Double Fudge Brownie Murder (Hannah Swensen series Book 18) (25 page)

Hannah took the teddy bear from Norman and examined it. “No, and it’s not mine, either.” She turned to look at Michelle. “Is it yours?”

“No, it’s not mine.” Michelle turned to Andrea. “Is it yours?”

Andrea shook her head. “It’s not mine and it’s not one of Bethie’s toys. It has beads for the eyes and we don’t let her play with anything she could pull off and choke on.”

“It doesn’t squeak, does it?” Lisa asked.

“I don’t think so.” Hannah squeezed it several times, but the teddy bear didn’t make a sound. “No squeak,” she reported.

“Then it’s not a dog toy. They usually have squeakers inside.”

“Could I see it, Hannah?” Grandma McCann asked.

Hannah handed the teddy bear to Grandma McCann, and Ross, who was sitting next to Bethie’s high chair, watched as she examined it. “Maybe that loop at the top of its head is a hanger,” he said. “You could slip it over a nail, or . . . wait a second! It’s made of red and green plaid. Do you think it could be a Christmas tree ornament?”

“I think that’s exactly what it is,” Andrea told him. “I’ve seen bears like that at the mall. I was thinking of doing a bear Christmas tree, but I decided to wait until the girls were older and they could help me pick out the ornaments.”

“I’m older,” Tracey pointed out.

“I know you are. Let’s wait until Bethie is old enough to appreciate it and then we’ll do it.”

“Okay,” Tracey said, smiling at her mother. “It’ll be more fun if Bethie can go shopping with us, too.”

“Looks like the cat burglar struck again,” Mike said. “I think we’d better put a tail on Moishe.”

“He’s got a tail, Uncle Mike!” Tracey said, and then she giggled.

Mike laughed and so did everyone else with the exception of the cats who had come into the room and were looking at them curiously.

“Aha!” Mike said. “Here’s my prime suspect, right over there in the orange and white coat. Lonnie? I want you to interrogate the suspect for me.”

“Sure thing, boss.” Lonnie patted his lap and Moishe jumped up. “Please state your name for the record.”

“Rrrrrow!” Moishe said.

“Could you spell that for the record?”

“Rrrrrow.”

“Thank you. All right, Mr. Cat. If you’re honest with me, it’ll go easier on you. Where were you on the night of . . .” Lonnie turned to Bill. “What’s the right date, Sheriff Bill?”

Bill was laughing so hard, he couldn’t answer and so was everyone else around the table.

“All right then,” Lonnie continued. “We’ll concentrate on the previous three nights, Mr. Cat. That would be Wednesday, Tuesday, and Monday.”

Moishe stared up at Lonnie blankly. His expression was so comical, it sent everyone off in gales of laughter again.

“Stop!” Hannah said at last. “I’m going to have sore ribs tomorrow from laughing so hard.”

Lonnie lifted Moishe and lowered him to the rug. “Thank you for your cooperation, Mr. Cat. You may now leave in the company of Miss Cat . . . or is that Miss Chief?”

“Mischief!” Tracey almost collapsed as she caught on to what Lonnie was saying. “That’s funny, Uncle Lonnie!”

“I missed you all so much,” Ross said, smiling at Hannah. “I never laughed like this in California. It’s really good to be back.”

“So how did the interview go?” Mike asked him.

“Yes,” Norman jumped into the conversation. “Did you get the job, Ross?”

Hannah held her breath and crossed her fingers the way she had as a child when she wanted something she didn’t think she could live without. She not only crossed her middle fingers with her pointer fingers, she also crossed her ring fingers with her pinkies. And then, for good measure, she crossed her thumbs together in her lap. She would have willingly crossed her toes, if she’d been able to figure out how to do it.

“The interview went well,” Ross told them. “I have the job on a week’s trial basis.”

“They’re pretty cheap out at KCOW,” Lonnie said. “One of my sisters worked there until she found something better. Did they try to get you to work that trial week without pay?”

“No, it’s half-pay. But that’s okay for a week. They’ll let me know by next Friday at the latest. Then, if I’ve got the job, I’ll go up to full pay, benefits, and bonuses for every project I film for them.”

Mike whistled. “Not bad. You must have driven a hard bargain.”

“I did. I told them that, in the interest of full disclosure, I also had an upcoming interview at WCCO Television in Minneapolis.”

“Do you?” Bill asked.

“Actually . . . yes. What I didn’t tell them was that all WCCO was interested in was using the film I shot here in Lake Eden to kick off their Minnesota at the Movies month.”

