Devil's Food Cake Murder (Hannah Swensen, #14)(47)

Hannah almost groaned. It was Mike. She wasn’t upset to see him. That wasn’t it at all. But if he had further questions for her, it would put a damper on their breakfast. She told herself that thinking that was no way to greet the man who’d probably been working all night on Reverend Matthew’s murder case. Then she pasted a smile on her face, and gave him a big cheery wave as he came in the door.

“Hi, Mike,” she said. “What do you mean, Is she here? Of course I’m here. Where else would I be?”

“Taking the day off to recover from shock?”

Hannah shook her head. “No time for shock. We’ve got cookies to bake, orders to fill, and places to go.”

Mike walked over to put his hand on her shoulder. It felt good resting there, and Hannah had the crazy feeling that she was somehow being disloyal to Norman. That was absurd, but she was still uncomfortable. “You said you had a question for me?”

“You bet. Do I smell apricots?”

“You do.” Hannah was torn for a moment, but her conscience prodded her into doing the right thing for the man who probably hadn’t had time to stop to eat. “It’s Apricot Bread Pudding. Norman’s going to be here pretty soon with some bacon and cheese scrambles and hash browns from the Corner Tavern. Would you like to stay and have breakfast with us?”

“Yeah! Thanks, Hannah.”

“So what’s your question?” Hannah asked, deciding to get anything unpleasant out of the way before the food arrived.

“I was going to ask you if you wanted to go out to breakfast, but you asked me to stay to breakfast first.”

Lisa went over to pour Mike a cup of coffee while Hannah finished mixing up a triple batch of cookie dough to bake later. Once she’d carried that into the walk-in cooler, she took her cell phone from her apron pocket and gave Norman a quick call.

“Norman?” she said when he answered, “We’ve got one more. Mike just got here. He’s been working all night and I invited him for breakfast with us.”

“Okay,” Norman said, and he didn’t sound at all upset. “I’ll pick up some sausage, too. And maybe an order of biscuits and honey. He’s bound to be hungry if he’s been working all night. Call me again if anybody else shows up.”

Once she stepped out of the walk-in cooler, Hannah had time for only a few sips of coffee before the oven timer rang. She took her bread pudding out of the oven, checked to make sure that the custard had set, and slid the pan on the baker’s rack to cool. She was just returning to her coffee when there was another knock at the back door. Norman had arrived. Hannah went to let him in and was shocked to see her mother standing there.

“Hello, dear. I know it’s early, but I found out something you really ought to know about …” Delores paused, catching her eldest daughter’s panicked look. Hannah stepped aside slightly, and her mother put on a quick smile. “Hello, Mike.”

“Hi, Delores. Whatever you were about to tell Hannah doesn’t affect my murder case, does it?”

“Good grief, no!” Delores looked shocked at the thought. “It was just a little tidbit I learned on the phone last night, but I probably shouldn’t repeat it anyway.”

“I’m glad you’re here, Mother,” Hannah jumped in quickly before Mike could ask her mother another question. “Would you like to stay for breakfast and try a little piece of my experiment?”

“Is that your experiment?” Delores gestured toward the pan on the baker’s rack.

“That’s it. It’s Chocolate Apricot Bread Pudding.”

“Made from Sally’s Apricot Bread?” Delores guessed.

“That’s right.”

“Then wild horses couldn’t drag me away. I had one piece of that wonderful bread last night and I kept waking up during the night, wishing I had another.”

“You didn’t wrap a slice in a napkin and stick it in your purse?”

“Hannah!” Delores began to frown. “I only did that once, and it was because I knew I wouldn’t have time for breakfast in the morning.”

Hannah seated her mother at the workstation and went off to get her a cup of coffee. On the way, she got Norman on her cell phone. “Mother’s here,” she said, wasting no time on pleasantries.

“Gotcha,” Norman said. “Let me know if anyone else comes in.”

Hannah had no sooner delivered her mother’s coffee than there was another knock at the back door. Hannah opened it to find Andrea standing there, and her sister looked a bit like an avenging angel.

“I need to talk to you alone, Hannah,” Andrea said. “Could you step outside a minute?”

“Sure. Just a second,” Hannah said, stepping back in and grabbing her cell phone. “Andrea’s here,” she said the second Norman answered. “I’m expecting the backfield of the Jordan High Gulls next.”

Once she’d dropped her cell phone back in her apron pocket, Hannah stepped outside to oblige her sister. Andrea was still looking extremely disturbed. “What is it, Andrea?”

“Hannah!” Andrea exclaimed, the moment the door closed behind them. “How could you?”

“How could I what?”

“How could you possibly buy that hot pink top Claire had on sale? I saw it, and it’s the totally wrong color for you. You know it doesn’t go with your hair!”