Lemon Meringue Pie Murder (Hannah Swensen Mysteries)

by Joanne Fluke

  As Hannah walked, she caught herself stepping over the cracks in the sidewalk. Grandma Ingrid had once told her that if she stepped on a crack, she’d break her mother’s back. The old rhyme had evidently sunk deeply into her subconscious. Of course she didn’t believe it. She doubted she’d believed it then. But twenty-five years had passed since she’d first heard that childish warning and she was still altering her pace to avoid the cracks.

  There was a large revolving fan on a stand in the open doorway of the drugstore and Hannah moved around it to step inside. The lighting was dim compared to the brightness of the summer sun. She stopped several feet from the door to let her pupils adjust. When her eyes had done their retinal magic and enabled her to make out obstacles again, she realized that she was standing next to the candy counter and quickly moved over to a display of stuffed toys.

  “Hello, Hannah.”

  A voice greeted her from the dusky interior. Hannah gave a little wave as she spotted Linda Nelson. “Hi, Linda. I didn’t know you were working here.”

  “I’m Beth Halverson’s summer replacement. She got a scholarship to science camp.”

  Hannah nodded. Beth was the piccolo player who would be sorely missed by everyone who heard the Jordan High marching band. “I need to talk to Jon. Is he around?”

  “He’s in the pharmacy. Come with me and I’ll call him.”

  Hannah was surprised. The last time she’d come in to talk to Jon, one of the clerks had just slipped behind the counter, opened the door to the pharmacy, and told Jon that Hannah wanted to see him. “Why do you have to call him?”

  “New regulations. We’re not allowed behind the pharmacy counter and the door is kept locked. If someone wants Mr. Walker, we have to call him on the phone.”

  “You had a break-in?” Hannah guessed.

  “I don’t know. Mr. Walker just told us the new rules when we came in to work Friday morning. He didn’t explain why.”

  Hannah followed Linda to the front of the pharmacy counter and watched as she punched a series of numbers into the phone. It rang in the pharmacy, the door behind the counter opened, and Jon Walker came out. He was a full-blooded Chippewa Indian, born at Red Lake Reservation. When it had been time for Jon to start high school, his family had moved to Lake Eden and Jon had graduated from Jordan High. He’d gone on to college and come back to Lake Eden to buy the drugstore and take over the pharmacy.

  “What can I do for you, Hannah?” Jon asked, locking the door behind him.

  “I need some information. Can we step inside the pharmacy so we can talk privately?”

  Jon shook his head. “Sorry. The pharmacy’s off limits to everyone except me. We can go to my office, though.”

  Hannah followed Jon through the storage area at the back of the store and into the small cubicle he called his office. It was closet-sized, barely large enough to hold his desk and two chairs, but it was private and that suited Hannah’s purpose.

  “Coffee?” Jon asked, gesturing toward a small coffeemaker. It was clear the carafe hadn’t been cleaned in recent memory and it was half-filled with dregs of a brown liquid that looked lethal to Hannah.

  “Thanks, but no. What’s with all these new rules you have? Did somebody break into the pharmacy?”

  “No, nothing like that. I just decided we were getting too lax and it was time to beef up our security.”

  Hannah gave him a challenging look. “Come on, Jon. Nobody fixes something that isn’t broken. Level with me and tell me what gives.”

  Jon dropped his eyes and refused to meet hers. “Let’s just say we had an unfortunate incident and I had to make certain it couldn’t happen again.”

  “Unfortunate incident? You sound like a politician, Jon.”

  “Maybe I do, but I can’t tell you any more than that.”

  Hannah studied Jon carefully. His mouth was set in a straight line and he looked determined not to say more. “Okay. If Rhonda wasn’t involved in this incident of yours, I don’t have to know what it was.”

  There was complete silence from Jon, although he looked very nervous, and Hannah put two and two together. “Rhonda was involved.”

  “Yes. I see where you’re going, Hannah. You think this might have something to do with Rhonda’s murder. Are you working with the sheriff’s department again?”

