Devil's Food Cake Murder (Hannah Swensen, #14)(82)

“What?” Hannah asked her as they exited and the door closed behind them, muffling the noise.

“It’s a real brawl. I just saw the guy in the red shirt pick up two other guys and bash their heads together. And I thought that only happened in the movies!”

They found their youngest sibling and their mother next to Bud Hauge’s truck. Hannah marched up to them and asked the important question. “What happened?”

“Later,” Delores told her. “I have to get this truck back to Bud. Follow us there and pick us up. We’ll all go to Bertanelli’s to debrief.”

Debrief? Hannah’s mind repeated the word in the form of a question, but Hannah didn’t ask out loud. Pizza would be good, and she could wait. “Just tell me if you learned anything.”

“Oh, my yes!” Delores replied. “How about you?”

“I learned something,” Hannah answered, and then she turned to Andrea. “Did you find out anything else?”

“Of course I did. I know how to pump people for information.”

“To Bud’s house and then to Bertanelli’s,” Delores said, activating the keyless entry on Bud’s fancy truck. “I need to get my coat. This leather’s not as warm as I thought it would be.”

Forty-five minutes later, Hannah, Andrea, Michelle, and Delores were seated at one of the round tables at Bertanelli’s Pizza. Delores had dropped off the truck at Bud Hauge’s house, and they’d idled in front of their mother’s house while Delores had dashed in to change clothes. The black leather costume was now in a bag in the trunk of her sedan, awaiting return to the costume shop at the Tri-County Mall.

“So now will you tell us what the fight was about?” Hannah asked, once their waitress had written down their order and left.

“You first,” Delores replied, pointing at Andrea. “What did you discover, dear?”

“I found out where Lenny got the Sacagawea gold dollar. Silky, the waitress who delivered our horrible wine, took it in as a tip on Saturday night. Lenny cashed it in for her and he paid her two dollars for it.”

“Saturday night?” Michelle repeated what Andrea had said.

Andrea nodded. “That’s right. On Saturday night. I checked it out with Silky and she said the same thing.”

“If she got it on Saturday, it couldn’t have been a part of the church collection on Sunday.”

“That’s right,” Hannah said. “It’s just like Jon Walker said. It’s a coincidence.”

“Then Lenny’s in the clear?” Delores asked.

Hannah shook her head. “Not quite yet. We need to find out if he has an alibi.”

“He has,” Michelle said. “The guy I was dancing with said he went drinking with Lenny on Sunday night and they stayed out until three in the morning. Since Doc said Paul was killed between midnight and two, that means Lenny’s cleared.”

“It does,” Hannah agreed. “Thanks, Michelle. How about you, Mother?”

“You first, dear,” Delores said, taking a sip of her coffee. “If you don’t mind, I’d like to go last.”

It cost her nothing to humor her mother, and Hannah didn’t really mind. “I found out that Lenny is running an illegal pawnshop from his office at the Eagle.” And then she proceeded to tell the story of how she’d come to look inside the videotape sleeves while she was leaving a message on her own answering machine that Norman would never hear.

“I wonder if Bill will arrest him,” Michelle said.

“I don’t know,” Hannah said with a shrug. “In a way, I hope he won’t. It didn’t look as if Lenny was charging exorbitant rates, and people would probably rather go to him than a pawnbroker.” She turned to Delores. “Come on, Mother. Tell us what the fight was about.”

“It was about me,” Delores admitted. “Spike wanted to dance with Trixie, and Hub wouldn’t give her up.”

“Who’s Trixie?” Andrea asked.

“Trixie’s me. It’s the name I used at the Eagle. I wasn’t about to give my real name. Michelle thought it was perfect with my outfit.”

“And Hub is the guy in the red shirt?” Hannah asked.

“It’s short for Hubbard,” Michelle told them. “I was dancing with his son.”

“Hub Hubbard,” Andrea gave a little shiver. “Bill mentioned him once. He said all the Hubbards were real troublemakers.”

Michelle nodded. “Bill’s right. Hub’s son told me his dad just got out of county lockup.”

“What was he in for?” Andrea asked her.

“I don’t know, but he was there for three months. They were out at the Eagle to celebrate Hub’s first night home.”

“You sure know how to pick ‘em, Mother!” Hannah couldn’t resist saying.

“I didn’t pick him. He picked Trixie. And you should be really glad he did!”

All three daughters stared at their mother in shock. “Why?” Andrea finally asked.

“Because I found out who made those prank phone calls to Bill about that fake job in Florida.”

“You did?!” Andrea was clearly amazed.

“Yes, I did. Hub just volunteered the information when I told him I’d been harassed by the sheriff last week.”