Vanilla Glazed Murder: A Donut Hole Cozy Mystery - Book 55 Read online

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  Disclaimer: This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, businesses, places, events and incidents are either the products of the author’s imagination or used in a fictitious manner. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, or actual events is purely coincidental.

  Copyright 2017 by Guardian Publishing Group - All rights reserved.

  All rights Reserved. No part of this publication or the information in it may be quoted from or reproduced in any form by means such as printing, scanning, photocopying or otherwise without prior written permission of the copyright holder.

  Table of Contents

  Chapter 1

  Chapter 2

  Chapter 3

  Chapter 4

  Chapter 5

  Chapter 6

  Chapter 7

  Chapter 8

  Chapter 9

  Chapter 10

  Chapter 11

  Chapter 12

  Chapter 13

  Chapter 14

  Chapter 15

  Chapter 16

  Chapter 17

  Chapter 18

  Chapter 1

  “Ready?” Heather asked.

  “No,” said Amy.

  Heather took a deep breath and waited a moment, and then asked again, “Ready?”

  “No,” Amy said, frowning. “If I never say “yes,” then we’ll never get to the “set, go” part, right?”

  “Well, it’s your furniture,” Heather said. “If you’d rather it sit on the lawn instead of in your living room, I guess it’s your choice.”

  “I’m so tired,” Amy groaned. “I think I’ll just move onto the lawn instead of having to trudge all the way inside.”

  Then she dramatically sighed and plopped herself down on the couch that she and her bestie had paused in their pursuit of carrying inside. Heather decided to join her friend on the seats in the driveway. It felt good to sit after all their hard work that morning.

  Heather mopped the sweat off of her forehead while Amy sunk deeper into her seat. Amy and her boyfriend Jamie had just rented a house together and were moving in that day. They had recruited the Shepherds to help them move their furniture and belongings inside. Heather was happy to help her bestie move in with somebody she loved, but she was less happy about all the heavy lifting that they had to do that morning.

  Moving furniture had given her husband, Detective Ryan Shepherd, a chance to flex his cop muscles. Heather admitted that she would have loved to admire the view of her handsome husband showing off his strength if she weren’t so tired from all her own move-in moving around.

  “What? Is it break time?” Ryan asked as he and Jamie emerged from the house. They had just carried a huge desk that Amy had recently bought inside.

  “Darling,” Amy said, only half-joking. “I’ve decided that we should just move onto the lawn. It will save a lot of heavy lifting and carrying.”

  “How about Ryan and I finish carrying the couch inside?” Jamie asked.

  “That sounds great,” Amy said.

  “You’re just going to have to get up first,” Jamie said.

  “Sounds less great,” said Amy. “That might be a problem.”

  “Well, I am fine with taking a rest,” Jamie said. “But if we are taking a break, shouldn’t we have some donuts?”

  “I thought you’d never ask,” Heather said.

  She went and retrieved a Donut Delights box full of tasty morsels and brought it to the group. This was a box she enjoyed carrying, both because it was much lighter than the other boxes she had been heaving around that morning and because delivering donuts always brought smiles to people’s faces. This was no exception.

  “What’s the new flavor?” Ryan asked with a smile. He knew that Heather loved creating new flavors every week, just as much as her friends enjoyed sampling. He also knew how she liked to explain the inspiration for each exciting new flavor, whether it was a new delicious taste she wanted to experiment with or something in her life that she was celebrating with her recipe.

  “This is a Vanilla Glazed Donut,” Heather said.

  “I love vanilla,” Jamie said.

  “I know,” Heather said. “And that was part of the inspiration.”

  Amy had perked up from her exhaustion with the promise of donuts and was sitting up. She looked at Jamie and then smiled. “You’re an inspiration.”

  “I wanted to take a basic but well-loved flavor and turn it into something special,” Heather said. “Because I felt that was like what this new house is like. Right now, it’s a just a collection of walls and floors, but it’s about to be filled with love. And it’s going to turn into something wonderful.”

  Amy started to blush and covered with a snarky comment. “You’re being as mushy as a donut after it’s been chewed.”

  Heather laughed.

  “Is the icing vanilla too?” Jamie asked, wondering if he was double the inspiration.

  “It is vanilla,” Heather said. “But it’s a glaze, not an icing.”

  “What’s the difference?” Asked Jamie.

  “The differences have more to do with their preparation,” Heather admitted. “I use more milk in my glaze than in my icing. The main difference that a customer would see if that my icings usually only adorn the tops of my donuts, but my glazes engulf the whole donut circle.”

