Green Velvet Murder: A Donut Hole Cozy Mystery - Book 16

by Susan Gillard

  “Words I’m sure your captain would love to hear you utter,” Heather replied.

  “He’s on an extended sabbatical, and under investigation. And don’t make me feel guilty, Mrs. Shepherd, you’re going to be my consultant soon. Only a couple more weeks!” Ryan stepped closer to the women.

  They leaned into an informal circle.

  “What’s Miss Belushi been up to?” Heather asked.

  “She’s been getting rich,” Ryan replied. He whipped out his notepad and paged through it, then stopped and showed her the messy writing on the lines. “I spoke to Bernie Belushi’s lawyer today. Turns out, Karly inherited all the money.”

  Amy gasped and clapped a hand to her mouth.

  “That doesn’t make any sense.” Heather touched her forehead, then took the notepad from her husband and examined it. “Why? They had an ongoing feud according to Kent, and her son didn’t have kind words to say about the Aunt.”

  Ryan perked up and unhooked his pen from his shirt pocket. “You’ve seen Tiny, recently?”

  “Not since the break-ins, sorry,” Heather replied. She stroked the page of writing, whorls of her fingertips bumping on the indentations. The sharp strokes and long curls in Ryan’s handwriting. “No, this doesn’t make sense.”

  “You want to hear the crazy part?” Ryan asked.

  A car sped past, a flash of white and black. Heather craned her neck, but she couldn’t catch a glimpse of the model. “What’s the crazy part?” She asked and turned her gaze to her husband again.

  “Bernie changed the will a week before the murder. Her lawyer said she came in and demanded to have it changed,” Ryan said.

  “That doesn’t sound like Aunt B,” Amy whispered, finally dropping her hand from her mouth. “She didn’t demand anything from anyone.”

  “Yeah, apparently, the will named Bernie’s son, Tiny, as the main beneficiary.” Ryan took the notepad back, then slotted into his pocket. “You know what this means, don’t you?”

  Heather bobbed her chin up and down, once. “Karly has to be your main suspect. She benefitted from Bernie’s death.”

  “Couple this evidence with the recording of Karly slipping something into Bernie’s drink and I have enough evidence to pull her in for questioning and a DNA swab,” Ryan said. “But not enough for an arrest warrant.”

  “It was her,” Amy hissed. “That Karly, ugh. I knew it. She’s such a horrible witch of a woman, but to do this? To sink this low? Wow. Just wow.”

  “We don’t know that for certain yet,” Heather said and patted Amy on the back. “I know she gave you a lot of stress, Ames, but we have to clear all the options. Investigate –”

  “All the avenues,” Amy said, then rolled her eyes. “I know. I swear the more time you two spend together, the more you sound the same.”

  Heather couldn’t help smiling at that. Ryan did too, then winked at his wife again.

  “I’ve got to head back to the station before I do any questioning. Check out the last of my leads before I drag Miss Belushi off, kicking and screaming.”

  Amy shuddered at the thought.

  “See ya, gorgeous,” Ryan said and kissed Heather on the forehead. “Don’t do anything I wouldn’t.”

  “You can count on that,” Heather replied. She already had her next stop, and it wasn’t Donut Delights.

  Chapter 16

  “I will never forgive you for this, Heather Shepherd,” Amy said. Dave trotted along beside her, keeping his easy doggy pace, as always, and silent for once. Perhaps he sensed the gravity of the situation.

  Or he’d gorged himself on donuts at Lilly’s house, and he didn’t have complaints, for once.

  Heather would have to talk to her about that again.

  “You’ll be the death of me. I just know it.” Amy flicked Dave’s leash.

  He picked up the pace and Amy had to match it or run the risk of being dragged down the sidewalk by the small dog.

  “Have I mentioned you’re a drama queen? At least five times this week, I swear. C’mon, Ames, this is a solid lead. I’m doing Ryan a favor by checking it out first,” Heather replied.

  They turned the corner into Karly Belushi’s street.

  Amy pulled up short, and Dave did too. “Ryan said not to do anything he wouldn’t.”

  “I’m not. Ryan would question Karly. You and I both know that,” Heather said, and wriggled her eyebrows.

