“Oh, yes!” Hannah said, and then she hoped she hadn’t sounded too eager. Rick and Lonnie’s mother, Bridget Murphy, was a member of the Lake Eden Gossip Hotline. “I’d like to see him, Rick. Thank you very much.”
Hannah just had time to run the hairbrush Kitty had sent through her hair and put a smile on her face before Rick arrived with Norman. “Here he is,” Rick said, and then he turned back to Norman. “Sorry Norman, but I’ll have to lock you in with Hannah.”
“That’s okay. I don’t mind being locked in with Hannah. Anyone else, maybe. But with Hannah, it’s just fine.”
Oh, boy! Hannah thought. This’ll get on the gossip hotline in no time flat. But did she really care if it did? Norman had paid her a compliment and she should accept it as such.
“How are you doing, Hannah?” Norman asked, sitting down on the cot next to her, slipping his arm around her to pull her close, and not even glancing at Rick as he locked the door and left.
“I’m all right.” Hannah heard the slight tremor in her voice and hoped she wouldn’t break into tears. Norman’s arm felt so good around her.
“Don’t lie to me, Hannah. I’ve been in jail and I know. It’s no fun being locked up in a cell and not being able to get out.”
“This cell is better than the others,” Hannah said, trying to shed a good light on it.
“Maybe, but you’re still locked in. Take a deep breath and try to remember that it’s only for three days.”
“I know. And now it’s not even three days anymore. It’s only two days and three nights.”
“And when you wake up, it’ll be only two days and two nights. Then you’ll be out and back where you belong. Do you want to come and stay with me when you get out on bail? I’ve got the cats at our house and it would be a transition.”
Our house. Norman was still calling it our house. He still wanted her even though she was now, technically, a jailbird. Idly, she wondered if there was anything that would make Norman not want her. And she decided that there probably wasn’t.
“Hannah?”
Norman was waiting for an answer and Hannah turned to smile at him. “Maybe,” she said, leaving her options open. “You took Moishe to your place?”
“Yes. Moishe was a little anxious when you didn’t come back to the condo with me, and he yowled when I tried to put Cuddles in her carrier. That’s when I decided to take him home with me and I put them both in his carrier. By the way, it’s big enough for both of them. And don’t worry. I called Michelle on her cell phone and told her what I was doing.”
“Thanks, Norman. I know Michelle would have taken good care of him, but he’ll probably be happier with Cuddles.”
“Both cats are happier. When I left, they were chasing up and down the staircase in the den and I left the animal channel on for them.”
“Thanks, Norman. You don’t know how much I . . .” Hannah stopped and blinked back the moisture that formed in her eyes. “You don’t know how much I appreciate you.”
Norman gave her another little hug and then he stood up to get the bag he’d brought with him. “Here, Hannah. I picked up something at the mall for you. I don’t know if you need it, or not, but I thought you’d like to have it while you were here.”
Hannah glanced at the package inside the bag. It was gift-wrapped and she couldn’t see what was inside. “What is it?” she asked.
“You can open it when I leave. Right now I want to ask you a couple of questions.”
“What questions?”
“Has Howie been here yet?”
“Yes. I have a meeting with him tomorrow morning and Kitty sent me some things, too. He asked me to tell him everything I remembered about this morning and I wrote it all down for him.”
“Good. When is the arraignment?”
“Monday morning. Howie managed to arrange an early arraignment because Judge Colfax is more alert then.”
“You didn’t get Judge Fleming?”
Hannah shook her head. “He’s on vacation and Judge Colfax is filling in for him.”
“Bad luck,” Norman said, and then he must have seen the look on Hannah’s face because he reached out to hug her again. “It’ll be okay, Hannah. Howie’s a good lawyer and there’s no reason on earth that you won’t get bail.”
“I hope you’re right.”
“I am. Don’t worry about that now. Is there anything you’d like me to do for you while you’re in here?”
