M&M Surprise Murder: A Donut Hole Cozy Mystery - Book 17 Read online

  “I just came to ask you questions, Mr. Hardy, there’s no need to get hostile,” Heather replied.

  Hardy snorted, then spat on the grass beside Jinx’s station.

  “Ew! What’s wrong with you?” Jessica said and leaped out of the way. “That’s it. I’m done for today.” She grasped her bow, dropped Hardy’s carbon arrow – the same as the murder weapon – then marched off across the field toward the locker rooms.

  “See what you did?” Hardy asked. “Ruined my practice. She needs every minute she can get.”

  “I believe you achieved that, all by yourself,” Heather said and grimaced at him. She took a single step back, then steeled herself for a verbal tussle. “Coach Hardy, it’s come to my attention that you’re involved with the widow Henson.”

  “Don’t call her that,” he growled and jabbed his finger at her. “She’s not a Henson anymore.”

  “Kyle’s death doesn’t negate their marriage,” Heather replied.

  “I knew it. You’re a nosy cow. You think I don’t know who you are?” Hardy asked, and sniffed. He wiped the sweat off his upper lip and smeared it across his cheek. “You’re that amateur investigator. Everyone’s heard about you.”

  “Even, Lori, right? I spoke to her just the other day. She mentioned her husband, but she sure didn’t mention you,” Heather said and tilted her head to one side. The sun baked her cheek, but she didn’t shift her position. “Why do you think that is?”

  “None of your business!” Hardy yelled. “I’m not telling you anything. I’m not talking to you.”

  “Relax, Coach. If you’ve got nothing to hide, then you won’t mind answering a few questions,” Heather replied. Calm. Absolute calm. She’d been through enough of these interviews to handle them with aplomb.

  Hardy let out a twisted yell, then turned and darted off down the field. Sweat streaked the back of his shirt and legs.

  “So much for that idea,” Heather whispered. “That leaves one other suspect to interview.”

  Ryan had suggested they split up, but Lori wouldn’t talk without her lawyer present, and Heather’s hubby dearest would be forced to let her go without questioning her.

  Amy waved from the gates at the end of the field. “You get anything?” She yelled.

  “Nope,” Heather replied, then set off toward her bestie. She hadn’t gotten a thing out of Hardy, but the day wasn’t over just yet.

  Chapter 13

  Heather and Amy marched across the street. Dave, for once, struggled to match their wide steps. He yelped and whined.

  “Not the time, Dave. We’ve got to do this quick or we won’t get to do it at all,” Heather said.

  The lecture did nothing to discourage her pooch. He whined and yapped, anyway.

  “I’ll give you a donut when we get home,” Heather said.

  Dave barked and panted, behind them, then finally quieted. Donuts were his magic word. Give Dave a donut and he’d endure the longest walk in the history of all walks.

  “Greedy guts,” Amy said, then winked at the dog.

  They checked both sides of the road, then darted across the next one. They jogged down the sidewalk and turned the corner.

  “There’s the hotel,” Heather said.

  “Good, because I’m sweating more than Coach Hardy, right now.”

  Dave barked agreement.

  “Who’s that?” Heather asked, then slowed to a walk. “That’s, wait a second, is that Lori Henson?”

  “Yeah, that’s her all right. Look at that hair. People pay for hair like that. They pay a lot of money.” Amy blinked at the glint off the woman’s auburn locks. “I’m a little jealous.”

  “Don’t go changing, Ames. Your hair is perfect the way it is,” Heather replied.

  “It’s still too short,” Amy grumbled, then fell quiet.

  They hurried down the sidewalk, then came to a halt a few feet from the woman of the hour. The potential murderer and mistress.

  A man stood in front of her and gesticulated. “You’re a horrible woman,” he yelled.

  “Is that –?” Amy asked.

  “Geoff!” Heather screamed. “Lawless, what are you doing?”

  The bearded wonder stopped mid-arm-wave. He turned on the spot, in slow motion, then met Heather’s gaze. “Shepherd,” he said, and gave her the nod. His thick eyebrows danced up and down. “What are you doing here?”

  “I could ask you the same thing,” Heather replied.

