Devil's Food Cake Murder (Hannah Swensen, #14)(15)

“I know it’s important for you. You use your phone for work. Mine is just for personal use.”

“That’s important, too. Now tell me about Mike. What did he say when he asked you.”

Hannah didn’t say, Asked me what? She knew that her sister had gone back to their original topic of conversation. “He said, I’ve got an idea. Do you want to come? But that was after I’d already promised to make a Mocha Trifle for the party.”

“Why did you do that? I thought you were upset about Doctor Bev moving here.”

“I am, but Mike asked me to make the trifle for a birthday party, and I said I would, but that was before I found out whose birthday it was.”

“Mike’s an idiot,” Andrea said, giving an exasperated sigh. “The man has zero sensitivity. I really don’t know why he would ask you to make a dessert for Doctor Bev’s party, unless …” Andrea stopped in midsentence and frowned.

“Unless what?”

“Unless he has his own selfish interests at heart. He wants you to get so mad at Norman that you’ll fall into his arms on the rebound. Either that, or …”

Andrea faltered and Hannah stepped in with a possible explanation. “Either that or Mike has the IQ of a small kitchen appliance.”

“Exactly!” Andrea looked very pleased at the comparison. “Which small kitchen appliance would he be?”

“A toaster.”

“Because every single woman in town thinks he’s hot?”

“Exactly. And any woman who thinks she’s his one and only will get burned every time he looks at another woman. And he’ll do it all the time.”

Andrea gave a brief nod. “Sounds like you’ve got Mike figured out. How about Norman? Why do you think he brought Doctor Bev here in the first place?”

“I don’t know. I’ve been trying to figure that out.”

“Do you think he’s trying to make you jealous so you’ll fight for him?”

Hannah thought about that for a moment and then she shook her head. “I don’t think so. Norman’s not that devious. He brought her to Lake Eden for some other reason, but I’m not sure what it is. Whatever it is started in Minneapolis when he went to see the new dental clinic his friends from Seattle built.”

“Are you sure?”

“Almost positive. He was fine when he left Lake Eden. I know because he dropped Cuddles off to stay with Moishe and he gave me a big hug and kiss when he left. But when he got to the Cities, things changed. He left a couple of messages, but he sounded …” Hannah paused to think of the best word to describe Norman’s voice. “Cold. He sounded cold like he was talking to a stranger. And when he came back he was cold, too. He gave me a hug and thanked me for keeping Cuddles, but…he was cold. I don’t know any other way to describe it.”

“Before he left you were his love? And when he came back you were just a friend?”

“That’s exactly right. And I’m still just a friend. I know something happened to change his state of mind, but I don’t know what it is.”

“Maybe you should find out,” Andrea suggested, getting up to leave. But she turned back at the door. “And you’d better do it before you wind up baking a wedding cake for Norman and Doctor Bev.”

Hannah took Andrea’s words seriously, but there were orders to fill and cookies to bake, and there wasn’t much she could do about it at the moment. She was knee deep in cookie dough when Lisa pushed open the swinging door from the coffee shop and announced that Grandma Knudson had come in to see her.

“She said it was important,” Lisa said. “Shall I send her back here?”

“Yes. She probably wants more cookies for Sunday. I heard they were giving a bon voyage party after church for Claire and Reverend Bob.”

Lisa shook her head. “I don’t think that’s it. When she came in she looked worried and she said she’d walked down here from the parsonage.”

“She shouldn’t be walking that far in this weather! It’s ten below and the streets are slippery.”

“I know. That’s why I called Herb to take her back home. He’ll be here in five minutes, and I figured that was long enough for you to warm her up with some coffee and listen to what she has to say.”

As Lisa left to fetch Grandma Knudson, Hannah did what she did at least a dozen times a day. She thanked her lucky stars she’d found such a wonderful, caring business partner. Lisa had been young, just out of high school, when Hannah had hired her two and a half years ago. At that time, Lisa had earned scholarships to several good universities, but she’d explained to Hannah that she wanted to stay at home in Lake Eden to care for her father, Jack Herman, who’d just been diagnosed with Alzheimer’s disease.

A lot had happened in the intervening years. Lisa had been so good for business that Hannah had made her a full partner. And Lisa had married Hannah’s classmate, Herb Beeseman, on Valentine’s Day last year. Herb’s mother, Marge Beeseman, had given the happy couple her family home, and she’d moved in with Jack to give the newlyweds time to themselves.

There had been talk when Marge, a widow, had moved in with Jack, a widower. But that gossip had been quickly nipped in the bud by Hannah’s mother. Now the citizens of Lake Eden were used to the arrangement, and no one said a word. Jack Herman and Marge Beeseman were a couple and that was that.