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

18

Joanne Fluke

the fact that his pen had been in her bedroom would be food for some juicy gossip. She was about to say hello again, hoping that the call had been a wrong number, when the ticking clock began to chime and she recognized the strains of "Edelweiss."

Hannah groaned. She'd really stuck her foot in it now. The only person in Lake Eden who had a clock that chimed "Edelweiss" was her mother!





6 CTnhis is your mother, Hannah," Delores Swensen said at A last. "How did Norman's pen get into your bedroom? "

Hannah started to laugh. She couldn't help it. She'd never heard her mother sound so shocked before.

"Stop that laughing and tell me! I'm your mother. I have a right to know!"

Hannah wasn't about to argue that point, not when her mother sounded capable of going into cardiac arrest any second. "Relax, Mother. Norman wanted me to find the Rhodes Dental Clinic pen he gave out at Christmas. I told him I always keep a pen on my bed table and he suggested that I look for it there."

"Oh. That's different. For a minute there, I thought... never mind. Why does Norman need that particular pen?"

"He's signing some papers this morning and he wants to use it for sentimental reasons. He just bought a house."

"Norman bought a house? Which house? Where?"

"It's the Voelker place. He's going to tear it down and build our dream house on the land."

"What dream house?"

"The one we designed for that contest we won. You remember, don't you?"

20

Joanne Fluke

"Of course. You showed me the blueprints. But that house was huge, wasn't it?"

"Four-bedroom, three-bath."

"But a house like that is much too big for..." Delores stopped speaking and gasped. "Is there something you're not telling me, Hannah?"

"Not a thing."

"Then you're not considering any life-altering changes?"

Hannah glanced at the clock and frowned. "The only life-altering change I'm considering is ripping the phone off the wall so I can make it to work on time."

"Oh. All right then, dear. I'll make it short. I called because I have some wonderful news. Michelle is coming home."

"She is?" Hannah started to smile. Her youngest sister had just finished her freshman year at Macalester College and Hannah hadn't seen her since Christmas. "When is she coming?"

"On Tuesday night. She doesn't have to go back until Sunday. The Drama Department is moving to a new building and all the student workers have the week off. She's coming in on the eleven o'clock bus and she wants to stay out at the lake cottage."

"But I thought you had it rented out for the entire summer."

"I did, but Andrea worked something out with the renters. I'm staying out there with Michelle, of course. A girl her age still needs supervision."

Hannah grinned, imagining Michelle's reaction to that bit of news. She wouldn't be happy that her idyllic lake vacation would be graced by her mother's presence.

"I was hoping you could pick her up at the Quick Stop and bring her out to the lake. I have an important decorator coming in that night and Carrie can't handle her alone. And after that, I have to run straight out to the cottage to get things ready. I'll barely have time to make up the beds and hang the towels before Michelle's bus comes in."

"No problem," Hannah reassured her. "I'll meet the bus."

LEMON MERINGUE PIE MURDER 21

"Thank you, Hannah. I knew I could count on you. I've got to run. Carrie's picking me up in five minutes and I still have to fix my hair. We're doing the front window display this morning."

Hannah was smiling as she hung up the phone, not her usual expression after a conversation with her mother. It would be good to have Michelle home again.

By seven-thirty, Hannah had accomplished a lot. There were a dozen Lemon Meringue Pies in the ovens and she'd baked all the Old-Fashioned Sugar Cookies for Pamela and Toby's wedding reception. She poured the last cup of coffee from her travel carafe, sat down on a stool at the stainless-steel workstation, and reached out to grab one of the Old-Fashioned Sugar Cookies she'd designated as seconds. The cookie was slightly off round and she wanted the wedding cookies to be perfect. She was about to taste it when reality set in. She couldn't have cookies. She was on a diet. In her heart of hearts, she knew she had at least twenty pounds to lose, maybe even more. And come to think of it, perhaps that was why Norman hadn't asked her to marry him.

Sighing a bit, Hannah placed the cookie back on the plate. She had to exercise willpower. She had to be strong. She'd just convince herself that she loved low-fat cottage cheese and salads until she could get back into her summer slacks. Once she got down to the perfect weight, Norman would take one look at her new, svelte figure and pop the question. And she'd say ... What would she say? Did she really want to marry a man who hadn't proposed to her because she was twenty pounds overweight?

Hannah reached for the cookie again. She wanted a man who would accept her just the way she was. If twenty pounds or so stood between spinsterhood and wedded bliss, there was something wrong with the system. Besides, marrying Norman would mean that she'd have to give up Mike Kingston.