Mint Chip Murder: A Donut Hole Cozy Mystery - Book 6 by Susan Gillard Page A

his paycheck.
     
    With Ryan now occupying her thoughts,
she didn’t notice the police cars parked in front of the shopping center where
she was headed until she’d driven into the parking lot.  Automatically, her
foot hit the brake.  What in the world?
     
    She eased off the brake and drove
slowly through the parking lot to the dry cleaner’s, which had been her
destination, a quick errand before she met Amy for lunch.  There were several
patrol cars parked in the general vicinity of the yellow crime scene tape that
blocked off the front of the hair salon next to the cleaner’s.  And wasn’t that
Ryan’s car?  Yes, of course it was.
     
    Heather pulled into a parking spot in
front of the cleaner’s, stopped the car, got out, and locked up.  A uniformed
officer exited through the front door of Shear Beauty and headed toward one of
the patrol cars.  Heather tried to see into the interior of the shop, but she
couldn’t see much from this angle.
     
    Briefly, she considered walking past
the front of the shop, or at least as close as the crime scene tape would allow
her.  But no, she needed to keep her distance and let Ryan do his job. 
Besides, he’d call her or text her as soon as he could, anyway.
     
    She pushed open the glass door to the
dry cleaner’s as a bell tied to the handle jingled.  The short, wiry woman
behind the counter looked up.  “Hello there.  You come to pick up your dry
cleaning?”
     
    “Yes, please,” Heather said.  She set
her purse down on the counter and dug for her wallet as the woman, whom Heather
recognized, but whose name she could never remember, flipped a switch that
caused a metal rack with garments hanging from it, bundled together in plastic
bags, to begin to slide by. 
     
    She located Heather’s clothing in
short order and brought it to the counter, hanging it on a metal stand.  “Do
you have any idea what’s going on next door?” Heather asked.
     
    The woman frowned.  “Oh, no, I don’t
know.  But it must be something pretty bad if all those police officers are out
here.  And a detective, too.  And some other people going in and out.”
     
    Probably crime scene, Heather thought,
knowing the woman was right.  It must be something bad, or there wouldn’t be
crime scene tape strung across the front of the building.  Had someone been
murdered?
     
    “I guess we’ll read about it in the
paper,” Heather heard the woman say.
    “I guess we will,” Heather said.  “By
the way—what’s your name?  I’m sorry I don’t remember.”
     
    “My name is Amala,” she said with a
smile.
     
    “I’ll remember that,” Heather said. 
“I promise.  See you next time.”
     
    As she stepped through the doorway and
back onto the sidewalk, Heather glanced to her right, toward Shear Beauty. 
Ryan stood on the sidewalk, talking with the same uniformed officer Heather had
seen coming out of the salon earlier.  Ryan glanced up, and their gazes met. 
Heather gave him a small smile and nodded at him as she continued walking
toward her car.  One corner of Ryan’s mouth twitched upward briefly before his
expression became businesslike again and he turned back to the patrolman.
     
    Despite the curiosity that was driving
her crazy, she knew she had done the right thing.  Her willingness to wait for
the information she desired would give him the chance to do his job.  It would
also show him that she had confidence in him and in their relationship.
     
    And she did have that confidence, she
realized as warmth filled her chest and suffused her cheeks.  Theirs was the
kind of relationship she had always wanted.  And Ryan was the man she’d been
looking for.
     
    ***
     
    She didn’t have much time to ponder
her new realization, however, or what it might mean for the future, because the
Mexican restaurant at which she was meeting Amy was only 5 minutes away.
     
    The best parking spot she could find
was on the side of the restaurant, halfway down the