  “As long as it is delicious as it looks, I don’t mind what the covering is called,” Ryan said, smiling.

  “Let’s taste them then,” Amy said. she picked up a donut, and the others followed suit.

  “Wait a second,” Heather said. “There’s one more thing I want to show you.”

  “What?” Amy asked. She looked pained to have to stop bringing the donut up to her mouth.

  “This outdoor lighting is actually great for this display,” Heather said. “I added some sugary sprinkles on top of the donut too and if it catches the sun—“

  “It sparkles,” said Amy. “It’s beautiful.”

  “I know my bestie likes shiny things,” Heather said. “Even when it comes to snacks.”

  “It looks almost too stunning to eat,” Amy said. “Almost.”

  With that, they all dug into their donuts. They were as tasty as expected and everyone was happy to have had a Vanilla Glazed snack. After all their hard physical work that morning, they agreed that seconds were in order. It was a wonderful break, and everyone was disappointed when it was over.

  “I guess we should finish moving the couch,” Jamie said. “Or we might catch some looks from the neighbors who think we like the outside couch Feng Shui.”

  “What were we thinking?” Amy asked. “Moving during the summer in Texas?”

  “Maybe you were thinking about how much you like each other and how you’d like to live together,” Heather reminded her.

  “Yeah. I guess,” Amy said. She spoke like she was annoyed, but smiled at Jamie after she said it.

  Heather and Amy stood up so Ryan and Jamie could fulfill their promise and finish bringing the couch inside.

  “It’s going to look great once it’s all set up,” Heather said.

  “Yeah,” Amy agreed. “It’s a wonderful space. And it was nice of our landlord to let us move in now.”

  “It is early?” Heather asked.

  Amy nodded. “Our lease doesn’t officially begin until the beginning of next month. Mr. Hucklebine had to finish repairing the back steps before he could let tenants move in. But it took him less time than he thought, so
he told us we could move in early. He’s a nice guy. I’ve heard horror stories about landlords, so we really lucked out.”

  “He seemed nice when he let you show off the house to all our friends when you were deciding to take it or not.”

  “He was easily bribed by donuts,” Amy said. “Which is always good to know.”

  Heather smiled. “I think this is such a good move. I’m so happy for you two.”

  “Me too,” Amy said. “I think it’s going to work out perfectly for us. Of course…”

  “What?” Heather asked.

  “Well, you have to be careful about saying that in Hillside,” Amy joked. “Right when you think things are calm and peaceful, crime seems to strike.”

  Heather laughed but also had to nod. Her bestie did have a point.

  Chapter 2

  The heavy lifting was done, but bringing in the smaller and lighter items was also tiring. They had to carry them from the van they had rented to inside the house and then figure out a general location that it belonged in. Combining two people’s belongings and lives together was tricky.

  It was only noon, and already Heather felt like climbing into bed and going to sleep.

  “Have I told you how much I appreciate you and what a good friend you are?” Amy asked Heather.

  “Are you angling for another donut?’ Heather teased.

  “I was just trying to thank you,” Amy said. “But if you have another donut, I’ll take it.”

  Heather laughed. They walked outside to get some more donuts and some more belongings to bring inside.

  While they were on the street, they met some of the new neighbors. Deb and Phil Pittman approached them when they were by their rental van.

  “Hi neighbor,” Phil said, without taking his hands out of his pockets to shake. Deb held onto one of his arms and nodded. They were a middle-aged couple who looked literally joined at the hip at the moment. Phil had his hair parted directly down the center and wore round glasses. Deb had her curly hair styled to be off her neck and wore a blue dress that matched Phil’s shirt.

  “Hi, I’m Amy Givens,” she said, grudgingly setting down a donut in order to greet her neighbors instead. “This is my friend Heather who is helping me move in.”

  Heather smiled politely and said hello.

  “My boyfriend Jamie is inside,” Amy explained.

  Mr. Pittman introduced himself and his wife. Then they stared at the truck.

  “I hate to be rude,” Phil Pittman said.

  “Uh oh,” Amy muttered to her friend, knowing that that phrase always portended something rude to follow.

  “But is this your van?”

  “We rented it to help move our things,” Amy answered.

  “So, it’s just for moving?’ Phil asked.

  “Yeah,” Amy said, not knowing where this conversation was leading.

  “You see?” Deb said, playfully hitting her husband. “I told you we had nothing to worry about. She won’t be like the Tuttles.”

  “I hope not,” Phil said.

  “I don’t know what you’re talking about,” Amy said. “What’s a tuttle?”

  “Forget it,” Phil said. “They’re our neighbors. They like to park in front of our house. Like you are doing now.”

