Birthday Sprinkle Murder: A Donut Hole Cozy Mystery - Book 37 Read online

  Table of Contents

  Title Page

  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

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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.

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  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

  “What’s the plan? We bring her here and all yell out surprise?” Amy asked. She scooched to the edge of the cushion on the wrought iron chair. “She’ll probably know what we’ve planned, right away.”

  “Lilly is an intelligent child,” Eva said, and flick-flacked her newspaper. She disappeared behind it, apart from the top of her pale blue beehive hairstyle, which peeked out at Heather over the pages.

  “I’ll come up with something,” Heather replied. “But it’s going to involve the kids from the shelter. It’s got to. I don’t think she’d enjoy herself without Nicolas there.”

  She sat back in her seat and cast a glance around the interior of Donut Delights. The store bustled with activity and the hype from the Tea and Donut Fair had driven loads of new faces through the door.

  Each sat with a donut or a cup of coffee, grinning, chatting, and spreading the cheer which made this Heather’s favorite place in the entire world.

  “Dear,” Eva said, and folded the newspaper again. She plopped it down in front of Amy. “You haven’t told me about the donut of the week, yet. It looks so exciting.” Eva twirled her fingertips above the sprinkled donut on the plate in front of her.

  Heather rubbed her palms together. “I wanted to do something special for Lils, so I’ve created the Birthday Sprinkle Donut.”

  Eva made an appreciative noise. “Tell me more,” she said.

  “Lilly’s been on a real white chocolate kick, lately. So, I’ve done a plain baked vanilla donut, interspersed with sprinkles, then double dipped in a white chocolate glaze and rolled through the most colorful sprinkles I could find in Hillside.” Heather admired the donut.

  She’d made a few prototypes after the fair last night, and Lils had adored them. It’d been the start to her birthday week.

  “That sounds fantastic,” Eva said, and picked up the donut. “Now, let’s find out if it tastes as delicious as it looks.”

  Heather took a sip of her coffee and studied her bestie and Amy over her cup.

  The two of them had been with her through thick and thin. Through the good times, the bad times, and the times which’d defined Donut Delights and Heather herself.

  Ames slurped from her mug and spilled coffee on the table. Eva bit into the donut and sprayed sprinkles all over her plate.

  Heather laughed.

  “What’s so funny, chuckles?” Amy asked.

  “Oh nothing. I just love you guys,” Heather said, in return.

  Amy grabbed a few napkins from the dispenser in the center of the table. She dumped them on top of the spill. “See? All better now.”

  “This is amazing,” Eva said, and licked sprinkles from her lips. “Perfect for Lilly’s birthday.”

  “Yeah, last week we didn’t get much of a chance to celebrate that the adoption papers were finalized –”

  “At last,” Amy said.

  “Exactly. So this week, I kind of wanted to make a big fuss out of her,” Heather said.

  “If anyone deserves that kind of fuss, it’s Lilly,” Eva replied. “She’s such an angel.”

  “Except when she’s on one of her ‘dinosaur hunting’ sprees,” Amy said.

  Lils had taken to mock excavations in the back garden, with Cupcake and Dave as her too willing assistants. Granted, Cupcake had peed on one of the excavations and been banished to the living room on time out, once, but other than that, Lils’ adventures had gone off without a hitch.

  “Speaking of dinosaurs,” Heather said. “I thought of doing a theme for the party.”

  “A dinosaur cake?”

  “Maybe with a viewing of Jurassic Park,” Heather replied.

  Amy clapped her hands. “She’ll loved that. And I’m sure, uh, Jamie would like that too?”

  “Is that your way of asking if your boyfriend can come?” Heather asked.

  “He’s not my official boyfriend. I mean, he is but he isn’t. I don’t know. I don’t want to jinx it.”

  Heather blinked at her best friend. “Yes, Ames, he can come. If he’s important to you, he’s important to us.”

  Amy stuck out her tongue. “Did I say he was important? Okay, maybe he’s a little important. I don’t know if –”

  It was Eva’s turn to chuckle. “Goodness, dear, you’re giving me commitment issues, and I was married for years.”

  Heather opened her mouth to reply, but the buzz of her cell in the front pocket of her Donut Delights apron stopped her. She squirmed it out and gazed at Ryan’s flashing name on the screen.

  Amy craned her neck, then sank in her chair. “Gosh, does it always have to be on a Monday morning?”

  “That Skydiver murder was on a Tuesday, wasn’t it?” Heather asked. She’d become too blasé about the cases, now. She cleared her throat, then answered the call. “Shepherd.”

  “Still using my lines, I see,” her husband said. “I need you.”

  “Just the thing a loving wife likes to hear.”

  “Cute,” Ryan said, and his tone warmed. It dropped to an icy temperature again. “But I need you for a case, Mrs. Shepherd. This one’s interesting.”

