Carrot Cake Murder (Hannah Swensen, #10)(88)

Prudence warred with curiosity, and curiosity won out. “What’s my ring tone?” she asked.

“Oh. Well…actually it’s…an old Beatles song that I like.”

Mike sounded embarrassed, and Hannah couldn’t resist following up. “What’s the name of the old Beatles song?”

“‘Here Comes The Sun.’”

“Why did you choose that one for me?” Hannah asked, although she was secretly relieved that it hadn’t been “Eleanor Rigby.”

“It’s kind of crazy, but whenever I’m around you, I feel like the sun is shining. Whether it is or not, I mean.”

Hannah came close to tearing up, it was so sweet. She really didn’t know how to respond, but she was saved by an electronic beeping that came over the line.

“Can you hold on a second?” Mike asked. “That’s Lonnie, and he’s out in the field.”

Hannah told him she would, and she sat there contemplating the dusk. The sun had gone down, but the moon appeared brilliant tonight, looming over the opposite shore like a huge silver globe in the sky. It was a full moon, or very close to it, and Hannah thought that if she had a book or a magazine, she could probably read it in this light.

“Sorry about that.” Mike came back on the line. “Lonnie’s at Bertanelli’s Pizza to check on Bert’s alibi, but Bert and Ellie took the night off.”

“They’re out here at the lake for the children’s talent show,” Hannah told him.

“Thanks. I’ll call Lonnie back and send him out.”

“Don’t bother. Andrea and I checked it out when we were in there for lunch today, and Bert had an ironclad alibi.”

“But Bert wasn’t there. I asked. That’s the only reason I took Ronni out to lunch.”

I’ll bet! Hannah thought, but of course she didn’t say it. She was still too flattered at learning the ring tone Mike had chosen for her.

“How did you substantiate his alibi?” Mike continued, and Hannah knew he’d opened his notebook and was sitting there, pen poised to write down what she said.

“We talked to the head waitress. When they checked the tape from the register after they closed at midnight, it didn’t match the total from the order slips. The head waitress, Bert, and Ellie were there until a quarter to three in the morning, looking for the error.”

“Bert was there the whole time?”

“Yes. You can cross him off your list.” Hannah decided it was time for a gentle nudge. “If you’d mentioned that you suspected him, I would have told you to cross him off right away.”

Mike sighed. “My mistake. What else did you find out?”

“Some things you probably know already.”

“Like what?”

“Like Gus didn’t own any upscale nightclubs. Mood Indigo is a strip joint, and he lives in a little apartment with one of his dancers.”

“How did you…?”

“Never mind,” Hannah cut off the question. If he didn’t ask it, she didn’t have to answer it.

“Okay. What else do you know?”

“He changed his name to Grant Kennedy.”

“We knew that. It was on his driver’s license.”

Hannah wanted to ask why he hadn’t told her, but she figured she’d just get the runaround again. “Gus borrowed money from some well-connected thugs who have some scary ways of collecting.”

“That figures. Go on.”

“The night he left Atlantic City, Gus and his girlfriend were watching the Antiques Show, the one where they do the appraisals. She said that before it was over, he got up and started packing a suitcase. And he said that he left something valuable in Lake Eden, something that could get him out of money trouble, and he had to go back and get it.”

“Of course!” Mike sounded amazed that he hadn’t thought of that himself. “He came back to Lake Eden to get the Honus Wagner trading card. Our appraiser said it was worth over two million.”

Hannah gulped audibly. “You know about the Honus Wagner baseball card?”

“Sure. We’ve got it in the evidence room. It was with a bunch of other baseball cards in his suitcase.”

“And you didn’t tell me about it?” Hannah began to do a slow burn.

“It’s evidence, Hannah. I can’t give you a list of the evidence unless you’re a sworn peace officer.”

Hannah counted to three. And then, because she was still seeing red, she counted on to ten. She should have known that Mike wouldn’t bend any rules for her. “Do you think Gus was killed for the Honus Wagner card?” she asked.

“I doubt it. If the killer knew about it, he would have searched the cottage, looked in the open suitcase, and grabbed the card. It may be the reason the victim came back to Lake Eden, but it wasn’t the reason he was killed.”

“Do you have any idea why he was killed then?”

“Not really, now that you cleared Bert Kuehn. But we’re working on it. Somebody picked up that ice pick and stabbed him.”

“You know for sure it was an ice pick?”

“Not conclusively, no. But Doc Knight found some tiny flecks of red and green paint. That matches what you told me about the ice picks that your grandfather gave for Christmas gifts. I had Rick check with the tool companies, but he couldn’t find any that manufactured an awl with red and green paint on the handle, so I figure it’s got to be one of your grandfather’s ice picks.”