  Amy picked up Dave and stroked him to cut off the brewing anti-Geoff growls. The dog had never liked the big man. Dave settled against Amy’s chest but didn’t quit sniffing at the other baker.

  Heather toward Lori and Geoff. Her low-slung heels clicked on the sidewalk, warmed by the afternoon sun.

  “What’s going on here?”

  Tears spilled down Lori Henson’s cheeks, and her chin wobbled. She looked from Geoff to Heather and back again. “This man has spent the last five minutes, harassing me.”

  “It was two minutes,” Geoff said and checked his thick leather-strapped watch.

  “Why are you harassing Mrs. Henson, Geoff?” Sheesh, everywhere Heather turned, Geoff Lawless cropped up to sour the glaze. Last time, he’d hidden in a bush outside her suspect’s house.

  “Wait one hot, glazed second. Are you investigating, Lawless?” Heather asked.

  He broke eye contact and stared at the hotel door. “Nope.”

  “Geoff,” Heather said, and lowered her tone. “You’d better not be investigating.”

  “You’re one to talk.”

  “Lawless!” Heather clapped her hands.

  The bald, bearded dude took off. His massive shoes thumped on the ‘crete, and he streaked past Amy and Dave. They jumped out of his path and stared at him.

  “There he goes again,” Amy said. “You’ve got to give him points for style. Or lack thereof.”

  Heather didn’t bother gazing after Lawless. His quirks would’ve been funny at any other time, but now? Now, he’d left her with a mess.

  A crying witness wasn’t an easy witness.

  Heather reached out and touched Lori’s forearm, gently. “Are you all right?”

  “Fine,” Lori replied, then burst into tears again. “He said I did it. He said I did it for the money.”

  “Please don’t take Geoff seriously. He’s socially inept,” Heather said.

  “And a terrible baker, FYI.” Amy joined them and let Dave down to the sidewalk again. She held onto his leash, but he didn’t break into a series of growls at Lori, this time. Maybe the tears had unsettled him.

  “I didn’t do anything. And I don’t want Kyle’s money,” Lori said, caught between a whimper and a shriek.

  “Please, you have to calm down, Mrs. Henson,” Heather replied.

  Lori grasped two handfuls of that perfect hair and tugged. Amy winced.

  “Don’t call me that,” Lori yelled. “I filed for a divorce, do you hear me? He still didn’t sign the papers, even though I asked him to. He was supposed to be my best friend, but he left me all alone.”

  “Lori, please, you have to calm down.”

  “Every day and every night. He left me alone, and when I told him I was unhappy, he didn’t talk to me. He just kept doing the same things over and over. Practice, TV, sleep. Practice, TV, sleep. I was nothing to him.” Lori took a break from the tirade. She gulped down air. “And now I have everything of his. Just the money and no memories. I didn’t want any of this to happen.”

  Heather opened her mouth, then shut it again. What could she say to that? She didn’t have words to console, Lori. She didn’t have evidence that she’d killed her husband, either.

  “Lori,” Heather said, softly. “If there’s anything you can do to help me, any information you have to give now would be –”

  “Leticia Jackson,” Lori replied, then dried her eyes with the corner of her blouse. “Talk to her. She was supposed to co-judge the competition, but she knew Kyle from way back, just before he quit at Hillside High.
”

  Heather nodded her head. “Thanks, Lori.”

  The younger woman turned and traipsed back to the hotel, shoulders shaking.

  Chapter 14

  Leticia Jackson strode across the Hillside High field, head held high and back straight as a rod. She had her pride; that much was clear.

  Heather sat on one of the plastic chairs, legs crossed and tote handbag on the seat beside hers. Amy had stayed at the store to finish off a few orders with the rest of the gang.

  Sunset hovered on the horizon, orange and pink, the final goodbye before the purple of dusk embraced the sky above Heather’s favorite town in the world. A town that’d seen too much pain in the last few months.

  Leticia reached the stands, and Heather rose from her seat. She shook the woman’s hand, firmly, then gestured to the plastic chair on her other side. “Care to have a seat?”

  “Sure,” Leticia said, then sat down. “What’s this about? You didn’t say much on the phone.”

  “I’m sorry about that,” Heather replied. “And thanks for meeting with me. I worried that if I told you the reason for this, you’d back out.”

