Black & White Glazed Murder

by Susan Gillard

  “True,” Heather said. “There isn’t anything missing from the house, is there? This couldn’t have been a robbery, could it?”

  “Her jewelry was still in her bedroom,” Ryan said. “We’ll ask her nieces for a more thorough list, but right now it doesn’t appear so. There are valuable things still left in the room.”

  Heather nodded. Next to some pretty teacups was the fancy silverware.

  “We should also talk to the nieces to see if there was anyone who wanted to hurt their aunt,” said Heather.

  “You mean anyone besides Millie,” said Amy.

  Chapter 6

  The next morning, Heather was trying to make sense of some of her packing before she went out questioning suspects. She had to make some decisions about what furniture to bring, and what wasn’t worth carting across the country. She also wanted to pack up the small items that were most important to her to make certain that they would definitely come with her. However, it couldn’t be anything that she would need to use before she moved.

  Dave was following her as she paced from room to room, trying to figure out the most organized way to attack her packing. He was hoping at Heather would give up on her chores and decide it was time for a donut break for them both. Dave loved donuts as much as he loved his family. Some days, it seemed like he loved them even more.

  Heather found herself wandering into one room and saw Lilly talking in a video chat on their tablet.

  “Who are you talking to?” Heather asked.

  “Nicolas,” Lilly said. “He says hi.”

  Nicolas was Lilly’s best friend. They had met when they were both living at the children’s shelter before Lilly was adopted by the Shepherds. Lilly’s one demand before agreeing to their move to Key West had been to make sure that she and Nicolas would still be able to communicate and visit each other. She didn’t want her best friend to feel abandoned. Heather had agreed and gotten Nicolas a tablet, which would function as a more technological and long-reaching walkie-talkie for the friends.

  She waved at Nicolas on the screen and then realized how familiar the curtains behind Nicolas looked. She left the room and saw Nicolas was sitting on their living room couch.

  Lilly followed her mom and the two children burst into giggles.

  “You’re talking long distance in the same house?” Heather asked.

  “We were just practicing,” Lilly laughed.

  “We’re getting good at it,” Nicolas agreed. “And look, we found special features. I can give myself bug eyes on here.”

  “And I can add snowflakes falling on me,” said Lilly. “Isn’t that cool?”

  “What can you do for me? What special effects should you add to my face?” Heather asked, good-naturedly.

  The kids conferred and found an effect for Heather.

  “I wish we could have made piles of donuts surrounding you,” said Lilly. “But this works too.”

  They had selected a Sherlock Holmes inspired effect. Heather’s head was covered with a deerstalker cap, and a cartoon pipe was sticking out of her mouth.

  She laughed and thanked them for the effect.

  “That was fun. We’ll have to find one for Amy when she comes over,” Heather said.

  “Is she coming over?” Lilly asked, happily. “About donuts or a catching a criminal?”

  “About packing,” said Heather. “Though we will be working on the case later today. It’s a doozy of one. Mostly because of the witness/suspect who found the crime scene.”

  “Is that why dad looked so serious this morning?” Lilly asked.

  “He was joking as much as usual when he picked me up to come over,” Nicolas said.

  “I suppose I should tell you,” Heather said. “Your father’s partner Detective Hoskins.”

  “The one who always eats candy bars at the crime scenes?” asked Lilly.

  “And who tries to solve cases without getting up from his chair?” asked Nicolas.

  “It was his wife who found the crime scene,” said Heather. “Unfortunately, we have to consider her a suspect.”

  “Do you think she did it?” asked Lilly.

  “I’m just not sure,” said Heather. “She seemed really nice to me. But sometimes people can pretend to be nice.”

  “I’m sure whoever did it, you’ll catch him,” said Lilly.

  Heather smiled at her daughter’s note of confidence. “Thank you. And now I think I’ll take the serious stuff with me, and let the two of you have some fun.”

