Cream Puff Murder (Hannah Swensen, #11)(52)

“Roger didn’t like Stella?”

“It’s not that. It’s just that he told her he was at home with his girlfriend the night that Ronni was killed, and she demanded proof.”

“Can Roger prove that he was with his girlfriend all night?”

“He told me he can if it comes to that, but he’s really hoping it won’t.”

“Let me guess…Roger’s girlfriend wasn’t supposed to be staying with him, and she’ll get into trouble if she has to swear she was with him, for the whole night?”

“You got it.”

“She’s underage?” Hannah asked, crossing her fingers and hoping that wasn’t the case.

“No, it’s just that she’s got a scholarship and she lives in the dorms at Lake Eden Community College. Resident students, regardless of age, aren’t supposed to be out all night.”

“I understand,” Hannah said, and she did. “Roger doesn’t want to rat on his girlfriend unless it’s absolutely necessary to keep him from being arrested for a crime he didn’t commit.”

“That’s exactly right. It won’t come to that, will it?” Andrea looked worried.

“Not if I have anything to say about it.” Hannah pushed back her chair and got up as Michelle waved to them from the doorway. “Roger must have told you his impression of Stella Parks. What did he say about her?”

Andrea rose and they began to walk toward their younger sister. “Roger said that she was as tough as nails.”

“There’s that same cliché again.” Hannah gave a little laugh. “Stella seems to attract them. I’m actually looking forward to meeting her. It sounds as if she plays hardball. And there goes another cliché.”





Chapter Eighteen




“That’s Tad Newberg?” Michelle asked as she spotted the short, heavyset young man in the perfectly pressed uniform standing by the mall security station.

“Yes, that’s Tad. Why do you look so surprised?”

“I think I know him from somewhere, but I’m not sure where.”

“You probably saw him out here when you were shopping,” Andrea told her. “He’s been here for about two years.”

“Maybe,” Michelle said, but she sounded doubtful.

“Tell him you think you met him before,” Hannah suggested. “Maybe he’ll remember where it was. Even if the two of you can’t figure it out, it’ll keep him distracted so that Andrea can take pictures of the security monitors.”

“Hi, Hannah,” Tad greeted her as they stepped up to the station.

“Hello, Tad. I just wanted to drop by and thank you for your help the other night.”

“No thanks needed. That’s my job.”

“Both Andrea and I are grateful that you waited with us until the sheriff’s department arrived.”

“That’s right. We felt a lot safer with you there,” Andrea chimed in.

“They brought you some cookies,” Michelle held out the box. “They’re chocolate with mocha frosting.”

Tad looked genuinely pleased as he accepted the box. “Wow, thanks! I’m crazy about chocolate cookies.”

“Do you like chocolate sauerkraut cake?” Hannah asked him.

“I like it a lot. My sister-in-law makes one almost every Sunday for dinner. It’s my brother’s favorite cake.”

“These cookies are based on that cake. I call them Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell Cookies.”

“Because of the sauerkraut? Or because of the military?”

“The sauerkraut.”

“That’s funny. I like the name.” Tad turned to Michelle with a contemplative look. “You look familiar. Do I know you from somewhere?”

That was Andrea’s cue to take her phone out of her pocket. “Sorry,” she said to Tad, after glancing at the display. “It’s my babysitter. I’ve got to take the call.”

“I was just thinking the same thing,” Michelle said, stepping a bit closer to completely capture Tad’s attention. “I mean, I was thinking I know you from somewhere.”

“How about high school?” Tad asked her. “I’m a couple of years older than you are, but what school did you go to?”

“Jordan High. How about you?”

As the conversation went on between Michelle and Tad, Hannah glanced in Andrea’s direction. She’d managed to walk all the way back to the wall of security monitors and she was pacing back and forth, pretending to hold an imaginary conversation with Grandma McCann. And all the time she was talking, Hannah knew she was using her in-phone camera to take photos of everything inside the security station.

“I don’t think I know anybody from Elmdale,” Michelle said, “but maybe we met at some kind of statewide school contest. Were you in the band? Or the chorus?”

“Not me, but I was always in line at the Dairy Queen in Little Falls when they opened in the spring. How about you?”

Hannah tuned out for a moment and stepped away slightly so that she could examine the rest of the station. It was fairly large, the size of someone’s living room, and other than two small cubicles in the back that were walled off into offices, everything was open to view.