Choc Churro Murder: A Donut Hole Cozy Mystery - Book 25

by Susan Gillard

  “Whoops,” Amy whispered. “Off to a good start on this one.”

  “Sorry. I didn’t mean to scare you.” Heather walked to the sofa and took a seat, then balanced her knuckles on her knees and stared Georgia Summers directly in the eyes. “How are you this afternoon, ma’am?”

  “Doesn’t anyone knock anymore?” Georgia asked, and blinked bloodshot eyes.

  Exhaustion radiated from the socialite, her gaze flitted past Heather to the entryway and then back again.

  “We’ve come to speak to you about Kenneth Kenny.”

  “We’ve had this conversation before, I believe,” Georgia said, and leaned back against the curled back of her seat. “It didn’t end well for either of us.”

  “You lied to me Georgia,” Heather said. No time to waste. No messing around. This case had dragged on for long enough. “I know that Kenneth made a deal with Kate Laverne and that you had nothing to do with it. Why did you tell me otherwise?”

  Georgia’s mouth dropped open. A low keening, whine escaped her.

  “Very illuminating,” Amy whispered, then sat down beside her bestie. Dave stared at Georgia too, adding his doggy atmosphere to the building pressure in the living room.

  “Kenneth and I were business partners,” Georgia said, at last. “Just because we didn’t participate together in every deal, doesn’t mean we didn’t both benefit from them.”

  “Fair enough,” Heather said. “Is that why he ran your affairs?”

  Georgia stared at her and blinked back tears.

  “Did you know that the police found lipstick on Kenneth’s collar? Along with a rather distinctive perfume. Chanel No. 5 is my guess.”

  Georgia’s left eyelid twitched.

  “Do you have anything to say about that, Miss Summers?” Heather asked.

  Georgia collapsed against the chaise lounge and wept into her arms.

  Amy shifted on the sofa and grimaced, then averted her eyes. She’d never been great with displays of emotion, and this one was particularly dramatic.

  Heather remained cold. “Miss Summers?”

  “Yeah, fine,” Georgia snapped, and raised her head. Her mascara had smudged and made two attractive streaks down either cheek. “Fine! You want me to say it? I will. Kenneth and I were in love.”

  Heather couldn’t keep the shock off her face.

  “That’s right. He loved me. He loved me when his wretched wife was alive, and he loved me after she was gone.” Georgia swallowed reflexively. “And when she did pass, there was nothing standing in our way, anymore. He was a free man.”

  “I’m not judging you,” Heather said.

  “I am, a little,” Amy muttered, but only loud enough for Heather to make out.

  “Well, now he’s gone. The man I fell in love with years ago is gone, and I’m left here, reeling without him,” Georgia said, then let out a terrific wail and flopped her head back onto her arms again.

  “Oh boy.” Amy got up and edged toward the exit.

  Heather didn’t blame her. This had gone from interview to Telenovela in two seconds flat.

  “Miss Summers, can you explain why your lipstick was on Kenneth’s collar, the night of his murder?”

  Georgia sobbed and sobbed, then sat upright and wiped the tears from her cheek. The black marks smeared toward her ear lobes. “I – I – I –”

  “Start of a song, maybe?” Amy asked, and backed out of the white arch.

  Georgia burst into tears again. Her chin quivered. Spit bubbled at her lip.

  Heather rose from the sofa. “Miss Summers, it’s clear that you’re in distress. Would you like me to call someone for you? Get something?”

  Georgia shook her head once, then buried her face in the cushy chaise lounge again. The sobs reached a fever pitch.

  “Go now,” Amy whispered. “For heaven’s sakes.”

  Dave broke into a howl in Amy’s harm. Apparently, he shared Georgia’s pain.

  “Heather!” Amy blocked her one ear with her free hand. “Come on!”

  She hurried to her bestie and out into the hall. They rushed past the alarmed butler on his way down the magnificent marble staircase, accented by the crystal chandelier above it, of course.

  It was the first-time Heather had brought anyone to tears – or at least to a state like that – and it sure didn’t feel good.

  They burst out of the Summers’ mansion and into the free air of Hillside.

  “Worst day ever,” Amy said.