  She left the two of them giggling and trying to figure out what animation to add to Amy’s picture when she arrived.

  Heather’s thoughts were buzzing about the case, but she tried to push them away for a few hours. Ryan would have more information on the fingerprints that afternoon, which would be helpful for her questioning. She also really needed to get a handle on her packing. Otherwise, she would be moving to Florida with less than she would normally bring on vacation.

  She started picking up framed photos and setting them down. Did she need to display them until she left? Or could she box them up now? It wasn’t a life-altering decision, but she was being indecisive. She looked at Dave, who wagged his tail at her. Sometimes the dog was right.

  “You win,” she said. “We’ll have a donut break.”

  The timing was fortuitous because Amy arrived soon after she broke open the box of donuts. Amy enjoyed seeing the special effects that Lilly and Nicolas decided on that gave her a racing car and then enjoyed a Black & White Donut.

  Lilly and Nicolas took their donuts into different rooms to eat and to continue practicing their long-distance communication. Dave was torn about which room to go into and beg for a donut but opted to stay with Heather. She couldn’t resist the puppy dog eyes today and gave him a big piece.

  Then she and Amy sat down to chat.

  “Do you want to ignore discussing packing and focus on the case?” Amy asked.

  “I really do,” said Heather. “But I need to start boxing things up, or I’ll be in for some sleepless nights when it gets closer to moving day.”

  “How about we box up some of your spare plates and china, and then we can still talk about the case?” Amy suggested.

  “Agreed.”

  They found some old newspapers and began wrapping the plates in them. The paper was mostly from the Hillside Reporter. Heather had never been a big fan of the unreliable paper but sensed when she unwrapped her dishware she would feel a sense of nostalgia.

  “The kitchen crime scene didn’t look disturbed,” Heather commented, thinking about the case. “So, I don’t think Vera Rogers expected her killer to attack. There were no signs of a struggle.”

  “Her kitchen did seem tidy,” Amy said. “Except for, well, you know, the body.”

  The packed in silence for a few moments, both lost in thought. Heather noticed that Amy was frowning.

  “Are you all right? Is the case upsetting you?” Heather asked.

  “It is upsetting. A woman was stabbed to death. And Hoskins’s wife is either to blame or is looking falsely accused. That’s a lot to take in,” Amy said. “But I think I had that look on my face for more selfish reasons.”

  “Well, stop being selfish and share,” Heather teased her. “What’s on your mind?”

  “I guess it’s that Vera Rogers was living alone. Who is going to get her house now? It must pass to her heirs. That’s just got me thinking about what’s happening with my house,” Amy sighed.

  “I’m sorry,” Heather said. “You still don’t know what going on with it?”

  Amy shook her head. She and Jamie had just moved into a house together, but their landlord had been murdered soon after. The kind landlord had technically let them move in before the lease started. After his death, the house had passed to his heirs. They couldn’t seem to decide if they wanted to keep renting the house, or if they wanted to sell it and be rid of the responsibilities. It was frustrating to Amy who was trying to plan what she should be doing. Should she be loo
king for another house?

  Heather could understand what she was going through. It looked like she and her family were going to move before they had finalized things with their house. They had to start setting up for Donut Delights II soon, and they wanted to be moved in before Lilly’s school year started. They were only obligated to stay in Key West for a year and then could go where they pleased. Should they keep the house in Hillside in case they wanted to return to it? Should they hire someone to care for it if they did that? Would that be too expensive? Should they just sell the house so they wouldn’t be tied down anywhere? However, selling a house came with its own set of headaches.

  An idea suddenly came to Heather.

  “Amy, how would you feel about moving in here?” she asked.

  “What do you mean?” Amy asked back.

  “If you have to move out of your rental, how would you feel about moving into our house? We’ve been having trouble deciding what to do with it. I’d feel it was in safe hands with you and Jamie,” Heather said.

  “Thanks,” Amy said. “I feel better already knowing that I have an option if we get kicked out. But we’ll have to think about it, of course.”