“Smart,” Norman said, smiling at Ross. “KCOW might have tried to work you at half-pay for more than one week if you hadn’t told them that.”

Hannah listened to the ensuing conversation, but she was concentrating much more on her inner thoughts.
KCOW offered Ross a job! It’s a temporary job, only for a week, but they’re bound to be impressed with him. Say they hire him full-time and pay him a full salary. What, exactly, does that mean for me? Will Ross ask me to marry him? And if he does, what will I say?

“Earth to Hannah,” Norman said, stilling her inquisitive mind and bringing her back to the conversation with a jolt.

“Yes, Norman?” Hannah smiled. “Sorry about that. I was thinking about . . .”she thought fast and came up with something, “. . . baking a new cookie.”

“What kind of cookie?” Tracey asked her.

“A tea cookie.”

“A refrigerated one?” Lisa asked and Hannah noticed that she looked interested.

“Actually . . . no. I was thinking about baking a cookie with tea in it. Mother’s Regency Romance Readers Group would love it.”

Ross gave her a look that said
Maybe you can fool them, but you can’t fool me. That wasn’t what you were thinking about at all.

Hannah could feel herself beginning to blush and she quickly dropped her eyes, but not before she saw his amused smile.

Grandma McCann glanced at her watch. “It’s getting late and it’s a school night. I’d better take my little lambs home.”

“
Widdow Wamm
,” Bethie said and then she laughed.

“That’s right,” Tracey told her. “You’re Grandma McCann’s little lamb.”

“
Widdow Wamm
,” Bethie repeated again. It obviously delighted her because she said it over and over as Grandma McCann got her into her coat. Bill collapsed the foldable high chair, Andrea made sure that Tracey’s jacket was zipped up, and they all went down the stairs together to help Grandma McCann get them safely into the car.

 

“A
lone at last,” Ross said when everyone had left. “How long do we have before Michelle and Lonnie come back from their walk around the complex?”

“I don’t know,” Hannah said. “I guess it depends on how cold it is out there.”

“Fair enough. You said you had the makings for tequila sunrises. Would you like me to make one for you?”

“That would be nice. Will you have one with me?”

“Sure. I could use something to relax me after the flight and the interview. Come to the kitchen with me and show me where everything is. We’ll make our drinks together.”

Hannah felt her spirits rising as she walked to the kitchen with Ross’s arm warm around her shoulders. It was great to be together again.

“I’ve been thinking about the motel,” Ross said and he sounded very serious. “I don’t think you should drive out there, Hannah.”

“Why?” Hannah asked, wondering if he knew that she’d been having second thoughts about that. She’d offered to drive out because she’d wanted to be alone with him, but now she wasn’t sure it was the right thing to do.

“Don’t take this wrong, Hannah.” Ross gave her a little hug. “I want you to come out there with me, but someone’s bound to see you. We can wait, can’t we?”

“Yes, we can wait.” Hannah turned to kiss him. “Thank you, Ross. That’s exactly what I was thinking.”
Wait for what?
her mind asked.
Wait for the cows to come home? Ask him what he means. You know you want to know.

But Hannah squelched the urge to ask. Ross would tell her what he’d meant when the time was right. In the meantime, she was happy just to be with him doing things like eating dinner, enjoying company, and talking. More serious things would come later. She was sure of it. And if Ross could wait, so could she.

 

Hannah didn’t think about the text message until she was in bed for the night. She was tired and she wanted to go to sleep, but perhaps her mother had responded to her question about Margaret George.

“I’ll be right back,” Hannah told the cat she knew would claim her pillow the instant she was out of the room, and went to get her phone. She flicked on the light in the living room, glanced at the display on the screen, and pressed the button Tracey had taught her to press to retrieve text messages.

There it was! She must have done it right! Hannah was so excited about her success, she almost forgot to read the text message. When she did, a wide smile spread across her face.

 

“Thank you, Mother,” Hannah said aloud, and made a promise to herself that she’d text her mother in the morning when she wasn’t so tired and was capable of remembering the instructions that Tracey had given her. She plugged in her phone to charge it and went back to her bedroom. Just as she’d expected, Moishe had commandeered her pillow.

“Fine. I’ll use yours.” She grabbed his pillow and crawled into bed for a much-needed rest.

 

Morning came much too early. Hannah groaned when her alarm went off and she resisted the urge to press the snooze button with every fiber of her being. She let the electronic beeping go on as she dangled her feet over the side of the bed and forced herself to sit up. She wanted nothing so much as to crawl back into the nest of blankets still warm from her body, and cuddle up for another five minutes that could turn into ten with another press of her snooze button, or fifteen, or twenty.

