Mint Creme Murder: A Donut Hole Cozy Mystery - Book 47

by Gillard, Susan

  “Black isn’t my color,” Taryn said. “Now what did you want to know?”

  “Miss Turner, where were last evening?”

  “I was working here. I ended up working late and slept on one of the couches. Not the one you’re sitting on. Don’t worry.”

  “Was anyone else working with you?”

  “No. After Tiffany left, I’ve been working on my own. I did make some calls to some builders and a fish tank place. I’m not sure what time these were.”

  “Were you upset about the split between you and your sister in business?”

  Taryn looked at the ground and said, “It’s complicated. Tiffany could be a handful. But she was my sister. But then she blamed me for a TV show about us not going on the air. But it was her fault, really. She came off as crazy on screen, and she could be quite a diva off screen too.”

  “I could see that,” Amy muttered

  “You knew her?”

  “A little. Before she died, she was going to help a friend with rebuilding her house.”

  “You should have come to me. I was the brains behind the operation. I bet she was overcharging you for things too. That was another problem with her. Another reason the show wasn’t picked up. They started to think we were dishonest. But I tell the truth, no matter the cost. And I always stay on budget. Why did you pick her?”

  Amy shrugged. “The reviews online were for both of you, and they were great. Then I had to track down one of you, and she was easier to find.”

  “I guess when we were Turner Sister Homes, we did balance each other out.” Taryn trailed off and then said, “Let me work on your friend’s home for you. You won’t regret it. I know how to keep costs down and still abide by safety regulations.”

  “I’m afraid we can’t accept any offers like that,” Heather said. “We are conducting a homicide investigation, and we can’t be involved finically with any potential suspects.”

  “I’m really a suspect? What do I gain by her death?”

  “Maybe you could tell us.”

  “Nothing. I gain nothing. We split our business so I already have everything from it that was mine, and I don’t want anything of hers.”

  “What about money? She wasn’t married. Who would inherit after her death?”

  “Maybe me. But she didn’t have any money. She started spending money that she didn’t have when she thought we were going to be TV stars. After that didn’t happen, she was in debt to her eyeballs.”

  Heather thought about this. Tiffany didn’t look like she was having financial problems. Her office was expensively done up, and she wore nice clothes. She might have to get Ryan to dig into her financials.

  “Miss Turner, you might be able to help us with another aspect of the case. Did you know anything about the Tiffany Turner knife line?”

  Taryn groaned. “Tiffany had wanted to do that gimmick for years. It was just an excuse to overcharge clients for another product when she was redoing their homes. I stopped her from it while we were working together, but I guess she started it in earnest after she left. She sent me a set too. I wasn’t sure if it was a gift or a taunt.”

  “Do you know where your set is?”

  “In my house somewhere. You didn’t expect me to use them, did you?”

  “If you could find your set and let us know when you do, that would be very helpful to our investigation.”

  Taryn paled. “Is that what she was killed with?”

  “Just, if you find the set, it would help us.”

  “Poor Tiffany.”

  “One more question about the knives,” Heather said. “Who would have access to them? Only clients?”

  “I think she had them custom made for each house, so yes, only people who she redesigned a kitchen for would have them.”

  “And you,” Amy muttered under her breath.

  “Thank you for your time,” Heather said.

  Taryn showed them to the door and made one more offer of help for renovating the house. “Seriously, give me a call if you need help with your friend’s house. Taryn Turner can turn your home around. Reliably.”

  Heather accepted the business card but had no intention of calling her unless she had more questions about the case. Why did Taryn keep bringing up an offer to redo the house? Was she that desperate for business? Or was she trying to bribe her way off of their suspect list?

  Chapter 7

  Eva and Leila sat at Heather’s kitchen table, a little less chipper than they normally were when they were enjoying her donuts.

  “I can’t believe that young woman is dead,” Eva said.

  “I can’t believe she was murdered,” Leila said. “She was such a force of nature. I would have thought it was impossible for this to happen.”

  “Do you think there’s been a curse placed on my house?” Eva asked suddenly.

  Leila coughed after just haven taken a bite of a donut before the question was asked.

  “What do you mean?” Heather asked as she handed Leila a glass of water.

  “First the fire, and now the designer being murdered,” Eva said. “That’s too much bad luck for one house to take.”

  “Eva, you’re going to make me be the one to give heartfelt advice, and I thought that was your domain,” Heather said. “People have tried to kill me in this house, and I’ve been scared out of my wits multiple times here. But it’s also the house that Ryan and I made a home with Lilly. I love it. I didn’t give up on it. I made some changes and installed a quality security system. But I didn’t give up. And you shouldn’t either.”

