Cream Puff Murder (Hannah Swensen, #11)(47)

“I just wanted to get everything straight with you, Hannah. You know how important you are to me.”

Important enough to tell me that you spent several nights at Ronni’s place? I could stand to be a little less important than that, thank you very much!

“Hannah? You believe me, don’t you?”

“Of course,” Hannah said, being entirely truthful. She did believe he’d spent several nights at Ronni’s place. Perhaps that wasn’t precisely what he was asking, but it would have to do for now. “Tell me about Stella Parks,” she said.

“Stella? Why are you asking about her?”

The way Mike asked the question made Hannah pause. It was pretty obvious he hadn’t heard about his replacement. “Bill asked the Minneapolis Police Department if he could borrow her to head up Ronni’s murder case.”

“I didn’t know that. She’s a tough cop, and she happens to be a good detective. Stella took over for me when I left the M.P.D. to come here.”

“So you think she’ll catch Ronni’s killer?”

“I don’t know. She doesn’t know the people, she doesn’t know the area, and she didn’t know Ronni. She’ll run a tight investigation, but she won’t have the hometown advantage. And she’ll drive my team hard. She’ll want to prove she’s better than I am.”

“Hannah?” a voice called out from the dim interior of the garage.

Hannah came close to groaning. It was Clara Hollenbeck, one of her neighbors. Clara’s church groups must have run very late. Hannah turned back to Mike to tell him to vamoose, but he had vanished in the space behind the Dumpster, leaving her to deal with her neighbor. There had to be some way of dealing with Clara…but what on earth could it be?

“Were you talking to somebody?” Clara asked, walking up to Hannah’s side.

“Myself. I was talking to myself. I do that when I’m…um…working on a new recipe.”

“Are you sleepwalking, Hannah? It’s cold out here in the garage, and you’re here in your robe and slippers.”

“Sleepwalking? No, Clara. No, I’m not sleepwalking. I’m definitely awake.”

“But what are you doing out here?”

Hannah saw movement out of the corner of her eye. Mike was slipping out from behind the Dumpster in a crouch, and he was heading for the sloping exit. She just hoped that Clara wouldn’t turn around and see him.

“Hannah?” Clara prodded her for an answer.

“I think best when I’m pacing,” Hannah said quickly. “A lot of people are like that. And I have to pace out here because…I don’t want to take the chance I’ll wake Kevin and Sue by pacing the floor above them. Now that Sue’s working part-time, she needs a full night’s sleep.”

“I didn’t know Sue was working!”

“Yes, part-time at Kiddie Korner.”

“That’s wonderful. She needs to get out more. What type of recipe is it?”

“Recipe?”

“The one you’re working on. The one that’s making you pace out here.”

“Oh. It’s a cookie recipe.”

“It’s just fascinating to see your mind at work, Hannah!” Clara was clearly intrigued. “What kind of cookie will it be?”

“Watermelon.” Hannah said the first thing that occurred to her and risked a glance in Mike’s direction. He was halfway up the sloped exit, heading for the bushes at the top that lined the sides of the road.

“That sounds very unusual.” Clara frowned. “To tell you the truth, Hannah, I don’t think a watermelon cookie would be very good.”

Mike was out of sight at last, and Hannah gave Clara a big smile. “You’re absolutely right. Watermelon cookies would be dreadful. Thanks for telling me, Clara. Now I don’t have to lose any more sleep working on the recipe.”





Chapter Sixteen




It was before the crack of dawn, and the sisters were sitting at Hannah’s almost-antique Formica-topped table in the kitchen. Hannah was wearing her exercise outfit, and it seemed slightly looser than it had when she’d first started taking exercise classes. That could be her imagination, but she really hoped it wasn’t. Michelle was in robe and slippers, and Hannah suspected that after she left, her youngest sister might very well go back to bed.

“So what did Mike say that was so important he had to see you in the middle of the night?” Michelle asked.

“Not much. He said he just wanted me to know that nothing happened with Ronni.”

“And you believed him?”

Hannah shrugged. “It doesn’t really matter whether I did or I didn’t. Mike and I don’t have an exclusive arrangement or anything like that.”

“But you’d still be hurt if you thought he’d been romantically involved with Ronni.”

“Well…yes. I wouldn’t have any right to be angry with him, but I would be hurt.”

“That’s exactly the way I feel. I hope both our guys are truthful and they weren’t really involved with her.”

“Me, too.” Hannah zooped down the rest of her coffee and stood up to go. “Are you going anywhere today?”

“You tell me.”