“Up!” she commanded her body and reached under the bed for her slippers. Her nose began to function and she smelled the invigorating scent of freshly brewed coffee.

“Michelle,” she said with a gratefulness that bordered on the pathetic. There was another scent in the air as well, something with the delightful aroma of cinnamon and raisins and brown sugar. Coffee cake? Rolls? Whatever it was, she wanted some!

She told herself that she had to shower and dress before she could taste whatever it was that Michelle had made for breakfast. With that inducement firmly in place, she made short work of it.

Ten minutes later, she was walking down the hallway with Moishe at her heels, and she was eager to taste the reason for her haste. “Good morning, Michelle,” she greeted her youngest sister as she hurried into the kitchen. “What smells so delicious?”

“Cinnamon Raisin Scones.” Michelle turned around to look at her. “You’re dressed!”

“That’s your fault.”

“What?”

“I told myself that I couldn’t come out to see what you were baking until after I’d showered and dressed. So I did. Really fast.”

“Turn around,” Michelle said, and then she laughed.

“Why are you laughing?”

“You have your sweater on backward.”

“I do?” Hannah rolled her sweater up to her armpits, slipped her arms out of the sleeves, and turned the sweater around on her neck. Once her arms were back in the sleeves, she rolled the sweater back down and went to pour herself a cup of coffee. “I thought it was a little tight around the neck.”

“See what happens when you dress without your first cup of coffee? It’s a good thing I was here. You would have gone to work with your sweater all wonky.”

“You’re probably right.” Hannah took her first scalding sip of coffee and smiled. “Ross is probably getting ready for his first day of work right now.”

“He’s ready. He called twenty minutes ago to see if we were up. I hope you don’t mind, but I invited him over for scones and coffee. I was just coming to wake you up when I heard you in the shower.”

“Ross is coming here?”

“That’s right. That’s okay, isn’t it?”

“That’s not okay, that’s great. I’ll get to see him before work. I look all right, don’t I?”

“You do, now that your sweater’s on right. Do you want to go and put on some makeup?”

“Not really, unless . . .” Hannah began to frown. “Do I need makeup?”

“No. You look fine without it. And it’s breakfast, not a gala evening out.”

“Good,” Hannah said, finishing her coffee and going back for more. “I’m almost awake and once I have my second cup of coffee, I should be able to text Mother.”

“So it was Mother who texted you?”

“Yes. She told me how to reach Margaret George. She’s in Mother’s Regency group, except she doesn’t go by Margaret. She prefers to be called Peggy.”

“Okay. If she’s a member of the Regency group, she’ll probably like scones. We can take her some if you want to. This recipe made twelve large or eighteen medium scones.”

“That’s the same yield as my Easy Cheesy Biscuit recipe.”

Michelle laughed. “Where do you think I got the basic recipe? It’s yours with modifications.”

“Good for you! There are a limited number of basic recipes. All the others come from modifications of the ingredients that influence the taste, the shape, and the texture. It’s a little like a melody. There are a limited number of musical tones that the human ear can hear. The melody depends on how you arrange them. And that whole subject is a little too involved for a discussion before breakfast. Aren’t those scones of yours almost ready to come out of the oven?”

 

“Are you hoping I get this job, Hannah?” Ross asked when Michelle went back to her room to get ready to leave.

“Yes,” Hannah answered him quickly.

“And do you want me to move here to Lake Eden?”

“Oh, yes!” Again, the answer came quickly and from her heart.

“The dinner was fun last night and I don’t think that either Mike or Norman was too upset at the prospect of me coming back here permanently. Am I wrong?”

“You’re not wrong.” She hesitated and then blurted out exactly what was on her mind. “They might have been more upset if they’d known about Las Vegas.”

“They don’t know that I met you in Vegas?”

“Oh, they know that!” Hannah stopped and tried to think of a way to explain. “It’s just that they don’t know that we became . . . involved when we met in Las Vegas.”

“You didn’t mention that I love you?”

Hannah shook her head. “Not yet.”

“Some people might think you were being evasive just in case things didn’t work out between us.”

“I know. I thought about that, but that’s not it at all. I just want to break it to them gently so that we can all remain friends. Do you think that’s possible? Or am I deluding myself?”

“I don’t know. I guess we’ll just have to wait and see.”

“One step forward at a time?”

“Yes. The first step is this job at KCOW Television. Let’s see how that turns out. If I get it, we’ll take the next step. And if I don’t get it, we’ll figure out where to go from there. Is that all right with you?”