  Leticia turned and stared at her. “Let me guess. You want to talk about Kyle Henson.”

  “How did you know?” Heather asked, and drew her bag onto her lap.

  Leticia glanced around the open space, then back over her shoulder. She chewed the inside of her cheek. “Just a guess. It’s been all anyone wants to talk about since his death. I get it. It’s really sad.”

  “I’m investigating the murder,” Heather replied. “Just in my own capacity. It’s something I’ve made a habit out of in the last few months. I try to solve the cases, bring clarity and justice and… I have no idea why I’m telling you this.”

  Leticia chuckled. “People tell me their life stories all the time. It’s just a quality I bring out in them. I guess, you’re no exception.”

  Heather nodded once. She studied the orange hue spreading across the field of green. The color caressed a few of the targets, slid over their faces.

  “Did Kyle ever tell you his life story?”

  Leticia exhaled through her mouth. She laughed again, but this time, it wasn’t mirthful. “No, he didn’t have to. We spent a lot of time together, growing up. I’m from Hillside too, you know. Great grandfather was born here.”

  “Awesome,” Heather said. “An Olympic Gold medalist from Hillside? I couldn’t be more proud, right now.”

  “Ah, the Olympics,” Leticia said. She formed a fist and swished it to one side and up. “That’s where it all started.”

  “What do you mean?”

  Leticia pouted and made eyes at the distant changing rooms. The sight of Kyle’s untimely murder. The crime scene. She shut her eyelids, squeezed them until they wrinkled, then opened them again.

  “Leticia?”

  “We were good friends, long ago. The year that I qualified for Beijing was the year that Kyle dropped out of national and international competitions.” Leticia hung her head back and stared at the vision of dusk in Hillside’s future.

  The fading light refracted on her glossy, brown eyes.

  “What happened?” Heather asked.

  “Lori happened. She hated me,” Leticia said. “And not just because she was threatened by our friendship. She hated me because I encouraged Kyle to be the best at this sport. It was our shared passion.” Leticia shook her head. “It was everything to him. And she took that away.”

  “How?” Heather asked, and her insides squirmed. She hadn’t run into this many connected people in her investigations before. Sure, boyfriends, girlfriends, siblings, and married folk, but this was different.

  It felt much deeper.

  “She told him to drop out of trials. And next thing I knew, he was coaching a high school team. Hillside High. Can you believe it? No more competitions for Kyle,” Leticia said and clenched her fists in her lap. “Instead, he started coaching that Jinx kid. Well, she’s not a kid, anymore, but she was at the time.”

  Leticia turned her head and stared Heather in the eyes. “I lost my best friend because of Lori Summers. Can you imagine what that’s like? Do you have a best friend?”

  “I do,” Heather said and nodded. And she couldn’t envision losing Amy. She’d never get over that.

  “What happened then?” Heather asked.

  Leticia inhaled, held it, then exhaled again. Her gaze dropped to the darkened channel which led to the locker room. “What I expected to happen.”

  “What was that?”

  “Kyle lost his passion for the sport. He trained the girl, but he fell out of love with everything. He lost motivation. Next thing I knew, he fired the kid and quit coaching altogether. Left Hillside for good and moved up to Dallas. That’s what I hear.” Leticia shook her head. “You should’ve seen him,” she said, eyes glinting at the memory. “A bow in his hand? He was unstoppable. He would’ve won gold in his division, no doubt. No doubt.”

  Heather touched Leticia’s arm. The woman jumped, then chuckled at herself.

  “I’m sorry for your loss, Leticia. I can’t imagine what this must be like for you.” And she didn’t want to.

  “Thanks,” Leticia replied. She rose from the seat and brushed off her summer skirt and shirt. “I don’t care if you’re a detective or not, Heather, but I hope you find who did this. I hope you bring them to justice.”

  “That’s exactly what I aim to do,” Heather replied.

  She stood too, and they stared out over the field for a few moments. Dusk descended, purple took the horizon, and, bit-by-bit, the light faded from Leticia’s eyes.

  Heather shook her hand again, then walked down the field, toward the exit. She stopped at the gates and glanced back.

  Leticia stood in the stands, staring at a distant target, unmoving.

