by Joanne Fluke
“Or the paramedics,” Michelle added. “I think I hear two sirens now.”
When they rounded the next bend, they could see lights in the distance across the expanse of snow. Right after they passed an old yellow and black MINNESOTA BREEDERS ASSOCIATION sign nailed to a tree, Michelle drew in her breath sharply. “I saw that sign on the video,” she said, her voice shaking slightly.
“I know.” They rounded another curve, and Hannah saw more lights in the distance. “Hang on, Michelle. We’re almost there.”
“Doc’s car,” Michelle identified the car that was parked on the side of the road.
“And Mike’s cruiser.” Hannah pulled past it and parked behind another car that was on the shoulder of the road. “That’s Doctor Bob’s car. Let’s go, Michelle.”
As they opened their car doors, two figures materialized through the blowing snow. At first it was impossible to identify them, but as they reached the crest of the ditch, Michelle rushed forward. “Mother?” she called out.
Hannah was right behind her sister. It was obvious that their mother must have been riding with Doc because her car wasn’t there.
“Take your mother back to my car, Michelle,” Doc said. “I left it running, and the heater is on. Make her take off her wet shoes and wrap her in a blanket. And stay with her until I come back, okay?”
“Of course. But . . .”
“Not now, Michelle,” Doc interrupted what was certain to be a question about P.K. “Just take care of your mother for us. There’s nothing you can do to help out here.”
Hannah watched as her sister’s face crumpled into a mask of sorrow and loss. Michelle had also caught the message behind Doc’s words. She slipped an arm around Michelle’s shoulders, gave her a comforting squeeze, and leaned close. “I’ll take care of everything out here,” she said. “You take care of Mother.”
Michelle swallowed hard. And then she nodded. “I will,” she promised, reaching out to take their mother’s arm and leading Delores to Doc’s car.
Hannah waited until Michelle and her mother had left, and then she turned to Doc. “Bad?” she asked him.
“Yes. Mike’s down there now and he filled me in about the video. What do you want to know?”
“Was P.K. drunk?”
“No.”
“Drugged?”
Doc gave a slight nod. “That’s my guess. I’ll know more after I take your mother home and get back to the hospital. They’ll be here to transport him soon.”
Hannah asked the question she knew Michelle would have asked. “Was P.K. in pain?”
“That’s very doubtful.” Doc reached out to pat her shoulder. “I’ll know more later, but I’m almost certain he was already gone when he went off the road.”
“Did Doctor Bob find him?”
“No. Bob delivered a calf at Karl Schilling’s farm. He said it was a breech birth and Karl called him to help. Bob was just driving out when he heard a car horn. As he rounded the bend, he heard the sound of branches breaking and he knew that someone had gone in the ditch.”
“So he stopped to help?”
“Of course. And that’s when he saw the deer by the side of the road.”
“P.K. hit a deer?”
“He sideswiped a deer as the car went into the ditch. Bob was about to climb down in the ditch when your mother and I pulled up. I told him to take care of the deer and I’d take care of anyone who was in the car.”
“Is the deer dead?”
“No, just stunned. Nothing broken, no major injuries. Bob thinks it’ll be up on its feet in a couple of minutes and hightailing it back into the woods.”
Doc rubbed his hands together, and Hannah realized that he was cold in his dress coat and thin leather gloves. “Do you want some hot coffee, Doc? I’ve got a thermos in my truck.”
“I can wait until I get back to the hospital, but I’ll bet Mike and Lonnie could use some. If you give me the thermos, I’ll take it down there to them.”
“I’ll take it. I’ve got on snow boots.”
“Not on a bet, Hannah. I know the real reason you want to take that coffee down to Mike and Lonnie.”
Hannah did her best to look perfectly clueless. “What do you mean?”
“You want to go down there because it’ll give you a chance to pump them for information. Isn’t that right?”
Hannah sighed. “You know me too well, Doc.”
“That’s because I delivered you. I’m the first person you ever saw. And that means I’ve known you all your life.”
