Christmas Cupcake Murder

by Joanne Fluke

  Right across the street, Hannah’s mind echoed Al’s words as she followed Delores and Carrie out the door. Very convenient. Next door to Bertie’s Cut ’n Curl. Just two doors down from The Cookie Jar. What would her day be like if Delores and Carrie stopped by every morning for coffee? Or even worse, came by to use the restroom because the one in the antique storage building didn’t meet their needs? What if . . .

  Hannah gave herself a mental shake. She was being silly. They were storing the antiques in the building they wanted to rent. Her mother and Carrie wouldn’t be down here every day, refinishing tables or upholstering chairs and davenports. It was silly for her to feel that her “at work privacy,” if there was such a thing, was being invaded. She should be glad if the vacant building turned out to be perfect for them.

  “Here we are,” Delores said, inserting the key in the front door. She attempted to turn it to unlock the door, but nothing happened. “This must be the wrong key,” she remarked, and tried the second key on the ring. Again, nothing happened. The key went into the lock, but it wouldn’t turn. “We can’t get in!” she said, sounding very upset. “Al must have given us the wrong set of keys.”

  Hannah turned around to look at Al’s office. The lights were off and his car was no longer parked in front of the building. She remembered hearing a car start up and drive away when her mother was trying the second key. “Al’s gone already,” she said.

  “Oh, drat!” Delores exclaimed, coming as close to swearing as she ever did. “What are we going to do now?”

  “Try the back door?” Hannah suggested. “There are two keys on the ring. Neither one works on the front door, but one of them might work on the back door.”

  Even in the dim light from the streetlight on the corner, Hannah could see her mother roll her eyes. “Of course,” she said, sounding exasperated that she hadn’t thought of it herself. “Let’s go try the back.”

  Since the snow wasn’t shoveled on the walkway that led around the building, they walked to the corner and went down the alley to the back. Once there, Delores tried the first key again.

  “It works!” she said, all smiles. “Let’s go see what’s inside.”

  Hannah let her mother lead the way and she followed Carrie inside. “I can’t find the light switch.”

  “Wait a moment, Mother,” Hannah said. “I’ve got the flashlight on my cell phone.”

  Hannah, who had followed her mother and Carrie into the back room, switched on the light on her cell phone. She shined the light on the left of the back door, but there was no light switch. “Here it is,” she said, spotting it to the right. She flicked the switch on, but absolutely nothing happened. “I think the bulb’s burned out,” Hannah said, beginning to frown.

  “Hannah, we’ll be all right as long as your light holds out. Did you remember to charge your phone this morning?”

  “I think so,” Hannah said, hoping she had.

  “Then walk beside me and shine the light ahead,” Delores suggested. “We’ll walk through here and go to the front room to check that out.”

  Hannah did as her mother requested, hoping that she wouldn’t run out of battery power before they’d finished. If that happened, it might be difficult navigating the back room and getting outside again.

  “Wait!” Delores grabbed Hannah’s arm. “I thought I saw something over there.”

  “Over where?” Carrie asked her.

  “Over by that pile of rags in the corner,” Delores said, pointing to the corner of the back room.

  Hannah shined her light in that direction and illuminated the rags. They watched carefully for several moments, but there was no movement.

  “It must have been your imagination,” Carrie said.

  “It could have been a rat,” Delores said. “This store went out of business at least two years ago. It was a little lunch place that served sandwiches, so there must have been food around.”

  Carrie drew her breath in quickly, and Hannah knew that her mother had made Carrie nervous again. “I’ll go check it out,” Hannah promised.

  “But . . . you’ll have to take your light with you,” Delores said, and Hannah noticed that she also sounded a bit nervous.

  “Do you have your phone with you, Carrie?” Hannah asked her.

  “Why, yes. It’s right here in my purse. Shine your flashlight over here and I’ll get it out.”

  With the aid of Hannah’s cell phone flashlight, Carrie opened her large purse and located her phone. “It’s not as new as yours is,” Carrie said, holding it out to Hannah. “If you’re thinking about turning on my flashlight, I’m not sure I have one.”