“Actually . . . yes! There is one thing. The man I killed had a diamond embedded in his front left tooth. Do you know any Minnesota dentists who do work like that?”
“No, but I can find out. All it’ll take are a few phone calls. Was it a real diamond, or a fake diamond?”
Hannah shrugged. “I don’t know. I only caught a glimpse of it and I might not know the difference anyway.”
“Fair enough. I’m not sure I’d know the difference either. Why do you want to know which dentist did it?”
“Because I need to find out who the man was and the dentist might have his name. I really need to know, Norman.”
“Of course you do. Does Doc still have him at the morgue?”
“I think so. I don’t know where else he’d be. I could have asked Mother when she was here, but I didn’t think of it then.”
“I’ll give Doc a ring and if he says it’s okay, I’ll run out there and take a look. I know quite a few dentists in Minnesota and I might recognize the work.”
“Thanks, Norman. I hope this isn’t a wild goose chase. I don’t even know if the man was from Minnesota. He could have been from anywhere.”
“That’s true, but maybe I can narrow it down for you. I’ve been to quite a few dental conventions and dentists come from all over to attend those. As a matter of fact, there was a seminar about tooth jewelry and the techniques used to embed it at last year’s dental convention. I didn’t go to that particular seminar, but I’ll check the program and see who taught it. And I’ll call to see if I can get a list of which dentists attended.” Norman gave her another hug and then he stood up. “I’d better go if I want to catch Doc while he’s still awake. I’ll see you tomorrow, Hannah.”
Hannah walked him to the door, a far different procedure than she had performed at her condo countless times in the past. This time she couldn’t open the door. Rick had locked it from the outside.
Norman gave her a final hug that felt so good, tears came to her eyes, and then Rick was there to let him out. Hannah walked back to her cot and sat down again, but, surprisingly, she didn’t feel terribly bereft. She was alone, she was locked in, but all of her friends and relatives were helping her get the information she needed.
The bag Norman had brought was still sitting beside her on the cot. Hannah reached inside and pulled out the package. She tore off the gift wrap, felt slightly guilty for not saving the paper and the ribbon, and uncovered the prettiest, fluffiest blanket that she’d ever seen. It was patterned with cats, darling little cats, so many different breeds of cats that she couldn’t name them all. They were romping and playing all over the surface of the blanket, and every single cat was as cute as it could be. They were all in different poses, chasing butterflies, and balls, and each other, and just looking at them made Hannah smile in delight.
She spent almost an hour looking at each cat, trying to decide which one was the cutest, and then she stretched out on the cot and picked up her book. Soon she was engrossed in the mystery again, and before the hands on the clock on the wall outside the holding cell had reached the hands-up position, she was fast sleep under the cat blanket that Norman had brought just for her.
Chapter Ten
It was wonderful being out of the cell! One of the female deputies had led her to the shower that the female prisoners used and waited for her just outside the door. Hannah hadn’t even minded that there was an observation window as she unwrapped the strawberry-scented soap and used it to take her shower. Then she’d rinsed off, dried off on the not-so-soft towels the deputy had
given her, and dressed in clean clothing.
Now she was sitting across from Howie Levine in the small room reserved for lawyers and their incarcerated clients.
“I’ve got to tell you, Hannah,” Howie said. “I did some research last night and it doesn’t look good.”
Howie was frowning deeply and Hannah’s heartbeat accelerated rapidly. “What do you mean?” she asked.
“I mean that you are clearly at fault.”
Hannah couldn’t help it. Her mouth dropped open in surprise. “But it was an accident! I couldn’t help hitting that man. I wrote it all out for you to explain it.”
“And I read it. I understand exactly what happened, Hannah. But I’m still telling you that you were clearly at fault when you killed that man.”
“How can that be? I couldn’t avoid him. There was no way! Are you saying that I should have run into that branch in the road?”
“No. I’m not telling you that at all.”
“Then how can it be my fault that I hit that man and he’s dead?”
