by Joanne Fluke
“The only hard part was the first day. Rhonda warned me that her great-aunt had been in a wheelchair since nineteen-eighty, and she said the place was a real mess. It sure was! That companion Mrs. Voelker had living with her didn’t do much in the way of cleaning.”
“It must have taken you a long time to whip it into shape,” Hannah commented.
“Not that long. All I had to clean was the ground floor. Rhonda said the attic was bare and the basement could stay the way it was. And I had Freddy and Jed to help me. They were out there doing some other work for Rhonda and they hauled out all the heavy trash bags.”
“What sort of work were they doing?” Hannah was curious.
“Handyman things. They did a real good job replacing some of the glass in the windows.”
Andrea nodded and returned to her first line of inquiry. “But the place wasn’t hard to keep up once you’d cleaned it the first time?”
“Heavens no! All I had to do was dust and vacuum and that was it…except for the bedroom.”
“The bedroom?” Hannah’s interest rose. “What did you have to do in there?”
“Dust and vacuum, clean the bathroom, and change the sheets on the bed. I know Rhonda had her own place in town, but she stayed out there some nights. Now I don’t want you to repeat this to a soul, but I think Rhonda had overnight company, if you know what I mean. There were always at least four dirty towels on the floor and once I found a razor in the wastebasket. It was right on top of one of those little travel bottles of aftershave.”
“What kind of razor was it?” Hannah asked, hoping for something distinctive that she could track down.
“Just one of those blue disposable kind you can buy a dozen to a bag at CostMart.”
“How about the aftershave? Do you remember the brand?”
“Sure do. It was Old Spice and I almost kept the bottle because it was kind of cute. Suzie loves to pick dandelions and I was thinking I could use it for a little vase on her table.” Marjorie paused for a moment and then she frowned. “Is it important?”
“It could be,” Hannah told her. “If we had it, the crime lab could dust for fingerprints. The man who spent the night with Rhonda might be able to tell us something about her murder.”
Marjorie shivered slightly. “Or he could’ve killed her. Now I wish I’d saved the bottle and the razor, too. They’d be evidence. But I just tossed them into a garbage bag and carried it out to the trash can.”
Hannah frowned slightly. She’d unwittingly sent evidence off to the dump and so had Marjorie Hanks.
“Don’t worry about it,” Andrea jumped in. “Hannah can catch Rhonda’s killer without those things.”
Hannah turned to give her sister a startled glance. Either Andrea was just attempting to make Mrs. Hanks feel better, or she really had confidence in Hannah’s abilities. Unfortunately, Hannah didn’t feel all that confident. With the exception of the fact that they now knew Rhonda’s boyfriend was real and not just gossip, they were still back at square one.
“Thanks, Mrs. Hanks. You’ve helped a lot.” Hannah put on her brightest smile. “Norman told me he hired you to clean his office. I’m really glad you got a new job.”
“So am I. Doctor Rhodes said he’d pay top dollar, and he promised us a discount anytime we need our teeth fixed. He even said he’d hire me to clean that new house he’s building for you.”
“It’s not for me,” Hannah corrected her. “It’ll be Norman’s house, not mine.”
Marjorie shrugged. “Whatever. I’m willing to bet you’ll change your tune by the time it’s ready. You can’t find a nicer man than Doctor Rhodes.”
There was nothing Hannah could say to argue with that, so she kept mum. She did, however, shoot her sister an entreating look and Andrea took over the conversation. After they’d discussed how bright Suzie was and how she was already learning her numbers, Hannah and Andrea headed back the way they’d come on Old Bailey Road.
“That was good, wasn’t it?” Andrea asked, zipping out to the highway and driving toward town. “I mean, we learned something.”
“Yes. We already suspected that Rhonda had a boyfriend, but now we know it for sure.”
“Because of the aftershave?” Andrea asked, pulling out to pass a truck loaded with lumber.
Hannah reached down to make sure her seat belt was fastened securely. “Unless Rhonda preferred the scent of Old Spice to all the expensive perfumes she sold down at the drugstore, there’s a man in the picture.”
