Candy Cane Murder (Hannah Swensen #9.5)(22)

“Hannah. Norman.” Cyril gave them a smile that made his eyes crinkle. He was what Hannah’s dad would have called “black Irish.” His hair was curly black and his eyes, under dark expressive brows, were such a deep blue color, the pupils were just barely distinguishable from the irises.

“Something wrong with the cookie truck?”

“Not a thing,” Hannah answered, handing him the bag of cookies. “These are for you. They’re Christmas Date Cookies.”

Cyril looked pleased as he accepted the bag. “Thanks, Hannah. They’re my favorites. What did I do to deserve cookies?”

“It’s not what you did. It’s what you’re going to do.”

“Uh-oh.” Cyril gave a long sigh. “This must be about Wayne Bergstrom. I figured you’d hear about that fight we had sooner or later, and it looks like it’s sooner. Who told you?”

“Two people,” Hannah said and left it at that. It was a slight exaggeration, but it all depended on how you counted.

CANDY CANE MURDER

75

Lisa had told her about the fight, but Herb had been the one to tell Lisa.

“So you think I killed Wayne?”

“Of course not!” Hannah shook her head. “You couldn’t have done it. You’re Irish.”

“What does that have to do with it?”

“Your heritage is part of your personality. My dad was part Irish and he explained it to me. If an Irishman’s mad enough to kill somebody, he doesn’t lie in wait like some coward and attack when nobody’s looking. He takes his enemy on fair and square in front of everybody in town.”

Cyril threw back his head and laughed. “Your dad was part Irish, all right! He told you a whopper and you bought it.”

“I guess I did,” Hannah said with a laugh, glad that the story she’d made up on the spur of the moment had worked to relax Cyril. “But you didn’t lay in wait and kill Wayne last night, did you?”

“No. I was mad enough to do it, but I had another sort of revenge in mind.”

“What was that?” Norman asked.

“I was going to undercut him and sabotage his limo business. It probably would have bankrupted me before it was over, but it would have been worth it.”

It took a few minutes and some cogent questions for the story to come out, but at last they had the facts. The reason Cyril had bought two more white limousines was that Wayne had promised to use his limo service for the weddings he booked through the new Wonderful Weddings department at the store.

“I thought it was all set. Wayne promised to use Shamrock Limos, and I promised I’d get two more cars.”

“But Wayne reneged on his promise?” Hannah guessed.

“That’s right!” Cyril’s eyes glittered and both Hannah and Norman could tell that he was still steaming about it.

“Wayne decided to start his own limo service. And since we 76

Joanne Fluke

didn’t have a signed contract, I couldn’t prove he’d agreed to use Shamrock Limos.”

“That would have burned me up, too!” Norman said, and then he turned to Hannah. “Can we take Cyril off the suspect list?”

“Just as soon as he tells us his alibi.” Hannah pulled out her steno pad and flipped to the suspect page. “Did you watch Wayne play Santa last night?” she asked Cyril.

“Sure did. And right after that, I went out to take a look at Florence Evans’s van. She said it was cutting in and out, and she didn’t want to get stuck on the way home.”

“And that was in the parking lot?”

“No, she parked in front in the loading zone. She told me she figured she was entitled since she was carrying all the Christmas stockings the Women’s Club stuffed for the kids at the Home.”

“Works for me,” Hannah said. “As far as we know, Wayne left by the back door and went around the side of the building to the path that leads to the parking lot. Did you see him?”

Cyril shook his head. “I must’ve been busy working on Florence’s car. I fixed the problem, it was a loose spark plug, and then we went back inside.”

“And you were with Florence the whole time?”

“Most of it. She went back in a couple of times to bring me coffee, but she wasn’t gone more than five minutes. When we got back inside, Sally was telling everybody the buffet was open and we got in line with Brigit.”

Hannah and Norman said their goodbyes and left the warmth of the garage. A light snow had started to fall and as they walked to Norman’s car, Hannah was thoughtful. Cyril had an alibi, but it wasn’t exactly a get-out-of-jail-free card.

Even if Florence substantiated his story, it was possible that Cyril had seized his opportunity and killed Wayne in the few minutes that Florence was inside getting coffee for him.

CANDY CANE MURDER

77

“Where to?” Norman asked, once he’d settled Hannah in the passenger seat and climbed in behind the wheel.

“The mall?” Hannah phrased her answer in the form of a question, something that had always driven her a little bit crazy when she watched Jeopardy. “I’d like to check with Wayne’s brother-in-law Cory if he’s in today. He’s head of the Wonderful Weddings department.”

“Fine with me. I need to pick up something for Mother anyway. So far, all I’ve got is a book and that’s not enough for Christmas. Maybe you can help me choose something.”