Devil's Food Cake Murder (Hannah Swensen, #14)(33)

“Big Soft Chewy Molasses Cookies. They’re Lois Thielen’s recipe.”

“I’ve had those. They’re delicious,” Clara said, and then she turned to look at Grandma Knudson. “We could bring coffee and a plate of them in here if you’d like.”

Grandma Knudson nodded. “That would be nice. Thank you, Clara. You girls are always so thoughtful.”

When Clara and Marguerite had left, Hannah turned to Mike. “Would you like me to leave so you can talk to Grandma Knudson alone?”

“That’s okay. You don’t have to leave on my account.”

“Nor on my account,” Grandma Knudson added. “Besides, you should tell Mike everything you and Andrea found out about Matthew.” Grandma Knudson turned to Mike. “We missed you at church services on Sunday, Mike. If you’d been there, you would have had the chance to meet Matthew in person.”

Mike took the gentle chiding in stride, but Hannah knew him well enough to know he was slightly embarrassed. She was willing to bet he’d be in church this coming Sunday.

“When was the last time you saw Reverend Walters?” he asked.

“About nine last night when I went to bed. I said goodnight to him, and he told me that he was going to get up early and work on his sermon in the church office.”

Hannah gave a little shiver as she remembered the blood-soaked pages spread out on the desk. She wondered if Reverend Matthew had finished his sermon, and then she wondered if it really mattered at all.

“Do you know if Reverend Matthew had any enemies?” Mike asked his second question.

“I don’t know of any. Except …” Grandma Knudson stopped and looked thoughtful. “He may have had a falling out with his cousin Paul. Or perhaps it was the other way around and his cousin Paul had a falling out with Matthew. In any event, they hadn’t seen each other for years. When they were here, staying with me while their parents went off to do missionary work, Matthew and Paul were quite close. Toward the end of the year, Paul did get into a bit of trouble, but we suspected it was because Matthew had a girlfriend and Paul was jealous of the time Matthew spent with her.”

“What kind of trouble?”

“Minor trouble. He broke into lockers at school and took mementos, little things that weren’t valuable. The principal at the time thought it was a bid for attention, but Matthew thought it was the start of something. He said Paul committed a crime and was sent to a prison in Iowa. Matthew wasn’t sure of the details because Paul’s parents didn’t want to talk about it, but he thought it was some kind of burglary gone bad.”

“Do you know Paul’s parents?”

“I did. Not well, but we exchanged Christmas cards and they always sent me a little something for my birthday. They’re both dead now. Paul’s mother died six years ago, and his father died last year.”

Hannah interpreted the tightening of the muscles around Mike’s mouth. He was disappointed that he couldn’t interview Paul’s parents. “So when was the last time Reverend Matthew saw his cousin Paul?”

“I’m not sure, but it has to be when Matthew was in his twenties. I know he tried to contact Paul after his cousin got out of prison in Iowa, but the private detective he hired couldn’t find him.”

“Why did Reverend Matthew want to contact his cousin?”

“To tell him that Paul’s mother was dying of cancer. Matthew said he owed it to Paul to tell him. He thought Paul might want to come home to see his mother, or write a letter, or do something, but he couldn’t find Paul to notify him.”

Mike made a couple of quick notes in his notebook. “All right. How about when Reverend Matthew was here in Lake Eden? Were there any incidents with local people? Altercations? Disagreements? Old grudges from when both boys stayed here with you?”

“Nothing I can think of. Matthew was a lovely person. He liked everyone and everyone he met liked him.” Grandma Knudson stopped talking as Marguerite came into the sitting room carrying a tea tray. “Oh, thank you, Marguerite. Just set it right here and Hannah will pour, won’t you, dear?”

“Of course,” Hannah said, handling the delicate bone china with care as she poured coffee and passed the cookie plate.

Once they’d sipped their coffee and pronounced it good, and taken bites of their cookies and pronounced those excellent, Grandma Knudson turned to Hannah again.

“Tell Mike what you and Andrea found out when you called the seminary to check Matthew out for me,” she said.

Mike’s eyebrows raised. “You checked out Reverend Matthew?”

“Yes,” Hannah said, and proceeded to tell him everything they’d learned about the minister who’d become the unfortunate victim of violent crime.

“Why don’t you go home,” Lisa said after the third time Hannah had forgotten to put sweetened dried cranberries in a batch of Boggles. “Your mind’s not on baking, and I can finish up here by myself. Are you okay to drive home? Or should I call Herb to give you a ride?”

“I’m fine,” Hannah told her, even though she was about as far from fine as she could get and still manage to function. She was still rattled after finding Reverend Matthew’s body, but that wouldn’t affect her ability to step on the accelerator, apply the brakes, or steer her cookie truck down the road to her condo complex.