“Yes.” Hannah smiled as he stood up and pulled her into his arms for a kiss. “That’s absolutely fine with me, Ross.”

 

It was ten in the morning when Hannah pulled up in front of Peggy George’s home. It was a condo complex with one-story units that had red brick exteriors and dark green doors that matched the trim around the windows. Judging from the outside, Peggy’s unit appeared to have three bedrooms. Hannah figured that one bedroom was for Peggy, one for her daughter, and one for Peggy’s office where she wrote her Regency romances.

“Nice place,” Michelle said as Hannah parked in the space set aside for visitors.

Hannah agreed with her sister’s assessment as they got out of the cookie truck and walked down a winding brick path to Peggy’s unit. Late-blooming flowers lined the paths and the lawns were still green and manicured. Adult trees provided shade for the units and Hannah spotted a children’s playground with slides, a jungle gym, and swings, along with a paved bike path and a tennis court.

“I hope we’re not too early,” Hannah said, glancing at her watch before she prepared to ring the doorbell.

“It’s ten-fifteen,” Michelle said. “She should be up, unless she spent all night writing.”

“There’s only one way to find out.” Hannah pressed the button that rang the doorbell. And then they waited. And waited. And waited for some response from inside.

“Do you think she’s gone?” Michelle asked.

“Maybe. I’ll ring the doorbell again and if she doesn’t answer, we’ll go somewhere for coffee and try again later.”

The second attempt garnered no more response than the first. Hannah turned from the door and was about to step away when she heard a voice.

“Hello! Are you looking for me?”

A woman came rushing along the path toward them, her brown, curly hair bouncing as she ran. She was wearing an aqua blue jogging suit and sneakers.

“It’s her,” Hannah said to Michelle, and then she turned to greet the woman. “Hi, Peggy.”

“Hannah!” Peggy looked pleased to see her at first and then a doubtful expression flickered across her face. “You found his body.”

“Yes.”

“It must have been horrid for you. Are you all right?”

Hannah nodded, a bit taken aback. It was not the reception she’d expected.

“It was in the papers,” Peggy said, answering Hannah’s unspoken question. “I called Delores to ask her about it, but she wasn’t home.”

“She eloped with Doc,” Hannah explained. “Right now they’re on a cruise to Alaska for their honeymoon.”

“How lovely!” A smile spread across Peggy’s face. “I took my daughter Sara on an Alaskan cruise last year when she got her master’s in biology. She fell in love with the seals on the ice floes. We took hundreds of pictures from our balcony on the ship, especially when we went through Sawyer Bay. We actually got to hear a glacier calving.”

“What’s that?” Michelle asked her.

“Calving is when a piece of ice breaks off a glacier and falls down into the water. It makes the loudest sound you’ll ever hear. It was phenomenal!” Peggy stopped speaking and turned to smile at Michelle. “I’m sorry, but I don’t even know your name.”

“Michelle Swensen,” Michelle responded before Hannah had time to introduce her. “I’m Hannah’s youngest sister. If you came to Mother’s last launch party, I was there serving canapés.”

“Of course. I thought you looked familiar.” Peggy unlocked the door and pushed it open. “Come in, girls.” She turned to Hannah. “I assume you want to ask me about my connection with Geoffrey. Your mother mentioned that you investigate things like this.”

They made polite conversation about Delores and Doc’s wedding and Peggy’s cruise to Alaska until Peggy had made coffee and they were all sitting in comfortable chairs in the small living room, sipping coffee and eating Michelle’s scones.

“All right,” Peggy said to Hannah after she’d complimented Michelle on her scones. “I knew you’d be coming so feel free to ask me your questions.”

“How did you know?” Hannah asked her.

“Dave called and said he’d told you about me because you were trying to catch the person who’d murdered Geoffrey. Poor Geoffrey. And my heart goes out to Nora. She couldn’t have children and Geoffrey was her whole life. You probably know that he chose not to tell Nora about Sara.”

“Yes. Why was that?”

“Geoffrey was afraid it would break Nora’s heart. She’d tried so hard to get pregnant. And she wanted so badly to give him a daughter. He was afraid it would be devastating for her to learn that he had a daughter by his former mistress.”

“Did you think he was right?”

“I’m not sure. It could have gone either way, I guess, but I didn’t know Nora’s mental state at all. I’ve never met her and I wasn’t in any position to judge, so I did as Geoffrey wanted. He spent time with Sara and he was good to her. That was all that really mattered to me.”