Apple Turnover Murder (Hannah Swensen, #13)(55)

“Good idea.” Norman waited until Hannah had jotted it down in the new steno pad she’d brought with her. “I wonder where Professor Ramsey lived.”

“Andrea could find out for us. If he lived on campus, there’ll be a vacancy and Lake Eden Realty handles all the college apartment leases. And if he lived off campus, there’ll be a house for rent and Lake Eden Realty will handle that, too.”

“We can talk to her tonight at the school. She’s going to Casino Night, isn’t she?”

“Yes. She called me this afternoon and said they’d be there. As sheriff, Bill’s expected to attend these big charity events.”

Norman glanced down at the steno pad and pointed to an entry Hannah had made earlier. “Who’s Tim Pearson?”

“Bradford’s research assistant. Tim wrote a paper for Bradford that gave him a rung up the academic ladder at Macalester. In payment, Bradford assured Tim that the assistant professor spot here at Lake Eden Community College would be his.”

“But those things are decided by committee, aren’t they?”

“Yes, they are. But Bradford knew everyone on the hiring committee, and he assured Tim that they’d take his recommendation.”

“I see. If Tim didn’t get that job, it’s a motive for murder. And that’s why you wrote down his name as a suspect?”

“Right.”

They both fell silent as Rose approached their booth with the coffee carafe. “More coffee?” she asked.

“Yes, thanks,” Hannah said, and Rose filled her cup.

“How about you, Dr. Rhodes?”

“I could use another cup,” Norman said.

“Now how about dessert?” Rose asked, once she’d cleared their table, rather efficiently Hannah thought, by moving their dirty dishes to another unoccupied booth. “I’ve got two pieces of Peachy Keen Cake left.”

Hannah sighed. There was no way she could resist Rose’s Peachy Keen Cake.

“Was that sigh a yes?” Rose asked her.

“Yes.” Hannah looked over at Norman. “Have you ever tried it?”

“No,” Norman said, looking interested.

“Well, then you’re in for a treat.” Hannah looked up at Rose with a smile. “We’ll each have a piece with a scoop of vanilla ice cream, please.”

Rose delivered their cake within a minute or two, and for almost a quarter-hour, there was no sound in Hannah and Norman’s booth any louder than the occasional soft moan of pleasure. But all good things must come to an end, and once they’d finished their cake and their dessert dishes had been cleared, Hannah turned back to her suspect list.

“Back to work,” Hannah said, staring down at the blank lines on the pad.

“How about students he flunked?” Norman suggested.

“Would that be a motive for murder?”

“It could be. Let’s say Professor Ramsey’s failing grade was the straw that broke the camel’s back. Because the student flunked his class, he flunked out of college. And because he flunked out of college, he … I don’t know. Lost his girlfriend? Got disowned by his family? Whatever. It’s got to be some dire consequence.”

“Or at least some consequence that the student thinks is dire.”

“Right.”

“It’s a great idea, Norman. But how can we get access to the community college grades?”

“I can probably find a way. Just write down failing student and leave the rest up to me.”

Hannah was more than happy to do that, and as she wrote it down, she thought of something else. “We should probably check into his finances to see if he was living above his means.”

“What will that prove?”

“College professors don’t make that much money, and he had two ex-wives. He might have had alimony and maybe even child support.”

“If he was strapped for money, he might have turned to some illegal way to get it?”

“Exactly.” Hannah gave him a smile. Norman always caught on fast. “There’s dealing drugs, blackmail, gambling, all sorts of things.”

“So we need to find out his salary. And then we need to find out what he was spending to see if he had any extra.”

Hannah glanced at her watch. “We’d better go. Casino Night starts in less than ten minutes.”

“Okay. I’m ready. I hope they have all the casino games. I feel lucky tonight.”

“So do I,” Hannah said, and it was perfectly true. Perhaps Mike had been right and Norman had been upset over Carrie’s marriage. Or perhaps he’d been exhausted from late nights with his dental school friends. It could even be that he envied their fancy new dental clinic and felt less successful practicing run-of-the-mill dentistry here in Lake Eden. It didn’t really matter what the problem had been, now that it appeared to be solved. She was just happy to have the old Norman, the comfortable sweet Norman she loved, back with her again.





ROSE’S PEACHY KEEN CAKE


Preheat oven to 350 degrees F., rack in the middle position.





4 egg whites (save the yolks to add to scrambled eggs in the morning)

? teaspoon cream of tartar

? cup softened butter (1 and ? sticks, 6 ounces)