Susan Gillard - Vanilla Cream Murder

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Disclaimer: This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, businesses, places, events and incidents are either the products of the authors imagination or used in a fictitious manner. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, or actual events is purely coincidental.

Copyright 2017 by Guardian Publishing Group - All rights reserved.

All rights Reserved. No part of this publication or the information in it may be quoted from or reproduced in any form by means such as printing, scanning, photocopying or otherwise without prior written permission of the copyright holder.

Table of Contents

Eva and Leila were two peas in a pod. They linked their arms and smiled at Heather from the other side of the counter in Donut Delights.

"You look like you're plotting something, ladies," Heather said and dropped the rag she'd used to polish up the glass. Donuts glistened beneath the downlights, showing off their sticky, smooth or crunchy glazes in every flavor imaginable.

A Kiwi Lime Surprise here, a Strawberry Cream there and never forgetting the newest addition to the store's donut repertoire.

"We're plotting a donut heist," Leila said.

"Yes, but we can't decide which donuts to steal. They all look so delicious." Eva licked her lips.

"May I suggest our newest addition?" Heather nodded to the cream-colored donuts on the tray closest to the front of the display. Each one had a trail of pink shavings which wandered from the center hole to the outside edge.

"What is it?" Leila mimicked Eva. Now, they looked less like evil geniuses and more like two donut-loving Daves in human form. Heather's doggy dearest still couldn't get enough, but a strict diet had kept him trim.

The same couldn't be said for most of the customers in Donut Delights. Heather had packed on a few pounds lately, too.

"This," Heather said and crushed her thoughts of cardio and diets, "is the Vanilla Cream Donut. We've been doing a lot of vanilla bases of late and I wanted to take full advantage of that. You know, really make the vanilla flavor pop." She slid open the glass door, then retrieved two plates from a shelf beneath her antique cash register. "They're a vanilla dough base, fried until crispy, then filled with a fluffy vanilla cream in secret pockets along the sides."

"A cream." Leila hummed it.

"Think Twinkies cream," Heather said. "That kind of consistency. After that, we slathered these beauties in a light vanilla glaze and topped them with my secret recipe rhubarb frosted shavings."

"Wow."

"You know, just for an added tang. I think you'll like them. Two?"

"And two cups of coffee please, dear," Eva said. "I'll take mine black as the night and Leila -

"Can order for herself." Leila assailed the other woman with a look of feigned haughtiness.

They both erupted into giggles. Fountains of mirth which lightened Heather's mood and the air in the store. It was still pretty early, and the buzz of the morning rush hadn't started yet.

"I'll take a cappuccino, please. With cream on the top, not foam. Oh, and can you put an extra sprinkle of cocoa on that too?" Leila asked.

"Anything for my new regular." Heather worked on their orders. She used to tongs to shift their donuts onto two plates, then punched the glossy buttons - worn by years of use - on the Donut Delights coffee machine. She placed two cups on the grate, a large and a regular.

Leila rested her elbow on the counter top and studied the selection of treats. "Where's Amy this morning?"

"She's on kitchen duty. She's been a bit snappy this morning. Something about no sleep and a lot of noise outside her house. Cats yowling, I think, were her exact words."

"Heavens," Eva said. "I'd be grumpy too."

"I think she's getting tired of her old apartment. She's been there for years, now, and its not getting any prettier." Heather would've asked her best friend to move in but with a pre-teen and a detective husband, there wasn't all that much space.

"She'll find a new place," Leila said. "And when she does, she'll fit right in." Of course, Leila had just relocated from Hillside Manor to Eva's home. Nothing could dampen her mood. The woman had been positively ebullient all last week.

Heather handed their order over, entered it into the computer with a few taps of the touchscreen, then clinked the register drawer open. Eva and Leila scrabbled their cash across the counter and Heather handed them their change a second later. "Enjoy."

"Oh don't you worry, we will."

Heather shut the register and lifted the rag from the bottom shelf, whistling under her breath.

"What did I tell you, Rodney, darling? It's gorgeous. I wish the inside of my store looked like this," a woman said.

Heather frowned. Rodney?

"Yeah, but you seen what normal beverage warehouses looks like, right?" The man's voice struck every nostalgia chord in Heather's body. It twanged like an old guitar. Or no, that wasn't right. Twanging guitars weren't anything she associated with Key West.

Heather snapped upright. "Roadkill Rodney?"

The man on the other side of the counter was out of his overalls and in a pair of jeans the color of a summer morning sky. He tugged on the peak of his cap. "Good to see you again, lady."

"Heather," she said. "I'm Heather. What on earth are you doing in Hillside?" The last she'd seen him, he'd wielded a shovel coated in unspeakable things and had been in love with his job - scoopin' dead critters off the highway in Key West.

But the love had clearly transferred over to someone else. Rodney held hands with a ruddy-cheeked woman - a buxom redhead who was taller than him. She commanded attention but her smile warmed the room.

"I came down to meet Norma," Rodney said. "We're in love. In love and met online, if you can believe it."

"Actually, I can. I hear social media relationships are all the rage, nowadays."

"Except we're not just a social media relationship," Norma said and squeezed Rodney's doubtlessly clammy palm - he'd already cultivated a lot of upper lip sweat. "We're together forever. Rodney's moving to Hillside to be with me."

"That's my surprise, darlin'." Rodney made eyes at her. "I've already moved. Got myself an apartment down Church Street and I can come see you anytime."

"Oh, Rodney!" Norma threw her arms around his neck and engulfed him in a hug. The man disappeared from sight.

"I'm happy for you," Heather said, while the pair canoodled. "In fact, how about a couple Vanilla Cream Donuts on the house? A lover's couple." She entered their order, tinged open the register again.

Norma and Rodney sprang apart with a suction cup noise. Mr. Roadkill's cheek held an imprint of Norma's heart locket. "I love that register, Mrs. Shepherd," she said. "I wish I could get one in my store."

"Oh?"

"Yeah, I run Norma's Beverages. We've got everything from wine to water, pop, powdered milk and everything in between," she said.

"I thought I recognized you from somewhere." Heather shut the drawer without putting any bills inside. "

"Norma's a regular businesswoman." Rodney beamed with pride, the heart locket imprint crinkling.

"You know, you can order these types of registers online," Heather said. "Or check out Pawn Shop Paulo's store. You might find something there."

"Thank you. You're too kind."

"A friend of Rodney's is a friend of mine."

The two reattached in another hug of epic proportions and Heather busied herself with the donuts. February was long past but love was still in the air, all right. Everyone deserved that feeling. Heather couldn't have been happier for the pair of them.