Green Velvet Murder: A Donut Hole Cozy Mystery - Book 16 Read Free

asked. Her
arms tensed. Ryan massaged her neck, but his grip was tight. He wanted leads
too.
    “Something about a boyfriend. I don’t
know, exactly. It was a high school feud involving Tiny’s father.”
    “Tiny?” Ryan and Heather asked in
unison.
    “Of course, there’s a guy named Tiny,”
Amy muttered. “He’s probably huge too. Just for the irony.”
    “No, he’s really small.” Kent grinned.
“He’s my cousin. Real name is Tim Belushi. He came to town with Bernie.”
    Heather made mental notes, then paused
and opened her handbag on her lap. No luck, she’d left her notepad back in the
office at Donut Delights.
    “What does Tiny Tim have to do with
this?” Ryan asked.
    Amy sniggered into her napkin, then
reached across the table and snatched up a nacho. She deposited into her mouth
and crunched on the tortilla chip.
    “I don’t know how it all fits in, just
that Aunt Karly hates Tiny and Bernie would’ve done anything for her son. The
feud between Karly and Bernie kinda cooled off in the last couple years,
probably because they’re getting older and coming to their senses.”
    Heather grunted, then covered it with
a cough. Apparently, the feud hadn’t cooled off at all – Bernie had been
murdered. Though, it was early to make those kinds of deductions.
    Kent picked up a cheese-loaded
tortilla and gobbled it up. “I’m going to miss Bernie, but, ah never mind.”
    “What?” Heather asked.
    Amy licked off her fingers and turned
her attention to Kent, as well. She’d picked up the sleuthin’ bug, all right.
    Kent finished off another chip, then
sniffed. “I didn’t want the Belushi family to follow me here. I wasn’t that
close with them. I get the feeling that they weren’t following me, they were
running from something.”
    Heather opened her mouth to ask
another question –
    “Are you folks ready to order?” Their
waitress asked, and whipped out her notepad – at least, she’d brought one.
    “Yeah,” Amy said, around a mouthful of
tortilla chip. “I’d like the beef enchilada.”
    Heather sat back and let the
conversation wash past her nose. “Running from something,” she said, under her
breath.
    This was an investigation in the
making, and Heather had her first lead.

Chapter 4
    “I can’t believe I agreed to this,”
Amy whispered, then tightened her limpet-grip on Heather’s right arm. “I don’t
want to be here.”
    “Come on, Ames, grow a backbone. I’ve
never seen you act like this before.”
    “Oh yeah? Well, you didn’t have to sit
through an introductory dinner with the woman and listen to her list everything
that was wrong with you,” Amy replied. She detached from Heather’s arm, though,
and brushed off the donut crumbs on her silk blouse.
    “What? Where was Kent?” Heather asked.
She clenched her fists and stared at the brick face of the house. They’d
dropped off Dave at Lilly’s place for a play date, and they had the afternoon
to themselves. Investigation time.
    “He was in the kitchen helping Bernie
with the dinner. You should’ve seen her, Heather. Aunt Karly had her feet up
and her wits out. Man, she told me exactly why I wouldn’t make it in their
family. Talking like Kent was a Belushi, not a Bentley. Ugh.”
    Clouds scudded across the azure sky
and blocked the sun. Shadow darkened the sidewalk and the gated front garden. A
cherry tree stood solitary, leaves unmoving.
    “She’s a bully,” Heather said. “I
could tell from the conversation with her in Donut Delights. You know what that
means, right?”
    “No, but I know you’re gonna tell me,”
Amy replied, and tucked her thumbs into the belt loops of her jeans.
    “It means she’s insecure or hurt on
the inside. She’s weak. I intend on exploiting that weakness,” Heather said,
through gritted teeth.
    “Oh boy, she brought out the worst in
you.”
    “I don’t mean it in a vindictive way.
I’m a pretty good judge of character, and I know I’ll be able to get info out
of her