Free Cinnamon Crunch Murder by Susan Gillard

hands. She raised it above her head. “What are you going to do? Shoot me for breaking some stuff? Get real.”
    “Ma’am put the vase down and put your hands up,” Ryan said, tone deepening. “I will detain you by force, if necessary.”
    “Put it down, Goldie,” Heather called. “It’s over.” This incident spoke volumes about the woman’s character, but it still didn’t change the fact that Heather didn’t have the evidence to accuse her of the crime, just yet.
    There had to be something she could do.
    Goldie smashed the vase and went for another one.
    The WeSecureU guy gave a roar – it came out as more of a petrified squeak – and dashed into the storefront. He charged at Goldie.
    Goldie shrieked and dropped her vase.
    The security guy tackled her around the waist, and they hit the floor in a brawling mass of arms and legs.
    “Let go of me!” Goldie shrieked. “I am the daughter of one of the richest men in Hillside. You touch me, and you’ll regret it. I’ll sue you. I’ll sue all of you.”
    Ryan holstered his gun and walked to the tangle of limbs beside one of Heather’s tables. He reached in, using skills Heather hadn’t seen in action, and grasped Goldie’s arm.
    “Jasmine Gold, you’re under arrest for damage to property. You have the right to remain silent –” Ryan’s speech was punctuated by the enraged shrieks from the heiress. But he had the cuff on her arm and the power in this situation.
    Apparently, Goldie was about to serve time, even if it wasn’t for the murder of her best friend.
    “There has to be more evidence,” Heather whispered.

Chapter 18
    Heather sat on the sofa, the sun rising behind her, casting hazy shadows on the wall behind the TV. Dave’s head rested in her lap, and he twitched an ear every now and again.
    Ryan still wasn’t back from the station after Goldie’s arrest.
    “How did it come to this, Dave?” Heather asked.
    He whined and covered his nose with a paw.
    “Right? It’s just so confusing. I guess I say that about every case, but the closer I get to the answer, the muddier it all becomes.” Maybe she wasn’t cut out for this whole investigation business, after all.
    She stroked Dave’s head and stared at the orange-yellow hues on the wall, opposite. “Maybe if I go over it one more time, I’ll figure it out. Ryan said I shouldn’t jump to conclusions about Goldie, but clearly, she’s unhinged.”
    Dave’s tail thumped against the sofa.
    “But that doesn’t necessarily mean she’s a murderer. Facts, I have to think facts,” Heather whispered.
    Birds chirped outside. A woman called out a name in the distance, car doors slammed. Normal suburban noises.
    “Tara made noise at the building which Goldie and her father own. Which also happens to be next to a construction site with a lot of bricks. Goldie moved into Tara’s apartment after her death. Goldie fought with Tara before her death because Foster broke up with her. Goldie, Goldie, Goldie,” Heather said. “What on earth am I missing?”
    Dave yawned and licked his furry lips.
    “Missing, hmmm. Paradise Villas. There seems to be a lot of information about Paradise Villas. But the murder wasn’t committed there,” Heather said, tapping her chin with her finger. She yawned as a follow up to Dave’s, and stifled it with the back of her fist.
    The front door opened, and footsteps paced into the hall.
    “Honey?” Ryan called from the front. “Are you up?”
    “I’m in the living room. And if I had been sleeping, I might’ve yelled at you for waking me up,” she replied.
    “I’ll take that into account next time,” he said and marched into the living room. His hair stood up at different angles, and he ran his hand through it, then sighed. “You wouldn’t believe that Goldie woman’s behavior. I didn’t interrogate her. I couldn’t. She wouldn’t stop screaming about her father and money and blah, blah, blah.”
    “That’s what privilege does to a person, I