  Heather nodded.

  “I’m going to miss you so much,” Amy said.

  The two friends hugged, but it was short-lived. It was interrupted by Heather’s cell phone ringing.

  “Shepherd,” she said, answering.

  Amy could tell that she was talking to Ryan about the case, but she couldn’t discern the details. The look on Heather’s face didn’t look too happy as she hung up the phone.

  “What did he say?” Amy asked.

  “He said the results of the fingerprints came in,” said Heather. “The fingerprints on the murder weapon match Millie Hoskins’.”

  Chapter 7

  “Thanks for coming in,” Ryan said, as Heather and Amy joined him at his desk at the police station.

  “I can tell you’ve had a hard day,” Heather said. “Have a donut to make you feel better.”

  “I was about to say I didn’t have an appetite until you showed them to me,” Ryan said, obliging. “It has been a tough day. I don’t want to believe that a nice lady like Millie is a killer. I don’t want to believe that a cop’s wife stabbed somebody. I don’t want to believe that someone my partner loves could do that. But I have to follow the evidence. Right now it is pointing to Millie Hoskins’s guilt. Every time I think there’s something that could point to another suspect, it leads back to her.”

  “The fingerprints,” agreed Heather.

  “You seemed to get the results pretty quick,” Amy commented.

  “They rushed it for us, thinking it might help a detective find justice. However, that backfired,” said Ryan.

  “It’s weird,” Amy said. “We finally have an easy open-and-shut case.”

  “Then why does something still feel wrong?” Heather asked.

  “We have to be careful and make sure that it’s not emotion and wishful thinking that’s making us search for other answers,” said Ryan “Sometimes the answer we don’t want is the right one.”

  “I know,” Heather said. “I don’t think it’s emotion clouding my judgment. This is just something I feel in my gut. There’s something else going on here.”

  “Well, your gut is rarely wrong,” Ryan said. “And I hope it’s not this time.”

  “What’s going on here?” Hoskins asked, storming up to their desk.

  “Hoskins, I thought you were going to be home today,” Ryan said.

  “How can I be home today when my wife was brought in for questioning?” he asked.

  “That might be exactly why you shouldn’t be here,” Heather said, gently. “You’re too close to the case to see it objectively.”

  “Maybe you need someone who’s not objective. Maybe you need someone who knows a person’s true character. Maybe you need someone who knows that Millie Hoskins is no murderer.” Then after those moving words, he added, “Are those donuts?”

  “Take one,” Heather said. “I brought them in because it’s been a stressful day.”

  “So stressful,” Hoskins said with a mouth full of donut. “First, Millie is upset because of what happened to Vera. Then after I tell her it’s okay, someone brings her in for more questioning. Then I have to hear about her fingerprints on a murder weapon. That’s not true, is it?”

  “I’m afraid it is,” said Ryan. “I saw the match myself.”

  “But she couldn’t have done it. She couldn’t have stabbed somebody. And that’s what I tried to tell the mayor. And you know what happened? He ignored me. Even Crystal Rahway won’t take my calls. They really think that Millie did it and they want to distance themselves from us. Can you believe that?” Hoskins said, angrily.

  “A politician changing his friends to suit his needs?” Amy said. “No, I can’t believe it at all.”

  “I was supposed to be getting an award with Millie next to me. Now they’re trying to ship her off to jail. I don’t understand any of this,” Hoskins said, picking up another donut.

  “Maybe that’s why you should go home,” Ryan said. “You should focus on what’s best for your family instead of the badge.”

  “But you do believe she’s innocent, right?” Hoskins asked.

  “I believe we’ll find the real killer,” Ryan said.

  “That’s not the same thing,” Hoskins said. “Okay. I know I’m not always the perfect partner. I know I used to annoyed when your wife and her friend stuck their noses into cases.”

  “Used to?” Amy asked.

