Strawberry Cream Murder: A Donut Hole Cozy Mystery - Book 1 by Susan Gillard Read Free Book Online Page B

him.
     
    “Shepherd,” came his voice.  At least, she thought that’s what he said.  It was kind of hard to hear with rock music playing at top volume in the background.  Almost instantly, the music went silent.
     
    “Uh…Detective Shepherd?” she said.
     
    “Speaking.”
     
    “This is Heather Janke.  “I was just wondering if you had talked to Joey Gorham yet.”
     
    “On my way to see him right now.”
     
    “Oh.  Well, I also had something I thought you might want to know.”  She relayed her conversation with Carolyn Fordyce without hearing a word in response.  Either he was a really good listener, or he thought she had lost her mind.
     
    “Curioser and curioser,” he said.  Is he really quoting Lewis Carroll?   “Ms. Janke—Heather—you seem to have a knack for getting people to tell you things.”
     
    “I don’t know about that,” she said.
     
    “In any case, you bring up an interesting point—that Mrs. Fordyce may not be the grieving mother she appears to be.  Or at least not over her daughter’s death.”  He paused.  “Look, I just got to where I’m supposed to meet Gorham.  Let me call you back after I talk to him.”
     
    She hung up, dropped her phone back into her purse, and shut the drawer again.  Then, rethinking it, she retrieved her phone and stuck it in her back pocket.  She grabbed an elastic band from her top desk drawer, gathered her long hair into a ponytail, then stuffed it up under a plastic hair net.  “Okay, Michelle,” she said, finding her employee gathering ingredients at one of the long, stainless steel preparation counters.  “Ready to learn how to make Ice Cream Sundae donuts?”
     
    “They sound scrumptious,” Michelle said.
     
    “The donut part is about halfway between a cake donut base and a glazed donut base,” Heather said.  “Very light and fluffy.  And filled with a medium-weight vanilla cream, heavy on the vanilla.”
    “Mmmmmm, yummo.”
     
    “Not only that, but the donut part tastes like a sugar cone.”
     
    Michelle rolled her eyes heavenward.  “I predict that this will be one of our biggest sellers ever.”
     
    “I hope so,” Heather said, smiling.  “It’s really great.  Wait till you find out about the icing and the toppings.”
     
    “I’m gaining weight just thinking about eating one,” Michelle said.
     
    “They are delicious.  They were one of my grandmother’s favorites.”
     
    “Your grandmother must have been a truly amazing chef.”
     
    “Oh, she was.  I miss her.  I wish she were here to see this.”  Heather gestured to the shop.  “I think she’d be proud.”
     
    “I’m sure she would be,” Michelle said.
     
    “Well.”  Heather clapped her hands together once, briskly.  “Are you ready to get started?”
     
    ***
     
    When her phone rang in her back pocket, Heather’s hands were covered in icing, sprinkles, and bits of crumbled sugar cone.  “Michelle, grab that, would you?” she said, turning her back to her assistant.
     
    Michelle slid the phone out of Heather’s pocket, accepted the call, and held it to Heather’s ear.  “Hello?” Heather said.
     
    “Heather, this is Ryan Shepherd.  I promised to call you back when I was finished talking to Joey Gorham.”
     
    “Yes, Detective Shepherd,” she said.  “Hang on just a minute.”
     
    She pulled away from the phone a little bit and said in a low voice, “Let me wash my hands, and then I’ll take it.”
     
    Michelle stood holding the phone until she could take it herself.  “Okay, I’m back,” she said.  She hurried into her office and shut the door.
     
    “He lied,” Shepherd said.
     
    “What?  Who lied?”
     
    “Joey Gorham.  He wasn’t ever going to be Christa’s assistant.”
     
    “Then what—why was he in her shop?”
     
    “He claims that he just wanted to meet with her.  Talk to her.  That when he got there, she was dead.”
     
    “If he lied about being her assistant, how