  “I’ve never worked with the sheriff’s department. They’ve always taken great pains to let me know that they don’t want me.”

  “I guess that’s true.” Jon gave a small, humorless laugh. “But you are investigating Rhonda’s murder, aren’t you?”

  “Unofficially, yes. And that’s why I need to know.”

  “What I say has to stay with you. You can’t tell anyone else.”

  “You’ve got it,” Hannah said and sat back to wait. Jon had caved and this might be good.

  “Rhonda was working late last month, making out her order for the cosmetic department. I’d already left for home and she was the only one here. Around eight o’clock Reggie York pulled up and he hammered on the door. He told Rhonda he’d called in a prescription from work, but traffic was heavy and he’d just gotten back to town.”

  Hannah knew Reggie was Gus and Irma York’s oldest son and they were very proud that he’d landed a job as a pilot for Worldways Airline. The last time Hannah had seen Irma, she’d complained that Reggie’s commute to and from the airport in the Twin Cities took longer than most of his flights.

  “Rhonda did exactly what I would have done. She let him in. Since she was my manager, she had a master key. She unlocked the door to the pharmacy and found his prescription on the shelf.”

  “Rhonda filled his prescription?”

  “No, it was filed alphabetically and all ready to go. She rang it up and then she asked Reggie if he was still flying.”

  “What’s wrong with that?”

  “Nothing. Not then. When Reggie said he was, Rhonda said she thought pilots who had glaucoma were grounded.”

  “How did she know Reggie had glaucoma?”

  “Her great-aunt, Mrs. Voelker, had glaucoma. Rhonda used to pick up her medicine and deliver it to her. That’s how she recognized the name of the eyedrops Reggie used.”

  “Let me guess,” Hannah said with a sigh. “Rhonda blabbed, somebody reported it to Worldways, and Reggie was grounded?”

  “That’s exactly what happened. Reggie’s glaucoma was mild and it was completely under control, but Worldways has very strict rules about their pilots. Reggie applied for a desk job right after he was diagnosed, but it hadn’t come through yet and he could have been fired for concealing his condition.”

  “So Reggie was angry with Rhonda for blabbing?”

  “Angry wasn’t the word. Reggie was fit to be tied. He called me at home on Thursday night and threatened to sue me for breach of confidentiality.”

  Hannah’s mouth dropped open. “Reggie’s suing you?”

  “No, I managed to calm him down. He wasn’t really angry with me, but he was furious with Rhonda for gossiping about his disease. He demanded that I change the lock on the pharmacy door and guarantee that no one except a registered pharmacist could get inside. And he also demanded that I fire Rhonda.”

  “Oh boy,” Hannah groaned. “Did you fire her?”

  “I had to. I told her on Friday morning when she came in to work. I felt bad about it, especially since it was her last day before her vacation, but I knew that people would take their prescriptions to another pharmacy if they found out about it.”

  “How did Rhonda take it?”

  “That was the surprising thing. I expected her to beg me to reconsider, or tell me off, but she didn’t seem upset at all. She just said she could understand why I had to let her go and she went out the back way smiling.”

  “That’s strange. How about your other employees? Do any of them know about this?” Hannah asked the question even though she thought she already knew the answer.

  “I didn’t see any point in telling them. I just tightened sec
urity the way I promised Reggie I would.”

  “I’ve got a tough question for you,” Hannah warned him. “Do you think Reggie was mad enough at Rhonda to kill her?”

  Jon thought about it for a moment and then he sighed. “I don’t like to think so, but I suppose it’s possible. Reggie really loved to fly.”

  “Thanks for being honest with me, Jon. I only have one more question and I don’t want you to take it personally. Where were you on Friday night?”

  “You think I killed Rhonda?” Jon looked utterly shocked.

  “Of course not, but you did have a motive.”

  “What motive?”

  “If things had gone differently, Rhonda could have cost you your business. I’ve got to put you on my suspect list, but I can cross you off if I know where you were.”