After Hannah loaded up the last box of cookies, Andrea glanced down at her watch. “We’ve still got twenty minutes and I really don’t want to get there early. Could we run next door to Granny’s Attic? Mother said Luanne found an antique rosewood cradle at an estate sale last weekend. She thinks it would be perfect for the new baby.”
“Good idea. I want to check with Mother and Carrie anyway. They were going to ask around and try to find out who Rhonda’s boyfriend was.”
Hannah locked up her truck and the sisters walked across the parking lot to their mother’s shop. The back door was unlocked for the convenience of customers who parked in the rear, and they made their way past boxed acquisitions and some pieces of old furniture.
“Norman’s right. They need more storage space,” Hannah muttered as she came perilously close to tripping over a three-legged table.
“I know. They’ve got things stacked up to the ceiling back here. I told Mother I’d look around for a garage they could rent.”
“Hello, dears!” Delores called out when she spotted them. “Go take a look at that cradle, Andrea. It’s right next to the curved highboy with the leaded-glass doors on the east wall.”
“Any news about Rhonda’s boyfriend?” Hannah asked, joining her mother and Carrie at the counter.
“I’m afraid not.” Delores frowned slightly. “We called everyone we could think of, but we still don’t have a name.”
“We did find out one thing,” Carrie said, smiling slightly.
“What’s that?”
“Rhonda got a little tipsy at the Goetz’s New Year’s Eve party. She told Geraldine that she was seeing someone, but she couldn’t marry him.”
Hannah added this to her small store of personal facts about Rhonda. “Did Rhonda say why?”
“Geraldine asked her, but she just said that there’d have to be a funeral first.”
“A funeral?”
“Your mother and I think he was married and that was Rhonda’s way of saying that he wouldn’t divorce his wife.”
Hannah thought about that for a moment. “You could be right.”
“We did find out another interesting thing,” Delores said, lowering her voice even though there were no other customers in Granny’s Attic. “Bridget Murphy threatened Cyril last night.”
Hannah had to work to keep her mouth from dropping open. Bridget Murphy was one of the sweetest, gentlest women in Lake Eden and there’d never been a hint of trouble in her marriage to Cyril. “You mean…with a weapon?”
“Of course not. Remember that car he gave her for her birthday? Well, it’s broken down three times. Bridget told Cyril that if he didn’t fix it right this time, she’d paint a giant lemon on it and tow it down Main Street at the tag end of the parade.”
It was four o’clock when Hannah let herself in through the back door of The Cookie Jar. Her two catering jobs had gone well, and Andrea’s new maternity outfit had totally tamed her mother-in-law. Their only private conversation had been about which color quilt Andrea would prefer for the nursery.
“Hi, Lisa.” Hannah stepped into the coffee shop, joining Lisa behind the counter. “Do you need a break?”
“No, I’m fine. We had a big rush around three, but it’s slowing down now. Mike was in earlier, looking for you.”
Hannah sighed. “I was afraid I’d miss him.”
“He said not to worry, that he was pretty tied up, but he’d call you before you left for the day. Did you see Jed when you came through the kitchen?”
&
nbsp; Hannah shook her head. “No. I just set down my purse and came straight in here.”
“Well, he wants to talk to you. He sent Freddy in about twenty minutes ago to say they were almost through in the pantry. I think he was looking to get paid for the day.”
“Okay. I’ll pay them and then I’ll start mixing up the dough for tomorrow.”
Hannah greeted a few regular customers before going back to the kitchen. The new pantry shelves were all up. Jed was just tightening the last screw. “Hi, guys. That looks nice.”
“Thanks. Come in for a second, Hannah. I want to show you an improvement we made.” Jed waited until Hannah had stepped inside the pantry, then pointed to the small, rectangular space between the inside of the door and the wall. “This spot isn’t big enough for shelves, so we made you a pocket rack as a thank-you for giving us the work.”
Hannah eyed the structure Jed had called a pocket rack with interest. It consisted of a long narrow board painted the same color as the wall with see-through pockets made out of wire mesh.
“It’s for small things that might get pushed behind bigger things on the shelves. They won’t drop out because of the mesh, but you can see at a glance what’s in there.”
