Fudge Cupcake Murder (Hannah Swensen, #5)(49)

"Here we go," Barbara said, turning to smile at Hannah. "I must have seen this thirty times in the past two weeks, but it never gets old for me. Krista's really good, Hannah. You're going to love it."

"I'm sure I will," Hannah said, feeling a pang of loss. Barbara was wearing the very same smile Hannah's grandmother had worn when she'd come to Washington Elementary to see Hannah as a pilgrim in her first grade Thanksgiving pageant. It hadn't seemed to matter in the slightest that Grandma Ingrid had helped her memorize the lines and she'd known everything that Hannah was supposed to say and do. She'd still been practically bursting with pride when Hannah and the rest of her class had taken their curtain call.

The music swelled to a crescendo and segued into Tchaikovsky's Swan Lake. It was a perfect choice for Halloween since it had been used in several big-name horror movies. After a few bars played, the curtains opened and Hannah almost laughed out loud as she saw the costumes the cheerleaders were wearing.

"Aren't they darling?" Barbara whispered.

Darling wasn't the word Hannah would have used to describe the costumes. This was obviously a darker version of Swan Lake since the girls were wearing black leotards and leggings with huge black bat wings attached to their arms.

As they watched, one girl moved to the center of the stage and began to dance a solo, dipping and swooping almost as if she were flying. Something about the girl was very familiar and the moment Hannah realized what it was, she turned to whisper to Barbara. "When did Krista grow up?"

"It happened when I wasn't looking. It seems like just last week I was reading her Winnie the Pooh. That's Leah Koester next to her."

"Beatrice's granddaughter?"

"That's right. I'm surprised Beatrice isn't here today. The only other practice she missed was the one last Monday night."

"She came to my cooking class," Hannah said.

"I know. When both of us realized that we were going to miss that practice, we made arrangements for Ted to pick the girls up when they were through and take them to a classmate's birthday party. We're certainly not going to do that again!"

"Why not?"

"Ted must have been rushed or something, because he didn't change clothes or stop off at the school to switch to Beatrice's car like he was supposed to do. The girls had to ride in Ted's work truck, and Krista got a rust stain on the skirt of her new party dress."

"That's too bad," Hannah commiserated.

"I still can't believe my daughter-in-law's attitude. She didn't even try to get the stain out. She just told Krista it was ruined and they'd go shopping at the mall for a new dress!"

"That does seem a little hasty," Hannah said, knowing that she was treading on eggshells.

"It's a good thing Krista inherited some sense from my side of the family! She took the dress to Marguerite and Clara Hollenbeck."

Hannah caught on immediately. Since Marguerite and Clara did the church linens and always got them spotless, Krista must have gone to them for advice. "Did they tell her how to remove the stain?"

"They were just leaving town when Krista caught them, but they're coming back this weekend. They offered to keep the dress and take a look at it then."

Once all the girls had taken turns in the center spotlight, the dance concluded and the curtains were drawn. The parents and grandparents who had come to watch the rehearsal applauded, and so did Hannah.

"You liked it?" Barbara asked.

"It was wonderful and I'm sure it'll be a big hit with the kids on Halloween. Do you have a few minutes, Beatrice? I've got some questions."

"I've got as long as it takes. The girls have a ride back to school and all I have to do is run downstairs and go grocery shopping."

Hannah grabbed her notebook and pen and asked about Sheriff Grant's work schedule the week before he was killed. She took notes on everything Barbara told her, but nothing seemed out of the ordinary. "Was there anything odd you can think of? Any strange phone calls, or visits?"

"No," Barbara said, shaking her head. "I've thought about that ever since I took compassionate leave. There was absolutely nothing unusual."

"You said he spent a lot of time out of the office?"

"That's right. But that wasn't unusual, either. Sheriff Grant was a good politician and he always worked on something really big right before an election."

"Like what?" Hannah asked, even though she knew exactly what sort of thing Barbara was talking about.

"Like a high profile case that would prove what a good sheriff he was and get him reelected."

"And he did this before every election?"

"Before you ask, I don't know what it was this time. I don't even have a clue. Sheriff Grant never let anyone, me included, know what he had before he broke it to the media."

"Okay. Let's talk about the past cases. Do you think any of the original detectives would be mad enough to kill Sheriff Grant for stealing their cases?"

Barbara looked startled for a moment and then she smiled. "You are a good detective! But how did you find out about that?"

"Harry Wilcox. He called Bill and suggested that it might be a motive for murder."

"He was right, in a way. It could have been a motive, but it wasn't. Before I left the station, I checked out the detectives who lost their cases and none of them could have killed Sheriff Grant."