Cream Puff Murder (Hannah Swensen, #11)(37)

“Yes. So what do you think?”

“They’re perfection, dear. And they do taste just like carrot cake.” Delores finished one cookie and took a bite from the second. “Now tell me more about Ronni’s appearance, dear.”

“While you’re eating?”

Delores thought about that for a moment, and then she shook her head. “Perhaps not. Just let me finish this cookie, and then we’ll talk.”

Hannah waited, her mother chewed, and the second cookie disappeared. “What else do you want to know?” she asked.

“Was there much blood?” Delores gave another little shiver and raised her coffee cup to her lips.

“No, Mother. She was facedown in the water, and the wound was washed clean.”

“Do you think she…suffered before she died?”

Hannah gave a little shrug. “I hope not, but I really don’t know. Only Doc Knight would be able to tell that.”

“I wonder how he could tell.”

“I think it would be pretty simple. If she didn’t die instantly or bleed out, she probably drowned. If she bled out, he could tell by the amount of blood left in her body. If she drowned, there would be water in her lungs.”

“That’s enough, dear. Let’s not talk about it anymore.” Delores took another sip of her coffee. “Will you let me know when you find out?”

“What makes you think I’m going to find out?”

Delores looked shocked. “Well, you’re going to investigate, aren’t you? You simply have to, Hannah!”

“Why do I have to, Mother?”

“Because we all have to work to catch Ronni’s killer before my launch party!”

I should have known it had something to do with you, Hannah thought, but she remained silent. Verbalizing that sentiment would only hurt her mother’s feelings. The book launch party, the very first for Delores, was an important event in her mother’s life. “Okay, Mother,” Hannah said instead. “I’ll do my best to catch Ronni’s killer. But I don’t really understand how it could possibly hurt your party if the case is still open.”

“Use your head, dear. Everybody will be talking about Ronni’s murder and how the killer hasn’t been caught yet. And no one will pay the least bit of attention to my book!”

So it was competition for the limelight. Now Hannah understood. Everyone should be focused on Delores’s book and nothing else. She was about to say that people were coming because they liked Delores and wanted to read her book, but her mother had a point. Everyone would be speculating about Ronni if her killer hadn’t been apprehended.

“You see what I mean, don’t you, dear?”

“I do, but don’t worry, Mother. I’ll catch him long before then.”

“You’re certain you can?”

“Absolutely.” Hannah crossed her fingers and hoped her words would be prophetic. She now had triple incentives to solve the case. She wanted to prove that she could do it alone in her own way, she wanted to catch the person who’d dumped her beautiful cream puffs on the floor of the gazebo, and her mother was depending on her to do it. “Nothing’s going to spoil your party, Mother. You have my word on that.”

Delores gave a relieved smile. “Thank you, dear. I certainly feel better now. You’re very good at investigating. I’ve said so to everyone I know. Is there anything Carrie and I can do to help?”

“Yes. You can help a lot if you’re willing to make some phone calls for me.”

“Of course we are! Just tell us what to do. But before you do, give me another one of those cookies. I’m not sure if it’s the cookie or the frosting, but they’re addictive.”

Hannah got up, plucked a cookie off the counter, and carried it to her mother. She couldn’t remember the last time Delores had eaten three cookies in one sitting, and that meant Terry’s Carrot Cake Cookies were an unqualified hit. Then she cleared her throat, trying to think of a polite way of saying it. “You’ve probably heard that Ronni was flirting with various men around town.”

“Much more than flirting, the way I hear it, dear. Say involved. It’s a much better word. And do stop trying to spare my sensibilities. I know what Ronni was.”

“You do?” Hannah still wasn’t sure her mother actually knew what was going on.

“Of course I do! I wasn’t born yesterday, you know. And here’s one you don’t know, dear. Did you know that Mayor Bascomb is putting in that indoor swimming pool and hot tub that Stephanie always wanted?”

“No. I had no idea. That must be terribly expensive.”

“Oh, it is.” Delores took another sip of her coffee in preparation for delivering her punch line. “But it’s not as expensive as divorce.”

“I didn’t know that!”

“I know, dear. I have my ear to the pulse of Lake Eden. Now what, exactly, do you want Carrie and me to troll for.”

Hannah laughed. She couldn’t help it. Her father had been an avid fisherman and Delores was using fishing terms again. “I want you to troll for trouble. Find out who Ronni was flirting…”

“Involved,” Delores interrupted her.

“Right. Find out who Ronni was involved with and how it affects or affected their lives. I don’t need dates, or times of…assignations, or anything like that. I just need to know who might have wanted to…”