  “I guess it can’t hurt to tell you. I picked Judy up right after I locked up at five, and we drove to Mille Lacs Lake for my mother-in-law’s birthday. You can check with Judy. We stayed over that night and drove back early Saturday morning so that I could open at nine.”

  “Thanks, Jon.” Hannah slipped her steno pad back into her purse and stood up to leave. She glanced at his coffeemaker as she passed it and sighed. “The next time you come in The Cookie Jar, the coffee’s on me. You could probably bottle that stuff of yours and sell it for rat poison.”

  Praline Charlottes

  Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.,

  with rack in middle position.

  1½ cups melted butter (3 sticks)

  1½ cups brown sugar

  2 teaspoons vanilla

  1½ teaspoons baking soda

  1 teaspoon baking powder

  1 teaspoon salt (decrease to ½ teaspoon if you use salted pecans)

  1½ cups finely ground pecans (grind them up in your food processor with the steel blade and measure AFTER grinding)

  2 beaten eggs (just whip them up with a fork)

  3 cups flour (no need to sift)

  Microwave the butter in your mixing bowl to melt it. Add the sugar and vanilla. Stir until blended, and then add the baking soda, baking powder, and salt. Mix well.

  Grind the pecans in your food processor. (Remember to measure AFTER grinding.) Add them to the bowl and mix. Pour in the beaten eggs and stir. Then add the flour and mix until all the ingredients are thoroughly blended.

  Let the dough sit for a few minutes to firm up. Then form dough into walnut-sized balls and arrange them on a greased cookie sheet, 12 to a standard sheet. (If the dough is too sticky to form into balls, chill it for a few minutes and try again.)

  Flatten the balls with a fork in a crisscross pattern. (If the fork sticks, either spray it with Pam or dip it in flour.)

  Bake at 350 degrees F. for 8 to 10 minutes or until they’re golden brown around the edges. Cool on the cookie sheet for 2 minutes, then remove to a wire rack to finish cooling. When they’re cool, prepare the frosting.

  Praline Frosting

  ¾ cup butter (1 ½ sticks)

  3½ cups powdered sugar (not sifted)

  2 teaspoons vanilla (or 1 ½ teaspoons vanilla and ½ teaspoon maple flavoring)

  1⁄3 cup cream

  ½ cup finely chopped pecans

  Approx. 6 dozen pecan halves for decoration (optional)

  Before you start, arrange the cooled cookies on racks or on sheets of waxed paper. Then heat the butter in a saucepan over medium heat, stirring occasionally, until it turns a medium shade of brown (the color of peanut butter) . Remove the pan from the heat, and add the vanilla (and the maple flavoring if you use it) . Blend in the powdered sugar, the cream, and the finely chopped pecans. Stir the frosting with a spoon until it’s well mixed, but don’t let it cool completely.

  Frost the cookies and place a pecan half (optional) on top of each cookie for decoration. (It’s like spreading butter; you don’t have to spread it all the way out to the edges.) If your frosting hardens before you’re through, scrape it into a microwave-safe bowl and heat it for 30 seconds to 1 minute on high in the microwave to soften it so that you can spread it again.

  Let the finished cookies rest on racks or on waxed paper until the frosting has hardened (at least an hour) . Then store the cookies in a cookie jar or other closed container.

  Yield: Approximately 8 dozen, depending on cookie size.

  Note: These cookies, unfrosted, make a delicious “tea” cookie with a light, delicate flavor. The only changes you have to make are to roll the dough balls smaller and press them down with the heel of your impeccably clean hand. Bake them for about 8 minutes or until the edges begin to turn golden. Andrea says they’re EXCELLENT with hot chocolate.

  Chapter

  Sixteen

  W hen Hannah got back to Norman’s clinic, she still had four minutes to wait. She took out her steno pad and jotted a note to speak to Reggie York at the first opportunity. Rhonda’s gossip had almost cost him his job and that was certainly a motive for murder. Then she placed Reggie second on her list of suspects, right after Ken Purvis. Since she’d eliminated both Reverend Knudson and Gil Surma as Rhonda’s possible dinner companion, Ken was left holding the bag, or rather, the boxes of osso buco.

