Chocolate Chip Cookie Murder (Hannah Swensen #1)(85)

As they passed the den, Hannah glanced in at the table by the couch. The rental car folder was gone. She frowned and decided to skip the bit about her mother’s lost handkerchief. It wouldn’t serve any purpose now.

“This is my little sitting room,” Judith announced as she paused at an open door. “Please go in and make yourself at home. I have a phone call to return, but my housekeeper will bring in the tea tray, and I’ll be with you in just a few moments.”

Hannah nodded and kept the smile on her face until Judith had left. There was nothing “little” about Judith’s little sitting room. Hannah’s whole condo could have been plunked down in the center, with plenty of room to spare.

As she gazed around her, Hannah conceded that it was a lovely room. It was tastefully decorated in silks and satin and it had an incredible view of the garden. While most gardens looked brown and dead this time of year, Judith’s was lush and green. Her gardener had planted rows of small ornamental spruces in an intricate design that zigzagged around the beautiful statuary and nestled up against pretty little wrought-iron benches.

“Excuse me, ma’am.” A housekeeper in a black silk dress with a white lace collar came into the room. She was carrying a tray containing an antique tea set that Delores would have killed for. Hannah had learned a bit about fine china and porcelain on her forays to estate sales and auctions with her mother and she recognized the pattern. It was a rare and beautifully rendered set that Wedgwood had offered for a limited time in the eighteen hundreds.

The housekeeper walked over to the antique piecrust table at the far end of the room and arranged the tea set carefully on its polished surface. She also set out a platter of dainty finger sandwiches. “Mrs. Woodley asks that you begin without her, ma’am. Shall I pour?”

“Yes, please.” Hannah took a seat in one of the two chairs that flanked the table. Both chairs had a lovely view of the garden, but Hannah was much more interested in watching how the housekeeper poured the tea. It was done efficiently and very carefully, golden tea streaming from the spout to fill the lovely china cup without a splash. As the housekeeper blotted the lip of the teapot with an impeccably clean white linen napkin, Hannah couldn’t help wondering whether knowledge of correct tea-pouring etiquette was one of the prerequisites for employment at the Woodley estate.

“Lemon or sugar, ma’am?”

“Neither, thank you,” Hannah responded with a smile. “I’m really glad you poured that. I would have been petrified that I’d drop the pot.”

The housekeeper gave a startled smile, but she immediately regained her composure. “Yes, ma’am. Will there be anything else?”

“I don’t think so.” Hannah had the urge to do something totally inappropriate. All this formality was getting to her. “Actually I hate tea, but don’t tell Queen Judith that I said that.”

“No, ma’am. I shan’t.”

The housekeeper beat a hasty retreat, but Hannah heard the sound of stifled laughter as the door closed behind her. That made her feel good. She doubted that Judith’s domestic staff got many laughs from her guests.

Once the sound of housekeeper’s footsteps had faded off down the hallway, Hannah lifted the other teacup and took a peek at the mark on the bottom. She was right. It was Wedgwood. She could hardly wait to tell Delores that she’d actually sipped tea from such a rare and expensive cup.

There was nothing to do but wait for Judith, and Hannah took stock of her surroundings. There was a secretariat of French extraction in a corner. It was probably from the time of Louis XIV, but she wasn’t entirely sure. Somehow she doubted that Judith would ever buy copies, regardless of how cleverly they’d been crafted.

The wing chairs were antiques from the mid-eighteen hundreds, undoubtedly English and most certainly expensive. Mentally Hannah added up the items of furniture that surrounded her and came up with a staggering amount. No wonder Del Woodley had needed to borrow money. His wife had spent close to a hundred thousand dollars decorating her sitting room!

All that adding made her hungry and Hannah eyed the platter of sandwiches, little rectangles of bread with the crusts removed. Why did people who wanted to be sophisticated cut the crusts off slices of bread? As far as Hannah was concerned, the crusts were the best part. The filling in the sandwiches was green and since she didn’t think that there was any moldy bologna in the Woodleys’ refrigerator, Hannah assumed that it must be watercress or cucumber. A vegetable sandwich on white bread with the crusts missing wasn’t exactly Hannah’s idea of haute cuisine. She was just wondering if they might taste better than they looked when she heard footsteps approaching. Judith was coming and Hannah pasted a perfectly polite expression on her face. It was showtime.





Chapter Twenty-Six




“Hannah dear. I’m terribly sorry to have kept you waiting,” Judith greeted her as she walked over to take the other chair. “I see that Mrs. Lawson has poured your tea.”

Hannah raised her cup to take a hasty sip. The tea was lukewarm since she’d left it standing for too long, but she managed a smile. “It’s delicious.”

“I do prefer oolong, but most of my guests are partial to Darjeeling.”

Hannah wasn’t sure whether the tea she’d just sipped was oolong or Darjeeling, but it didn’t really matter. “I came to compliment you on your party, Judith. It was perfect, as always.”