Blueberry Muffin Murder (25 page)

"Did Garland tell you the girl's name?"

"No, and I didn't ask."

"How about Janie's biological father?" Jack shrugged. "I don't know his name, and I don't think Garland or Isobel do, either. The girl said that he got married before she found out that she was pregnant, and so she never told him. You're not going to tell Janie about this, are you?"

"No." Hannah shook her head. "It's your secret, and I promise I'll never tell her."

"That makes me feel a whole lot better. Say, Miss? Lisa said you were going to build a snowman. Aren't you a little old for that?"

Hannah laughed. "I'm much too old, but I'm helping my sister and my niece, Tracey."

"That name's familiar. Do I know her?"

"You met her yesterday morning and you showed her your animal collection. You even taught her about opposable thumbs."

"I did?" Jack smiled. "Well, good for me! She must have been that pretty little blond girl that asked me all those questions."

"That's Tracey."

"My daughter use to ask questions nonstop. I hope she didn't catch on that I made up the answers half the time."

"Here she comes now," Hannah said, gesturing toward Lisa and Janie, who were walking across the park toward them.

"I see her. They grow up fast, don't they? Who's that other girl with her?"

"Janie Burkholtz," Hannah said, waiting for some kind of reaction from Jack.

"Oh, yes. Did you know that her parents used to live right next door to me? They moved away from the . . . white stuff a couple of years ago. Somewhere in the south, I think she said."

"Florida." "That's right. I remember now. Let's go meet them, miss. Looks like they're bringing hot coffee."

Hannah walked over to meet Andrea and Tracey, who were just getting out of their car. Tracey was dressed appropriately in a bright-pink snowsuit with a matching ski cap and mittens, but Andrea had worn an outfit that was geared more toward a fashion magazine photo shoot. Her coat was made of powder blue suede. It was decorated with white fur around the collar and the hemline, and she wore matching gloves of thin powder blue leather. Her designer boots matched her gloves, and the only concession she'd made to the contest they were about to enter was a white fur hat that barely covered her ears.

"What's wrong?" Andrea asked, realizing that her sister was staring at her.

"Your outfit. There's a snowdrift in our spot and we're going to be up to our . . ." Hannah paused and glanced at Tracey, who was hanging on her every word. ". . . you-know-whats in it. Tell me you've got Bill's snowmobile suit and choppers in the trunk."

Andrea shook her head. "Don't you like my new coat? I made a special trip out to the mall this morning to pick it up."

'It's gorgeous, and it'd be just fine if you were trying out for the part of the winter fairy.'

'I know it's not exactly practical,' Andrea conceded. 'I just thought there might be photographers here and I wanted to look my best.'

'Well, don't blame me if you catch a cold while we're building our snow-woman.'

'Snow-woman?' Tracey asked, tugging at Hannah's sleeve. 'I thought it was a snowman contest, Aunt Hannah.'

'It is, but snowman is generic. It's like when they said all men were created equal in the Declaration of Independence. They meant both men and women.'

'Right,' Andrea murmured to Hannah, taking Tracey's hand and starting out across the snow. 'Tell that to Bill. I made more money than he did last month, and he still calls my career a little hobby.'

Once they'd said hello to Lisa and her father, and Andrea had given Janie a big welcoming hug, Hannah picked up the two shopping bags and they headed to their designated spot. They'd just figured out who should roll which ball when the whistle blew and the contest began.

'You're shivering,' Hannah commented, lifting the snowball that Andrea had rolled for the torso and settling it on top of the one she'd rolled for the base.

'I know, but I look good,' Andreas said with a grin, sticking out her tongue at Hannah.

'Careful,' Hannah warned, picking up the ball Tracey had rolled for the head and plopping it down on top of the torso. 'If you leave your tongue out for too long, it'll freeze and crack off.

'Are you fighting with Mommy?' Tracey asked, sounding a little worried.

'No,' both Andrea and Hannah replied at once, and then they laughed.

'Aunt Hannah was just teasing,' Andrea explained. 'Sisters do that sometimes. It doesn't mean that we don't love each other.'

Hannah reached out to tweak the pom-pom on the top of Tracey's pink knitted cap. 'Kids always squabble when they're growing up. You'll understand when you have a brother or a sister.'

