Devil's Food Cake Murder (Hannah Swensen, #14)(81)

“It seems to me I remember her wearing Chanel,” she said, choosing the first perfume name that came to mind, “but I don’t think it was number five. I saw a bottle in the guest bathroom once, and I think it was a different number.”

Rubber bands, paper chips, staples, and two kinds of tape. “I’d really hate to get her some brand she won’t wear. Everybody’s got favorites, you know. Maybe we’re better off with a really good silk scarf.”

Hannah closed the drawer. It contained nothing but office supplies. And then she opened the bottom drawer, the one that was intended to be a file cabinet.

There were no files inside. Instead, there was a leather pouch. “Or maybe we could find a nice dressy sweater, but you’re going to have to take a peek in her closet for the size. I’ll ask Mother, but she might not know.”

Hannah drew out the pouch. It was heavier than she expected it to be. She unzipped it and almost dropped the contents, she was so surprised.

“A gun,” she breathed, and then, when she realized that she still had the phone up to her mouth, she cleared her throat and said, “Again, you’ll have to get the size somehow. I don’t want to have to guess on something that important.”

Hannah stared down at the gun and frowned slightly. It was a thirty-eight revolver, and it couldn’t be the murder weapon. Mike had told her that the gun used to kill Paul was a twenty-two semiautomatic.

One-toe-over-the-line, Hannah thought as she zipped up the pouch and put it back exactly where she’d found it. Those were the words Lonnie’s Uncle Pat had used to describe Lenny. The gun was probably illegal, but she wasn’t here to nail him for illegal possession of a firearm. She was here to find out if he had the stolen jewels.

“The more I consider it, the more I think we should go more generic,” Hannah said. “Maybe we should get her a new watch. You said she’s always losing watches.”

A search of the file cabinet was next, and Hannah stretched out the phone cord and spoke of various brands of timepieces as she riffled through the three-drawer cabinet. There were papers, nothing but papers. Hannah didn’t bother to read any. She just shut the drawers after she inspected them and returned to the desk.

There was only one place left to look, and that was the bookcase against the wall. It contained video tapes in sleeves with numbers written on the spines. Some of the numbers were the same, but they had alphabetic extensions. This could refer to three episodes of a television series, but Hannah doubted it.

“Of course we could buy another type of jewelry,” she suggested as she walked over to the bookcase. She hadn’t seen any list of movies in any drawer she’d searched. Hannah pulled out a tape at random, number forty-three C. There was no videotape inside the sleeve. Instead of a movie, she found a packet of tissue paper with a string of pearls inside.

“Pearls!” she gasped, but she recovered quickly. “I just remembered that your mother loves pearls. That’s what we could get her for her birthday. Or maybe …” Hannah opened sleeve number twenty-seven, “… a nice cocktail ring.”

By the time she was through checking the tissue and jewelry inside the videotape sleeves, Hannah had tired of talking to her own answering machine about a gift for Carrie’s imaginary birthday.

“This would be easier in person, Norman,” she said. “I’m going to use up my whole answering machine tape if I keep on talking, so I’ll see you when I get home, okay?”

Once Hannah was back on her stool and Lenny was re-locking the office door, she leaned close to her sister. “Nothing,” she said. “Bill could get him on other things, like running a pawnshop without a license, but he’s not connected with that robbery in the Cities.”

“Oh, drat! I was hoping.”

“I know you were. I don’t know if I should be disappointed, or relieved. I like Lenny, but…Uh-oh!”

Andrea turned to look where Hannah was pointing and her eyes widened as she saw the guy in the red shirt and another, equally large man, facing off on the dance floor.

“I’ll get Mother, you get Michelle,” Hannah said sliding off her stool and heading toward the fracas as fast as she could.

“I’m right behind you,” Andrea said, racing to keep up with her older sister.

“Where’d they go?” Hannah asked as they reached the edge of the dance floor.

“I don’t know. They were right there a second ago…wait! There’s Mother!”

Andrea’s eyes widened as she saw their mother with her elbows pointing forward, swinging wildly from side to side. It was such an odd sight that everyone around her got out of her way as she scurried through the crowd.

“Michelle’s a few feet ahead of Mother,” Hannah said, catching a glimpse of Michelle’s sweater. “She’s doing the same thing with her elbows and everyone around them is falling back.”

“I didn’t know Mother could move that fast!” Andrea said, sounding shocked.

“It’s all about incentive,” Hannah told her. “Move fast and intimidate the rest of the crowd or you get stuck.”

“I’ll have to remember that for Macy’s next white sale,” Andrea commented. “Come on, Hannah. Let’s go meet them outside the door.”

Hannah and Andrea hurried toward the door, but before they got there, they heard the sound of beer bottles breaking and the thud of fists hitting their mark. Andrea turned to look back as they exited and let out a whistle.