Howie snapped open his briefcase and brought out a pamphlet. He flipped through the pages, stopped at one, and said, “This is the Minnesota Drivers’ Manual. I’m going to read the pertinent section.”
He cleared his throat and began to read aloud. “ ‘Your headlights, by law, must be used at times when you cannot see more than five-hundred feet ahead, and when it is raining, snowing, sleeting, or hailing.’ Did you turn on your headlights, Hannah?”
“No, but it was morning.”
“Could you see at least five hundred feet ahead?”
“Well, no. But . . .”
“Was it raining, snowing, sleeting, or hailing?”
“Yes. I told you it was raining.”
“Let me reiterate. It was raining and you could not see five hundred feet ahead. Is that correct?”
Hannah didn’t want to answer, but Howie was her lawyer and she had to be truthful. “Yes.”
“And yet you neglected to turn on your headlights?”
Hannah took a deep breath and nodded. “It wouldn’t have helped if I’d turned them on, but . . . yes, I neglected to turn on my headlights.”
“Thank you. Now on to the second part of the paragraph. The Minnesota Drivers’ Manual reads ‘If you cannot see a safe distance ahead, pull off the road and stop until visibility improves.’ Did you do that, Hannah?”
“You know I didn’t.”
“All right then. Do you see why Chad Norton had reason to file charges against you?”
“I admit he had a right to file charges, but give me a break, Howie! There were extenuating circumstances.”
“What were those extenuating circumstances?”
“Lightning was striking all around us when we were driving past Winnie Henderson’s pasture. The truck was the tallest object around and I wanted to go around the bend and pull over under the trees. I figured that if lightning continued to strike around us, one of the trees would be hit and not us. I was in reasonable fear for my life, Howie. And it wasn’t just my life. Lisa was with me in the truck, and I was in reasonable fear for her life, also.”
“That makes perfect sense to me,” Howie said, giving her a quick smile.
“It does?” Hannah was surprised at the change that had come over Howie. Just seconds ago, he had sounded as if he were acting as the prosecuting attorney and not the counsel for her defense.
“Of course it makes sense. You were defending your life and the life of your passenger, Lisa Beeseman. If you’d pulled over right away, you would have put both of you in jeopardy from the lightning strikes.”
“That’s right!” Hannah was glad that Howie understood at last.
“And that’s our case. You’ll make a great witness, Hannah. And I didn’t even have to prepare you.”
“You mean the case is actually going forward? They’re going to try me for vehicular homicide?”
Howie reached out to pat her hand. “Don’t borrow trouble, Hannah. It might not happen. But if it does, I really don’t think that twelve reasonable jurors will convict you.”
“And you’ll make certain that the jurors are reasonable?”
“As much as I can. I only have a limited number of preempts.”
“That means peremptory challenges, doesn’t it?”
“That’s right. Each side has a fixed number of those and it means that they can dismiss a potential juror without stating a reason. The remainder of the dismissals have to be for cause.”
“What would constitute cause?”
“There has to be a specific and forceful reason to believe that the potential juror cannot be fair, unbiased, or capable of serving as a juror.”
“Okay, but what would those causes be?”
Howie gave a little shrug. “That’s a bit complicated. The acceptable causes include an acquaintanceship with either of the parties, one of the attorneys, or a witness. Another is a potential juror’s inability to be unbiased due to prior experience in a similar case. But all this isn’t up to me, Hannah. The judge determines if the potential juror will be dismissed. Would you like me to put it all in a nutshell for you?”
Hannah’s head was spinning. “Yes, please.”
“It’s a crap shoot, Hannah. I can control some things with my peremptory challenges, but once they run out, it’s up to the judge. And that means the jury that’ll be seated at your trial depends in large part on the judge you’re lucky or unlucky enough to draw.”
When Hannah got back to the holding cell after her meeting with Howie, she sat down on the edge of the cot with a sigh. It was a bit unsettling to realize that, at least as far as the driving statutes were concerned, she was guilty. Of course, there were extenuating circumstances. Howie had agreed with that. But would Judge Colfax give her bail, or would he order her to stay in county lockup until her case came to trial?