  “I’ll find the killer,” Heather whispered, then turned and left the field behind.

  Chapter 15

  “Oh my gosh,” Amy said and clapped her hands. “You can’t tell me that the swimming isn’t the most exciting sport in the Olympics. Look at Michael Phelps. You could slap a pair of gills on this guy, and it wouldn’t make a difference.”

  Lilly fed popcorn between her lips and chewed. Crunch, crunch, crunch. Her eyes were wide as donuts. “That’s the guy in the front?”

  “Gold medalist, yeah. C’mon, Lils, you’ve got to know Phelps.”

  “I don’t like sports that much. Not boy sports, anyway,” Lilly replied.

  “Atta girl.” Heather gave her a thumbs up from her sofa, directly opposite the wide-screen TV. “Exercise is important, but this kind of competition is really tough on people. Psychologically and physically.” Her thoughts skipped back to Leticia Jackson.

  The poor woman’s voice had strained talking about Kyle.

  “Who’s the guy in that green cap?” Lilly asked.

  Amy harrumphed, then buried her disdain in her donut. She narrowed her eyes at the screen.

  “That’s Chad Le Clos. He won this race at the last Olympics,” Heather said and rolled her eyes at her bestie.

  “Wait, I thought you said our guy was the best?” Lilly asked.

  “He is the best,” Amy replied, and pointed with her donut. “And don’t you forget it.”

  “Le Clos beat him last year. In this race.” Heather grinned at Amy. Her bestie took this kind of competition way too seriously. It was important, but it wasn’t everything. “But this year, Le Clos’ had some personal issues. Both his parents have been fighting cancer.”

  “What?” Amy asked. “That’s terrible. I had no idea. And he’s still at the Olympics?”

  “Yeah.”

  “Ooh, ooh, that Phelks guy is winning,” Lilly said and bounced up and down on the spot. “Look!”

  “Phelps,” Amy corrected, then turned to the TV. “And yeah he is, whooo! Go Phelps!”

  The ladies clapped and cheered. Dave barked and hopped off the sofa and jogged up and down in front of the TV, wagging his tails. />
  “He’s going to win,” Amy yelled.

  Phelps touched the wall, and Lils and Amy jumped off the sofa and danced around on the spot. They cheered and hugged each other. Heather chuckled and sat back. She couldn’t bring herself to celebrate, now.

  The front door slammed, and heavy footsteps stomped down the hall. “What’s all this noise?” Ryan asked, and stepped into the living room. He stared at the rain of popcorn on the hardwood floor. “And what’s all this mess?”

  “Phelks won!” Lilly said, beaming from ear-to-ear.

  Dave set to work vacuuming up stray popcorn kernels.

  “Hey, honey,” Heather said. She rose from her spot on the sofa and strode to the door. She kissed her husband on the lips, then gave him a hug. “How was work?”

  Ryan shook his head, lips taut. “Not good.”

  “Why? What’s the matter?” Heather asked.

  “I need to talk to you.” Ryan crooked a finger. “It’s important.”

  Heather looked back at Amy and Heather. The two of them mushed themselves onto the sofa to watch the rest of the highlights. Lilly offered Dave a bite of her donut, then spotted Heather’s gaze and snapped it out of reach.

  “Sorry,” she said, “I forgot.”

  “Yeah, yeah,” Heather replied. “I’ll be right back, you too.”

  Ryan grasped her arm and drew her into the hall. His somber expression didn’t waver.

  “What’s wrong? You’re creeping me out here.”

  “The killer struck again,” Ryan said, lowering his voice.

  Another race had started in the living room. The commentator blared on the TV, announcing names and comparing swimmers.

  “What? Where? How?” Heather’s mind froze solid. She blinked and processed Ryan’s words.

  “Leticia Jackson,” Ryan said. “She was shot in the Hillside High fields about half an hour again.”

  Chills sprang up on the backs of Heather’s arms, and she stumbled left.

  Ryan caught her by the arm and held her upright. “What is it?”

  “I was there. The killer must’ve attacked her shortly after I left. If I’d stayed a second, a minute, Leticia would still be alive.” Heather stared into Ryan’s eyes. “It’s my fault she was there. I interviewed her. I thought it would be the best place. How could I be so stupid?”