Devil's Food Cake Murder (Hannah Swensen, #14)(77)

“I’m not sure. Maybe…ten or twelve.”

“And how many of those would you say were original run Sacagawea dollars?”

“Maybe half.”

“Then it wouldn’t be that unusual for Lenny to have one?” Hannah asked the final question in the series.

“No. No, it wouldn’t be that unusual, especially since some people save them when they get them and use them for tips. It’s just a coincidence, that’s all I’m saying. Lenny probably took it in while he was bartending out at the Eagle.”

Once Jon had left and the door had swung shut behind him, Delores gave her three daughters a stern look. “I’m in,” she said.

“You’re in what, Mother?” Michelle asked. It was clear she was confused since she hadn’t been a part of their original conversation.

“I’m in and we’re using my car to go out to the Eagle. From what Jon just told us, Lenny could be a suspect. There’s no way I’m going to let my three girls go out there alone!”

Hannah wrapped tape, sticky side up, around her right hand, and used it on her black sweater. It had been folded on top of the other sweaters in her drawer, but somehow it had picked up what looked like hundreds of orange and white cat hairs. She was almost finished when Michelle walked in.

“Cat hair on your sweater?” Michelle asked, watching her older sister pat the sweater with the tape.

“I’ll say! It was in my drawer, and I don’t know how it collected that much cat hair, but Moishe must be …” Hannah caught sight of her sister and stopped in midsentence. “You’re wearing that?”

“Yes. I love to wear red, and the sequins really set off the color.”

“You actually bought that?” Hannah asked her, wondering if her youngest sister was having some eye problems.

“Yes, and it was really cheap. I ran across the alley to the thrift store this afternoon, and I found it in the dollar bin.”

“But it’s at least three sizes too small for you!”

“Four sizes, but who’s counting? This sweater, some really bright lipstick, and a pair of tight jeans will make me fit right in with the rest of the bar girls at the Eagle.”

“I don’t understand. You’re not going undercover tonight. We’re just going out there to talk to Lenny.”

“You and Andrea are going out there to talk to Lenny. Mother and I are going undercover to see what information we can learn about Lenny. We planned it all out this afternoon.”

“But…how is that going to work when we’re all going out in Mother’s car?”

“We’re not. There’s been a change of plans. Mother’s coming out here to pick us up, but you’re going to drive her car and drop us off at Bud Hauge’s place. Mother and I are borrowing his new truck.”

Hannah couldn’t help but be suspicious. “Mother put you up to this, didn’t she?”

“Yes, but I didn’t take much convincing. I think it’ll be fun. I’ve never gone undercover with Mother before.”

Hannah sighed. There wasn’t much she could do about it at this late date. Delores was due to arrive in less than ten minutes. “All right. Go ahead. But you have to promise me one thing.”

“What’s that?”

“Remember the Karaoke contest Mother and Carrie entered at The Moosehead in Anoka?”

“Of course I remember. They sang Bye Bye Love and they were awful.”

“Exactly. I want you to promise me that you won’t let Mother sing.”





Chapter Twenty-Five

“Ready?” Andrea said as Hannah pulled into the parking lot at the Eagle and parked in the back row between a blue pickup truck and a black Ford with one door bashed in.

“I’m ready.” Hannah got out and found her sister just standing there staring at the red neon sign that hung on the outside of the building, buzzing and blinking irregularly. The last time they’d come out here, they’d noticed that the manufacturer of the sign had left out the “A” in “eagle.” The sign had read EGLE the last time Hannah had been here, but weather and age had taken their toll, and the sign had since gone through another transformation. The “L” in “eagle” had burned out and only the first “E,” the “G,” and the final “E” remained. It now read EGE with a strange gap between the letters.

“I wonder if they’re ever going to fix that sign,” Andrea mused.

“I doubt it. All the regulars know the name of this place and they don’t have any reasons to advertise. It’s not like it’s a major tourist attraction.”

Andrea laughed and her breath came out in a little white cloud. It was a cold evening, although not as cold as the night before.

“Let’s go,” Hannah said, picking up the bag of cookies she’d brought for Lenny and locking her mother’s sedan before they headed across the snowy parking lot to the front door. “I want to get inside before Michelle and Mother get here.”

“So that people won’t suspect that we’re together?”

“No, so that I won’t have to look at Mother’s outfit again.”

“What’s wrong with Mother’s outfit?” Andrea asked.