Hannah felt as if she were on a roller coaster, experiencing an upswing in her mood when Howie said she’d make a good witness, and a downswing when he told her that her case might go to trial and her acquittal wasn’t a sure thing.
“Hannah?” One of the deputies she’d met, but didn’t know well, arrived at the cell door. “You’ve got visitors. Shall I bring them down here to you?”
“Yes, please,” Hannah said politely and the deputy went off to get her visitors.
A minute or two later, Delores and Doc arrived at her cell, along with the deputy who was carrying two chairs. “Hello, dear,” Delores greeted her. “How was your meeting with Howie?”
“Fine,” Hannah said, not wanting to worry her mother by confiding that the outcome of her case was uncertain.
“Sheriff said I can put these inside,” the deputy informed them, unlocking the door and carrying the chairs inside. “I’m still going to have to lock you in, but since you’re the only prisoner, you can keep the chairs here when your visitors leave.”
“Thank you,” Hannah smiled at him. Her mood was swinging up again and it felt great. With chairs in her cell, she wouldn’t have to sit on the edge of the uncomfortable cot.
Once the deputy had left and Doc and Delores were seated, Doc set the large briefcase he’d been carrying on the cot and Delores put the large bag she’d brought on the floor. “Lonnie and Michelle examined the man’s belongings and took some pictures,” Doc told Hannah. “I released them to Lonnie since he was going to attempt to find the man’s relatives.”
“Great!” Hannah said, feeling her mood elevate even more. Her emotional roller coaster car was climbing even higher and it felt good.
“I looked at them, too,” Delores said. “You were right, dear. They’re definitely expensive. Andrea was there and she saw them, too. And she totally agreed with me. That man either stole them or spent some big money on his clothing and shoes.”
Hannah was almost afraid to ask, but she needed to know the answer to another question. She just hoped it wouldn’t send her mood on a downswing. “How about the stains on his shirt?”
�
�We’re working on that,” Doc said. “Some spots washed away in the rain, but that umbrella you put over the man’s face preserved a portion of them. Marlene’s examining them in the lab right now and she told me she thinks there’s enough left to identify.”
Hannah smiled, her good mood elevating again. Normally, she didn’t like roller coasters, but the one she was imagining in her mind was a good one. Doc’s intern, Marlene Aldrich, was a highly skilled lab technician. If anyone could identify that stain on the man’s shirt, it was Marlene. “How about the tooth with the diamond? Did Norman get to see it?”
Doc nodded. “Yes, he did. He took quite a few photographs with that fancy equipment of his.”
“Oh, good!” Hannah’s smile grew even bigger. “Too bad we can’t take that diamond to a jeweler to see if it’s real.”
“Oh, but we can,” Delores said. “Doc called Bill this morning and asked if he had any objections if Norman extracted the tooth.”
“And Bill said that they had crime scene photos, so it was perfectly okay with him,” Doc finished the sentence for her.
The roller coaster car moved upward, but not as far as Hannah would have liked. It was stalled between up and down, hanging there like her vacillating mood. The phrase “crime scene photos” had stopped the car in its tracks. She’d never expected to be personally involved in anything that required crime scene photos! But the news that Bill had given Norman permission to extract the tooth was very good indeed.
You have to take the bad with the good, another of her great-grandmother’s sayings ran through Hannah’s mind. And for the first time she could recall, she envied those people with boring, predictable, and uneventful lives.
“They did find the man’s car,” Delores said, sending the roller coaster car upward again. “Unfortunately, something called the VIN was filed off so they don’t have any way to track the owner. It’s probably stolen, though. Judging by what I heard, it was a model, make, and color that’s very popular with car thieves. Thousands of similar cars are stolen every year. I wonder what VIN stands for.”
Blackberry Pie Murder (A Hannah Swensen Mystery) Page 10