  “It’s on the street,” Amy said.

  “Yes,” Phil said. “But it’s in front of our house. Our property begins at the fence line, and so the nose of your truck extends beyond it. There’s about a foot of your vehicle that’s in front of our property.”

  “But we know it’s just because you’re moving in,” Deb said.

  “We’re sure this won’t become a habit,” Phil said. “And that we can all be neighbors that get along.”

  “We wouldn’t want to have any trouble,” said Deb with a smile.

  “We wouldn’t have to report anything,” Phil continued.

  It took all of Amy’s strength not to roll her eyes. She was sure that there was no rule against parking on your own street. However, she didn’t want to start things off on the wrong foot on her first day in her new home. “I’m sure you won’t have to,” Amy said.

  Heather decided to stand up for her friend and informed the couple, “If there ever is anything to report to the police, we’d be happy to help. My husband is a detective with the Hillside Police.”

  Phil and Deb looked embarrassed at their veiled threats and looked away for a moment. They welcomed Amy to the neighborhood again and then hurried inside their home.

  “I hope I made things better and not worse,” Heather said.

  “That was smooth,” Amy said. “I wanted to say something biting and mean, and had to resist. You were cool and polite, but wiped the smugness off their faces.”

  “I also thought it was better to use Ryan because being on the police force is so official. They shouldn’t threaten private detectives like us either. We know the law. Even petty ones.”

  “It was probably best that we didn’t advertise I’m a private investigator right away,” Amy said. “I don’t want everyone to be suspicious of what I’m thinking about them or worrying that I’ll go through their garbage.”

  Heather presented her with a donut that they had come outside for. After their snack to give them some more energy (and delight their taste buds), they picked up a few lamps to bring inside the house.

  As they made their way back, they were greeted by Amy’s across-the-street neighbor. Barry Rahway had graying hair and a silly sense of humor. He asked them to smell the flower on his lapel. They could tell it was fake and knew it was going to squirt them with water but obliged anyway to make the new neighbor happy. However, afterward, they weren’t so sure that it had been a good idea.

  “What’s that smell?” Amy asked, sniffing what she had been squirted with.

  “Lavender water,” Barry Rahway said. “I got in trouble for using vinegar.”

  “Yeah. Go figure,” said Amy. She started to walk away, but Barry Rahway stopped her.

  “Wait,” he said. “Do you have a pet?”

  “No,” Amy said. “At least not right now.”

  “All right,” Barry said. “It looks like I’ll have to keep up with the dog activities on the block. There are too many cats on the street, so I have to even it out.”

  “It was so nice meeting you,” Heather said. “But we need to bring these things inside. We need to finish unpacking.”

  “All right,” Barry Rahway said. “It was nice meeting you too. Stay laughing.”

  He walked back to his house, practicing making rude noises with his armpit.

  “Stay laughing?” Amy asked. “Did he notice that we never laughed, to begin with? How can we stay laughing?”

  That made Heather laugh. Together they made their way inside and joined the men who had placed all the heavy furniture into the spots they belonged.

  They met another set of their neighbors when they answered a knock at their door and were greeted by a green gelatin mold.

  “I know it seems old-fashioned,” Jill Lovett said. “But bringing a dessert to new neighbors is traditional. And if you’re someone who is germophobic or don’t trust food that was brought to you by a stranger than you won’t feel guilty for throwing something like this out.”

  Heather was thinking about the comment Jill made about not trusting food that was brought to you and was remembering how she had been poisoned before, when James Lovett said, “Really? I thought you made this because it’s the only thing you can make in the kitchen.”

  “It’s a wonder I can make anything in the kitchen seeing as you never fixed the tile in there.”

  “Maybe if you didn’t stomp around like a barbarian, it wouldn’t have cracked.”

  “Maybe if you hired a professional to do these projects instead of attempting things you’re not qualified for, we wouldn’t have a broken home.”

  “Thanks for the Jello-O,” Amy said, as the bickering couple left. “What did we get ourselves into?” she asked her friends.

&
nbsp; There was another ring of the doorbell, and Amy cowered. She was joking even though the sentiment was real.

  “Who could it be now?”

  However, there were pleasantly surprised to see their friends Eva and Leila at the door. The two older ladies were regulars at Heather’s Donut Delights and had become good friends of the group.

  “I see you didn’t ask us to help you move,” Eva said.

  “What? You don’t think we’re strong enough?” Leila asked.

  The two seniors flexed their arm muscles, and then everyone laughed.

  “It’s starting to look like a real home,” Eva remarked. “Adding furniture always helps.”