Cream Puff Murder (Hannah Swensen, #11)(69)

“A couple of the ladies in your classes. They said you and your sisters always get involved when there’s a murder. I was just wondering if you found out anything.”

“Nothing yet,” Hannah said, deciding it couldn’t hurt to share that information. “How about you?”

“Me? It’s not my job to investigate murders.”

“I know that. I just wondered if you’d noticed anything unusual since the night Ronni was killed.”

“Like what?”

“Like somebody who used to come out here every night and hasn’t been seen since Ronni died. The regular detectives would miss that, but you’d notice.”

“You’re right. I would. I don’t think…no, I haven’t noticed anything like that. The only unusual thing that happened since she died was the attempted break-in at Bianco Shoes. They didn’t get anything. The alarm scared them off.”

A cold wind whipped around the corner of Hannah’s truck. She shivered and pulled up the zipper on her parka.

“You’re cold. You’d better get going,” Tad said, opening the door of her truck for her. “It’s supposed to get down to fifteen below tonight, and that’s not counting the wind chill.”

Hannah shivered again and climbed into her icy cold truck. She reached back for a roll of Molasses Crackles and handed them to him. “Thanks, Tad. Here’s a roll of cookies for you. They’re frozen, but they should thaw in about twenty minutes after you get back inside.”

“That’s really nice of you. Thanks, Hannie.”

“Hannie?”

“When I like someone, I give them a nickname. You know, like Susan is Suzie. Hannah’s a tough one.”

She certainly is! Hannah thought, but she didn’t say it.

“I hope you don’t mind the nickname thing.” Tad looked a bit worried. “If you’d rather, I can call you Hannah.”

“No, it’s okay,” Hannah said quickly. She just wanted to cut this conversation short and get on the road. “Good-bye, Tad.”

Hannah started her truck to cut off any further dialogue. She was just too cold to chat. Tad took the hint by giving a little wave and heading for the entrance.

As she drove home, Hannah began to smile. It was a good thing Tad hadn’t known that Louise was her middle name. He might have decided to call her Weezie instead of Hannie, and she didn’t know which nickname she disliked more.



“Again?” Hannah stared down at the empty Kitty Valet. “Good heavens, Moishe!”

“Rowww.” Moishe gave a plaintive meow and brushed up against her ankles.

“Okay. You can have more. Hold on a second and I’ll fill it up.” Hannah unlocked the door to the broom closet and came back with a scoop of dry cat food. She retraced her footsteps four times until the food tube on the Kitty Valet was full. “There it is,” she said, clamping the lid on tightly. “I just wish I knew where you were…the camera!”

The minute she thought of it, Hannah reached up to flick off the red switch on the camera. She pushed the button that extracted the tape and retrieved the carrier that Mike had left on the kitchen counter. Her next stop was the living room. Hannah slipped the tape and carrier into her VCR, set it to rewind, and headed toward her bedroom. She’d get out of her soaked exercise outfit, take a lightning fast shower, put on the warmest clothes she owned, grab a fresh cup of coffee from the pot she’d put on when she’d arrived home, and settle down on the couch with the remote control to see where Moishe was hiding his kitty crunchies.

Fifteen minutes later, Hannah was still in the dark. The surveillance camera must have failed somehow, because there were only two shots of Moishe leaving the kitchen. In the first shot, he’d entered the living room and jumped up to the back of the couch to take a nap. At least Hannah assumed he’d been napping. The camera had clicked off. When it reactivated, it caught Moishe in the act of jumping down from the back of the couch and padding into the kitchen again. The third shot showed Moishe leaving the kitchen and heading off toward the laundry room, presumably to use his litter box. And that was all. The rest of the tape was blank.

Hannah removed the tape from her VCR, popped it out of the carrier, and took it back to the kitchen. She’d return it to the camera and run a little test. She’d turn on the camera and leave the kitchen a prescribed number of times. Then she’d turn off the camera and watch the tape to see whether it had activated correctly.

Hannah had just reinserted the tape when her cell phone rang. Since it was in her purse on the counter within easy reach, she answered it.

“Hello? This is Hannah.”

“Hi, Hannah. It’s Mike. Where are you?”

“I’m home. Why didn’t you call me here?”

“Because I didn’t know you’d be home this early.”

Hannah was puzzled. “You’re not calling me from home, are you?”

“Of course not. They might check my phone records. I picked up one of those disposable cell phones with the minutes already loaded.”

“Well I’m glad you called. I’m having trouble with this surveillance camera, and I was about to test it out.”

“What’s wrong with it?”

“I turned it on when Michelle and I left this morning, and I just watched the tape. It only showed Moishe leaving the kitchen twice all day. And when I got home, the Kitty Valet was empty.”