by Joanne Fluke
Hannah was glad that she hadn’t witnessed that particular folly. She doubted that Doc Knight had realized the full ramifications when he’d told Andrea to resume her normal activity.
“Go turn on the lights and have a look.” Edna motioned toward the door. “It’s just beautiful!”
Hannah went back out into the dining room. Only a few lights had been on when she’d come down the stairs, and she hadn’t really noticed the decorations. She flicked on the bright lights and blinked in astonishment at the wonders her sister had accomplished.
There were four long tables at the front of the banquet hall, each covered with a different color tablecloth and sporting a large centerpiece of poinsettias, pine boughs, and gold Christmas balls. Stuck inside each one was a hand-lettered flag on a candy cane pole. The red table was for appetizers. It said so right on the flag. The gold was for entrées and sides, the silver was for desserts, and the green was for salads, soups, and breads. Another table, covered in red and green plaid, had been set up with coffee, tea, and a cooler that would contain bottles of milk, water, and juice.
More long tables were set up in a geometric pattern around the room, each decorated with Christmas tablecloths sporting snowmen, Santas, Christmas trees, holly, and snowflakes. Three centerpieces, scaled-down versions of the ones that were on the food tables, were placed equidistant down the middle of each table.
Hannah glanced up and was surprised to see that a canopy that had been woven overhead from red, green, gold, and silver crepe-paper streamers crisscrossed in an intricate pattern. Everything was lovely and festive, especially the Christmas tree that resided in what her Regency-enamored mother would have called pride of place in the center of the room. Hannah walked over to switch it on and actually gasped as thousands of miniature bulbs lit up in a rainbow of colors.
“It’s gorgeous, all right,” Hannah announced to the empty room, turning to walk back to the kitchen. Andrea had done a superb job today, and it was good to have her back in the mainstream of life in Lake Eden. They’d never been close growing up, but working together to investigate the murder that had earned Andrea’s husband his detective badge had taught them to appreciate each other, at least when they had a common problem to solve.
Hannah crossed her fingers, a habit left over from childhood, and wished that the Christmas buffet dinner would be a huge success. And then she headed back to the kitchen to see if she could lend a hand until Edna’s work crew arrived.
Forty minutes later, Hannah took up her position at the foot of the stairs. She’d been shooed out of the kitchen by Edna and her minions, and sent here to greet the people who were soon to arrive. Soft Christmas music was playing over the sound system, something that sounded suspiciously like a late-night-television, not-sold-in-stores Christmas collection available for nineteen ninety-five plus seven ninety-five postage and handling, and if you called within the next five minutes, you got a second CD free.
“Hi, Hannah.” Kirby Welles, the Jordan High band teacher, was the first down the stairs. He was followed by the Jordan High Jazz Ensemble, ten members in all. The boys were dressed in red satin jackets with black pants and the girls were wearing green satin dresses.
“You look great!” Hannah said, admiring the new outfits each student had bought for the occasion. The jazz ensemble was scheduled to play for the dancing that would take place after dinner and to provide music during the dessert course. “What do you need, Kirby? I’ll help you set up.”
“I’ve got it covered,” Kirby said, flashing teeth that just might have been whitened by Norman. He was a well-muscled bachelor in his middle twenties, and over half of the female population at Jordan High had visions of dating him. “I was down here this morning to arrange everything. All we need is folding chairs. We brought everything else with us in the school van.”
Hannah directed Kirby to the area beneath the stairs where the extra tables and folding chairs were kept and hurried back to her post. She was just in time, because Kurt Howe was the next to arrive.
“Hi, Kurt!” Hannah called out, greeting him before he’d even started to descend the stairs. “I’m glad you made it.”
Kurt hurried down the steps. “I would have been here sooner, but it started snowing when I hit Elk River, and that slowed me down. Something sure smells good in here!”
“That would be food,” Hannah said, taking his arm. “Everybody knows you’re coming, so let me introduce you to Edna and the ladies in the kitchen before they gang up on us out here. And then I’ll get you a good place to sit and we can wait for Norman. He should be here any minute and you can cue him in on what shots you want him to try for tonight.”