  Chapter 16

  Heather curled her feet underneath herself on the sofa and stared at the paused screen at the other end of the room. She blinked, but she couldn’t get the vision of Georgia’s tear-streaked cheeks out of her mind.

  Amy stuck two fingers in either ear and wriggled them around.

  Lilly hummed in the kitchen, and the distant pop-pop of popcorn kernels accompanied her.

  “At least she’s happy,” Amy said, and finally extracted her fingers from her ears. “I feel like Georgia deafened me, Heather. I’ll never be the same again.”

  “I think you’re mentally scarred as opposed to physically,” Heather replied, then picked up the DVD case.

  Lilly had chosen their slumber party movies. The first was Dinosaur, because dinosaurs, and the second was The Fellowship of The Ring. “Oh my gosh,” Heather said and flashed the DVD at Amy. “We’re going to be up all night. This is the extended edition. It’s four hours long or something.”

  “No, Lilly will be up all night, swishing an imaginary sword around or hunting dinosaurs or orcs or something. I will be asleep on this couch with a popcorn-donut hangover.” Amy yawned and stretched her legs out. She twiddled her toes in her socks.

  Heather didn’t laugh. She couldn’t find a speck of mirth for the situation.

  It’d been a darn tough week.

  “Are you all right?” Amy asked.

  Heather met her gaze and shook her head once. “Too little evidence, Ames. Too many suspects. I never catch a break with these cases. It’s never simple.”

  “I don’t think it’s meant to be,” Amy replied, and grabbed one of the donuts off the coffee table. She munched on it, then grabbed a napkin to catch the drippy ganache.

  “Don’t get me wrong. I’m not complaining. Maybe I am. I’m just so tired and Kate in my town that has been an unpleasant surprise. Really unpleasant,” Heather said.

  “Usually, old friends are you know, friends.”

  “Not in Kate’s world. Every friend is an enemy,” Heather whispered.

  The pops and hums continued from the kitchen.

  “Wanna go over it, real quick?” Amy asked, then took another bite of her donut.

  “Sure, why not? Not like I have anything to lose.” Or gain, for that matter. She’d been over this in her mind a thousand times.

  “So, Georgia loved Kenneth. Lipstick and perfume on the collar, yadda yadda. Go.”

  Heather finally laughed, then squished to the edge of her seat. “Right, there’s that. And there’s the fact that they had a fight about the deal with Kate Laverne.”

  “Yeah, but you said that Kate and Kenny also had a fight.”

  “Correct,” Heather replied. “They fought before the murder, or that’s what Geoff told me.” Heather dragged her teeth across her bottom lip. “And Geoff and Charles had that weird fight. What on earth were they talking about?”

  “Something about Geoff being close to ‘her,' whatever that means.” Amy finished her donut and licked ganache off her fingertips. “Wait, you don’t think Charles means Kate? Maybe Kate and Geoff had an argument too?”

  “That might make sense. I mean, Geoff wasn’t in on the Dos Chicos meeting with Georgia the other night,” Heather said. “And that meeting in itself was super suspicious.”

  “Totally,” Amy said. “I can’t believe you thought I was saying a fern was coming.”

  Heather burst out laughing again, then grabbed a donut for herself. “Well, your mouthing skills aren’t at their best. Especially across a
crowded restaurant.”

  “At least I tried to warn you. Oh, boy, when Laverne saw you sitting there, her whole face changed. It was like a thundercloud had rained on her parade. Or, no, even better, like she’d dropped her donut face down in the dirt.”

  “Ooh,” Heather said and pulled a face.

  “Yeah, exactly like that.”

  Lilly traipsed into the room with a massive bowl of popcorn.

  “Whoa,” Heather said and eyed it out. “Feeding an army, are we?”

  “What?” Lilly said, and gestured to The Lord of the Rings DVD. “It’s the extended version.”

  Lils settled in beside Heather and munched on a handful of popcorn.

  Heather kissed her on the forehead then grabbed the remote and clicked the play button. She wanted to enjoy time with Lils. They truly were a family, but she couldn’t shake the disappointment in her gut.

  She hadn’t solved this case, and she was no closer to the truth than she’d been the night she’d arrived at the crime scene for the first time.

