Death at the Donut Shop

By Kelly Hashway

What could be sweeter than working at a donut shop? Hailey Hart is convinced her newest job placement will work out—at least for a little while. But the dead body discovered in the donut shop has other plans for her.

Hailey winds up in the midst of yet another murder investigation, this time of a former Rockland police officer. Detective Bilson is determined to catch his former colleague’s killer. Especially since the killer went to great lengths to make the death look like a simple heart attack.

But Charlie Hughes was on the hit lists of several ex-cons he put away for various crimes. Will Hailey be able to figure out which one of them if any is responsible for the murder?

• Language: English
• Publisher: Kelly Hashway
• Release date: Jun 6, 2023
• ISBN: 9798215998946

Kelly Hashway

Kelly Hashway fully admits to being one of the most accident-prone people on the planet, but luckily she gets to write about female sleuths who are much more coordinated than she is. Maybe it was growing up watching Murder, She Wrote that instilled a love of mystery, but she spends her days writing cozy mysteries. Kelly’s also a sucker for first love, which is why she writes romance under the pen name Ashelyn Drake. When she’s not writing, Kelly works as an editor and also as Mom, which she believes is a job title that deserves to be capitalized.

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Death at the Donut Shop

Kelly Hashway

Copyright © 2023 by Kelly Hashway

All rights reserved.

No portion of this book may be reproduced in any form without written permission from the publisher or author, except as permitted by U.S. copyright law.

Contents

1. Chapter One

2. Chapter Two

3. Chapter Three

4. Chapter Four

5. Chapter Five

6. Chapter Six

7. Chapter Seven

8. Chapter Eight

9. Chapter Nine

10. Chapter Ten

11. Chapter Eleven

12. Chapter Twelve

13. Chapter Thirteen

14. Chapter Fourteen

15. Chapter Fifteen

16. Chapter Sixteen

17. Chapter Seventeen

18. Chapter Eighteen

19. Chapter Nineteen

20. Chapter Twenty

Also By USA Today Bestselling Author Kelly Hashway

Acknowledgments

About the Author

Chapter One

Not being big on sweets sort of makes me a bit of an anomaly, but it also means I can work at a donut shop and not worry about what it will do to my waistline. My best friend, Riley Jacobs, on the other hand, might have a huge problem with me working here. She’s already stopped in once today, and she just messaged me to ask if I could bring her some donut bites after my shift is over at four.

I shake my head as I read her text message, which requests six different flavors of donut bites. I’m sure she’ll claim she’s going to share them with her boyfriend, Detective Garrett Bilson, but I’m also positive she’d bite his hand off if he actually tried to eat even one of the donut holes.

What’s so funny? Tracey asks me as she places a devil’s food cake donut with rainbow sprinkles onto a plate.

My friend Riley. I’m not sure she’s going to survive me working here. I text Riley back saying I’ll see what I can do. Donut bites are a big seller, which means we might not have all the flavors in stock when I leave for the day. Mr. Stein only makes them until about three o’clock, and while he makes massive amounts at a time, we can get pretty slammed in here.

I’ve only been on this job for three days, but I feel like I’ve gotten into a good groove here. My coworkers are really nice. It helps that there aren’t many of us. Mr. Stein is my boss, and he makes all the donuts himself. Tracey serves the customers who eat at the few tables we have in the dining area. Clay works the drive-through window. And then there’s Chase, who works the same job I have, which is taking the orders and using the registers.

I gained six pounds my first two weeks working here, Tracey says. Now, I can’t even eat a donut. I’m so sick of them.

You’re crazy, Clay says, bagging up some donut bites for a customer at the drive-through window. It’s unhuman to not like donuts.

Hailey doesn’t like them, Tracey says.

Clay closes the bag and cocks his head at me. Say it isn’t so, Hailey.

Sorry, but I prefer salty or sour to sweet. I shrug.

It’s like working with aliens. Clay shakes his head and returns to the window.

Pete Modell, one of my favorite people in Rockland, walks up to the registers.

I’ve got this, I tell Chase. Hey, Pete. Pete has saved me from being assaulted on more than one occasion since I moved to town. He also saved Garrett’s life when Garrett was in a near-fatal car accident while investigating a murder. If you ask me, Pete Modell is the best thing to ever happen to Rockland. Just don’t tell my boyfriend, who also happens to own the temp agency I work with, that I said that. Ben Traum is the only guy I have my eye on, and I wouldn’t want him to think he has any reason to be jealous of anyone else.