  The sliding glass door that separated the receptionist desk from the waiting room opened and Norman’s smiling face appeared. “Oh, good. You’re here. We’ll be right out.”

  Hannah heard Norman giving his patient last-minute instructions, something about a soft toothbrush and a special brand of toothpaste, and then the interior door to the waiting room opened. Norman stood aside to let his patient precede him and Hannah smiled as she saw her baby sister. “Hi, Michelle. I didn’t know you were here.”

  “Hi, Hannah. Dr. Rhodes is wonderful. Just look at what he did for me!”

  Michelle smiled and Hannah gasped in shock as she saw two gemstones embedded in her sister’s front teeth.

  “Isn’t it wonderful?” Michelle reached up to tap her front teeth. “This one’s red and this one’s blue. Now I’m unique and I’m patriotic, too. It’s just perfect for the Fourth of July.”

  Hannah struggled to make a sound, but she was so flustered, she couldn’t say a word. Michelle’s front teeth were ruined! She took a deep breath, called upon her vocal cords to do their thing and managed to croak out a response. “How could you, Norman?!”

  Norman exchanged a glance with Michelle and they both started to laugh. Hannah got up, preparing to storm out of the clinic and banish Norman from her life forever, but Norman grabbed her arm.

  “I didn’t really do anything, Hannah. They’re just temporary.”

  “What do you mean?”

  “The teeth with the gemstones are attached to a retainer that fits in Michelle’s mouth. Her regular teeth aren’t affected at all.”

  “Oh,” Hannah said, sinking back down in the chair. “Then they’re fakes?”

  “I prefer to call them a miracle of modern dentistry, but you can call them fakes. Show her, Michelle.”

  Hannah watched as Michelle loosened the caps and took them out of her mouth. She smiled and Hannah breathed a big sigh of relief as she saw that her sister’s teeth were intact. “Thank goodness for that! I really didn’t think you’d do anything permanent, Norman.”

  “Yes, you did. I saw that fire in your eyes. You were all ready to kick me from here to the next county, maybe even out of the state.”

  “Well…maybe,” Hannah conceded.

  “Don’t worry, Hannah.” Michelle slipped the retainer into a little plastic box and placed it inside her purse. “I’ll tell Mother they’re fake before I even take them out of the box.”

  “Good girl. Mother can’t stand another shock. Finding Rhonda’s body really took the wind out of her sails.”

  “I know. She told me.” Michelle turned back to Norman. “Are you sure I can’t pay you? I’ve got some money saved.”

  “Keep your money. We already worked out a payment plan.”

  “Were they expensive?” Hannah asked. She hadn’t bought Michelle’s birthda
y present yet, and she was sure that Andrea would split the cost of the retainer with her.

  “They were very expensive, but we worked out a deal.” Norman winked at her. “Your sister’s on my special time-payment plan. For every ‘A’ she gets, I deduct fifty dollars from her bill. And every ‘B’ is worth twenty-five. She tells me she’s a good student, so I figure that by the end of her junior year she’ll own her retainer free and clear.”

  Michelle shook her head. “It won’t take me that long. I plan to get perfect grades next semester and I’ll send you a copy.”

  “Make sure that you do. And stop by the next time you come home so I can see how they’re holding up.”

  “I will.”

  “How about lunch? Hannah and I are going over to the café.”

  “Thanks, but I can’t. I promised to meet some friends for lunch. ’Bye, Hannah. And thanks again, Dr. Rhodes. These teeth are going to just blow the girls away!”

  “More coffee, Hannah?” Rose approached the booth with the pot in her hand.

  “No, thanks.”

  “How about that salad? Do you want me to take it away?”

  “Might as well. I already ate all the good stuff.”

  Rose glanced down at the remains of Hannah’s Chicken Caesar and nodded. “I can see that. The only thing left is lettuce. Don’t you like romaine?”