"Will you get the shopping bags, honey?" Andrea said to Tracey, and the minute that Tracey had gone to collect them, she turned to Hannah with a frown. "I wish you hadn't said that. Now she's going to be bugging me about having a baby brother or sister, and Bill and I want to wait for at least a year."

"Sorry," Hannah said, turning away to hide her grin. She was sure she knew something that Andrea didn't. Bill would be tickled pink and so would Andrea, once she'd gotten used to the idea.

"Let me see what's here." Andrea began to rummage through the bag that Tracey brought her. She plucked out a straw hat decorated with chiffon ribbons and silk flowers and held it up. "This looks like it came from a wedding."

"It did. I was a bridesmaid when my college roommate got married."

"It's almost a shame to use it. It's really rather nice." Andrea gave Hannah a sharp look. "I won't find the velvet hat from my wedding in here, will I?"

"Of course not," Hannah told her, silently thanking Janie for saving her from that particular blunder.

"Good. You really ought to wear it again, Hannah. It's still fashionable and it looks wonderful on you."

Hannah nodded and decided to change the subject, since the hat in question was as flat as a pancake. "If you don't mind, I thought I'd put one of my Cookie Jar aprons on our snow-woman."

"That's a good idea. It never hurts to advertise." Andrea turned to Tracey, who was digging through the second shopping bag. "Did you find anything you like, honey?"

Tracey held up a long rope of fake pearls. "I like these, Mommy. Now I'm looking for earrings to match."

"There aren't any," Hannah told her, walking over to glance at the contents of the bag. "But that's okay, because our snow-woman doesn't have ears. I think there's a pair of big sunglasses in the bottom. They're from a store display and they ought to fit her."

By the time the final whistle blew, their snow-woman was dressed and ready. The three of them walked over to the sidelines to chat with Janie, Lisa, and Jack Herman while the judges were deliberating.

"Do you think we'll win, Aunt Hannah?" Tracey asked her.

"I don't know, but we made a good snow-woman. I think she's just perfect."

"So do I." Tracey gave a little sigh. "I wish we could keep her, but I know we can't. She'll melt down into a puddle and go belly-up."

Andrea overheard her daughter's comment and her eye- brows shot up in surprise. "Belly-up?"

"That's what fish do when they die. We have guppies at school, and every time one goes belly-up, we tell Miss Cox and we get to have a fish funeral. Miss Cox says they go to the great fish tank in the sky, but they don't."

"They don't?"

"No. She just flushes them down the toilet after everybody leaves. I forgot my sweater once and when I went back to get it, I caught her."

Hannah felt an instant rush of sympathy for Janice Cox, who'd had to explain that to Tracey. "What did Miss Cox say?"

"She didn't know I saw. I just picked up my sweater and sneaked back out. And I didn't tell the other kids, either."

"Because you thought it might upset them?" Andrea asked.

"No. The fish funerals are fun and I want to keep on having them. We even sing a special song."

"I see," Hannah said, wondering what type of song they sang. A range of possibilities occurred to her. Nearer My Cod To Thee? O Sole A Mio? If you knew Sushi like I know Sushi?

"Why are you grinning, Aunt Hannah?"

"Oh . . . uh . . . I think the judges are finished." Hannah breathed a sigh of relief as the head judge walked up to the podium, where a microphone had been rigged. "Here we go, Tracey."

The judge announced the winner. It was Calvin Janowski and his family, and Hannah turned to her niece. She hoped that Tracey wouldn't be too disappointed.

"Don't be sad, Aunt Hannah," Tracey told her, before Hannah had decided which comforting phrase to use. "I wanted to win, but Calvin's snowman was really good."

"Okay," Hannah said, much relieved. Tracey had the right attitude.

A moment later the second place winner was announced, and Tracey let out an excited squeal. "We won, too!"

This was not the time to explain the difference between first place and second place, and Hannah just reached out to hug her. Then Andrea got into the act, and eventually all of them shared a group hug. Since Tracey was helping Delores with the tours again and spending the night with her grandma, Hannah made arrangements to meet her sister at the ice-fishing venue at Eden Lake, said her goodbyes to Lisa and her father, and set off with Janie for the trip back out to the inn.

"Aren't you coming in?" Janie asked as Hannah pulled up in front of the entrance to the inn.

Hannah shook her head "Not right away. I have to drive down to the lake to take Mrs. Baxter some Short Stack Cookies."

"What are those?"