Hailey, how’s the new job going? Pete asks.

This is the first job I’ve had since moving to Rockland where I didn’t come across a dead body in my first two days of work, so I have to say it’s going better than all my previous placements through the Traum Temp Agency. So far so good, Pete. What can I get for you?

I’m on my way over to the youth center and thought I’d bring some donut bites for the kids there. What’s the largest order you have?

The largest is fifty, but I can double it for you if you are expecting a lot of kids to be there.

Let’s do that.

Pete works for the town, mostly cleaning the streets and keeping Rockland looking nice. He used to have his own business but was the victim of an unfair lawsuit that cost him everything. Instead of being bitter about it, Pete does everything he can to make Rockland a better place to live. I’ve really never met anyone like him.

I’m on it, I tell him. Since the order is so large, I run to the kitchen first to tell Mr. Stein I’ll be cleaning out most of the donut bites already made. Mr. Stein, I’m about to fill an order for one hundred donut bites.

He looks up from the large island where he works. Hailey, please call me Albert. And thanks for letting me know. I’ll make more now.

I bob my head. He keeps reminding me to call him by his first name, but it seems weird to not address my boss as Mr. Great. Thank you.

He waves a hand in the air, indicating he wants me to use his first name.

Thank you, Albert, I force myself to say.

He smiles at me. See. That wasn’t so hard.

I give him an awkward smile and walk out of the kitchen. Chase helps me fill Pete’s order, and we organize the donut bites according to flavor for him. After I finish ringing up the sale, I help Pete carry all the boxes out to his car. Pete reaches for his wallet and tries to tip me. It’s no secret I don’t have much money to my name. To be honest, it’s one of the reasons why I moved to Rockland in the first place.

I sort of spent a lot of time in college majoring in absolutely nothing. I couldn’t decide what I wanted to do with my life, so I jumped around from major to major. By the time I graduated—if you can call it that—I didn’t have a degree in anything. I’d just wasted all of my money and my parents' and amassed huge student loans. I was so embarrassed I decided to move somewhere no one knew me and my shameful story.

Of course, the fact that I live in a tiny one-bedroom apartment that used to be a detached garage on my landlord’s property is a pretty big clue to most people with brains that I don’t have much stashed away in the bank. That’s why only a few people know where I live.

Pete, I can’t take that, I tell him.

I insist. You didn’t have to help me bring all this to the car. That’s not in your job description.

I didn’t do it because it’s my job. I did it because you’re my friend. I gently push his outstretched hand with the ten-dollar bill back toward him. You’ve helped me so much. I can’t possibly take your money.

Okay then. How about I buy you coffee sometime, and we call it even. He holds up both hands. Not as a date. I don’t want Ben getting upset with me. He can even join us if he’d like. My treat.

Pete is only thirty, though he has an old soul and seems so much wiser than I am at twenty-seven. If I wasn’t dating Ben, Pete would be a total catch.

I’d be happy to have coffee with you anytime. And I don’t think Ben would be jealous. He knows we’re friends. I smile at Pete. I wish he’d find someone. He has a thing for Mia Emerson, but Mia doesn’t feel the same way about Pete. It breaks my heart to watch him pine after her when she doesn’t return the sentiment.

Pete gives me a nod and gets into his car.

I head back into the donut shop. It amuses me that this place doesn’t actually have a name. The sign outside literally just reads Donuts. Mr. Stein doesn’t have a website or anything either. He doesn’t need one though because business is that good.

There are several people in the dining area, including a few police officers, which makes me chuckle. I grab my phone and text Riley about it because I know she’ll get a kick out of the fact that the cops are in a donut shop. It’s so cliché it’s funny. I also never thought that stereotype was true. I mean Detective Garrett Bilson is in great shape. No one would look at him and think he spends his breaks in a donut shop.

Speaking of Garrett, as soon as I’m behind the counter again, he walks in and joins his colleagues at their table. I walk over to say hello and see if he’d like anything even though I don’t wait tables here.

Hello, Detective, I say, being more formal since we’re not just hanging out as friends at the moment.

Hello, Hailey. How’s the new job going?

He already knows since he, Riley, Ben, and I had dinner together last night. I’m assuming he’s just playing along with the formalities for the sake of his coworkers.

