Raspberry Mojito Murder: A Donut Hole Cozy Mystery - Book 20 by Susan Gillard Page A

peered past him at the box on
the corner of the porch. Diapers poked out of the top of it, at odd angles.
“You expecting a child, Geoff?” Heather asked.
    Amy snorted and pressed her fist to
her nose.
    “I know he’s up to something. The
father. I bet it was him. He’s up to something, and I’m going to find out
what.” Geoff’s beard wobbled up and down.
    Heather scratched the back of her
neck, then walked to Amy’s side. “I’m confused, Geoff. Is copying me your life’s
pursuit? You mirrored my store, and now you’re trying to take a hand in my
investigations.”
    “Just trying to help.”
    Heather arched an eyebrow. “By rifling
through another man’s possessions?”
    “They aren’t his,” Geoff hissed. “They
belong to the guy who wants to sell them. There’s something weird –” He cut off
and cocked his head in the direction of the window directly across from them.
“Go!”
    He sprinted to the end of the porch,
then vaulted over the railing and careened into a rose bush. Geoff Lawless
groaned and twitched on the ground. He scrambled around in the dirt for a
second, then righted himself and loped off to the fence.
    Heather turned her attention to the
box of diapers and bent over it. She lifted one and ran her forefinger over the
tab on the front. “Diaper Pop,” she said.
    “Wait, why does Jeremy’s father have
Diaper Pops on his front porch?” Amy asked.
    Heather bit her bottom lip and turned
the box around. A delivery notice hung skew on the cardboard, flapping in the
wind. Heather tore it off and read it. “Yeah, these were ordered by Peter Hill.
He bought the diapers, all right. But why?”
    “I don’t know, but maybe we’d better
leave. I think he’s probably home and if Geoff’s rose-squishing incident didn’t
get his attention then –”
    “Yeah, all right.” Heather said. She
dropped the delivery notice on top of the box, then walked to the front stairs.
“I don’t think we’ll get anything new out of Peter. I’m not sure we need to.”
    “I bet he bought those diapers to
support his son’s business.” Amy hurried ahead and opened the gate for them.
“He seems like that kind of guy.”
    Heather hit the sidewalk and turned
left. Her brow wrinkled, and she clicked her tongue. “But that begs the question,
why did he need to support his son’s business in that way?”
    “What do you mean?”
    “Surely, he could’ve helped out in
another way. Maybe, things were so bad at Diaper Pop that Peter tried to inject
some money to help his son,” Heather said.
    Amy looped her arm through Heather’s.
“Yeah, maybe Jeremy didn’t want a handout from his dad, and that was the only
way for Peter to help. Nice guy.”
    “I need to speak to Ryan about this,”
Heather said and set her jaw.
    She had evidence against Katie and
motive for Jeremy, but nothing solid. Nothing that would confirm who had
murdered Quick Paul.
    “Something missing,” she mumbled under
her breath. “Always something missing.”
    Amy clapped her on the back. “You’ll
get to the bottom of it, Shepherd. You always do.”
    “I guess. This week has just been
weird. No Donut Delights, no Eva. Ugh, I miss Angelica, Maricela, Ken and
Jung.”
    “So, let’s get together and do
something on Sunday. How does that sound?” Amy asked.
    Heather grinned. “Like the best idea
I’ve ever heard.”

Chapter 15
    Heather arranged the Raspberry Mojito
Donuts in a row on the tray, then placed her fists on her hips. “What do you
think?”
    “They’re amazing, my love,” Ryan said.
“Everyone will love them.”
    “I hope they do,” Heather replied,
“because we’re going to have to make hundreds of them for the grand opening,
and they’re not the simplest donut I’ve ever created.”
    Ryan’s finger twiddled at his sides.
“May I have one?”
    Heather pecked him on the cheek. “Help
yourself.”
    Ryan didn’t ask twice. He grabbed a
donut and bit into it, then groaned. “Yeah, these are the best