Hannah smiled at the predictable line. Doc told all three of the Swensen sisters the very same thing. “How about Mother? Will she be all right if you take her back to the penthouse and go back to the hospital?”
“She’ll be fine. You underestimate your mother, Hannah. She’s a lot stronger than you think she is.”
“But she’s had a nasty shock. Except for Doctor Bob, you and Mother were first at the scene, and it must have been . . .” Hannah paused to think of the right word. “. . . an upsetting sight.”
“It would have been if I hadn’t blocked your mother’s view. Car accidents are never pretty. The human body is no match for asphalt and metal. Now go get that thermos and I’ll take it down to Mike and Lonnie. Then I want you to take Michelle away before my paramedics arrive. She doesn’t need to see them take P.K. away.”
“But really, Doc,” Hannah began to protest.
“Forget it, Hannah.” Doc took her by the shoulders and turned her around. “Mike always comes over to your place after something like this happens, and you can pump him for information later.”
Chapter Five
When the alarm clock began its predictable high-pitched electronic beeping at four-thirty the next morning, Hannah sat up in bed. She’d been plagued by dreams of cars skidding off roads covered in ice and crashing into fences and snowbanks. It didn’t take a genius to know why her dreams had featured winter driving accidents. She gave a sorrowful sigh for P.K. and the fate that had befallen him, and then she threw back the covers and swung her feet over the side of the bed. Michelle might want to talk about P.K.’s death and she wanted to be there for her sister.
Hannah turned to look at the pillow on the opposite side of the bed. It was where Moishe usually slept unless he’d stolen her pillow. There was no orange and white, twenty-three pound cat nestled on the expensive goose down. She gave a fleeting thought about how much she wished that Ross were sleeping there, and then she pushed that unhappy notion from her mind and got up to find Michelle.
The moment she was on her feet and fully awake, Hannah smelled the enticing scent of berries. She wasn’t sure whether the berries were raspberry, strawberry, or something else, but she knew that Michelle was baking. Her sister must be making breakfast, and it smelled delicious.
A quick shower later, she put on the fluffy robe Delores had given her as part of her trousseau. Then she found her slippers under the bed and padded down the carpeted hallway to investigate.
She found Michelle taking something from the oven, something that caused her taste buds to wake up and beg for a bite. “What is it?” she asked, bypassing the usual good-morning greeting.
“Which is it?” Michelle replied, gesturing toward the kitchen counter. Two wire racks were in evidence, one of them filled with something that looked like muffins. The other was waiting to hold the pan that Michelle had just taken out of the oven.
“Some kind of muffins, and . . . cheese and eggs?” Hannah hazarded a guess.
“Close. I made Mixed Berry Muffins and Chili-Cheese Omelet Squares. Mike called to say he was coming over to talk to you before you left for work, and I invited him to breakfast. I hope that’s all right.”
“It is, but that was a lot of work for you. How long have you been up?”
“Since two. I couldn’t sleep. I kept thinking about P.K. and how unfair everything is. I really liked him a lot, Hannah.”
“More than you thought you did?”
“I .
. . yes.”
A tear ran down Michelle’s cheek, and Hannah wished she hadn’t asked the question. She hurried over to her sister and hugged her gently. “I’m sorry. I shouldn’t have brought that up.”
“It’s okay.” Michelle’s voice was shaking slightly. “It’s true, but I didn’t know it until . . .” she stopped and swallowed hard, “. . . until he was gone and I realized I’d never see him again. I wasn’t in love with him, but I loved him. And I’ll miss him, Hannah.”
“I’ll miss him, too. What time is Mike coming?”
Michelle glanced at the apple-shaped kitchen clock on the wall. “He’ll be here in ten minutes.”
“And he’ll be on time because you promised him breakfast and he knows what a good cook you are.” Hannah turned toward the doorway. “Please pour me a cup of coffee, Michelle. I’m going to go get dressed and I’ll be back here before it cools.”
