Carrot Cake Murder (Hannah Swensen, #10)(48)

“I waszh eating an apple and it juszht pulled out.”

“That happens sometimes. How old it is?”

“Doc Bennett put it in sheventeen yearszh ago.”

“He did a fine job. Most bridges need to be replaced long before that, especially if they’re not made of modern amalgams. Just let me clean it up for you and I’ll reattach it. It’ll only take a couple of minutes.”

“Good! I’ve got shurgery at two, and I need to get back to the hoshpital.”

Hannah drew in her breath sharply. She thought she’d recognized that voice! It was Doc Knight, the very man she needed to see!

The sliding glass doors opened and Norman peered out. He seemed surprised but pleased to see her. “Hi, Hannah. I didn’t know it was you out here. This isn’t a dental emergency, is it?”

“No, it’s a cookie deficiency emergency.” Hannah carried the pink box over to the window and presented it to Norman. “Is that Doc Knight I heard back there?”

“Iszh me!” Doc Knight answered her. “What kind of cookieszh did zhu bring?”

“Something new I baked today. They’re called Red Velvet Cookies. Would you like to try one, Doc?”

“Oh, no you don’t!” Norman confiscated the box. “Not until I reattach his bridge.”

“Sorry, Doc,” Hannah called out.

“Not half aszh shorry aszh I am.”

Hannah turned back to Norman. “Is it okay if I go back to keep him company while you’re cleaning up that bridge? I’ve got some questions I need to ask him.”

“Not a good idea. Doc’s my patient, and I have to protect his right to privacy while he’s under my care.”

“Okay, but I just wanted to talk to him.”

“Sorry, it’s not allowed. If I let you back there, I’d be violating our patient-dentist relationship.”

“Oh, nonshenszh! She’szh going to catszh me here or at the hoshpital, anyway. Might aszh well get it over wiszh.”

Norman shrugged. “You heard him. He’s waiving his right to privacy. Hold on a second and I’ll let you in.”

Hannah smiled as she went through the doorway to the inner sanctum and into the examining room. She liked Doc Knight, and he’d always been good about answering her questions. “Hi, Doc,” she said, taking the chair against the wall.

“Hi, Hannah,” Doc said, giving her a grin that showed several missing teeth. “Iszh a good thing your name iszhn’t Shuszhana or Shally. Sheila would be okay, though.”

“Not with me. I like my name,” Hannah said with a laugh. “I need to ask you some questions about Gus Klein and Mary Jo Kuehn.”

“That’szh easzhy. I don’t know anything exszhept that they were girlfriend and boyfriend.”

“How about the accident? The night of the senior prom when Mary Jo died?”

“I waszhn’t here. I waszh in Boszhton for a two-week medical convenszhon. The county coroner took care of that and he’szh been dead for twenty yearszh.”

Hannah came close to groaning. Doc Knight would be no help on that subject. “How about the fight Jack Herman had with Gus Klein? That was the night Gus left town for good, and nobody saw him again until the family reunion.”

“I waszh here for that. Fire away, Hannah. I’m your captive audienszh. There’szh no way I’m leaving here until I get my bridge back.”

“Mother told me that Dad and Uncle Ed broke up the fight and brought Jack to your office.”

“She’szh right. Tha’szh what happened. Jack waszh in pretty bad shape. They didn’t want Emmy to szhee him until I got him all cleaned up and looking aszh normal aszh I could. Didn’t work, though. She went into labor and delivered that night.”

“And the baby was Lisa’s brother Tim, right?”

“That’szh right. And Tim waszh just fine. Iszh like I told Jack…she waszh ready to deliver, anyway. He didn’t do anything wrong. He waszh juszht defending hiszh…” Doc Knight stopped and shook his head. “You didn’t hear me szhay that.”

“Szhay…I mean, say what?”

“Szhay anything about defending anybody.”

“You just told me that Jack was fighting to defend someone.” Hannah peered closely at Doc. “Was it Emmy?”

“You didn’t hear me szhay that, either.”

Hannah’s mind flew, attempting to fit the pieces she’d learned together. There’d been some important verbal salvos at the dance. When Jack had mentioned Mary Jo Kuehn, Gus had retaliated by mentioning Emmy. Then Jack had taken offense at the fact that Gus had used a diminutive name for his wife, and replied with Emily’s full name. After that, Gus had mentioned Jack’s sister Heather, but Marge had brought up their teacher, Mr. Burnside, and steered the conversation to safer ground.

“Do you know if Gus dated Emmy before she married Jack?” she asked.

“Yeszh.”

Hannah gave herself a mental kick for asking an ambiguous question. “Yes, you know? Or yes, he dated her?” she asked, hoping to clear up the confusion.

“Yeszh I know. And that’szh all I’m going to szhay.”

There was a knock on the door and Norman came in. “Just let me reattach this, and then you can have one of Hannah’s cookies. The only stipulation is that you chew on the other side.” He turned to Hannah. “Do you use nuts in your Red Velvet Cookies?”