Devil's Food Cake Murder (Hannah Swensen, #14)(40)

Norman gave a little laugh. “Yes, Doc. He’ll probably tell us his opinion. Doc’s seen a lot of gunshot wounds as county coroner, and chances are he’ll be right.”

“It’ll give us something to go on until the ballistics lab sends their report. Mike said that would take at least three days, maybe as long as a week.”

Norman was silent as Dot arrived. She cleared their plates and told them that Delores and Doc would be joining them in five minutes or so. Then she left with Norman’s credit card.

“Let’s talk about motives while we’re waiting for them,” Norman suggested. “Why would anyone want to kill a minister?”

“Maybe it had nothing to do with the fact that Reverend Matthew was a minister. Don’t forget that he lived here for a year when he was a senior in high school. Maybe someone with an old grudge seized the opportunity and killed him.”

“Okay. Old grudge. What kind of old grudge?”

“I don’t know. It could be jealousy. Grandma Knudson said that when Matthew was a senior at Jordan High, he was the quarterback and he dated the head cheerleader. She also said that the principal at the time thought Reverend Matthew’s cousin Paul was jealous of the time they spent together.”

Norman thought about that for a moment. “But why would cousin Paul wait all these years to kill Reverend Matthew when the reverend didn’t end up marrying the cheerleader? And if cousin Paul was jealous of the time Reverend Matthew spent with the cheerleader, why didn’t he kill the cheerleader?”

“I don’t know. Those are good points. I guess we’ll have to leave Paul out of it. No one knows where he is anyway. Reverend Matthew hired a private detective to find him when Paul’s mother was dying, but the detective couldn’t find Paul. The trail went cold at the state prison in Iowa right after Paul was released.”

“Hold the phone! Reverend Matthew’s cousin Paul was in prison?”

“That’s right. And he got out early due to prison overcrowding. No one knows exactly what his crime was, only that it was a burglary gone bad, but he got out in five years so it couldn’t be murder.”

“I agree. I think we can write off cousin Paul. Do you know if Reverend Matthew had any enemies when he was here in Lake Eden as a teenager?”

“Grandma Knudson didn’t think so, but she wouldn’t necessarily know. She was busy with her husband and the church, and teenagers, especially ones whose parents are thousands of miles away, don’t usually confide in relative strangers.”

“Right. We need to find a list of Matthew’s classmates and see if any of them are still around. They may remember something.”

“Good idea!” Hannah gave him a big smile and then she jotted it down. Norman had said, We need to find a list of Matthew’s classmates. His use of the plural pronoun meant that Norman wanted to be a part of her investigation. “Marge Beeseman has a shelf full of Jordan High yearbooks down at the library. All we have to do is find the right year.”

“First thing tomorrow morning, I’ll run over to the library to check. Bev can cover for me. Marge may even remember Matthew.”

“It’s possible. She’s lived here all her life. We can ask Lisa’s father, too.”

Norman looked concerned. He knew Lisa’s father had been diagnosed with Alzheimer’s. “Do you think Jack will be able to tell us?”

“Maybe, if it’s a good day. And if it isn’t, we’ll come back the next day.”

“This is a strange case,” Norman said, his brows furrowing slightly. “It’s almost as if we’re investigating two murders.”

“One back when Matthew was in high school, and the other in the present?” Hannah guessed.

“Exactly right. Reverend Matthew was killed in the present, but the motive for his murder could be in the past. On the other hand, the motive could be right now in the present. And you know what that means.”

“Double the work?” Hannah guessed.

“That’s right. You’re really going to need me to do leg-work for you this time around.”

“I certainly am,” Hannah said, noticing that Norman looked very pleased with himself. He really did like to help her, and there was no denying that they made a good team.

“Bev can take over for the week,” Norman said, drawing out his cell phone. “I’ll tell her not to overbook. And if she gets in a jam with too many patients, she can always bring in Doc Bennett to help her. That way I can be all yours for the week. Sound good?”

“Sounds great,” Hannah said, wishing he hadn’t added the words, for the week.

“Do you mind if I call her right now?”

“Not at all,” Hannah said, wondering how Doctor Bev would take the news that Norman wouldn’t be in at all this week. Would she be jealous that he was Hannah’s for the week? Or would she console herself with Mike when he came home from work at night?

“Hello, darlings,” Delores greeted them as she slid into the booth with Doc Knight. The next thing she did was to reach out to pat Hannah’s hand. “I heard all about it from Lisa. What a terrible experience for you! Are you all right?”

“Yes, I’m all right…at least for now.”

“Of course you are. You’re with Norman.” Delores turned to Norman. “You take care of my little girl now.”