Once Kurt had met the kitchen staff, Hannah settled him at a table and served him a relish dish that was typical of Minnesota cuisine. It was a small bowl with crushed ice in the bottom and it was filled with celery sticks, carrot sticks, radishes, and dill pickle spears. A second small dish, special fare for tonight’s party, contained pickled green beans, mushrooms, beets, and baby onions.
Hannah had just explained that the contents of the second dish of appetizers were all homegrown and pickled in farm kitchens, when Norman came down the stairs with his camera bag slung over his shoulder. He was carrying a box wrapped in Christmas paper, and Hannah thought he looked very dashing in a tan suede jacket, black turtleneck sweater, and black pants, with his fur-lined parka draped over his arm.
Norman came straight over to Hannah and hugged her a few seconds longer than some older and more conservative Lake Eden residents might say was appropriate. Then he handed her the box. “This is for you. It’s an early Christmas present, and Claire thought you might want to wear it tonight.”
“Thank you, Norman,” Hannah said, and wasted no time opening the box. Inside was an appliquéd Christmas sweater that perfectly matched her dress. “I love it! It’s gorgeous!” Hannah slipped it on immediately and turned around so that Norman could see.
“It looks even better than Claire said it would.” Norman gave her another hug and then he turned to Kurt. “Hi, Kurt. Good to see you again.”
“Same here,” Kurt said, patting the chair next to him. “Sit down and have some of these appetizers with me.”
“I will in a second. I just have to go hang up my parka.”
“I’ll take it,” Hannah said, taking Norman’s parka before he could step away from the table. “I want to dash into the ladies’ room and look at my new sweater in the mirror. And you need to talk to Kurt about what sort of photos he needs.”
After Hannah had hung Norman’s parka in the long, narrow cloakroom and admired her new sweater in front of the ladies’ room mirror, she went back to her post at the foot of the stairs. Her next few minutes were spent greeting several dozen Lake Eden residents and telling them where to deliver casseroles, bowls, and platters. She was about to dash back to the kitchen to grab a mug of coffee when Mike arrived with Shawna Lee.
“Hi, Hannah!” Shawna Lee walked gracefully down the stairs balancing a platter, something Hannah wouldn’t even have attempted, especially in four-inch high heels. “I really hope I did these right. I followed the recipe exactly.”
“I’m sure they’re just fine,” Hannah said, hoping that her words would be prophetic. She’d given the blond secretary one of the easier recipes, Susan Zilber’s Spinach Rollups. Once the spinach had been cooked and drained, there was no other cooking involved.
“I hope they make the cookbook. The only thing I did different was I cut them on the slant. I think they took better that way.”
Hannah glanced down at the platter Shawna Lee was holding. It was covered with plastic wrap and the rollups looked just fine to her. “They’re very attractive.”
“I know. And they’re good, too. I tasted the end pieces when I cut them off.”
“Cook’s prerogative,” Hannah commented, smiling at Shawna Lee. She could afford to be charitable now that her rival was leaving town. “Just take them in the kitchen and give them to Edna. She
’ll see that they get out to the right table when it’s time to serve. And tell her what we should do with your platter after it’s washed.”
“Oh, Mike can take it home for me. He’s got the key and he knows where it goes in the cupboard.”
Hannah saw red, and that made her forget all about being charitable. Only a frequent visitor to Shawna Lee’s kitchen would know where her dishes belonged. Visions of intimate candlelight dinners and early breakfasts danced through Hannah’s mind and made her long for retribution.
“I’m really sorry I can’t stay for the dinner,” Shawna Lee interrupted Hannah’s contemplations of double homicide. “I just know it’ll be wonderful! But I’ve got a ten o’clock flight and I have to be at the airport two hours early. Mike’s taking me. Isn’t that nice of him?”
“Nice,” Hannah said, putting on a smile that wouldn’t have fooled anyone except perhaps a brand-new acquaintance with a severe visual problem.
“While you’re in the kitchen, why don’t you see if the coffee’s ready?” Mike suggested, giving Shawna Lee a little push in that direction. “I could use a cup before we hit the road.”