  The doorbell rang in the entrance hall and Dave launched himself off the sofa in a flurry of barks and clattering claws.

  “You guys carry on watching,” Heather said and pushed off the sofa. “I’ll be right back.” She put her donut on a napkin on the coffee table, then walked through to the hall.

  The honey yellow light glazed the walls in her home, and she sighed. Dave ruined the ambiance with a few yaps and frantic tail wags

  “All right, all right,” Heather said. “Calm yourself, Dave. Has Lilly been feeding you donuts under the table again?”

  That shut him up.

  Heather unlocked the door, then opened up.

  Geoff Lawless stared at her. “Heather,” he said.

  “Geoff?”

  He glanced over his shoulder and swapped his weight from one foot to the other. A strange anxiety-ridden dance which set her nerves on edge, too.

  “What’s going on?” Heather asked.

  He handed her a slab of plastic. “I got this for you,” he whispered. “It’s important. It’s so important. I can’t tell you exactly why because if they find out – if they know that it was me, I’ll be –” He cut off and ducked down at the sight of a car.

  It drove past and disappeared at the end of the street.

  Heather grasped the plastic and looked down at it. An Apple logo caught her eyes. “Tablet?”

  “Yeah,” Geoff said. “Georgia’s tablet. Check the messages. The ones on that app with the green circle.”

  “Whatsapp?” Heather asked.

  “That’s it,” he said. “Don’t tell them it was me.” He turned and bolted down her front stairs.

  “Geoff, wait!” Heather called out. “Geoff!”

  But the man didn’t stop. He didn’t look back. He ran faster than she’d seen since she’d known him, and boy, she’d seen him run off a lot.

  Heather back into her home and kicked the door shut with her heel. She double bolted it, then stared down at the tablet.

  What secrets did it hold?

  Chapter 17

  “What was that about?” Amy appeared in the living room doorway. She glanced back over her shoulder, then walked to Heather’s side. “What is that?”

  Heather showed the device to her best friend. “It’s Georgia’s tablet,” Heather said. “Looks like we know who stole it.”

  “Geoff?” Amy asked.

  “Uh-huh. And I think he had a good reason. He told me to check the messages.” Heather unlocked the device, then tapped on the green Whatsapp icon.

  Georgia’s messages opened up. A long list of conversations lined the screen.

  “Kenneth,” Heather said, and pointed to the victim’s name. She continued down the list. “Kate Laverne. Jerry Golde. Aunt Felicia. Charles Lawless.”

  “Wait, what? I don’t know who Jerry is, and I can guess about Aunt Felicia or whatever, but why on earth would Georgia be in conversation with Charles?”

  Heather’s heart skipped a beat. She tapped on the conversation and opened it up. Message sent from Charles to Georgia lined the screen.

  “I did it for us,” Heather read out loud. “That’s from Charles.”

  “He did what?”

  Heather scrolled up and gasped. “I love you, Georgia. I don’t care if you don’t believe we’re meant to be together. I won’t let anyone stand in our way.”

  “Oh gosh. Oh, my gosh,” Amy said and grasped either side of her head. She shook it and took a step back. “Oh my gosh.”

  “That’s not helping.” Heather shot her friend a smile, but her brain swirled into action.

  The sleuthin’ gene made rapid connections.

  “He loved her. Georgia didn’t return the affections. She loved Kenny. He didn’t want anything to stand in the way. He may have been a hired assassin,” Heather said. She rolled the facts off in rapid succession.

  “Oh my –” Amy didn’t finish the sentence. Instead, she grabbed Heather’s cell off the entrance hall table and handed it over.

  Heather took it and stared at it, and then at the screen. “Poor Geoff,” she said. “He went through so much to get this to me. He acted so scared.”

  “Why?”

  “Probably because he doesn’t want his brother to find out. That’s what they were arguing about,” Heather said. She would’ve clicked her fingers if she’d had a free hand.

  Heather gave Amy the tablet. “Look through that, please. See if you can find anything else. Take screenshots of the conversation and email them through to Ryan. Heck, take screenshots of all the conversations, but the ones from Charles first.”

  “Roger that,” Amy said, and saluted. She hurried through to the living room.

