Carrot Cake Murder (Hannah Swensen, #10)(77)

“Did you say dessert?” Jack asked, laughing when Tracey nodded. “People don’t usually have dessert after breakfast.”

“But there’s no rule that says you can’t,” Tracey said, and then she looked a little uncertain. “Is there?”

Jack shook his head. “I don’t think so. What did you have in mind?”

“We could get a double Popsicle and ask Mrs. Schultz to split it for us. She’s really good at it, and she never breaks them the wrong way.”

“Sounds good to me as long as it’s not a root beer Popsicle. I don’t like root beer Popsicles.”

“Me, either. Maybe she’ll have lime. That’s really good. Or cherry. That’s even better.” Tracey turned to Andrea. “Is it okay if I go with Grandpa Jack, Mom?”

Andrea smiled. “It’s fine with me.”

“How about you, Marge?” Jack turned to her. “Is it okay if I go to the store with Tracey?”

Marge laughed. “It’s fine with me. I have to start in on the cleanup anyway.”

“We’ll be right back, so don’t worry about us.” Tracey stood up and took Jack’s hand. And then they walked off together down the road to the store.

“Popsicles for breakfast!” Patsy gave a little laugh as she stood up. “I’d better get started. I have to be down at the lake at eleven to judge the swimming races. I just hope I don’t topple off the judge’s raft and fall in the lake!”

Andrea laughed. “Falling in the lake with all your clothes on isn’t what I’d call fun. That’s a nice outfit, and you might ruin it.”

“Thanks,” Patsy said, glancing down at her light green pantsuit. “It’s not just the clothes I’m worried about, though.”

“Patsy can’t swim,” Marge explained.

Hannah was absolutely amazed. The Lake Eden school district had a mandatory water safety program for all of its students. They’d built one of the very first indoor pools, and swimming instruction started in grade school and continued right up until senior lifesaving. “You went to school in Lake Eden and you can’t swim?”

“That’s right, and it’s not for lack of trying.” Patsy smiled ruefully. “Tell them Marge.”

“She can’t float,” Marge said. “And since she can’t float, she can’t swim. Patsy can paddle and kick like crazy, but she can’t keep her head above water for long.”

“They taught me all the strokes and the kicks in the shallow end of the pool. I was really good at those. I know how to swim, but I just can’t do it. After three or four strokes, I go straight down to the bottom of the pool.”

“The swimming teacher came to the house to explain it to our parents,” Marge told them. “We were supposed to be playing outside, but we came in and listened. It has something to do with bone density, or specific gravity, or natural buoyancy, or maybe all of those things.”

“All I know is, everybody in the whole school tried to teach me to swim, and nothing worked,” Patsy said.

“We dressed alike in grade school,” Marge went on. “We looked exactly alike, and we had matching pink swimsuits. The swimming teacher couldn’t tell us apart.”

Patsy gave a little laugh. “Until she told us to get in the pool and float. Marge floated. I sank like a stone. I think that’s the reason I don’t really want to get out on that raft and judge the swimming races. I get really nervous around deep water. I tried to get Mac to take over for me. He was on the swim team at Jordan High, and he won all sorts of awards. But he’s coaching the red softball team, and they’ve got practice.”

“I’ll take your place,” Michelle offered. “I love to swim, and it won’t bother me a bit. You said it starts at eleven?”

“That’s right.”

“And ends when?”

“It’s for all ages, and over a hundred kids are entered. You should be through in two hours.”

Michelle gave a little groan. “Uh-oh. I have a conflict. I’m supposed to help with the tricycle parade from noon to two. Unless you want to take my place helping kids decorate their tricycles?”

“I can do that. It’s perfect for me. I love kids, and Mac and I never had any of our own. He never really cared one way or the other, but I always wanted to be a mother.”

“You would have been a good one,” Marge told her. “You sure were good with mine. How about you two?” She smiled at Andrea and Hannah. “What are your plans for the day?”

“We’re going out for pizza,” Hannah said, motioning to Andrea.

“You’re hungry? You can’t be hungry! You just had a big pancake breakfast!”

“We’re not going for the food,” Andrea said, catching on to her sister’s agenda. “We’re going fishing.”

“For information?” Michelle asked.

“Exactly right,” Hannah said. “It’s about Mary Jo Kuehn and the night she died in that car crash. There are still some people around town who think that it was Gus’s fault.”

Marge looked sick. “We heard that back then. And he said he wasn’t driving, but…”

“Looking back on it, we think he could have been.” Patsy gave a little sigh. “Do you think that Bert could have killed Gus because he believed that Gus was driving that night?”