Lemon Meringue Pie Murder (Hannah Swensen #4)(35)

"That's not your head. It's some kind of noise coming from outside. Hold on a second and I'll go look."

Lisa unlocked the front door and peered out. When she came back, she was grinning. "You were right. It's a headache, all right."

"What is?"

"The Jordan High marching band. What you heard was

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their bass drum. I'll get the aspirin bottle. They're headed this way."

After she'd washed down two aspirin, Hannah watched as the band came into view. Even though the doors and windows were closed, she could hear the mutilated strains of "The Stars and Stripes Forever."

"They're awful," Lisa said, reaching up to cover her ears.

Hannah did the same. The trumpet section could certainly use a review lesson in sharps and flats, and she shuddered to think of what would happen when they got to the piccolo ob-bligato, since there wasn't a piccolo in sight.

Hannah held her breath as the band reached the critical measures and then she groaned aloud. Two girls on clarinets were attempting the part, and it was obvious they weren't at all skilled on the upper registers.

"Maybe they'll get better in time for the parade," Lisa mused, but after a glance at Hannah's pained expression, she shook her head. "You're right. That's probably asking too much."

When the hands of their wall clock reached nine, Lisa unlocked the door and customers began to come in for morning coffee and cookies. Business was brisk for the first hour and it took the efforts of both Hannah and Lisa to serve their customers. Things didn't slow down until after ten and that was when Andrea walked in. By the smile on her sister's face, Hannah knew she had information about Rhonda.

"What is it?" Hannah asked, pouring Andrea a glass of orange juice.

Andrea glanced around her. The only other people at the counter were Amalia Greerson and Babs Dubinski, engrossed in a conversation of their own. "The subject's car is still there."

"You mean Rhonda's?"

"Shh!" Andrea put a finger to her lips.

"It's okay." Hannah leaned forward across the counter. "Babs is trying to play matchmaker."

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"You mean for her son?"

"Right. And Amalia's not buying it. She thinks he's too old for her granddaughter."

"He is. She just graduated from high school and thereV got to be at least a fifteen-year difference. And the fact that he's a tax accountant tacks on another ten years."

"You're right," Hannah said, remembering the ill-fated evening when Delores had set her up with Babs's son. To say that it had been boring would be kind. "What else did you find out? When you came in, you were grinning like the Cheshire cat"

"Let's go in the back," Andrea suggested, picking up her glass of orange juice and leading the way. She was mum until she'd taken a stool at the workstation and then she grinned proudly. "I got the autopsy report from Doc Knight this morning."

"You mean you saw Bill's copy?"

"No, he doesn't have it yet. I had to drop off a sample for Doc Knight and I asked him about it."

"A sample?"

"You know, a sample. I couldn't give him one yesterday and it's all Mother's fault. Remember how she always said to go before we left the house?"

Hannah caught on immediately. "So you did, and then you couldn't give him a sample?"

"That's right. It was a good thing, though. I asked him about Rhonda, just making conversation, and he said he thinks she was killed between eight and nine on Friday night. And then he talked about stomach contents. Your lemon pie was there and so was the osso buco."

Hannah was surprised. "Doc Knight actually identified it as osso buco?"

"No, but the ingredients were right."

"How do you know?" Hannah was puzzled. "You've never made it, have you?"

Andrea shook her head. "I looked it up in a cookbook."

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"You have a cookbook? "

"Of course I do. My friends got together and gave me a whole set for a wedding present. The only ingredient that didn't fit was ripe olives."

Hannah made a mental note of that. "Did Doc Knight think Rhonda had anything else to eat?"

"No, but she drank some red wine. That was when he started talking about some other tests he'd run and I stopped listening because I was getting a little queasy."

Hannah shoved a rack of cooled Chocolate Chip Crunch Cookies closer to her sister. "Have a couple of cookies. The chocolate will settle your stomach. And while you're at it, bag up a half-dozen for Claire Rodgers."

"You're going to Beau Monde?"

"Yes. Lisa offered to take over for me until my two-o'clock catering gig."

"Your diet's working and you're buying smaller clothes?" Andrea guessed.

"Not exactly. Claire bought three lemon pies on Friday and I need to find out if she gave one to Rhonda."

"I'm coming along," Andrea announced, taking a cookie for herself and bagging another half-dozen for Claire. "Claire left a message on my machine that my maternity clothes came in. You can talk to her while I try them on."