  “Uh, Ryan has the permission to question Karly. The authority, I mean. You don’t.”

  “Yet!” Heather clapped once. “That’s never stopped me before. Trust me, Ames, we need to talk to her first. My sleuth gene is dancing around on the chromosome. I can’t focus on anything else. And that means I’m missing something.”

  Amy chewed her bottom lip. Dave sat on her foot and whined up at them. “Missing something?”

  “Yeah, there are too many puzzle pieces missing. The last case was the same. Everything was there, fitting together, but it didn’t work quite right. And that was because we missed out on a suspect altogether. But this, huh, I just don’t know.”

  Amy stiffened, and Dave hopped off her shoe. “Well, you’d better figure it out,” she said, “because here comes Karly.”

  “Shoot,” Heather whispered.

  Karly Belushi stormed down the sidewalk. The front door to her house stood open in the distance. The woman’s blonde hair bobbed up and down. Her high heels slammed into the concrete.

  “She looks tickled pink,” Amy said. Dave growled at Karly, then broke into a flurry of high-pitched barks. “I second those sentiments, Dave.”

  “You! I told you to stay away from me,” Karly yelled. She halted two feet from them and threw her arms up.

  Amy’s eyes widened. Dave quit barking and tilted his head to one side.

  “Actually, you told me to get off your porch, if memory serves,” Heather replied.

  “Who cares? She’s clearly angry. Let’s go,” Amy muttered, out of the corner of her mouth.

  Karly’s gaze flickered to Amy, and she narrowed her eyes. “Ah, so it’s my nephew’s talentless worm of a girlfriend.”

  “Wow, back up,” Heather said and took a step forward. “Don’t you dare talk to Amy like that!”

  “It’s okay, Heather. Let’s just go.” Amy shrank back, and Dave followed her, growling under his breath.

  “No,” Heather said and shook back her hair. “It is most definitely not okay. Apologize to Amy.”

  Karly puffed out her chest. Her complexion turned bright purple. “I most definitely will not.”

  “You will, or I’ll call my husband and have him come down here to arrest you. You’re already on his list,” Heather muttered.

  Karly froze mid-arm wag and stared at Heather. “Pardon me?”

  “That’s right. You’re the main suspect in his case. You wanted me to help get you off? You’ll lose your chance unless you apologize to Amy. Understood?” Heather folded her arm. She didn’t click her fingers – she wanted to, though.

  Karly flapped her mouth open and closed. She searched Heather’s face, then switched her gaze to Amy. She clenched her jaw. Released. “I’m sorry.”

  Amy made a tiny squeaking noise.

  “I didn’t hear that, did you, Amy?”

  “Heather, I don’t know if –”

  “I’m sorry,” Karly repeated, louder.

  “Good, that’s better. Now, you need to tell me everything about your little feud with your sister or I can’t help you,” Heather said and kept her arms folded. She had to present that flawless front. The confidence in her questions and rebuttals.

  Any hint of weakness and bully Karly would pounce.

  Poor Bernie had put up with her sister for years. The woman must’ve had the patience of a saint.

  “My sister stole my fiancé from me in high school. They married, and he left her after Tim was born. Reasons abound as to why. I assume it’s because the boy is deformed,” Karly said, stiffly.

  “Then why did she make out her
will to you?” Heather asked.

  Karly’s jaw dropped. “How did you know that?”

  “I have my sources,” Heather said and tapped the side of her nose. “Why did she make it out to you if you two despised each other? And why did you drug her coffee in Donut Delights?”

  Karly shuddered from her dark roots to the toes of her pink pump heels. “My sister was a diabetic. I refused to allow her to drink sugar. I put Stevia in her coffee mug to sweeten it so she wouldn’t get one of those foul sachets of sugar.”

  Heather’s mouth formed an ‘o’ of surprise. She wiped it off and readjusted her camisole. “All right. And the will?”

  “I can’t speak for my sister’s decisions. If that makes me a suspect, so be it. She loved me, and I loved her, even if we didn’t show it to prying eyes like yours. Are you done with these ridiculous questions?” Karly asked, and tapped her heel on the sidewalk.

  “Yeah,” Heather replied. “But you might want to change your attitude when the cops interview you. They won’t accept it like I have.”

