Devil's Food Cake Murder (Hannah Swensen, #14)(41)

“Little girl?!” Hannah couldn’t stop her incredulous question.

“Sorry, dear, but I do get so worried about you all alone. Andrea’s got Bill, and Michelle’s got those friends of hers living with her at college. But you’ve got no one.”

Norman reached for her other hand, which was resting on the bench seat between them, and gave it a firm squeeze. Hannah knew what that meant. Hannah should remain silent because protesting that she wasn’t lonely would do no good. Her mother would go on in the poor lonely Hannah vein until she’d exhausted the subject.

“Enough, Delores,” Doc Knight said, entering the conversation for the first time. And then, before anybody could say anything else, Dot arrived with their coffee and dessert.

Dot began by filling their cups and spooning on sweetened whipped cream with a little brown sugar sprinkled on the top. Once she’d served coffee to everyone, Delores turned to Hannah. “I wish you could make this for my launch party, dear. Sally’s Cinnamon Supreme Coffee is my very favorite.”

“You’ll like the Pear Crunch Pie, too,” Dot promised cutting four generous pieces and transferring them to dessert plates. “Just try it. It’s one of my favorites.”

Hannah watched as her mother took a dainty bite of the pie. And then she continued to watch as Delores cut off a huge bite and wasted no time slipping it into her mouth. Even though she’d always cautioned her daughters that it wasn’t ladylike to gobble food, Delores was the first to finish both coffee and pie.

“That was marvelous!” she said, smiling at Hannah. “I wish I could have both of them for my launch party.”

“You’re in luck, Mrs. Swensen,” Dot said, reaching into her apron pocket and handing the recipes to Hannah. “Sally said you’d probably want them.”

Hannah bit back a grin. She’d lost count of the number of sweet treats her mother wanted her to make for her book launch party. If Hannah served everything her mother had mentioned, everyone there would go into a sugar coma. And then Mike and Bill would have to arrest her for attempted desserticide!

For long moments the only sounds were the clinking of silverware against cut glass dessert plates. When everyone had finished coffee and dessert, Doc turned to Hannah.

“I suppose you want to know about the autopsy and not wait for Andrea to wheedle it out of me.”

Hannah’s mouth fell open in surprise, but Delores turned to Doc with laughter in her eyes. “Andrea wheedles?”

“Yes, if she can’t get a copy from Vonnie, or take it from Bill’s briefcase when he’s sleeping. You raised some sneaky girls, Lori.”

Lori? Hannah stared at her mother, waiting for the explosion but Delores said nothing. As a matter of fact, she smiled at Doc Knight.

“I tried to set a good example,” she said.

Doc Knight threw back his head and laughed. And then he reached out to put his arm around Delores and give her a squeeze. “That’s my girl.”

His girl? This was too much information for Hannah, who exchanged shocked looks with Norman.

“At least for tonight,” Delores replied, giving him what Hannah could only describe as a come-hither smile.

Immediately, Hannah felt better. Her mother was having fun flirting with Doc Knight. And why shouldn’t she? Hannah had seen her flirt with Joe Dietz and Bud Hauge, to name only a few of the men her mother had dated in the past few months. Hannah was pretty sure they were all just friends. But if they weren’t, she’d simply have to deal with it. If anyone had asked, she would have admitted that it was a bit disconcerting watching her well-over-fifty mother flirt with local men, but Hannah was glad her mother was having a good time.

“What was your estimate of the time Reverend Matthew died?” Norman asked Doc.

“Between twelve and two.”

“But I was there at twelve-thirty and he was already …” Hannah stopped speaking as the light dawned. “You mean early on Sunday morning?”

“That’s exactly what I mean. When you found the body, he’d been dead at least twelve hours, maybe a little longer.”

“But how could you …” Hannah cut off her question as she noticed her mother’s expression. “Never mind. That’s too much information, and we don’t really need to know.”

“Thank you, dear,” Delores said, giving her daughter a grateful glance, and then she turned to Doc. “I have a question for you.”

“Ask away,” Doc said, smiling at her.

“I’d like to know if he got to eat any of that luscious cake Hannah found at the scene…only as a matter of curiosity, of course. And I don’t want to know the details of how you could tell.”

“Yes. He had a bite or two.”

“Did the killer eat cake before he murdered Reverend Matthew?” Hannah sat back, waiting for the answer.

Doc gave a little laugh. “I’m a doctor, not a psychic. There’s no way of telling.”

“I’m glad we had pie and not cake!” Norman said, and everyone laughed.

Hannah gave him an approving glance, and then she asked Doc another question. “Do you think I could get a copy of the autopsy report?”

Doc shook his head. “I can’t do that, Hannah. Besides, you don’t need it. Your sister already got a printout from Vonnie.”