“But don’t you want me to wait until you’re back here?”
“No. That cup of coffee will be like the carrot in front of the donkey. I’ll hurry so that I can get back here to drink it.”
True to her word, Hannah was back in the kitchen in less than five minutes. She’d already chosen her outfit for the day, and it was a simple matter to slip into her clothes and run a brush through her hair.
“That was fast!” Michelle commented, as Hannah came into the kitchen.
“That’s because I had an incentive.” Hannah headed straight for the kitchen table and the mug of coffee that was waiting for her. “Thanks,” she said, picking up the mug and taking her first sip of the bracing brew.
“Would you like a muffin to go with your coffee?” Michelle asked.
Hannah thought about that for the space of a nanosecond. “Yes, please. They smell wonderful!”
Michelle plucked a muffin from the cooling rack and brought it to Hannah. Then she brought soft butter and a knife. “Let me know how you like them,” she said.
“I will.” Hannah peeled the paper from the muffin and bit into it without benefit of butter. It had just the right amount of berries, and it was fragrant with cinnamon and nutmeg. She gave Michelle a nod and a smile, took another bite, and finished the muffin in no time flat.
“My guess is you liked it,” Michelle commented.
“It was wonderful, Michelle. I want another one right away, but I’m going to hold off until Mike gets here. Do you have any idea what he wants besides breakfast?”
“Not really. He just said he needed to talk to you, but he didn’t go into detail.”
“Okay.” Hannah drained her coffee mug and got up to pour another. She’d just seated herself again when the doorbell rang.
“I’ll get it,” Michelle volunteered.
“Thanks. Don’t forget to look through the peephole. Mike’s a real stickler for that. If you don’t, he’ll lecture you about it.”
“Something sure smells good,” Hannah heard Mike say as he stepped inside. A moment later, he came into the kitchen. “Hi, Hannah,” he greeted her, and then he turned back to Michelle. “What did you make for breakfast?”
“Chili-Cheese Omelet Squares and Mixed Berry Muffins. Sit down and I’ll get you some coffee and a muffin to start. The omelet squares need to cool for another couple of minutes.”
“Wow!” Mike commented, twenty minutes later when his plate was empty for the second time. “That was the best breakfast I’ve had in years!”
Hannah exchanged amused glances with Michelle. Mike said that every time he finished a breakfast that one of them had made for him. But even though they’d heard it before, they knew it was sincere. The proof was in the eating and both sisters had been watching as Mike had eaten his breakfast. He’d wolfed down five muffins and four Chili-Cheese Omelet Squares that were more than liberally slathered with Slap ‘Ya Mama hot sauce. Mike had eaten like he’d been starving, and both of them knew that wasn’t true. It was a wonder that his uniform still fit him!
“I’m glad you enjoyed your breakfast,” Michelle told him. “How about another cup of coffee?”
“That’d be great!” Mike held out his mug. “And then I want to talk to both of you about something serious.”
Hannah felt her pulse begin to quicken. This was the moment she’d dreaded. Was Mike about to bring up the horrid suspicion that had occurred to her during the night?
“What is it, Mike?” she asked after Michelle had filled his coffee cup and returned to the table.
“Doc called me this morning. P.K. ingested a lethal dose of a drug that constricted his striated muscles.”
Michelle gasped. “The heart contains striated muscles, doesn’t it?”
“You’re probably right. Doc said that in layman’s terms, P.K. had a fatal heart attack caused by the drug he ingested.”
Hannah swallowed hard. “From the candy he ate?”
“Doc said it was likely, but he doesn’t know for sure yet. P.K. didn’t take any cookies with him when he went back to work, did he?”
“No. We gave him a Raspberry Danish, but we know that he hadn’t eaten it yet. We saw it on the video he sent to Michelle, and it was still in the original packaging.”
“But he ate cookies with you before that?”
“Yes,” Hannah answered. “When he borrowed Ross’s car, he ate some Cherry Chocolate Bar Cookies, but so did Mother, Michelle, and I.”