  Karly flicked her nails at Heather, then turned and charged off down the street.

  Amy let out a sigh of relief.

  “Don’t get too happy, Ames. This isn’t over yet,” Heather replied.

  “What do you mean?”

  “We’ve got one more lead to investigate. Tiny might not be home, but his girlfriend is, and we need as much information about his relationship with his mother, as possible.”

  “You think she’ll know that? They’d just started dating, remember?” Amy asked, but hurried to Heather’s side and peered after Karly.

  The elderly blonde woman slammed the door behind her.

  “Lavender might not know,” Heather replied. “But I bet there’s some evidence in his house.”

  Amy grunted. “I guess if it’s absolutely necessary.” She rubbed her arm to squash her goosebumps. “Ugh, I just realized something.”

  “What?”

  “Just how sick this murder is,” Amy replied.

  “What do you mean?” Granted, any murder sickened her, but why this one?

  “Karly said Bernie was a diabetic,” Amy whispered.

  “Yeah?” Heather walked down the road, and her bestie hurried to catch up. Dave bounded alongside them, panting and wagging his tail.

  “The killer choked her to death on a fudge ball. A sugary, sweet fudge ball, ugh.” Amy shivered again. “Here, you take Dave, I need to purge my mind of these thoughts.”

  Chapter 17

  Lavender threw open the trunk of her Kia Rio, then hefted a massive bag off the sidewalk and shoved it into the hole. A square of material peered out of the corner, zipped into place.

  “Lavender?” Heather called out. “Hey, Lavender!”

  Tiny’s girlfriend paused and looked around for the source of the noise. She spotted them and waved. “Hey there. I didn’t think I’d see you again anytime soon.”

  “I didn’t either,” Heather replied, then stopped beside the trunk of Lavender’s bright, red car. She adjusted her grip on Dave’s leash, so he could explore and hopefully not pee on tires of the Kia.

  “What do ya need?” Lavender asked, and raised a hand to shield her eyes.

  Amy smiled at her, a querulous effort at mirth, and sighed. “We wanted to talk to you about Tiny,” she said.

  “Are you going somewhere?” Heather asked.

  “Well, yeah, I got fired, so I’m leaving this town. And I can’t live with Tiny any more, now that he’s run off for good.” Lavender fanned her face. “And it’s too hot in this town. Isn’t Summer s’posed to be over by now?”

  “Yeah,” Amy replied, then wiped the sweat from her brow.

  “Have you heard from Tiny, recently?” Heather asked.

  Lavender adjusted the straps on her dark top and sighed. “Yeah, he came back yesterday to get some of his stuff. He threw a tantrum because he couldn’t find his phone.”

  “Did the cops take it?”

  “Nope. I hid it from him on top of the fridge. Ha, serves him right for dumping me. You know, he screamed at me for still being in his house? What a loser.” Lavender bent and picked up a smaller bag, then stole a quick pat from Dave. “This dog is too cute.”

  Dave wagged his tail and licked her fingers.

  Lavender squinted up at them. “I left his front door open if you two want to take a look around inside. I should never have dated him. He treated me like dirt and turns out he’s a wanted burglar. I should’ve figured after he turned up with that TV.” The younger woman straightened at last.

  She drew Heather into a hug and patted her on the back. Heather returned the pat, then froze.

  “This is a velvet top,” she said.

  Lavender pulled away from the embrace. “Yeah, my best one. And it’s ruined, look.” She turned and showed them her back. “Someone cut a big chunk out of it, and I can’t figure out why. I bet it was Tiny, trying to mess with me. He knows how much I love this shirt, the jerk.”

  “Lavender,” Heather said, “Where were you the morning of Bernie Belushi’s murder?”

  The woman twirled a strand of her long, dark hair, around her finger. “I was at work. You can call my old boss and ask.”

  “Okay,” Heather said. “Where did you work?”

  “Uh, Bob’s Bug Debunkers. It’s this weird place in the main street. He has these bugs all over the glass at the front and –”

  “A plastic bug for a door handle,” Amy said, for her.

  “Yeah, that’s right. Anyway, he fired me cos I missed too much work. And cos his store was robbed and Tiny’s a suspect. You know how it is,” Lavender replied, then shrugged.

