Fudge Cupcake Murder (Hannah Swensen, #5)(57)

"Hello, Hannah. What's wrong with your hand?" Jon greeted her.

"Cat scratch." Hannah held it out so that he could see. "Lisa sent me down for some antibiotic cream."

"Good for her. Cat scratches can be dangerous. Haven't you ever heard of cat scratch fever?"

"Only on an old rock and roll record my father used to play in the garage. There was one about poison ivy, too."

"A full-blown case of cat scratch fever and you'd wind up in the hospital. But don't worry, Hannah. We caught this in plenty of time. You should take some oral antibiotics to clear up the infection, and I'll get you some over the counter cream. Filling your prescription might take a while. I'll drop it off on my afternoon break if you'll treat me to a cookie."

"You're welcome to a cookie, but I don't have a prescription."

"You will just as soon as I put in a call to Doc Knight. Here's your cream. Use it morning, noon, and night and keep water away from that scratch."

Five minutes later, when Hannah walked in the front door of The Cookie Jar, Lisa was on the phone. She motioned to Hannah and Hannah slipped behind the counter to join her.

"It's Andrea," Lisa said, "and you should take it in the kitchen. She says she's got news for you about you-know-what. I'll stay on until you pick up."

Hannah took enough time to slather on some of the antibiotic cream and then she picked up the phone. "I'm on now, Lisa."

"And I'm off," Lisa replied, hanging up with a click.

"Hi, Hannah," Andrea greeted her. "I called to tell you that Sean and Don have an airtight alibi for last Monday night. A bus came in a little before eight and it had a flat tire. Sean and the driver changed it while Don waited on all the passengers."

"Okay. I'll put it in the book."

"And I contacted all the names on Nettie's list. Every single one has an alibi."

Hannah was so astounded she gulped. "Every name? But there were so many!"

"No, there weren't, not when I weeded out all the sheriff's department personnel that Bill and Mike are checking."

"You're right," Hannah said, giving her sister a thumbs-up she couldn't see over the phone. "There's no sense in duplicating our efforts. So you wrote down the alibis and now you want me to verify them?"

"No, I already did that."

"You did? But how did you find the time?"

"It's a trade secret I learned in real estate school. Do you remember that old perfume ad, Promise her anything, but give her Arpege?"

"Not really."

"Well, you would if you ever wore perfume. It's a little like that… only different."

"Okay," Hannah said, dropping the discussion, since Andrea's explanation had raised more questions than it had answered.

"So what's next? I'm chained to this couch, I've already done everything I can think of, and I'm going to go crazy just sitting here."

"I don't really have any…" Hannah stopped in mid-sentence as the perfection solution to her sister's boredom occurred to her. Andrea could type a lot faster than Hannah could. And ever since Hannah had agreed to meet Kurt Howe's new, shortened deadline, she'd been wondering how she'd ever find the extra hours to get all those recipes typed up.

"What?" Andrea asked. "You thought of something I could do, didn't you?"

"Yes. Is your laptop handy?"

"I've got it right here. What do you need?"

"How about doing some typing for me? It's really important."

"What kind of typing?"

"Recipes for the Lake Eden Cookbook, except it's not called the Lake Eden cookbook anymore. Now it's called something with Holiday and Buffet in the title, but we don't have to change the names of any recipes."

There was a long silence and when Andrea spoke again, she sounded worried. "I think you'd better start from the beginning, Hannah. For a logical person, you're not making much sense."

It took a few minutes, but at last Andrea had the full story of Kurt Howe's call and how the deadline had been moved up. "And it's actually going to be published in time for the holidays?" she asked.

"That's what Kurt said."

"Then of course I'll type your recipes. Bring them over and I'll get started."

Hannah glanced at the clock. "I'll leave here at eleven and I'll bring you lunch. What do you want?"

"Pizza, but I can't have it. Too much salt."

"What can you have?"

"I've got a list right here." Hannah heard paper crinkling and then Andrea came back on the line. "I'm looking at my diet sheet now. It looks like I can eat almost anything that doesn't taste good."

Hannah laughed. She couldn't help it. Sometimes Andrea was funny without even realizing it. "How about a chef's salad with dressing on the side. I can stop by the cafй."

"That sounds good, but how about dessert? Will you bring me some cookies?"

"Sure. What kind do you want?"

"Something with chocolate and pecans. I'm dying for some chocolate and pecans are my favorite nuts. But you don't have time to make cookies just for me, do you?"