  “Let’s see,” Hannah said, turning on Carrie’s phone and examining the apps. “You have one,” she said, turning on the flashlight and handing it back to Carrie.

  “Oh, good. Delores and I will stay right here then.”

  Hannah was grinning as she walked over to the pile of rags. It was clear that Carrie was still nervous about marauding rodents. As she approached the pile, she realized that the rags were covering something large and bulky. Did the owner leave some piece of equipment behind when they left Lake Eden? “There’s something under here,” she reported. “Hold on a second and I’ll take a look.”

  “Bu . . . bu . . . but be careful, Hannah,” Delores warned, quite unnecessarily. “You don’t know what’s under there!”

  The rags were tucked around something and Hannah managed to pull one corner free. She couldn’t loosen it without using both hands, and that meant that she couldn’t hold her phone flashlight. “Shine your flashlight over here, Carrie,” she instructed. “I’ll need both hands to see what’s here.”

  Carrie aimed the light at the pile of rags, Hannah put her cell phone down on the floor, and pulled on the largest piece. It was a remnant of a blanket, and it was tucked around something large. “I got it,” she said, pulling the edge loose and flipping it back.

  “What is it?” Carrie asked her.

  “It’s . . .” Hannah stopped speaking and swallowed hard. “It’s someone’s leg.”

  “You mean . . . a person?” Carrie asked.

  “Yes.” Hannah pulled the blanket up higher. “I think so. . . .”

  “You mean it’s a body!?” Delores sounded horrified. “Get away from it, Hannah! We have to call someone.”

  “Yes,” Hannah agreed. And then she spotted something that made her draw in her breath sharply. “It’s moving. ”

  “Are you sure?” Carrie asked her.

  “Yes, I hear . . .”

  “Oh, my!” Carrie sounded very upset. “What should we do?”

  “Wait,” Hannah said, holding up her hand. “Call Doc! It’s the homeless man I saw this morning! And he’s still alive!”

  Chapter Five

  Of course, all three of them had gone to the hospital, hoping that the man would be all right. They had taken seats in the waiting room and Doc had promised to come out there to let them know how his newest patient was doing.

  “I hope he’s all right,” Hannah said, shifting a bit in her chair. “Did I tell you how nice and polite he was this morning?”

  Delores nodded. “You told us, dear. This whole thing is very unfortunate.”

  Carrie glanced at her watch. “He’s been in the emergency room for more than forty-five minutes. I hope it’s nothing terribly serious.”

  “So do I,” Delores said. “From what Hannah told us, that poor man deserves a break. If he’s going to be all right, I might just hire him to tear down that shed when we’re finished moving our antiques to a larger space.”

  “And I need someone to help me get down some boxes from the shelves in my basement,” Carrie agreed. “You have things for him to do, don’t you, Hannah?”

  “I’m sure I do,” Hannah agreed. “And if I don’t, I’ll think of something. Florence might have work for him at the grocery store. He’s tall enough to help her rearrange things on her top shelves.”

  They sat there in silence for a moment,
thinking about the man they’d found and hoping he’d be all right. They didn’t really know him, but Hannah realized that they all wanted to know his story and to find a way to help him. She hadn’t been able to give Doc and his staff any real information on the man’s background. Since she didn’t know the man’s name, his identity, where he’d come from, or why he was in Lake Eden, everything about John Doe, the name Doc and his staff had given the man, was a complete mystery.

  “I hope they can find out more about him,” Delores said, and Hannah suspected all three of them were thinking along the same lines.

  “So do I,” Carrie agreed. Then she looked over at Hannah. “You’re good at solving mysteries, Hannah. Maybe you ought to take him on as your next project.”

  “What a wonderful idea!” Delores agreed. “Hannah should stop getting involved in murder cases and concentrate on finding out more about our John Doe.”

  “Here comes Norman,” Carrie said, smiling as she recognized the man who was walking toward them down the hallway. “I called him and asked him to give you a ride home, Hannah.”