Hannah was pleased. She was always looking for the leftover nuts she’d chopped, or almost-empty bags of chocolate chips and marshmallows. “That’s very clever. Where did you get the idea?”
“From the last industrial kitchen I worked in. If there was a space that was too small for a shelf, it had a pocket rack.”
“It’ll come in really handy. Thanks for thinking of it, Jed.” Hannah led the way out of the pantry and retrieved her purse to pay them. She was just counting out the money when she realized what Jed had said. “You said you worked in a kitchen. Were you a cook?”
“No, I was on the maintenance crew and I learned all about kitchen appliances. If something in your kitchen breaks down, I can probably fix it.”
“I’ll keep that in mind.” Hannah slipped their pay into envelopes and handed one to Freddy and the other to Jed. “Thank you for my new pocket rack. Both of you did a wonderful job.”
Freddy took his envelope and gave Hannah a big smile. “Thanks, Hannah. Betcha didn’t know that Jed used to work in the joint.”
“The joint?” Hannah frowned slightly as she turned to Jed. “Was that the name of the restaurant?”
“No, it really was the joint. That’s what Freddy calls prison.”
Freddy looked embarrassed. “I’m sorry, Jed. I forgot I wasn’t supposed to tell.”
“It’s okay to tell Hannah, but some people might get the wrong idea.” Jed turned back to Hannah to explain. “I was a civilian worker, not a prisoner.”
Hannah nodded, but she wondered if Jed was telling the truth. Most people who’d been in prison would go to any length to hide it. “Did you work there long?”
“Just for a couple of months until I saved enough money to move on. There was one good thing about the job, though. They gave the maintenance crew some kind of retroactive raise and I got a big check in the mail today. Right after we’re through here, we’re going down to Cyril Murphy’s car lot with that old car that belonged to Freddy’s mother to trade it in on a pickup truck.”
“But doesn’t that car belong to Freddy now?”
“Sure, but he can’t drive anyway, and it was a wreck before I got it running again. It’s still no great shakes. I have to park it on top of a hill.”
“A hill?”
“I replaced the starter, but it still doesn’t work right. Half the time, we have to roll it down the hill in first gear to start it. Besides, Freddy wants to ride in a truck.”
“You betcha!” Freddy gave Hannah a big smile. “I’d really like for us to have a truck. Jed says the girls really like guys who have trucks.”
Hannah was thoughtful as Freddy and Jed gathered up their things and left. She didn’t really believe Jed’s story about being a civilian worker at the prison and she intended to check on it. She also didn’t like the new attitude she saw in Freddy. As far as she knew, he’d never been interested in girls before. Jed might have good intentions, but he was teaching Freddy some things that could lead to trouble down the road.
Hannah glanced at the clock as she hung her apron on a hook. “That’s it, Lisa. Take the rest of those Oatmeal Raisin Crisps for your dad and go home. It’s past six-thirty.”
“Okay. You won’t get any argument from me.” Lisa finished stashing the last bowl of dough in their walk-in cooler, and hung up her apron next to Hannah’s. “Are you going to stick around for Mike’s call?”
“For a while. Then I’ll go home. He knows the number.”
“See you tomorrow then,” Lisa said, picking up the half-dozen leftover cookies and heading for the door.
After Lisa left, Hannah did a check of their stock in the pantry, made out the order that had to be placed the next day, and got ready to leave. It was almost seven-thirty. It was unlikely that Mike would call this late. She had just picked up her purse and was heading out the door when the phone rang. Hannah stopped in her tracks and stared at the phone, wishing that it could tell her who was on the other end of its line.
Should she? Or shouldn’t she? Rather than debate that question any further, Hannah rushed across the kitchen to answer. If it was Delores, she could always think of an excuse to cut the call short. “Hello?”
“Hi, Hannah.” There was an apologetic tone in Mike’s voice. “I’m sorry I didn’t get back to you, but I’ve been tied up. Do you have plans for dinner?”
“Tonight?”
“Yes. I thought we could go out to a nice dinner and talk about Rhonda. I’ll even let you pick the place.”