  “What’s going on?” Lilly called out.

  Heather poked her head around the corner and smiled at the pre-teen. “Nothing, honey. Just some work stuff. Amy’s going to be busy for a while, but I’ll be in shortly to watch the movie with you.”

  “Okay,” Lilly said, and shrugged, then returned to her popcorn.

  Amy’s eyes didn’t leave the tablet’s screen.

  Heather walked down the hall and into the kitchen, then unlocked her phone and tapped through to Ryan’s cell number.

  So, this was it. She should’ve seen it coming.

  She’d been so blinded by Kate’s arrival in town, she’d failed to look for the other clues, the most obvious ones, in fact.

  “Ugh,” Heather said. “No use beating yourself up about it.”

  She pressed the phone to her ear and listened to the rings.

  One. Two.

  “Shepherd speaking,” Ryan said.

  The roughness of his tone brought her comfort. Ryan Shepherd was in control. On the case. It would be all right.

  “Hey, hon. I know who did it,” Heather said.

  “Just like that, eh?” Ryan asked.

  “Not exactly. Geoff Lawless gave me Georgia’s tablet,” she said. “He told me to look at the messages on there.”

  “What did you find?”

  “Charles was in love with Georgia. It was him,” Heather said.

  “You’re sure?” Ryan asked, and clicked his ballpoint on the other end of the line.

  “I’m sure. I’m very sure, in fact. I’d stake my donut store on it if I had to.” She’d been blinded but not anymore.

  Charles Lawless had murdered a romantic competitor in cold blood. It had nothing to do with money, or the business, or anything else.

  If only Georgia had come forward sooner and told Heather about this. Why hadn’t she?

  Perhaps her distress had been more to do with Charles than Kenny. Had she been threatened?

  “Heather?”

  “Sorry, I was lost in thought. I’m sure it’s him, Ryan. Amy’s, emailing you screenshots of the conversations now.”

  “All right,” Ryan said. “Good. I’ll check them out, then get a warrant for his arrest.”

  Heather heaved a sigh of relief. “Thanks,” she said.
<
br />   “No, thank you,” he replied. “Good work, Shepherd.” He hung up, and Heather lowered the phone from her ear.

  This time it didn’t feel like good work. Sure, Charlie would end up behind bars, but poor Geoff still had that donut store and Kate was a megalomaniac, and Georgia, oh gosh, would she ever recover from her depression?

  “Heather,” Amy called out.

  “I’m coming,” she said. She strode down the hall and into the living room.

  Lilly pointed at the screen with a buttery finger. “You almost missed the best part.”

  Heather’s doubts evaporated at the sight of the girl on her sofa. How could she be weak when Lilly needed her to be strong?

  She hurried to her spot, sat down and grabbed a handful of popcorn, then turned her attention to the screen.

  Lilly crunched on beside her, and Amy sat back against the sofa, eyes drifting between open and closed.

  Chapter 18

  Heather and Amy stood arm-in-arm and stared up at the sign of Delightful Donuts.

  Dave tugged at the end of the leash in another sniffing pursuit around the tires of Heather’s car.

  “So that’s it,” Amy said. “That’s the end of Geoff Lawless’ bakery.”

  A crew of workers stood on ladders in front of the closed store and struggled to remove the now skew sign. Plastic and metal creaked and screeched against the side of the building.

  The front doors were shut tight.

  “I wonder what he’ll do now,” Heather whispered, and pressed her finger to her bottom lip. “Charles in jail and his sister at large. Will Geoff ever be free?”

  “Hello.” A man spoke behind them.

  Amy and Heather shrieked and Dave barked three times in rapid succession.

  They all turned on the spot.

  Geoff Lawless strode toward them, and the sun glinted off his bald pate. He raised a hand, and a real smile twitched at the corners of his lips. “Sorry. Didn’t meant to scare you, ladies.”

  “Oh. Mission failed then,” Amy replied, and massaged the spot on her chest just above her heart.

  “Did you come to say your goodbyes, Geoff?” Heather asked.

  The big guy stopped beside Heather’s car and squinted up at the store he’d run for the past few months. “Yeah. To say good riddance.”