“Cream, two sugars, right? Except in the morning, when you don’t take cream.”
“Right.” The moment Shawna Lee had left, Mike turned to Hannah. “I need to talk to you about those brownies.”
Hannah gulped slightly, glad that she had witnesses just in case this turned ugly. “Look, Mike. I’m really sorry about…”
“I haven’t had a chance to taste them yet,” Mike interrupted her, “but I wanted to thank you in advance. That was really nice of you, Hannah. I would have opened them right away and had a few, but it’s been a totally impossible day. I just put them in my drawer so the other guys wouldn’t snitch them and I never got back to my desk.”
Hannah nodded, but she hadn’t really listened to anything Mike had said beyond the first sentence. “So…you haven’t had a chance to taste the brownies?”
“Not yet. They’re still in my center desk drawer. Do I have to refrigerate them or anything? Or will it be all right if I leave them there until tomorrow?”
“They’ll be fine in the drawer. Absolutely.” Hannah gave him what she hoped was an innocent smile, her mind already working on a way to retrieve them before Mike had the chance to take the first bite. “I’m sorry you’re going to miss the buffet.”
Mike slipped his arm around her shoulder and gave her a little hug. “What do you mean? Just keep a chair warm for me. I’m going to drop Shawna Lee off at the airport and come straight back. Maybe there won’t be much food left by the time I get here, but there’s no way I’m going to miss my first Lake Eden Christmas party with you.”
Chapter Six
Once Mike and Shawna Lee had left, each carrying a large frosted sugar cookie for the trip to the airport, Hannah went back to her greeting duties. She could hear the wind whistle every time the upstairs door opened to let in another group of hungry arrivals. If there were children in the group, they squealed in excitement as they spotted the miniature Christmas village in the lobby of the community center. The Jordan High shop class had made it as a holiday gift to the city of Lake Eden three years ago, and they kept making improvements and adding structures to the basic design. Last year George Baxter’s students had put in lights that twinkled from the windows. And this year, his senior boys had built three churches with stained glass windows that were exact replicas of the three churches in Lake Eden. Pam Baxter, George’s wife and the home economics teacher at Jordan High, had decided to help with the project. Her girls had made tiny wreaths for the doors and decorated the windows of the stores.
“Hi, Aunt Hannah,” a familiar voice called out.
“Hello, Tracey.” Hannah gave a big smile as her niece came down the stairs. Andrea and Bill’s daughter was dressed in a dark green velvet jumper with a white lace blouse for tonight’s festivities, and with her shining blonde hair tumbling down in a mass of natural curls, she looked just like a Christmas angel. “Where’s your mother?”
“She’s still talking to Mrs. Beeseman and Mr. Herman in the lobby. Aunt Lisa and Uncle Herb are there, too.”
“You didn’t want to stay and talk?”
Tracey shook her head. “It was boring, all about fur coats, and diamond rings, and some kind of drink.”
“A kind of drink?” Hannah was stymied. What did fur coats and diamonds rings have to do with a kind of drink? Unless…“Do you mean brandy?”
“That’s it! Anyway, Mommy said I could go downstairs and mingle until she got here.”
“Your mother told you to mingle?” Hannah wondered if her five-year-old niece knew what the word meant.
“Not like that exactly. She said to go talk to the people I know. But that’s mingle, isn’t it?”
“It is,” Hannah assured her, impressed, as always, with her niece’s vocabulary. “Norman’s around here somewhere, and he’s taking pictures. You should go say hello to him.”
“I will. I like Uncle Norman. How about Uncle Mike?”
“He’ll be here later. He’s taking Shawna Lee Quinn to the airport.”
“In his new yellow Hummer?”
“That’s right.”
“Uncle Mike took Daddy and me for a ride. It bounces a lot, but you probably know that since he takes you out on dates. Which one do you like best? Uncle Norman’s? Or Uncle Mike’s?”
“That depends on how far I’m riding,” Hannah said with a grin.
Tracey had just left to find Norman when Andrea came down the stairs. She looked lovely in a deep purple velvet maternity pantsuit, and Hannah was relieved to see that she was holding tightly to the rail.
