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

detective that came to the house.”
     
    “Shepherd?”
     
    “Yeah.  Him.”
     
    “You think he suspects you?”  She wasn’t about to tell him that she and Amy had him on their suspect list, too.
     
    “I know he does.  He was asking all kinds of questions.  Where was I last night when Christa was—when she died.”
     
    When Christa was murdered?  Had Shepherd actually used that word?  If so, what did he know that she didn’t?  Had the blood work or autopsy results come back early?
     
    But now wasn’t the time to be thinking about that.  Because at this moment, a suspect was sitting right in front of her.
     
    “ Did you kill her?” Heather asked.
     
    “No!  I would never kill Christa.”
     
    “Not even if she ‘screwed you over’?”
     
    “I shouldn’t have said that,” Billy said, pushing his chair back.
     
    “How did she screw you over?”
     
    “It doesn’t matter.  I just wanted you to know that I didn’t have anything to do with her death.”  Billy stood up and began circling the table in her direction, edging toward the door.
     
    She stood, too, and moved around the table the opposite way, keeping it between her and Billy.
     
    “Do you know Joey Gorham?” she asked.
    For a brief instant, Billy stood as if frozen.  Then he turned, fumbled at the lock, yanked the door open, and disappeared through her back yard.
     
    She rushed out onto her small back porch and stood staring after him.  But all she saw was his shadowy figure slipping through the gate at the back of her property.  Gravel crunched lightly as the sound of his footsteps faded down the alley.
     
    Snatching up her purse from where she’d dropped it on the floor, she dug through it for her phone and punched in Amy’s number.  “Miss me already?” Amy said when she picked up.
     
    Heather didn’t bother with a greeting.  “We have to go look at Christa’s computer tonight,” she said.

Chapter 6
     
    The curtains on Christa’s office window didn’t do much for keeping out the light, but Heather made sure they were closed anyway. 
     
    “Do you want to just use your flashlight app?” Amy asked from her seat at Christa’s computer.
    “No.  I think that would be just as suspicious if somebody saw it.  Maybe even more so.”  Heather pulled the visitor’s chair around to where she could sit in it and look over Amy’s shoulder.
     
    “Well, what do you know?” Amy said as the screen came to life.  “She didn’t even have it password-protected.  I didn’t even get to hack in.” 
     
    “Good.  I can take it from here, then,” Heather said.
     
    They stood up and switched chairs.  Heather clicked on the “search” box in the bottom left corner and typed in “Joey Gorham.”  No results appeared, just a line of text asking her if she wanted to search the web.
     
    She also typed in every variation of Billy’s name she could think of, but again, there were no results on Christa’s computer.
     
    “She probably keeps personal documents at home,” Amy offered.
     
    “I’ll try her email,” Heather said.  She clicked on the internet browser icon, and Christa’s home page appeared.  “I think she uses Yahoo.”
     
    Entering Yahoo.com brought her directly to Christa’s account.  “Didn’t she believe in passwords?” Amy asked.
     
    This time, searching for Billy’s name brought a lengthy list of results.  They seemed to be between Christa and a sender identified as Dunham, Locke, and Hart.  “The family lawyers,” Heather said to Amy, her eyes still focused on the screen.
     
    Amy leaned in closer as Heather opened the first email.  “’It is our privilege to have had the opportunity to assist you and your family,’ blah, blah, blah,” Heather read out loud.  “Assist her with what?”
     
    She scrolled down into the message history and stopped at an email dated two weeks ago.  “’As per our discussion of this afternoon, your father has asked that I forward