Chocolate Chip Cookie Murder (Hannah Swensen #1)(87)

Judith looked flustered, not at all like her usual poised self and Hannah wondered if she should backpedal. But Judith had been very forthcoming and she deserved the truth. “I’m sorry I have to tell you, Judith, but Del secured a personal loan from Max Turner. I just learned about it this afternoon. And I know that Del was having some problems making the payments. You can see how this all fits together, can’t you?”

“Yes, I can.” Judith’s voice was hard and Hannah assumed that she was embarrassed. “You thought that Benton shot Max so that Del wouldn’t have to honor the loan. Is that right?”

“That’s it. I’m really sorry, Judith, but it did make sense. You’ve got to admit that.”

Judith dipped her head in a nod. “You’re right, Hannah. It did make sense. Does your brother-in-law know about the loan?”

“No. There’s no record of it and I can’t see any reason to tell him, now that Benton’s been cleared. And Del has an airtight alibi for the time of Max’s murder. He was meeting with his night supervisors at DelRay and there’s no way he could have been in two places at once. The only other person who would care about the loan is you, and…”

“Brava, Hannah.” Judith smiled an icy smile and pulled a gun from beneath the folds of her silk shawl. “It’s unfortunate that you put the pieces together, but now that you have, I can’t let you tell your brother-in-law.”

“You killed Max?” Hannah gulped. She’d never stared into the barrel of a gun before and it wasn’t an experience she’d care to repeat. And if the cold, calculating expression on Judith’s face was any indication, Hannah suspected that she might not get a chance to repeat anything ever again.

“You were asking too many questions, Hannah. And you were skirting much too close to the truth. I knew it only a matter of time before you arrived at the accurate conclusion and conveyed it to your brother-in-law. I couldn’t let you do that, now could I?”

Judith was going to kill her. Hannah knew that with heart-sinking certainty. She also knew that she had to keep Judith talking, to buy herself some time until the reinforcements came.

But there weren’t any reinforcements, Hannah reminded herself. She hadn’t told Bill that she was going to see Judith and he didn’t know anything about Del’s loan with Max. To make matters worse, Bill wasn’t even a detective yet. He’d never figure it out in time!

“Nervous, dear?”

Judith’s voice was taunting and Hannah shuddered. The polite socialite had turned into a cold-blooded killer and she was a goner unless she could keep Judith talking. “Of course I’m nervous! When did you get the gun? Or did you have it with you when I walked in the door?”

“Do you honestly think that I’d carry a gun around in my own home?” Judith laughed lightly.

Of course you wouldn’t. Even a shoulder holster would ruin the lines of your dress, Hannah thought. And then she wondered how she could think flippant thoughts when Judith was about to kill her. Either she was much braver than she’d ever imagined, or she still expected the cavalry to ride in at the last minute.

Hannah’s mind spun at top speed, searching for questions that Judith might want to answer. The killers in her favorite movies seemed to like to explain why they’d murdered their victims. All she had to do was keep Judith’s mind off shooting her until she could figure out what to do. “When did you go to get the gun? I’m curious.”

“Why?”

“I don’t know. That’s just the way my mind works. You’re going to shoot me anyway. You might as well do me a favor and satisfy my curiosity first.”

“And why should I do any favors for you?”

“Because I brought you cookies,” Hannah answered. “They’re some of my best, Pecan Chews. You’re going to love them.”

Judith laughed. She seemed to think that Hannah’s comment was funny. Maybe it was, but it was difficult for Hannah to see the humor past the gun barrel right now.

“Come on, Judith,” Hannah tried again. “What harm can it do to tell me? You were smart to get the gun. I just want to know when you realized that you needed it.”

“I had the gun when I came back with the plane tickets. It was under my shawl.”

Hannah sighed. She should have noticed that Judith’s silk shawl didn’t complement the dress she was wearing. If she’d been thinking straight, she would have realized that something was up. “You were planning to shoot me then?”

“Not then. I brought the gun as a precaution, but I hoped that I wouldn’t have to use it. Unfortunately you forced my hand by mentioning the loan.”

“Me and my big mouth,” Hannah blurted out. Then she sighed. “If I hadn’t said anything about the loan, you would have let me leave?”

“Yes. But you did say something, and now it’s too late.”

Hannah thought of another question as fast as she could. “I know about some of Max’s other loans and how he forced people to sign over their property as collateral. Is that what he did to you?”

“Yes. DelRay suffered a setback and when Del needed more capital, he signed over my home. He was a fool to do it. I advised him against it, but he wouldn’t listen. Del was never very bright.”

The gun barrel wavered slightly and Hannah wondered if she should make a grab for it. In one of the detective shows she’d watched, the main character had jammed his finger somewhere or other to keep the gun from firing. But that gun hadn’t looked like the one that Judith held. If she got out of this alive, she was going to find out everything she could about guns and how they operated.