Chocolate Cream Pie Murder (Hannah Swensen #24)(69)

There was a knock on the back kitchen door, and Mike got up quickly. “I’ll get it,” he said, heading to the door. There was a moment before he opened it, and Hannah knew he’d checked the peephole that he and Lonnie had installed right after she’d told them about Ross’s early-morning visit to The Cookie Jar.

“Come in, guys!” Hannah heard Mike say, and she went to pour more cups of coffee. Lonnie and Rick were back from the bank and she could hardly wait to hear what had happened.

“Doug!” Hannah gasped when she turned around with two cups of coffee in her hands. “I didn’t expect you to come back here with Lonnie and Rick.”

“I know, but I wanted to tell you what happened this morning myself,” Doug said. “I’m not sure I handled the situation as well as I could have. And if I didn’t, I want to personally apologize to you.”

“As long as you did the best you could, that’s good enough for me,” Hannah assured him. “Just let me get another cup of coffee for you and then you can tell us what happened when Ross got there.”

Hannah hurried to the coffeepot and poured another cup. She quickly put on another pot, carried Doug’s coffee back to the work station, set it in front of him, and gave him an encouraging smile. “So what happened when Ross got to the bank?”

“That’s just it. He didn’t.”

That caught Hannah completely by surprise and it took her a moment to respond. “Ross didn’t show up?!”

“No. Lonnie and Rick and I waited in my office until almost eleven, but there was no sign of him. Then I went out and told Lydia that if Ross came into the bank, she should buzz me immediately and say that I was waiting for him in my office. That’s where Lonnie, Rick, and I sat until we came over here.”

Hannah couldn’t help the shocked expression that crossed her face. She’d been so sure that Ross would show up to sign the withdrawal slip. “So Ross didn’t contact you at all?” she asked.

“Not physically. But about twenty minutes ago, Lydia buzzed me to say that I had a phone call. I asked who was calling and she didn’t know, but she said the caller had told her that it was imperative for him to talk to me.”

There was only one question to ask and Hannah asked it. “And it was Ross?”

“Yes.”

“That makes sense,” Mike said. “Ross only contacted Hannah once in person and that was before anyone else in town was awake.”

“The other two times I talked to Ross, it was on my cell phone,” Hannah explained. “What did you do when you realized that the phone call was from Ross?”

“As soon as I realized it was Ross, I wrote Ross’s name in big, block letters on my notepad so Lonnie and Rick would know who it was. And then I put the call on speaker phone so they could listen in.”

“Smart,” Mike commented, giving Doug an approving nod. “Go on, Doug.”

Doug paused to take a sip of his coffee and then he went on with his account. “The first thing Ross did was identify himself. Then he asked me if I had his withdrawal slip ready to sign and I told him that I did. And then I said that the bank didn’t normally keep that much cash on hand, but I’d managed to get it by armored truck early this morning. All I needed was the signed withdrawal slip before I could release it.”

“What did he say to that?” Hannah asked.

Doug looked terribly embarrassed. “He accused me of playing games with him to try to get him into the bank. And he called me a name that I’d rather not repeat in polite company. I was shocked, Hannah. The first part of our conversation was friendly, almost like he was a regular bank customer. But then he turned ugly. He said I should listen to him and listen carefully, that he’d filled out a withdrawal slip that he had with him and taken a cell phone photo of it. He was faxing that photo to the bank and since he’d already signed the withdrawal slip, I should give the money to you and be quick about it.”

“Did you explain that you couldn’t accept a fax, that you had to personally witness his signature?” Mike asked.

“Of course I did. And then he called me another name, even worse than the first one, accused me of setting a trap for him, and said that if I didn’t release the money to Hannah, there would be some very nasty consequences.”

Rick nodded. “It was really frightening, Hannah. Ross sounded really unhinged. Both Lonnie and I think he’s insane.”

“That’s right,” Lonnie agreed. “It was almost like he had two personalities, the nice one and the nasty, vindictive one.”

“I’m sorry, Hannah,” Doug apologized, “but the change in his voice really rattled me.”

“It rattled me, too,” Hannah admitted. “What else did Ross say?”

“He accused me of lying to him. He said he knew that I’d given the money to you because we were friends. And he said the word friends in a very nasty way!”

“What came next?” Mike asked him.

“He repeated that there would be consequences for lying to him, that he knew the truth and I wouldn’t get away with trying to trick him.”

They sat there looking at each other for a moment. Ross truly was insane.

Doug shook his head. “That’s really all I can tell you, Hannah.”

Hannah picked up on Doug’s phrasing. “I understand. But did Ross say anything else?”