Cinnamon Roll Murder (Hannah Swensen, #15)(55)

“That’s convenient,” Andrea said, joining them so quickly Hannah doubted that Judy had noticed her absence. “Where’s your granddaughter’s room?”

“Right here, next to my bedroom. It was originally the nursery and there’s a connecting door between her bedroom and mine.”

“That must have come in very handy when she was a baby,” Andrea commented.

“Oh, it did. I left it open for the first few years so that I could hear her if she woke up during the night. Now that she’s a big girl, we close it ... unless there a storm, of course. Then we leave it open.”

“I can tell you’re a wonderful grandmother,” Hannah said.

“I hope so. Diana is my life. She’s a sweet girl and I love her so much. You should have seen me the first day I took her to Ready-Set-Learn and left her there. I came home and cried.”

“I did the same thing when my daughter went to preschool,” Andrea admitted. “You want them to grow up with every advantage, but part of you wants to keep them as babies.”

“Exactly!”

Hannah watched as Judy and Andrea shared a smile. She was a bit uncomfortable pretending to feel the same way when a similar occasion hadn’t actually happened to her, so she walked over to look at the vertical blinds in Diana’s room. “Oh, wow!” she exclaimed, pulling them closed to reveal a large picture of Cinderella getting into the pumpkin coach in the lovely dress she would wear to the ball at the palace. “Where did you get these wonderful blinds?”

“There’s a home decorating store at the mall that sells them. Cinderella’s on this window, and the Little Mermaid’s on the other. They’re Diana’s favorite Disney characters, and they were her birthday present when she turned three.”

Hannah looked around at the rest of the room. The wallpaper was printed with colorful hot air balloons in every shape and size imaginable, floating in a cerulean blue sky dotted with puffy white clouds. The bed was child-size and had a fluffy pink comforter with a white ruffle around the edges. There were two white bookshelves filled with children’s books, and one Hannah remembered from her own childhood, Charlie And The Chocolate Factory, sat on a bed table next to an adult-size rocking chair.

“Are you reading that for a bedtime story?” she asked Judy.

“Yes, for the third time. Diana just loves it. Next week we’re starting the Harry Potter series. It may be a little old for her, but we’ll see. If it is, we’ll save it for later.” Judy motioned to Hannah. “Come downstairs and I’ll show you the piano room. It’s quite large and it would be perfect for an office.”

“I’ll join you in just a second,” Andrea said, following them into the hallway. “If you don’t mind, I’d like to use the bathroom.”

“Certainly.” Judy pointed to the bathroom at the end of the hall. “Do you want us to wait for you?”

Andrea shook her head. “Go on ahead. I’ll find my way, don’t worry.”

When Judy opened the French doors to the piano room, Hannah was immediately impressed. The room was long and narrow, exactly as Judy had described, but it was also filled with light coming in through the double-paned windows that ran the length of the outside wall. There were blinds you could pull to keep out the hot summer sun, but on a winter day like today, the sun felt good as it fell in patterns on the wooden floor.

“You’re right. It’s perfect for an office,” Hannah told her. “But it’s perfect for a playroom, too.”

“Diana loves it. She has Saturday play dates with another girl from preschool. One week they’re here and the next week they’re at her mother’s house. I think both of them would rather be here. There’s more room for them to play, and we always bake cookies in the afternoons.” Judy looked sad for a moment. “That’s one of the reasons I really hate to move. This is the only home that Diana has ever known. It’s not going to be easy for her to adjust to a new house, a new school, and new friends, not to mention a mother that comes home every night, and a new father who suddenly appears in her life.”





“So, did you get it?” Hannah asked the moment Andrea pulled away from the curb.

“Of course I did. I got everything I needed and a lot more besides.”

“A lot more?”

“Yes.” Andrea took the on-ramp and merged onto the highway. “We stayed a lot longer than I thought we would. It’s almost time to go over to Club Nineteen.”

“Okay, but what did you mean when you said you got a lot more than just a DNA sample.”

“There was a comb on the dressing table in the room Doctor Bev used. I bagged it and put it in my purse.”

“Why?”

“It had a couple of hairs in it, and I thought we might need it for her DNA. It can’t hurt ... right?”

“Right. I’m not sure if we need it either, but we might. And you got something to use for Diana’s DNA sample?”

“Somethings.”

Hannah frowned slightly. “What?”

“Somethings. Plural. I got a sample of Diana’s hair from her hairbrush, and a spoon that was next to a bottle of children’s cough syrup. I figured that should do it, but then I spotted a band-aid with blood on it in her wastebasket so I took that, too.”