Hannah retrieved a small bag of cookies from the back of the truck and handed them to Janie. "Try them and see. These are seconds. They're a little lopsided."

"Thanks." Janie took out a cookie and sampled it. And then she turned to Hannah in amazement. "They taste just like pancakes with butter and maple syrup on the top! You really ought to write a cookbook, Hannah. You've got some wonderful recipes."

Once Janie had gone inside with her bag of cookies, Hannah drove down the circular driveway and took the access road to the lake. The snow at the shoreline had been plowed to create a temporary parking lot, and it was chock full of cars.

Hannah trolled the rows of cars for several minutes, but not a single parking spot was unoccupied. Since she had a four-wheel-drive vehicle, Hannah decided to make her own spot and she gunned the gas, mounted the icy bank of snow the plow had left, and parked at the back of the warm-up tent. Then she grabbed several boxes of cookies, hopped out of her truck, and hurried around the side of the tent to deliver the goods.

Mrs. Baxter was working at the end of the long counter in the warm-up tent, filling large foam cups with coffee and handing them to one of her students, a pretty brunette who was dressed in a fuzzy yellow sweater. The girl was clamping lids on the cups and setting them in a large, flat box.

"Hi, Mrs. Baxter." Hannah greeted her formally since there was a student present, and set her stack of boxes on the counter. "How's your cookie supply holding out?"

Pam Baxter turned to smile at Hannah. One of the younger members of Jordan High's faculty, and married to the shop teacher, she'd been nominated for best teacher two years running. "You got here just in time, Hannah. We're almost out."

"I've got more cookies in the truck. I'll go get them."

"You've done enough;' Pam said, handing Hannah a cup of hot coffee and turning to her student. "Renee?"

The girl in the yellow sweater nodded. "We'll get them, Mrs. Baxter."

Once Renee had left with two of the other girls, Pam turned to Hannah. "I've got a problem. Mayor Bascomb said we could use his snowmobile to deliver coffee and cookies, but I don't know how to drive it. Keith Hauge said he'd do it, but he ran up to the inn to call Shelly Merkeson, and I don't think he'll be back in time."

"Do you want me to go up and get him for you?"

Pam shook her head. "I'm not sure I want him driving in his condition."

Hannah was surprised As far as she knew, Keith was about as squeaky-clean as they came. "He's been drinking?"

"Heavens, no! It's just that he had a fight with Shelly last night and now he's apologizing to her. And from what Renee tells me, it's going to take a while before she lets him off the hook. Do you know anything about snowmobiles?"

"Sure. My father had one and we used to go out every weekend in the winter."

"Have you ever driven one?"

"A couple of times," Hannah said, remembering the rare occasions when her father had held her on his lap and let her steer.

"I'm really glad to hear that. Do you think that you could drive Mayor Bascomb's snowmobile for us?"

"I don't know why not." Hannah agreed with a smile. She'd be very careful starting out, until she got the hang of it. Once she got the mechanics down, it should be a snap.

"That's great!" Pam looked very relieved "I'll have a couple of the girls load it up and you can get going."

"Okay. Where am I going?"

"Out to the ice-fishing houses. I promised to deliver hot coffee and cookies to all the contestants, and I'm already ten minutes behind schedule."

Hannah continued to smile, but she knew it was slipping. "You mean you want me to drive it out on the ice?"

"Yes. Can you do it?"

"Absolutely," Hannah promised, hoping she sounded more confident than she felt. She'd assumed she'd be delivering coffee and cookies to the crowd that lined the lakeshore.

"There's no black ice," Pam assured her. "Keith Hauge checked it out when he drove Mayor Bascomb's snowmobile back to shore."

Hannah's smile slipped even further. Anyone who'd grown up in Minnesota knew that black ice was thinner. But how could you spot black ice if it was covered with a blanket of snow?

"Are you sure you can do it, Hannah?"

"Positive," Hannah responded, setting her smile on straight "Let's load it up and I'll get going."

Hannah watched as Mrs. Baxter's girls loaded the sled that was hitched behind the snowmobile. It was outfitted with an insulated box, and they packed it carefully with bags of cookies and containers of coffee. She was just settling down on the driver's seat, hoping she wouldn't make a fool of herself, when she spotted Andrea running toward her. Her sister had changed clothes since the snowman contest. Now Andrea was wearing a cherry red parka coat and a pair of matching moon boots.