  Hannah sighed. It was true that she needed a ride back to town since she’d ridden to the hospital with Carrie and Delores, but Carrie had seized this opportunity like a rottweiler with a big, meaty bone. Carrie was always trying to pair her with Norman. Hannah guessed it was a natural reaction because they liked each other and they had been dating, but their relationship wasn’t as serious as Carrie hoped it would be. Both Norman and Hannah knew this. They’d even talked about it a couple of times. Both Delores and Carrie wanted them to settle down and give them grandchildren.

  Hannah smiled at Norman as he walked into the waiting room. He wasn’t what Delores and Carrie would have referred to as a heartthrob, but he was nice looking. And, as far as Hannah was concerned, Norman’s personality and sense of humor were delightful. Norman knew how to laugh at himself for his foibles.

  “Hi, Norman,” Hannah greeted him. “Is it snowing out there?”

  “Not yet, but they’re predicting another inch or two on KCOW-TV.”

  Hannah’s smile grew wider. She knew exactly what Norman would say next.

  “It’s the sole job in Lake Eden where you only have to be right thirty percent of the time and they don’t fire you!”

  “That’s not very nice, Norman,” Carrie chided him, but Hannah noticed that Carrie was beginning to smile. “Forecasting weather is an unpredictable occupation.”

  “That’s right,” Delores agreed. “But I’ve noticed that Rayne Phillips seems to be wrong more than the weathermen on other channels.”

  Just then Doc Knight entered the waiting room. He walked straight over to Delores and put his arm around her shoulders. “Don’t worry, Lori,” he told her. “The man you found is going to be all right.”

  “Wonderful!” Delores gave him a relieved smile. “We were all worried. Are you going to keep him overnight? I don’t think he has anywhere else to go. Hannah said he came around to The Cookie Jar this morning, looking for work.”

  “I suspected as much,” Doc said, giving her a hug before he turned to Hannah. “What did you tell him?”

  “I told him to come back tomorrow morning and I might have some work for him. It was really sad, Doc. He was shaking and he was so thin, I gave him a bag of cupcakes and poured him some coffee with cream and sugar.” Hannah stopped speaking and gave a little sigh. “He’s a nice man, Doc. Very polite. And he called me ma’am. ”

  “That’s what he called my nurse when she came in to check his vitals. I wonder how he got to Lake Eden and where he came from.”

  “Did you ask him?” Norman clearly wanted to know. “There may be someone out there we could contact.”

  Hannah gave Norman a grateful look. He was obviously as concerned about the man as she was.

  “We’ll try to get more information in the morning,” Doc promised. “He’s resting now. I want him to keep warm and give him a full night’s sleep. He’s still in pretty bad shape.”

  “Malnourished?” Carrie asked.

  “Yes. He was only a few steps away from starvation. That cream and sugar and the food you gave him this morning probably staved that off for a few hours. Our mission here is to stabilize him so we can run some tests to find out if there’s any permanent damage. I think you ladies found him just in time to prevent his total collapse.”

  “Oh, thank goodness for that!” Delores exclaimed, giving Doc a big smile. “I don’t even want to think of what would have happened if Carrie and I hadn’t decided to rent a place to store our antiques!”

  Doc reached out to give Delores’s shoulder a comforting pat and Hannah noticed that her mother covered Doc’s hand with hers. They smiled at each other, and Hannah was grateful that Doc was in their lives. He had been a good friend of her father’s and he still was their closest family friend. Doc had delivered all three of the Swensen sisters starting with Hannah, who was the oldest, Andrea, who was the middle Swensen sister, and Michelle, the youngest. He’d been their pediatrician until the three sisters grew up, and he was still their family doctor.

  “Can I peek in his room before we go?” Hannah asked Doc. “I promise I won’t go in or anything like that. I’d feel better if I just looked in on him. I’m not really sure why.”

  “It’s because you have a good heart, Hannah,” Doc told her. “I’ll let you peek in, but that’s it. What he needs right now is nourishment, rest, and peace of mind. Although I don’t really have any way of knowing exactly what happened to him, I think he’s been through a trauma or two and his body and mind can both do with a little worry-free time.”

  “Can we visit him tomorrow?” Delores asked.