Mike made a note in the small notebook he always carried in his pocket. “What time did he eat your cookies?”
“I don’t remember, but I know it was before Michelle left for her rehearsal at the school.” Hannah stopped speaking and began to frown. “You don’t think our cookies were drugged, do you?”
“No. I’m just getting a timeline here. Doc told me that the drug would have worked within an hour or two so it couldn’t have been in your bar cookies.”
Hannah took a deep breath and blurted out the nightmarish thought that had plagued her sleep. “Do you think the drugs were in the candy that was in Ross’s desk?”
“Yes.”
Michelle reached out for Hannah’s hand and gave it a comforting squeeze. And then she asked the question that was uppermost in Hannah’s mind. “Do you think that the drugged candy was meant for P.K.?”
“I don’t know yet.” Mike glanced at his watch. “KCOW’s offices open in twenty minutes. I’m going out there now to talk to the office staff when they come in. We confiscated the candy last night and Doc’s running tests in his lab, but I need to find out when and how that candy got into Ross’s desk.”
“And then you’ll know if P.K. was the intended victim,” Michelle said, drawing the obvious conclusion.
“Maybe, but maybe not. It all depends on when and how the candy got there.”
Hannah swallowed hard. “What if you can’t pin it down? What if the candy was there before P.K. moved into Ross’s office?”
“I think you already know the answer to that,” Mike told her, and then he reached out to pat her shoulder. “Sorry, Hannah.”
Hannah somehow managed to maintain her composure. Whatever happened, she couldn’t avoid reality. “If you can’t pin down the timing on the candy, you’ll have to run two murder investigations, one for P.K. and one for . . .” Hannah stopped for a second to collect herself. “And one for Ross, just in case he was the intended victim.”
“Exactly right. I’m sorry I can’t tell you that it wasn’t intended for Ross.”
Hannah gave a little nod. “So am I. If it was, do you think that could be why Ross disappeared without a trace?”
“It’s certainly a possibility, especially if someone knew what was going to happen and warned Ross that his life was in danger.”
Hannah swallowed hard. “P.K. told us that Ross got a phone call right before he told P.K. that he had to leave, that it was a family emergency.”
“That constitutes a family emergency in my book. And if Ross was afraid that you or your family could be in danger too, it could explain why he didn’t tell you where he was going.”<
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MIXED BERRY MUFFINS
Preheat oven to 375 degrees F., rack in the middle position.
The Muffin Batter:
⅔ cup white (granulated) sugar
½ cup salted butter (1 stick, 4 ounces, ¼ pound), softened
2 large eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
2 teaspoons baking powder
½ teaspoon baking soda
½ teaspoon ground cinnamon
¼ teaspoon salt
¾ cup whole milk
2 cups all-purpose flour (pack it down when you measure it)
1 cup quick-cooking oats (I used Quaker Quick 1-Minute)
The Fruit:
1 and ½ cups frozen mixed berries
teaspoon ground nutmeg
teaspoon ground cinnamon
1 cup all-purpose flour
cup brown sugar (pack it down in the cup when you measure it)
Prepare your muffin pan by spraying the cups with Pam or another nonstick cooking spray or lining the cups with double cupcake papers. This batch will make 12 to 18 muffins so you will need 12 to 18 muffin cups.
In the bowl of an electric mixer, beat the sugar and butter together at MEDIUM speed until they are light and fluffy.
Add the eggs, one at a time, beating after each addition.
Add the vanilla extract, baking powder, baking soda, ground cinnamon, and salt. Mix them in thoroughly.
You will now add the milk and the flour in three parts, beating after each addition.
Pour in ¼ cup of the milk and ½ cup of the flour, mixing both in thoroughly.
Pour in another ¼ cup of the milk and another ½ cup of the flour. Mix until they are thoroughly combined.
Add the final ¼ cup of the milk and the final cup of the flour, mixing both in thoroughly.