Devil's Food Cake Murder (Hannah Swensen, #14)(3)

“Coffee ice cream, pickled herring, or ring bologna.” Grandma Knudson gave a little giggle that sounded as if it had come from the throat of someone one-fifth her age. “I’d better turn that coffee on. I have it all ready to go.”

In less time than it took Hannah to finish the rest of her cake, Grandma Knudson was back. “Maybe they aren’t bringing me something to eat. I was thinking that they might have picked up a tall, dark-haired stranger. I’d really love it if they brought me a tall, dark-haired stranger!”

Hannah stared at Grandma Knudson in surprise. “You’re thinking of dating again?”

“Good heavens, no! It’s just that it would be fun to tell Pam Baxter that she was right. She was the one who told me I’d meet a tall, dark-haired stranger.”

“Of course,” Hannah said, remembering that Pam was the teacher who’d dressed up in a fortune-teller costume at the last Jordan High carnival.

“Did you have your fortune told, Hannah?”

“Yes. Pam told me that I was going to come into money.”

“And you do every day at The Cookie Jar,” Grandma Knudson named Hannah’s bakery and coffee shop on Main Street. “Pam was right in your case.”

“But not in yours?”

“No. My problem seems to be that there aren’t many strangers who come to Lake Eden and wind up at the parsonage. As a matter of fact, I can’t remember the last stranger who came to town and ended up here. There were more strangers when we had the hotel, but now …”

“We’re back!” a voice called out, interrupting Grandma Knudson’s recollections.

Hannah opened her mouth to call out a hello to Claire and Bob, but she reconsidered. Had she heard Claire’s voice, or was it Jacob who’d imitated her again?

“It’s Claire,” Grandma Knudson said, responding to Hannah’s unspoken question. “Jacob’s in his cage in the bedroom, and Claire’s voice came from the other end of the house.”

“Here we are,” Bob announced, stepping into the parlor with Claire. They made a perfect couple. Bob’s dark, wavy hair and sturdy body set off Claire’s blond, sylphlike beauty. “Hi, Hannah.”

“Hello, Bob. Hi, Claire.” Hannah couldn’t help noticing that they were holding hands. Not only that, they were both smiling, and they looked supremely happy. Of course smiling and looking supremely happy wasn’t all that unusual for newlyweds. Bob and Claire had married on New Year’s Eve and this was only the first week in February.

“Where’s my surprise?” Grandma Knudson demanded of her grandson. “Hannah and I have been on pins and needles trying to guess what it is.”

“What was your guess?” Claire asked Hannah.

“I didn’t have the foggiest notion. Grandma Knudson did, though. She told me it was probably coffee ice cream, pickled herring, or ring bologna.”

“It’s not any of those,” Bob said with a laugh. “Try another guess, Grandma.”

“If it’s not those, then it must be a tall, dark-haired stranger!”

“What?” Bob looked at her in surprise.

“Don’t look so shocked. Pam Baxter told me I’d meet a tall, dark-haired stranger at the last school carnival and…Oh goodness gracious! There he is!”

“It looks like Pam Baxter was right,” the stranger said, crossing the room to give Grandson Knudson a big hug.





Chapter Two

“I never would have recognized you in a million years!” Grandma Knudson said, reaching out to give the stranger who wasn’t a stranger a pat on the cheek.

The man laughed. “I’m not surprised. I’ve changed a lot since high school. Less hair, more body fat, and I’d like to think a bigger brain.”

“Well, it’s just wonderful that you stopped here to see me!” Grandma Knudson turned to Hannah. “This is Matthew Walters. He lived with Bob’s father and me almost thirty years ago.”

“My father and mother wanted to go to Africa as missionaries, and they asked Reverend and Mrs. Knudson if I could live with them while they were gone. My uncle and aunt went with them.”

“That’s right,” Grandma took up the story. “Matthew’s father had a younger brother, and Matthew’s mother had a younger sister. They met at the wedding, fell in love, and got married a year later. They had a son and Matthew’s cousin Paul stayed with us, too.” Grandma Knudson turned to Matthew. “How is Paul? I haven’t heard from him in years.”

“Paul is …” Matthew stopped speaking and frowned. “I’m not sure how Paul is. We haven’t kept in touch.”

Grandma Knudson looked surprised. “But why? You were so close when you were young.”

“I know we were. Since my father and Paul’s father were both ministers with churches only twenty-some miles apart, our families spent a lot of time together. But remember how Paul got into trouble while he was here by breaking into school lockers?”

“Of course I remember. But he didn’t actually take anything valuable. It was Bill Garrison’s last year as principal, and he told me that Paul was just trying to get attention from the girls by breaking into their lockers and taking little things. He thought it was because you two had spent a lot of time together when you first got here and now that you were dating, Paul felt left out.”