  “Thank you, Heather. That was wonderful advice,” Eva said.

  “She has been taking lessons from you,” Leila said.

  “Maybe I’m just trying to make my next decision easier by saying there’s something wrong with the house.”

  “What decision is that?”

  “Based on what you told us, it is possible that Tiffany was overcharging us in her estimate. But it is still going to cost a lot of time and money to repair the house. I wonder if I should cut my losses and sell it. Then find another house instead.”

  “Are you trying to leave me?” Leila asked.

  “Not at all,” Eva said. “Maybe we could even find a house that’s better for the both of us. Something you might like more.”

  “I liked that house a lot. And you loved it.”

  “There are more important things than a house,” Eva said. “As long as I still have the people I care about in my life, I can rest my head anywhere.”

  “I’ll go where you go,” Leila said. “But let’s not make it Hillside Manor, all right?”

  “I wouldn’t give up on your house yet,” Heather said. “And whatever I can do to help, I will.”

  “You’ve done quite enough already,” Leila said. “More help than any friend should have to give.”

  “And besides,” Eva said. “I think you’re going to have your hands quite full with this murder case. You need to find out who did that to Tiffany.”

  Ryan came home soon after that and Heather was excited to discuss the case with him. She left the ladies to their donuts and decisions and went to tell Ryan about her talk with Taryn.

  “Doesn’t sound like a great alibi,” Ryan said after she updated him. “She might have done it.”

  “I think it all comes down to the murder weapon. Besides Taryn, only former clients were given the knife set. So it was either a client or someone who was close to them,” Heather said.

  “I’ve tracked down the names of the clients she worked with after she left her sister.”

  “Excellent. Amy and I could start talking to them tomorrow.”

  “See if they still have their knives. But don’t do so in a way that they turn the knives on you.”

  “I know what I’m doing,” Heather said, smiling.

  “I know you do. I don’t mean to worry.”

  “Oh. There’s one more thing,” Heather said. “Taryn mentioned that Tiffany was having money troubles, but it
didn’t look like it around her office. Could you look into that?”

  “Of course,” Ryan said. “But Tiffany might be able to her hide financial troubles if her job is to make things look good.”

  “It’s also possible that Tiffany did well with her new clients and pulled herself out of debt, but if our work with her was any indication, I don’t think that’s what happened.”

  Ryan also added, “Taryn could have been lying too. If money was a motive for her to kill her sister.”

  “It’s best to know what we’re dealing with,” she agreed.

  “One positive thing about this case is that it doesn’t seem to relate to Lyle Clarke,” Ryan said. “I think when you stopped his car borrowing scheme, you put some of his plans on hold.”

  Heather nodded. She had considered whether the “anything but legitimate” businessman had been involved with Tiffany’s murder, as he had been with other deaths in the past. (Unfortunately proving his involvement had not been possible yet.) However, it did not look like he was involved with either of the Turners. She was proud to have made a small dent in his crime network. But for now, he was a killer to catch another day. She needed to discover who had cut Tiffany Turner’s life short.

  Chapter 8

  Heather and Amy had already questioned two former clients and found mixed reviews about Tiffany’s designs. A divorced woman had wanted her home completely redone, so nothing reminded her of her “dirty cheating lowlife of an ex-husband”, and she had loved Tiffany’s remodel. The other client had said that what Tiffany did ended up looking nice, but that she hadn’t listened to what she has originally asked for in the changes.

  Both the clients thought that Tiffany’s prices were high, but didn’t think that they had been swindled. They also both still had the signature knives from the collection.

  “If everyone could just show us their knives, we could solve this by process of elimination. This might actually become an easy case,” Heather said.

  “You’re going to jinx it,” Amy said, quickly crossing her fingers for good luck.

  “You’re right,” Heather said. “They never end up being as straightforward as they seem.”

  They pulled up to the address for Zoe Jones, the next client on the list.

  “Um, are we sure that this house was renovated?” Amy asked.

  Heather checked, and they were at the correct address. However, it didn’t look like it just had a makeover. The front yard was cluttered with storage boxes, and everything looked a bit disheveled.

  They knocked on the front door and were greeted by an equally disheveled Zoe Jones. Zoe’s hair was askew, and her clothes didn’t match.

  “Miss Jones?” Heather asked.

  “Hello. How can I help you? You’re not from the city, are you? I am going to move the boxes. I heard some people think they’re an eyesore. I am in the process of reorganizing.”