  “Perhaps. I’ll call and let you know in the morning. He’s safe tonight. You don’t need to worry about him while he’s with us. And in the meantime, I think you could use a little rest and relaxation, too. You and your mother and Carrie did a lot to help us out at the hospital today. Everyone enjoyed our tree lighting ceremony and it really looks like Christmas around here.”

  “I’m so glad you like the decorations,” Delores said.

  “I want all of you to come with me,” Doc said, motioning for them to stand up. “I’ll walk you past his room, but I want you to be totally silent. I’m willing to bet that our John Doe hasn’t had a good night’s sleep in a month of Sundays, and we’re going to make sure he gets it tonight. And then I’m going to take you out to dinner the way I’d planned to do.” He turned to Norman. “You too, Norman. I’m outnumbered by females here and I need another man to keep me company.”

  * * *

  In less than twenty minutes, they were all seated at a table in Lake Eden’s only gourmet restaurant, Sally and Dick Laughlin’s Lake Eden Inn. Since none of them had eaten anything in hours, they were all hungry.

  “I have a new appetizer for you to try tonight,” Sally told them.

  Since Sally’s appetizers were always wonderful, Hannah began to smile. “Please tell us about it,” she said.

  “Or better yet, just bring it,” Doc countered her. “You’ve never made anything that wasn’t great, Sally.”

  “That’s because you didn’t know me when Dick and I were first married.”

  “I don’t believe it,” Delores said. “I’m sure you were born knowing how to make delicious food.”

  “Oh, no I wasn’t!” Sally said, shaking her head. “The first week after our honeymoon, I tried to make Dick’s favorite breakfast, eggs, sausage, and baking powder biscuits. The eggs were fine and the sausage was the precooked kind that I just had to heat up, but the biscuits were a disaster! Instead of buying the ones in the refrigerated section at the grocery store, I decided to make them from scratch.”

  “That could be difficult,” Hannah commiserated, “especially if you’d never made them before.”

  “It was. They turned out to be just as hard as rocks.”

  “Dick wasn’t angry, was he?” Carrie looked concerned.

  “No, not a bit. He move
d the kitchen wastebasket across the room, took off the cover, and said he’d take me out to dinner that night if I could make a basket with two of the dozen biscuits I’d baked.”

  “And you won?” Norman asked.

  Sally nodded. “We went out to a fancy French restaurant, and that’s where I got the idea for my new Christmas appetizer. It doesn’t have a name yet. I’ll leave it to you folks to come up with a good name for me.”

  “Describe it to us,” Hannah asked for more information.

  “It’s Brie with an unusual topping encased in puff pastry. It’s really easy to make and you can put it together in advance if you cover and refrigerate it.”

  “What’s the unusual topping?” Hannah asked.

  “I won’t tell you, but it’s one of those tastes that always reminds me of Christmas.”

  “And you won’t tell us what it is?” Delores asked, sounding disappointed.

  “No. I’m curious to see if any of you recognize it.” Sally took out her order pad and turned to Delores. “I have something special for an entrée tonight and it’s not on the menu.”

  “I love it when you surprise us,” Delores said. “What is it?”

  “Of course. It’s roast goose.”

  “Oh, I want that!” Carrie said quickly, and then she looked a bit embarrassed. “I’m sorry, Delores. I should have waited until you ordered. It’s just that I was so excited to have goose again! I haven’t had it since my mother died. We raised geese in our side yard and we used to have roast goose every New Year’s Eve.”

  Delores shuddered slightly. “Did you really kill one of your pet geese?”

  “They weren’t pets,” Carrie explained. “They were mean, nasty birds and they pecked at our feet and legs. They hissed at us and they made a real mess in the side yard. We kids used to have to catch them, put them in the big shed Dad used as a pen, and hose off the yard every day after school. I don’t even want to think of the times I slipped and fell in . . .” Carrie stopped in mid-sentence and looked embarrassed again. “Never mind. I shouldn’t have brought that up. Let’s just say that eating roast goose on New Year’s Eve was a real payback for us.” She turned to look at Sally. “You’re not serving Canada geese, are you, Sally?”