Candy Cane Murder (Hannah Swensen #9.5)(42)

Cory screamed as the spray hit his eyes. He clawed at her but a blind, pink-flocked adversary was not that difficult to elude. Hannah stepped to the side, sprayed him again, and he dropped the ax. Hannah grabbed it and tossed it into the stand of trees behind her.

He was trying to wipe his eyes and Hannah knew it would be only a matter of time before he recovered enough to strike out at her. She had to render him immobile while he was still reeling from pain and shock.

The netting machine. The moment that Hannah remembered the machine she’d seen right outside the entrance to the 144

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tent, she grabbed his arm and pushed him through the opening. Another spray in the eyes and another shove with her hand, and he fell onto the chute where trees were placed for netting so that they could be carried home on the roofs of cars. Two more sprays for good measure and she turned on the machine. With a grinding of gears caused by a burden that was twice as heavy as usual, Cory was carried forward to be wrapped with several layers of netting that rendered him immobile and covered him with bright yellow plastic mesh from head to toe.

There was a phone on a pole decorated like a candy cane with red and white stripes. Hannah dialed nine, the usual code to get an outside line, and was rewarded by a dial tone.

Nine-one-one seemed unnecessary. Cory was trussed up like a mummy, and there was no way he could get free. Instead of dialing the police, Hannah called Norman.

“Hi, Hannah!” Norman sounded glad to hear from her. “I tried calling you a couple of minutes ago, but your cell phone was off.”

“It’s recharging,” Hannah said, crossing her fingers at the little white lie she’d just told, and hoping he wouldn’t be too upset with her if he ever discovered that she had it in her purse, but it was turned off and she’d forgotten it was there.

“Did you hear from Doc Knight?”

“He called me back about five minutes ago. I was way off base, Hannah. He checked and Wayne’s liver was fine.”

“That’s okay. I’m sure Melinda would have tried to poison him if she’d known that her plant was poisonous. But it doesn’t matter now. I’ve got the killer. It’s Cory.”

“Cory?! But I thought he was with you when Wayne was murdered.”

“That’s what he wanted us to think. Will you call Mike for me? I’ve got Cory netted up here at Bergstrom’s Christmas tree annex, and I need him taken into custody before someone hangs lights and tinsel on him and props him up in the living room.”





Chapter


! Thirteen #

Hannah was on top of the world. Not only had she caught Wayne’s killer, Jenny had insisted on giving her Teensy’s Penthouse so that Tracey would have it for Christmas. It was currently sitting under Andrea’s Christmas tree, wrapped in gold paper and tied with a huge red bow. It was the night after Cory had been taken into custody and they were all gathered at Andrea’s house for coffee and dessert.

“This is just wonderful, Andrea,” she said, even though she was seated on the couch between Norman and Mike. It was a small couch and she couldn’t help but feel like the filling in a Norman and Mike Oreo.

“It’s a gorgeous tree,” Michelle said, admiring the huge Norway pine that sat in front of the picture window.

“Thanks. Bill picked it out at Bergstrom’s. I love to get trees there. They’re so careful with the netting.” Andrea stopped and made a face. “Sorry, Hannah. I forgot for a second.”

“That’s okay. I’m just glad their netting machine could take a few extra pounds!”

“That reminds me …” Norman leaned forward to talk to Mike. “How’d you get that netting off Cory?”

“We rolled him on his back and used scissors.”

Norman shook his head. “It’s a good thing I’m not a cop.”

“Why’s that?” Bill asked him.

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“Because I might have been temped to hit him with a stun gun for what he almost did to Hannah.”

Hannah turned to smile at Norman. He looked perfectly serious.

“What makes you think I didn’t?”

Hannah turned to look at Mike. He looked perfectly serious, too.

“Time for coffee,” Andrea announced, getting up to take the tray from Grandma McCann, who’d just come in from the kitchen. “I hope you left room for dessert. Hannah brought her Candy Cane Bar Cookies.”

“Because Cory’s behind bars?” Norman asked.

“Of course.” Hannah turned to Bill. “I just wish we could have gotten Melinda for something or other. I know she didn’t poison Wayne, but I wish she wouldn’t inherit all that money.”

“She won’t. Want to tell her, Mike?”

Mike turned to Hannah. “I did a little checking after we talked. I kept thinking about how his former wife was the one who was grieving. And she was getting nothing. And Melinda, who didn’t seem to care about Wayne at all, was inheriting everything. So I ran her.”

“Jenny?”

“No, Melinda.”

“And you came up with something?” Hannah crossed her fingers, a leftover habit from childhood.

“It turns out she’s Melinda Ann Ames Reynolds Bergstrom.”