  “We’re not here about the boxes. We’re private investigators working with the Hillside Police. Would you mind answering a few questions about a case?”

  “Sure,” Zoe said, opening the door. “Watch your step.”

  She led them through a maze of boxes and piles of junk. They noticed that the walls all had fresh coats of paint, and the lighting fixtures were new, but the rooms were so cluttered that it was hard to tell that work had been done on the house.

  Zoe brought them to a seating area and perched on the arm of a chair, instead of moving the pile of magazines on the seat. Amy discovered a slinky in her seat after she sat down and quickly removed it before cautiously sitting again. Heather had to put her feet up on a box in order to fit.

  “I’m sorry about the mess,” Zoe said, trying to tame her hair for the company. “I’ve been trying to deal with it all. I took steps. I even hired a designer to help.”

  “It’s that designer that we wanted to speak to you about.”

  “Really?” Zoe asked. “Is she in trouble?”

  “Why do you ask that?” Heather asked as Amy prepared to take notes.

  “Well, she didn’t really help me with my problem. Just sort of did her own design plans without any regard for what I needed. With that attitude, I wondered if she caused trouble for someone.”

  “We’re actually here investigating her murder,” Heather told her.

  “What?” Zoe said. “No way. This is a prank show, right? Tiffany finally got a TV show. It’s just different than what she thought it would be. Where are the hidden cameras?”

  “I’m sorry, Miss Jones. This isn’t a prank. And we do have some questions about her death.”

  Zoe looked around for cameras for another moment and then relented. “All right. What do you want to know?”

  “Where were you on Monday evening?” Heather asked.

  “Monday? I’m not sure. My days have been running together. I’ve really been trying to fix my house up.”

  “So Miss Turner’s home renovation didn’t help you?”

  “No. I really needed more storage to gain control over my stuff. I buy and sell things online as my job, so I always have a ton of merchandise. She gave me a fancy kitchen but didn’t help with my organizational issues.”

  “Do you feel like she overcharged you too?”

  “What she did could look really nice for someone else, but I just have to cover everything with boxes. I really wish I got more shelving units. So yeah, I think the money could have been spent better.”

  Then Heather focused her questions on the potential murder weapon. “When she redid your kitchen, did she give you a signature set of knives?”

  “I think so. She was really proud of them.”

  “Do you still have them?”

  “I don’t know,” Zoe said, biting her lip and thinking. “I buy and sell things all the time. I might have gotten rid of them. Or they might be here in this mess somewhere.”

  “If you do find them, could you let us know?” Heather asked, standing up and avoiding the boxes as best as she could.

  “I will. I’m not too optimistic about it though,” Zoe said, guiding them back to her front door.

  “Thank you for your time, Miss Jones,” Heather said.

  “Do you really think a client killed her?” Zoe asked before they left.

  “We’re following several leads right now,” Heather replied.

  “Maybe one of those leads should be her sister,” Zoe said. “She was really angry with her when she worked on my house. She said she ruined her chances of becoming a star.”

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

  She and Amy walked away and towards their car.

  “That interview was a real pain in the you-know-what,” Amy said. “And not just because of the slinky on my seat.”

  “It’s true. We didn’t gain any real information,” said Heather.

  “She might have the knife. She might not. She might have an alibi. She might not.”

  “We did learn that she was unhappy with her house and that could be motive enough to keep her on the suspect list.”

  Chapter 9

  The next home they visited did look like it had been renovated. It looked fresh and new on the outside and even had a fish pond in the yard.

  “That must be hard to maintain in Texas,” Heather said.

  “With Tiffany’s wild design schemes, I’m surprised we haven’t seen a skating rink installed in someone’s front yard.”

  The approached the immaculate front porch and were greeted by the former client John Wallens. After they had introduced themselves, he invited them in.

  The inside of the home was even nicer than the outside. It looked bright and open, while still feeling cozy and manageable. The bay windows showed off a lovely view, and the décor inside was just as nice.

  “Your home looks much better than some of the other remodels we’ve seen of hers.”

  “It should be for what she charged,” John said before composing himself. “I’m sorry. I shouldn’t speak ill of the dead.”

/>   “We rather you speak honestly,” Heather said. “Any information you give us might be a clue for who would want to hurt her.”

  John Wallens was starting to gray around the edges of his hair but had an immaculately straight mustache. He considered what he was about to say carefully.

  “I had some issues with Tiffany Turner,” he said. “I’ll be upfront about this because I don’t want you to think I killed her.”