  “Interesting how?” Heather asked. Lilly’s birthday preparations interested her far more than anything murder related, right now. This was set to be a busier week than the one before it.

  She had to get presents, a cake, organize the kids from the shelter a ride to the –

  “It took place in an apartment building on Old Church Street,” Ryan said. “You remember from –”

  “Samantha Sweetheart case,” Heather said. “I remember.” Poor girl had been exonerated after the self-defense claim. “Same building?”

  “No, the one right next to it. Place is almost falling apart. Looks a step away from being condemned,” Ryan said.

  “And?” Heather
met Amy’s gaze. Her best friend had paled at the mention of Old Church Street. It led right past the graveyard – Ames’ worst nightmare.

  “And we’ve got a murder on the first floor. The Superintendent of the building. No evidence of forced entry through the front door. Granted, I haven’t swept through the place just yet,” Ryan said. “But we might have a locked room conundrum, here.”

  Heather tapped her fingertips on the tabletop. “It’s Lilly’s birthday this week,” she said. Her daughter was more important than any case.

  “I know,” Ryan said. “I know, honey. I’m excited too and I’ll help you plan and organize every night I’m not on duty. I need you on this case. There’s more.”

  “More?”

  “Yeah, well, we’ve got a murder here, that much is clear from the blood spatter pattern across the wall,” he said.

  She grimaced. “Okay? So what’s the problem? Apart from the murder, I mean.”

  “We don’t have a body.”

  Heather sucked in a breath and met Amy’s gaze. She switched her focus to Eva.

  Both of them gave her a thumbs up. They’d help as much as they could.

  “All right,” Heather said. “What’s the address?”

  Chapter 2

  “Well,” Heather said, and turned in the center of the dingy living room. “This is pleasant.”

  Ryan clicked on the light, but the single bulb in the standing lamp barely lit the space. He walked to the curtains which covered the window and drew them back. “Huh,” he said.

  “What is it?”

  “I think I just found our entry point.” He pointed at the broken window pane in the left, metal frame.

  Cold wind gusted through the gap and fluttered strands of Heather’s hair. She tucked them behind her ears. “How do we know this is actually a murder?” Heather asked, and stepped around a marked area on the floor. She avoided focusing on the smear and spatter Ryan had mentioned on the phone.

  She wasn’t the forensics kind. She was the sleuth who pieced together the personal stories, the motivation and background. All that other stuff was an addition to the case. It helped narrow down the suspect list and convict in court, but it wasn’t her job.

  Boy, she wouldn’t have survived a day in a lab.

  Ryan turned back to the room. “Because of the amount of blood. The medical examiner ensured me that there was a murder. There’s also evidence that the body was dragged, and now we know where to.” He pointed to the window.

  “You’re kidding,” Heather said. “Out through there?”

  “It’s the only explanation,” Ryan said. “The front door was locked and remained that way. But we’ve taken fingerprints from there.” He leaned in and squinted at the sill. “And from the window, too apparently.”

  “You seem less informed than usual,” Heather said.

  “I had Hoskins handle everything here for the initial sweep through. I wanted him to get some experience,” Ryan said. “He’s gone back to the station to write up a report. Should email it to me, shortly.”

  Hoskins had become a pet project for Detective Shepherd. Heather would’ve admired Ryan’s spirit, if Hoskins’ hadn’t irritated her with his donut jokes so thoroughly.

  “Okay, so let’s go over the facts,” Heather said. “Who’s our victim?”

  “Sebastian Holland,” Ryan replied. “The superintendent of the building. Lived on the first floor, obviously, and was not the neatest guy around.” He pointed to the pile of laundry on the floor in the corner.

  “Doesn’t bode well for his duties as superintendent.”

  “Exactly. Well take a look at the place,” Ryan said, and pointed to the crumbling plaster on the ceiling. Another crack spread along the wall above the front door. “It’s not exactly in the best shape.”

  “So, we’ve got a missing body, a definite murder,” Heather said, and readjusted her tote bag on her shoulder. She gestured to the broken window. “A point of entry and exit. The body had to have been removed.”

  “Right,” Ryan said, and circled the sofa. In front of it a TV set flashed muted image of a Jerry Springer show. Ryan grabbed the remote and clicked it off.

  “What’s that?” Heather asked.

  Two bowls sat beside the TV stand. One filled with water, the other kibble. “Dog food? Cat food?”

  “Can’t be certain,” Ryan said. “We’ll have to speak with the others who lived in the building.”

  “Regardless, our vic had a pet,” Heather said. “Where is it?” She turned and walked to the archway which led into a small, and even dingier, kitchen. The stale scent of misuse drifted on the air.

