Cream Puff Murder (Hannah Swensen, #11)(59)

“Then we’re all okay with our findings,” Delores continued as she turned to Hannah. “I don’t need to worry about you, do I, dear?”

“Not me, Mother,” Hannah said, flipping the good-sized booklet over so that she didn’t have to focus on Mike’s name. “Let me read you the list of suspects I have so far.”

Hannah flipped to her page of suspects and went down the list, one by one. “I have Mike, Lonnie, and Bill. You already know about them.”

“You have Bill?” Andrea looked shocked. “But you know he didn’t do it.”

“Of course I do. I also know that Mike didn’t do it. And I don’t think Lonnie did it either, but this is an objective list and nobody gets crossed off until they have an airtight alibi, or until someone else proves to be Ronni’s killer.”

Neither Andrea nor Michelle looked happy, and an uneasy silence fell over their gathering. Finally it was broken when Norman cleared his throat. “Who’s next on your suspect list?” he asked Hannah.

Bless you! Hannah felt like saying, but of course she didn’t. Instead she glanced down at her list and found the fifth name. “Bridget Murphy.”

“Of course!” Delores exclaimed. “We should have written her down. Several people told us about her confrontation with Ronni at Bertanelli’s.”

“You know Bridget, don’t you, Mother?”

“Of course I do. Why do you ask?”

“Norman said you wanted something exciting to do for the investigation. Would you and Carrie like to interview Bridget to see if she has an alibi?”

“We wanted exciting, not dangerous!” Carrie spoke up. “Bridget Murphy has a temper!”

“I’ll do it,” Michelle said. “Bridget likes me, and I can figure out some way to ask her that won’t sound like I’m accusing her.”

“She’s all yours,” Hannah said, making a note on her page. “How about Betty Jackson? She’s next on the suspect list.”

“But why?” Delores sounded shocked.

“Ronni insulted her in exercise class, and Betty said she’d get even with her. Charlotte Roscoe told me that Betty went to Duluth to her nephew’s wedding, but I haven’t checked it out yet.”

“I’ll do it,” Andrea offered. “I have a couple of friends in Duluth.”

“Then there’s the other suspect Charlotte gave me, Serena Roste.”

“Who’s that?” Delores asked.

“Wade Hoffman was engaged to Serena before he got engaged to Ronni. Charlotte said it wasn’t a pretty breakup, especially since Serena and Ronni were close friends before Ronni stole Serena’s fiancé.”

“Past tense,” Norman noted. “You said they were close friends. Did Charlotte think that Serena might have killed Ronni?”

“She thought it was a possibility.”

“I’ll find out about Serena,” Carrie offered. “I have a good friend in Elk River, and I can call her.”

“Great. Thanks, Carrie.” Hannah jotted it down in her book. “Now how about Loretta Richardson and Trudi Schuman?”

“Why are they suspects?” Carrie looked puzzled.

“Ronni insulted them when she substituted for Roger in our class,” Andrea explained.

“I’ll check their alibis,” Michelle offered. “I’ll drop in on Carly and find out where her mother was that night. Carly’s Mom and Trudi do everything together.”

Hannah made another note in her book. “How about Babs Dubinski? Who wants to take her?”

“I will,” Andrea said quickly. “I want to check on that rental property of hers, anyway. Somebody told me she was thinking of putting it on the market.”

Hannah wrote Andrea’s initials in front of Babs’s name. There was a reason her sister was the top-selling real estate agent in Lake Eden. “How about Immelda Griese?”

“Wait a minute, dear.” Delores looked slightly confused. “What possible reason could Babs and Immelda have for killing Ronni?”

“They’re in our class, and Ronni insulted them,” Andrea gave the same explanation. “She also insulted Gail Hansen and Vonnie Blair. Hannah will probably mention them next.”

“Was there anyone in your class she didn’t insult?” Carrie wanted to know.

Andrea nodded. “Me. I think she was about to, but Hannah jumped in and asked her whether she was going to spend the whole hour insulting us, or if we could actually do some exercises.”

“Good girl!” Delores beamed at Hannah. It made Hannah feel about six years old, but it was a very nice feeling.

“We’ll check on Vonnie Blair,” Carrie volunteered. “Delores and I have to go out to the hospital tomorrow to give blood. They’re having another drive. And on the way back, we’ll stop to see Immelda at the rectory.”

“I can take care of Gail Hansen,” Norman said. “She’s scheduled for a checkup tomorrow afternoon.”

“That’s it, then,” Hannah flipped the page, “except for one thing that only Andrea can do for us.”

Andrea looked surprised. “What’s that?”

“I need to get the surveillance tapes from the cameras at Heavenly Bodies on the night that Ronni was murdered. I know there won’t be any footage of the murder. We would have heard about that right away. But I’m hoping we can spot something that Detective Parks and the rookies didn’t notice.”