Candy Cane Murder (Hannah Swensen #9.5)(14)

Uh-oh! Hannah’s mind shouted out a warning. Delores only used her middle name when she was what her father had called, “loaded for bear.”

44

Joanne Fluke

“I’d love to stop doing it! It’s not like I enjoy finding murder victims, or anything like that. I only climbed up on that snow bank because we were curious and I didn’t want them to do it.”

There was silence for a moment. Delores was thinking it over. “Well …” she said finally, “that’s good. It’s good that you were sparing your sisters’ sensibilities. That’s an admirable quality.”

Hannah came very close to gasping out loud in surprise.

She’d never gotten off so easily before. It was best to change the subject now, while she was still ahead of the game.

“Thank you, Mother. Now about the luncheon today, I need some sort of a timeline.”

“What do you mean?”

“We’re having quiche and it’s best if it’s warm. How many awards will you be presenting before you want me to serve lunch?”

“Let me see … three of our members are getting their fiveyear manor houses. They’re darling little miniatures of English Manor Homes. I found them in a catalogue and ordered them from London.”

“Will there be speeches after you present them?”

“No, dear. They’re limited to thirty seconds to thank us.

But there will be three more presentations. Carrie’s getting her ten-year curricle with a matched pair.”

Hannah knew her mother was talking about a carriage pulled by two horses. “To put in front of her manor house?”

she guessed.

“Exactly. Since she’s the oldest living member, I told her she could have one minute to speak.”

“Okay,” Hannah said, hoping her mother wouldn’t use that particular phrase. Carrie Rhodes, her mother’s friend and partner in the antique business, wouldn’t appreciate being called the oldest living member. And come to think of it, did that imply that the Lake Eden Regency Romance Club also had members who were dead?

CANDY CANE MURDER

45

“Did you hear me, Hannah?”

Her mother’s voice pulled her back from contemplating whether one had to be alive to be a member of an organization, and Hannah was quick to apologize. “Sorry, Mother. I didn’t quite catch that.”

“I asked you if you’d have enough quiche so that Norman could eat with us. He’s coming to take pictures of the award ceremony on his lunch hour.”

“Of course. I always have extra. You know that, Mother.”

“And you did remember that I asked for a vegetarian alternative?”

“I did. We’re having two kinds of quiche, one vegetarian and the other with meat.”

“How about dessert? Did you manage to come up with something authentic to the time period?”

“I think so. I call them Regency Seed Cakes. They had oranges back then, didn’t they? I seem to remember someone talking about a greenhouse-type room with fruit trees.”

“That would have been an orangery, dear. It was like a solarium with exotic plants and trees. Most of the expensive mansions had them.”

“Good. Well, these are a little like lemon poppy seed cake, except that they’re cookies made with oranges and poppy seeds.”

“They sound wonderful, dear!”

I hope so, Hannah thought, but she didn’t want to worry her mother by telling her the Regency Seed Cakes were last night’s invention and she hadn’t had time to test them yet. It was much safer to say nothing and change the subject.

“What time do you want me to serve the quiche, Mother? If you can give me an estimate of the time, I’ll make sure they’re still warm.”

“Let me think, dear.” There was silence for a moment and then Delores spoke again. “We’re starting at noon and the awards are first. I think we should be through in ten minutes.

46

Joanne Fluke

Although … we do have a special award for Jenny Perkins, of course.”

“Jenny who?” Hannah asked. She was almost certain she’d never met a Jenny Perkins at any of her mother’s club meetings.

“You knew her as Jenny Bergstrom, but now she’s Jenny Perkins again. She took back her maiden name after the divorce.”

Hannah hadn’t known that Wayne’s ex-wife was in town!

“I’ll call her this morning to make sure she’s coming. I hope so. Poor Jenny will need the support of friends at this sad time in her life.”

“What sad time? Haven’t Wayne and Jenny been divorced for at least five years?”

“Six, to be exact. But Jenny married Wayne right out of high school and she was utterly devastated when he filed for divorce. He was her first love, and a woman never gets over her first love. Wayne’s death is bound to open old wounds for Jenny.”

“Just as long as Jenny didn’t open new wounds in Wayne,”

Hannah muttered just under her breath.

“What was that?”

“Nothing, Mother. Just thinking out loud. You said you’d call Jenny this morning. Is she staying with friends?”

“No, she didn’t want to put any of us out. We all offered our guest rooms, but she booked a room at the inn.”