  Apparently, Sebastian hadn’t been one to cook. Add that to his list of not to-do’s.

  “A pet that’s no longer in the building,” Ryan said. He whipped out his notepad and pen and scribbled down the potential lead. “Though, I highly doubt the killer would’ve removed the pet.”

  “We don’t know that yet,” Heather said, and squinted around the darkened room. She gestured to the laptop in the corner. “That hasn’t been taken into evidence yet?”

  “No. The building had surveillance on the hall. The techs want to examine everything here first, before we dismantle it,” Ryan said.

  “Surveillance,” Heather said, and tapped her bottom lip with her thumb. “In a place like this? Why?”

  “No idea. Apparently, the owner of the building was serious about who came in and out of the place.”

  “The owner?” Heather asked.

  “I know what you’re thinking,” Ryan said. “But I already checked out that one detail, while Hoskins was combing over the place.”

  “Combing,” Heather said, and lifted her fingers. She made inverted commas around the word.

  “Uh-huh. The owner lives out in Houston and definitely has an alibi for the murder.”

  Heather rolled her tongue along the backs of her teeth. “Still,” she said. “A guy like this? A superintendent who didn’t look after the building? That had to irritate the owner.”

  “Maybe,” Ryan said. “But irritate him enough to take out a hit on the guy? That would just jeopardize his investment. No one’s going to want to stay in a murder building.”

  “Now, you just sound like Amy,” Heather said, and risked a quick smile.

  “The guy isn’t happy about this at all.” Ryan flipped through his notes, a few pages at best. “Mr. Fierro. He didn’t appear to have any knowledge about the degradation of the place, but the murder has frustrated him even more. He’s requested that we narrow down our suspect list before we interview the folks in the building.”

  Heather snorted.

  “What?” Her husband shut his notepad.

  “It’s cute that he thinks he can dictate how a police investigation should be performed.”

  “He has a point, though. There are a lot of pensioners living in this building. We don’t want to upset anybody,” Ryan said.

  “Upset them like Sebastian Holland was upset when his killer dragged his body through the window?”

  “Heather.”

  “Since when do you care about upsetting people?”

  Ryan sighed. “Since the Cap told me to take it easy on this one. There’s been some chatter from the mayor’s office.”

  “The mayor?!” Heather gripped the straps of her handbag.

  “That’s right. Apparently, the town council is none too pleased with your – uh, well. The interrogation techniques you’ve used. There have been some complaints about ‘sensitivity’ with regards to the questions and how they’re framed.”

  Gosh, she couldn’t win. She could help solve murders, but now her questions were too harsh. “Everybody’s a critic.”

  “Including the mayor.”

  She pursed her lips at her husband. “Fine,” she said. “I’ll ease up on the questions this time around.” No controlling Amy’s input, of course. “But I want that footage as soon as you guys are done with it. There might be something you miss that I can pick up
on.”

  Ryan’s frown smoothed into an expression of calm. “Will do.”

  Chapter 3

  Amy dragged her chair around to Heather’s side of the desk, then dropped into it. She blew her hair from her eyes. “They’re calling you insensitive?”

  “They’re calling us insensitive. I’m usually good at the interviewing part of the investigation,” Heather said, and dragged her index finger across the mousepad. “Maybe I’ve lost my touch.”

  “Or somebody who doesn’t like you is trying to get you into trouble,” Amy replied.

  Heather clicked on the file which Ryan had brought over on a flash drive. After the initial investigation of the crime scene, the day had moved on in Donut Delights. They’d organized a cake for Lilly’s birthday, and the donut orders had poured in from their new website.

  “Honestly,” Heather said. “I think we were a little insensitive last time.”

  “That happens when you find people hiding out in dumpsters,” Amy replied.

  “I’m serious. I was in such a rush to get the case done because of the Fair, I didn’t stop to think about the way I interacted with people,” Heather said.

  Amy wriggled her lips from side to side. “Sure, I guess. But let’s be honest here. These aren’t innocents we’re dealing with. These are murder suspects in an ongoing investigation. It’s a serious thing. You can’t handle everybody with kid gloves.”

  “Yeah, but I don’t need to take off the gloves and slap the suspects with them either,” Heather said, and raised either palm. She created a scale shape with her arms. “Balance. I think we lacked it last time. Too heavy handed. We’ll figure it out.”

  Amy gave a noncommittal grunt.

  The afternoon sun had dipped toward the horizon and cast a sliver of orange along the wall opposite Heather’s desk – like a slice of pumpkin pie, crusted on the bottom by darkened shadows.

  “Let’s take a look at this footage,” Heather said, and opened the folder. “Ryan sent me a note with the list of apartment numbers and the inhabitants. So it should be fairly easy to figure out who they all are.”

  She clicked on the first video in the file and it opened in Windows Media Player.