“Hi, Hannah. What’s up?”
“Nothing. Martin and his new wife haven’t arrived yet.”
“Maybe they’re not coming. That would be good as far as Shirley’s concerned, but I’m dying to get a good look at her. Do you suppose she’ll wear gold spandex and glitter in her hair?”
“I doubt it. She’s probably perfectly nice.”
“With a name like Brandi Wyen?”
Hannah thought about it for a moment and then she smiled. “Point well taken. Is Bill here?”
“Not yet. If he gets held up, I’m supposed to save him a piece of Jell-O Cake. It’s his favorite thing that I bake.”
“It’s the only thing that you bake.”
“Well…there’s that, too. See you later, Hannah. I’m going to see if I can round up Tracey. She’s probably in the kitchen trying to talk Edna into letting her help.”
“She’d probably do better than some of the help Edna’s had over the years.” Hannah smiled, watching her sister set out for the kitchen. She was just thinking about how pregnant women resembled sailing ships in a high wind, when she heard voices at the top of the stairs.
Hannah put on the best smile she could muster, but since she’d been meeting and greeting for well over thirty minutes, it was beginning to wear a little thin around the edges. Then she caught sight of the couple coming down the staircase and her smile gathered lumens until it was full wattage.
Hannah greeted the mayor and his wife and then dissolved into a burst of spontaneous laughter, despite her effort to keep a straight face. Mayor Bascomb’s tie was splendiferous. It was the old-fashioned wide type and the background was studded in red sequins. A green felt Christmas tree was tacked to the front, and it actually lit up with tiny colored lights that flashed on and off. “Great tie, Mr. Mayor.”
“Steffie found it out at the mall. Runs on one of those little disk batteries they use for cameras.” Mayor Bascomb tucked his wife’s arm through his and patted her hand. “She’s the world’s best shopper, aren’t you, honey?”
Stephanie Bascomb gave a very nice smile, but Hannah noticed that it didn’t reach her eyes. She also pulled her hand away from her husband’s, and Hannah concluded that there was trouble in Lake Eden’s first family. The Bascombs would put on the appearance of connubial bliss for the crowd of constitue
nts that had gathered for the party, but it was all for show.
“Lovely dress, Mrs. Bascomb,” Hannah said, admiring the white wool dress with white-on-white embroidered snowflakes forming a border around the hem and the neckline. Tiny snowflake earrings made of small diamonds twinkled at her ears, and Hannah suspected the worst. It was a well-known fact that Stephanie Bascomb bought herself an expensive new outfit every time she thought her husband was cheating on her. And this time she’d bought diamond earrings, too.
“Thank you, Hannah,” Stephanie said, shrugging out of her coat and handing it to her husband. “Hang this up for me, Richard. I want to see if they need any help in the kitchen.”
Hannah just shook her head as the mayor trotted obediently to the cloakroom while his wife headed off to the kitchen. She’d been in the kitchen enough times to imagine the scene that would ensue. Stephanie would offer to help. Edna would say that was so nice of her, but she sure wouldn’t want Mrs. Bascomb to get that beautiful dress mussed. Once these polite proprieties were fulfilled, Stephanie would leave, and the scorecard would be even. The mayor’s wife would get credit for the offer without doing anything, and Edna would get credit for keeping Stephanie out of the kitchen so that the ladies who were there could gossip about whether Mayor Bascomb’s eye was roving again.
A few minutes later, relief arrived in the person of Barbara Donnelly, who said Edna had sent her to take over as greeter. Hannah was on her way to the table where Norman and Kurt were still in deep discussion about the photographs Kurt wanted for the cookbook when she spotted one of the possible combatants of the night. Shirley Dubinski was sitting at a table with her ex-mother-in-law, Babs. While they hadn’t gotten along that well when Shirley and Martin were married, it appeared that the shock of Martin’s surprise marriage had brought them together. Shirley and Babs looked tighter than thieves.
“Hi, Babs,” Hannah greeted the woman who’d talked Delores into setting her up for a date with Martin. “That’s a lovely pin.”