guests had any real connections to Norton Worthers.

  “I guess that matches what we were thinking,” Heather said. “We thought it was unlikely that a guest could have gotten ahold of the key. Norton Worthers would have had to let them inside his room, which felt unlikely.”

  “Even more unlikely now that the coroner gave me his report,” Ryan said, revealing the rest of his information. “The coroner was able to narrow down the time of death. He believes it occurred between 2:30 and 3:30 a.m.”

  “That’s still the middle of the night,” Amy said. “Does that help us if there are no witnesses in the hallway?”

  “He gave me some other interesting information,” Ryan said. “Norton Worthers had sleeping pills in his system.”

  “Someone drugged him?” Heather asked.

  “No, he drugged himself. Well, he had a prescription,” Ryan said. “Norton Worthers regularly took pills to help him fall asleep.”

  “He must have had a guilty conscience from his business dealings,” Amy said.

  “He took the pills that night,” Ryan said. “They’re pretty strong. I don’t believe he could have heard anyone if they knocked on his door that night.”

  “So he didn’t open the door himself,” Heather said. “The killer had to let himself in and then killed Mr. Worthers in his sleep.”

  “It would seem so,” Ryan said.

  “Do we think it was Caroline Humly?” Amy asked. “If she was the only one with the key, then it seems more likely.”

  “I think it’s possible that Caroline could kill,” Heather said. “But I’m not sold on the idea. Entering his room in the middle of the night makes it a premeditated crime, and if she had time to plan you’d think she would have enacted something, so she wasn’t the only one with a key.”

  “Maybe she’s not that smart?” Amy suggested. “She did buy a hotel that failed multiple times.”

  “I don’t know if we should begrudge her that. Some people thought I was crazy for starting a donut shop,” Heather said.

  “Only people who hadn’t tasted them,” Amy said.

  “You’re not crazy,” Ryan agreed. “You’re wonderful. You balance being a business owner, a crime solver and a mother in a way I couldn’t have believed were possible.”

  “What’s you secret?” Amy joked.

  “Sugar,” Heather replied without missing a beat.

  They all laughed, which felt good. It relieved some of the tension surrounding this difficult case.

  “This is one tough case,” Heather said after the laughter died down and she had to return to the problem at hand.

  “They’re never easy,” Ryan said.

  “This is approaching a locked room mystery,” Amy said. “But yeah, I don’t know who the killer is. Maybe we should ask Lilly to solve it.”

  Since Ryan wasn’t there when they played Clue, he had no idea what they were talking about. Heather had another laugh as she looked at Ryan’s shocked face. She explained to him the context of the comment and then assured him that she wouldn’t be sending their child out into the fray. She assured him that she would catch the killer herself.

  Chapter 11

  Heather stared at the big bell on the concierge desk of the hotel. The employee was not to be seen, so she was tempted to ring the bell. However, she knew how annoying that ring could be. It was a big bell so it would make a big sound. If the concierge was about to return to them, she’d rather not ring and just wait for him. Amy made a face.

  “We’re not making annoying requests for more towels or hair gel. We’re conducting a murder investigation,” Amy said.

  “You’re right,” Heather agreed. “I’m being silly. And we need to talk to the concierge.”

  She rang the bell, but the second she did the concierge was already returning to his post with some new office supplies.

  “You rang?” He said as he deposited
the supplies into their proper places.

  “Are you Dylan Grover? The usual concierge here?” Heather asked.

  The young man was covered in freckles and had bright red hair. He wasn’t sure what direction this conversation was going to go and was eyeing them warily.

  “That’s me. Did someone complain about me? I work really hard. We’re a small staff, and we all have a lot to do. That Business Breakfast brought more people than usual. I tried to be on top of everything.”

  “I’m sure you did,” Heather said. “But we’re actually here about the murder that took place. We have a few questions for you.”