“It’s a deal,” Hannah said, realizing that she could kill three birds with one stone. “Could we go to Alfredo’s Ristorante? And could you take me to the Quick Stop after dinner so that I can meet Michelle’s bus? And then could you drive her out to Mother’s lake cottage?”
“No problem. I’ll make the reservations if you tell me what time.”
Hannah glanced up at the clock and figured out the logistics. It was seventy-thirty on the nose, so traffic would be light. It would take her fifteen minutes to get home and two minutes to pour some kitty crunchies into Moishe’s bowl. That was a total of seventeen minutes. She didn’t need time to dress because the outfit she was wearing was perfect for dinner out. She’d need another three minutes to wash her face, brush her teeth, and comb her hair, and she’d tack on an extra ten minutes just to be on the safe side. “Make our reservations for eight-thirty and pick me up at my condo at eight.”
“You can drive home and get ready to go out in half an hour?”
Hannah started to grin. Mike had sounded shocked. “Of course I can.”
“But most women take longer than that to get ready for a date.”
“I’m not most women. I’ll be ready when you get there. Just buzz me and I’ll walk out to the road to meet you.”
Chapter
Thirteen
H annah glanced at the clock as she refilled Moishe’s food bowl. It was ten minutes to eight. Her face was washed, her teeth were brushed, and her hair was secured in the clasp that Michelle had sent her last year from the Macalester College Arts Fair. She’d even taken time to spritz on a little perfume from the bottle her college roommate had given her. She was ready and she had ten minutes to kill before Mike buzzed her from the gate.
There was a yowl from the direction of the food bowl and Hannah turned toward her resident feline. “Don’t worry. Mike’s just taking me out to dinner, and then we’re going to pick up Michelle at the bus stop.”
That seemed to satisfy Moishe because he lowered his head to his food bowl again and didn’t look up as Hannah sat down at the kitchen table with her steno pad.
Five minutes passed in relative silence, if one didn’t count Hannah’s sighs as she went over her notes on Rhonda’s murder and the sound of Moishe’s dinnertime crunching. She really had
n’t learned much so far. She knew that Claire had given Rhonda the lemon pie. At least that mystery was solved. And she’d find out tonight if the takeout osso buco had come from Alfredo’s Ristorante. If luck was with her, Rhonda’s boyfriend had picked up the takeout and someone would remember him. If not, she’d just have to dig deeper to uncover his identity.
Learning that Rhonda really had a boyfriend had given Hannah several new motives to explore. If the man was married, as Carrie and Delores suspected, his wife could have murdered Rhonda in a fit of jealousy. She’d have to be a strong woman. Digging a grave for the “other woman” in the earthen floor of the basement furnace room would have taken some muscle.
One by one, other motives and possibilities occurred to Hannah and she jotted them down. If Rhonda’s affair had led to the breakup of a marriage, anyone involved, even a teenager, could have retaliated by killing the woman who’d led his or her dad astray. It was a little far-fetched, but not impossible that several siblings had banded together to get rid of their mother’s rival.
There was also Rhonda’s big mouth to consider, especially if her gossiping had really hurt someone. Carrie and Delores could check out that possibility for her.
Then there was Rhonda’s job at the drugstore. If Rhonda had been instrumental in getting a coworker fired, that person could have taken revenge. She’d run down to Lake Eden Neighborhood Drugs tomorrow to check with Jon Walker, the pharmacist and owner.
The buzzer by the phone sounded and Hannah pressed the switch that opened the wooden arm at the gate. She said good-bye to Moishe, topped off his food bowl for the final time, grabbed her notebook, and went out the door. It was a beautiful evening if you ignored the muggy air and the mosquitoes that descended like miniature Draculas on any carelessly exposed patch of skin.
Mike’s car was just rounding the bend and Hannah took the shortcut through the planter. Even though the condo association had forbidden the practice, almost all of the residents took the shortcut instead walking down the much longer winding sidewalk to the street. Use of the shortcut had become so widespread that the association had been forced to cave in and instruct the gardeners to place stepping stones over the path the residents’ shoes had worn.