  Amy and Heather exchanged a glance. No, they didn’t know how that was.

  “You were the receptionist there?” Heather asked.

  “Yeah, that’s right!” Lavender replied. “Tiny visited me there that day, can you believe it. He offered to take me for a donut at the new place down the road. But the boss came out and screamed at me, so I didn’t go.”

  Thank goodness she hadn’t gone. Heather’s brain fired at a rate of knots. Neurons sizzled at light speed. Information overload. “Lavender, promise me you’ll never take another of Tiny’s calls again.”

  “Why?”

  “Because he might be out to hurt you,” Heather replied. She grabbed the woman by the arms and held her. “Promise me.”

  “Gosh, okay, I promise. You’re kind hurting my arms, here.”

  Heather let go, then whipped out her phone. “I’m going to text my husband. He’s a detective, Lavender. I need you to speak to him when he gets here. And, this is a weird request, but I need you to take off your top and give it to me. It’s evidence.”

  “This is a little scary,” Lavender replied, and grasped the straps of her dark green, velvet top.

  “Ya think?” Amy pursed her lips. “You think this is scary? You should pay a visit to Karly. She’ll scare the fear right out of you.”

  “Not now, Ames,” Heather said. She had to concentrate on this. Ryan needed to interview Lavender because Karly wasn’t the problem anymore. She wasn’t the killer.

  At Tiny Belushi’s house. You need to get here, now. Lavender has a lot of evidence to offer. Tiny is the killer. Come quickly.

  She paused and reread the text. It was as clear as she could make it.

  “I’ll just run indoors and change my top,” Lavender said. “Uh, Amy, right?’

  “Yeah, that’s my name. Wear it out, if you have to.”

  “Mind coming with me? It’s kinda creepy in there. Quiet and I dunno, Tiny’s small. I keep thinking he’s gonna jump out of one of the kitchen cupboards at me,” Lavender said and brushed a fly off her shoulder.

  Amy stared at her for a long time. She shook her head once. Then she burst into laughter. “Sure, that sounds like bucket loads of fun.”

  “Wait a second,” Heather said and held up a palm. “Here, take my Taser, and Dave too. You let him off the leash if you run into
trouble. He might be small, but you know what they say about –”

  “Don’t say it,” Amy replied. She reached into Heather’s tote bag and pulled out the black slab of plastic. She clicked off the safety, then examined the device in the light. “First time I’ve held this,” she said. “Hopefully, it’s the last. Let’s go, Lavender.”

  “What about Heather?”

  “I’m staying out here to wait for my husband and check the coast is clear. Holler if you need me,” she said. A message pinged through on her phone.

  “Oh trust me, I’ll holler loud enough to burst your eardrums if there’s a mini-psycho in the kitchen cupboard,” Amy replied. She pressed the button on the Taser and electricity sparkled between the two silver nodes. “Ooh, I might get one of these for myself.”

  The two women hurried down the stone pathway. Lavender held a spare shirt against her stomach, and Amy grasped the Taser in one hand and the end of Dave’s leash in the other. Two lone crusaders off on a mission to change a t-shirt.

  Heather opened the text message from Ryan.

  I’m on my way.

  Relief juddered through Heather’s torso, and she rested her back against the side of Lavender’s Kia. “Almost over,” she muttered. “Another one for the case studies and the textbooks.”

  Her ringtone burst out of the phone’s speakers. A call? Who could that be?

  Chapter 18

  Heather stared at the screen of her cell, those darned butterflies dancing around in her belly, bouncing off the walls, landing on trampolines, then bouncing back again.

  Who was it? Only one way to find out.

  Heather swiped her thumb across the screen, then pressed it to her ear. “Heather Shepherd, speaking.”

  “Heather,” the woman hissed, into the phone. “Heather, it’s Karly Belushi.”

  “Karly?” The last person she’d have guessed. “What’s wrong?”

  “I can’t talk very loud. Someone’s here. Someone’s in the house. I can hear them.” Karly’s voice trembled.

  Ice trickled down Heather’s spine, followed by a parade of shivers. This was too close to the call she’d received from Honey Trickle, before her death.