M&M Surprise Murder: A Donut Hole Cozy Mystery - Book 17 Read Free Page B

and into
the cool interior of the Manor. Her mind raced alongside her heart.

Chapter 5
    Heather retied her apron straps and
hummed I Will Always Love You by Whitney Houston. The bangs from next door
drowned her out, but it made her throat warm. She inhaled through her nostrils,
then hummed the breaths out through her mouth.
    Donut Delights was empty. She didn’t
like that, but it was a necessary evil until the construction had ceased, and
they could open the new and improved store.
    “All right,” she said and clicked her
fingers in time to the drills next door. “We’ve received two orders for donuts
today, so far. Three boxes of Strawberry Cremes, and then the second order is
for one box of Choc Crunches, two boxes of M&M Surprises, and five boxes of
Pistachio Glazed Donuts.” She closed her eyes for a second and brought the
image of the email order to the front of her mind. “Yeah, that’s it.”
    “That’s not too much,” Ken said.
    “Not like the millions we had to do a
couple of weeks ago.” Jung sat down at one of the wrought irons tables, then
pressed his palms to his ears. “I need to get earphones.”
    “I won’t need everyone here to help
with them, today. Two of you can take the day off.”
    The assistants glanced around and
sized up the competition.
    Amy raised her arm. “I’m staying. I’d
rather be here, making donuts, than home with my Beaches DVD.”
    “That’s a first,” Heather replied, but
winked to show she didn’t mean it.
    “I’ll stay too.” Ken waved from the
corner.
    “And me!” Maricela gave two thumbs up.
    “Great,” Heather replied. She pointed
to the kitchen doors. “You guys can go through and get started on the batter
for the Strawberry Cremes.”
    Amy, Maricela, and Ken filed through
the kitchen doors, together, and Heather walked to the front of the store. She
winced at the hammering, then swallowed and steeled herself.
    It’d be a long afternoon if she
couldn’t get used to the noise.
    She opened the door for Jung and
Angelica, waved them off, then closed it and made to lock.
    A hand slapped against the glass, flat
against the Donut Delights logo.
    Heather shrieked and grabbed at her
throat.
    “Oops! Sorry, Au-Heather, I didn’t
mean to scare you,” Lilly said, from the other side of the door. She dropped
her arm to her side, then swung it back and forth. “Can I come in? I just
wanted to talk.”
    “Sure,” Heather replied. She opened up
and held the door for the young girl.
    Lilly waltzed into the store –
literally, she’d been taking ballroom dancing lessons at the local youth center
– and stopped dead center. “Where is everyone?” She asked.
    The drill started up next door, and
she plugged her ears with her fingers.
    Heather closed the front door, then
locked it beneath the tinkling bell.
    “Everyone’s in the kitchen,” she
yelled. “They’re working on a few online orders. Would you like to help?”
    “Yes please,” Lilly screeched back.
The noise dropped off, and her shout echoed through the bakery. “Oops again.”
She clapped her hand over her mouth.
    “Great. But no stealing the glaze. If
I spot a sticky finger, young lady, I’ll –”
    “I know, I know,” Lilly replied, then
wrinkled her nose.
    “Wait a second, aren’t you supposed to
be in school?”
    “Heather, it’s a Saturday,” Lilly said
and giggled. She raised her arms above her head. “I’m so glad it’s weekend.”
    “Sick of school?”
    “No, I get to spend as little time as
possible at the Foster Folks’ house,” Lilly replied. She smoothed her hand over
her long dark hair.
    “What? I thought you loved it with
them.” Heather’s sleuth sense tingled. “What’s happened?”
    Lilly sighed and dropped her arms
again. “Nothing,” she said. “Let’s go make the donuts.”
    “Lilly,” Heather said, and injected a
warning tone into her words. “Come on, you know you can tell me anything.”
    “It’s no big deal. It’s just Colleen’s
got