  “Maybe there were even some times that I thought that they were guilty of crimes. But no matter what we were partners. When you said “Hoskins, I need you to have my back,” I had it.”

  “I’m not sure I ever said that,” Ryan mused.

  “But if you did, I would have been there,” Hoskins admitted.

  Amy raised an eyebrow.

  Hoskins wiped the chocolate off of his finger and gave Ryan his full attention. “We’ve worked together a long time. We’re partners. I know that she didn’t do it. It’s not because she’s my wife. It’s because I know her. I need you to trust me on this. And I need you to have my back now.”

  Ryan took a deep breath and then said, “I do trust you. And I trust Heather’s gut.”

  “She doesn’t think Millie did it?” Hoskins asked gratefully.

  “We’ll look for other alternatives, and we’ll find out the truth,” said Ryan.

  Hoskins hugged Ryan. Ryan wasn’t used to this emotional display from his partner and didn’t appreciate the sugary stains passing from one uniform from the other, but he hugged him back. Hoskins was so full of emotion that he hugged Heather as well, but he drew the line at Amy.

  “So, if Millie didn’t do it, then who did?” Amy asked.

  Chapter 8

  The four investigators were momentarily stumped. Amy’s question about who could have killed Vera Rogers besides Millie Hoskins was running through all their minds.

  “It wasn’t a robbery,” Heather reiterated.

  “Oh,” Hoskins said, excitedly. “I thought of something.”

  “It better not be just that you want another donut,” Amy muttered.

  His hand had been headed towards the donut box, but then stopped.

  “No,” he said. “An idea for a motive. What if Millie is being framed?”

  “Why would someone frame her?” Amy asked.

  “I don’t know. To hurt me. To hurt the police force,” Hoskins suggested. “There’s been people in Hillside who were famed before. Your investor guy was framed recently.”

  “That’s true,” Heather said. “That mobster Lyle Clarke had orchestrated it to hurt my new business venture. It was a good frame job too. We almost believed it.”

  “Could he be behind it this time too?” asked Hoskins.

  “I suppose it’s possible,” said Heather. “Though I’m not sure he’s the criminal mastermind that tries the same failed plan
twice.”

  “And besides,” said Amy. “Why would he go after Millie? He’d want to go after somebody where framing them would hurt the Shepherds.”

  “But I’m Ryan’s partner,” Hoskins said. “They love me. Hurting me would hurt them.”

  They all smiled politely. They wouldn’t use the word “love” to describe Hoskins any more than they were sure that Hoskins “loved” Heather’s involvement in their police work. However, they did all work on the same side of the law. They respected each other as instruments of that law, and they wouldn’t abandon one another.

  “Maybe it is possible Lyle Clarke is behind this,” Heather said. “He’s behind a fair share of illicit activities in Hillside.”

  “Who else could have framed her?” Ryan asked.

  “I don’t know,” Hoskins said. “We don’t have enemies like you do.”

  Heather and Ryan exchanged a look. They didn’t think of themselves as having enemies, but they had to admit that they did have people trying to kill them on multiple occasions when they came close to revealing the truth behind a crime.

  Amy suddenly had an idea. “What if it was Crystal Rahway? The daughter of the victim from that case that Hoskins was getting the credit for brilliantly solving. She’s been doing a lot for him. She was getting the mayor to give him special attention and stuff. What if she became obsessed with him? And she wanted to get his wife out of the way?”

  “It is an interesting idea,” Heather said.

  “But she’s ignoring me now,” Hoskins said. “She won’t help me or come to my aid. And I really don’t think she’s in love with me.”

  “There is a problem with this idea of framing her,” Heather pointed out. “Millie didn’t plan on going to see Vera Rogers until right before she did it. And the killer couldn’t plan on Millie taking action that would lead to her being covered in blood. I think Millie coming across the crime scene was an accident.”

  “Or,” Amy said. “It was no accident at all.”

  “She didn’t do it,” Hoskins repeated.