No complaints. Can I get you something?

Garrett gestures to the tray of donuts in the center of the table. Officer Casey ordered enough to go around, but I’ll take a small coffee if you’re offering.

Sure thing. I turn on my heel and discreetly pull out my phone to text Riley. I change my mind and call her instead, though.

Hey. Aren’t you working? she asks when she picks up.

I am, but guess who just came into the donut shop.

No! That little sneak. Tell him he better be getting me donut bites if he doesn’t want to experience my wrath for the rest of the week.

The week? That’s a bit excessive, don’t you think? I grab a small to-go cup and head over to the coffee carafe.

No. I need my donut bites. Tell him I’ll have Rumor Robin write about how he and his cop buddies are the epitome of police in donut shops if he doesn’t.

Ouch, I say. I’m one of the few people in town who knows Riley’s secret identity as Rumor Robin, the gossip columnist for the Rockland Record. Riley’s uncle, Samuel Montage, is the editor-in-chief, and they tell people Riley is his assistant. It allows Rumor Robin to remain anonymous and Riley to get close enough to the town residents to dig up dirt on everyone for the column. For some strange reason, Riley confessed she’s Rumor Robin to me the first time we met. I even knew before Garrett did, and he’s literally known Riley all her life.

The door to the kitchen opens, and I say, Gotta go, before pocketing my phone again. I don’t want to get in trouble for making personal calls while I’m working. I carry the coffee over to Garrett’s table. Here you go, Detective.

He bobs his head to me. Thanks.

I sort of thought maybe he’d come in here to tell me he needs my help with a case. I recently started consulting with the RPD. I have to admit the added pay is nice. It means I can afford to have more than plain pasta for dinner. But Garrett doesn’t say anything about a new case, so I turn and walk back to the counter.

Ooh, look at that, Chase says.

I follow his gaze to a man in his late fifties if I had to guess. Who is he?

That’s Charlie Hughes. He’s a retired police officer.

Hughes takes a seat at a small table and immediately gets on his phone. He doesn’t so much as glance in the direction of the other officers.

Then why does it seem like he doesn’t even know the other police officers? He might be almost thirty years older than Garret, but some of the others at the table are closer to Charlie Hughes’s age. Surely, they must know him.

Not all the officers at the Rockland PD were fans of Hughes, Chase says.

Why is that?

Well, for one, he was known to break rules to catch criminals.

Is that really a bad thing if it means he caught them? I ask. A woman walks up to Charlie and kisses his cheek before sitting down with him. Tracey approaches them to take their order.

Opinions at the police department were split there, Chase says. Some thought it didn’t matter because they got the desired end result. Others thought Hughes was giving the department a bad reputation.

I wonder which camp Garrett falls into. I study the police officers at the table with Garrett. Officer Casey notices Charlie Hughes and narrows his eyes. He’s clearly not a fan. Garrett notices me staring and turns to see Charlie Hughes. The expression on Garrett’s face instantly changes. If I had to guess, I’d say Garrett was concerned.

Hailey, Clay calls.

I turn to face him. Yeah?

Can you help me? We’re getting a backup at the drive-through. I can’t fill the orders fast enough.

Tracey is back on the register now and nods to let me know she’ll cover the front for me so I can help Clay.

Of course. I hurry over to the screen where Clay punches in the orders and get to work filling them.

Before I know it, half an hour has passed. By the time I return to my register, Charlie Hughes and the table of current Rockland police officers are gone.

It’s nearing the end of my shift, which is four o’clock. I have to say I love my hours on this job. Eight to four is ideal because I can still get in a run in the mornings if I want, or I can run after work and have enough time to go to dinner with Ben or Riley.

Someone screams, and at first, I think a customer just scratched off a winning lottery ticket or something. But then I realize this is a scream of horror, not elation. Tracey and I exchange a look as we try to figure out where the scream came from.

There are two public restrooms in the back. I walk around the counter and head in that direction. A mother is shielding her young son’s face by hugging him tightly to her. She points toward the bathroom door, which is closed.

In there, she says.

I’m afraid to open the door, but maybe it’s just a big spider or something like that. I hope it’s not a rat. I don’t want to see Mr. Stein’s donut shop get closed down by the health department.

Why was he sleeping on the floor? the little boy asks his mother. And that’s when I know it’s not an animal or insect of any kind that’s freaking out this woman.

I slowly push open the