Lemon Meringue Pie Murder (Hannah Swensen #4)(55)

"What dinner?"

"At the lake cottage. We're all invited. I wonder why Mother hasn't called you yet."

Hannah experienced a fleeting moment of relief. Perhaps Delores had forgotten. Then she wouldn't have to put her diet to the test again tonight. But Delores never forgot things like that.

"She'll call," Hannah said, as certain of that as she was of the sun rising in the morning. "She's probably nursing a sore ear from all those phone calls she's been making about Rhonda."

"I'm back." Lisa came in from the kitchen with a smile on her face. "They're having a ball down at Kiddie Korner. Janice really had a great idea involving the seniors. The kids don't seem to notice that some of them have failing memories."

"Kids that age are very accepting. If we could just get them to keep that attitude, it might be a kinder world."

"You said it!" Lisa said with a sigh, but she immediately brightened. "Janice is talking about making this a regular thing. She said that if the seniors could spend one afternoon a week with them, it would be good for both groups."



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"I think she's right. Some of Tracey's classmates don't have grandparents in the area. And the seniors have the same problem in reverse."

Lisa moved behind the counter and began to make a fresh urn of coffee. "Did any new orders come in while I was gone?"

"Just one. Donna Lempke's throwing a sweet-sixteen party for her daughter and she wanted to know if we could make ice cream sandwiches."

"Can we?"

"I told her we could. Remember how soft the Pecan Chews got the last time we baked them?"

"I remember. They tasted great, though."

"I think it was the humidity. It's still just as humid, so I thought we'd bake another batch. We'll sandwich vanilla ice cream between them, wrap them individually, and freeze them."

"Let's do half vanilla and half chocolate," Lisa suggested. "Then people can choose."

"That's a good idea. If they turn out really well, we'll add them to the summer cookie menu. In weather like this people might like something frozen."

"Do you want me to start on them now?"

"Not quite yet. I have someone I need to see. Could you man the counter for an hour?"

"Sure. Does it have anything to do with—" Lisa stopped and glanced around her, but the customers at the tables were busy with their own conversations "—with Rhonda's murder?"

"Yes. I'll be back as soon as I can."

"Take as long as you need. I told you I'd run the shop while you investigated. Is there anything I can do while I'm waiting on our customers?"

Hannah thought about that for a moment. "Nothing specific, but keep your eyes open and be the invisible coffee mug filler."

"That actually works," Lisa said with a laugh. "They just go right on talking like I'm not even there."

LEMON MERINGUE PIE MURDER 187

"I know. That's one great advantage we have. Just listen for anything that has to do with Rhonda and tell me about it when I get back."

"Can you tell me who you're going to see?"

It took Hannah no more than a split second before she decided. Lisa never blabbed what she shouldn't. "Kenneth Purvis."

"Mr. Purvis?" Lisa's eyes widened. "Do you think he killed Rhonda?"

The concerned look on Lisa's face made Hannah decide to hedge a bit. "I just think he might have some information that could help me. I'll give him a call and see if he's at home."

"He's probably at the school."

"How do you know that?"

"Mrs. Purvis was in last Wednesday and I heard her tell Gail Hanson that she was driving to Rochester for a family reunion and she wasn't coming back until the third. She said Mr. Purvis had a lot of work to do on the fall schedule and he'd practically be living at the school until she got back."

Hannah smiled. "The invisible coffee mug filler trick worked."

"Actually, it was the invisible cookie boxer trick. She came in to get three dozen Old-Fashioned Sugar Cookies to take to her mother."





Chapter Seventeen

After promising to stop and pick up some vanilla and chocolate ice cream, Hannah went out through the kitchen. Once she reached her cookie truck, she unlocked the doors and lowered the windows to let out the stifling air. On a day like today, when the mercury was flirting with the ninety-degree mark, she'd give her kingdom for air-conditioning that worked.

It didn't take long to drive to the school. Hannah pulled into the Jordan High faculty lot and parked next to Ken Purvis's car. The only other car in the lot belonged to the music teacher and she could hear the marching band practicing on the football field. Hannah walked across the steaming concrete, grimacing at the strains of music she heard. It was good they were practicing. They needed it.

The interior of the school was slightly cooler than the blazing heat outside. Hannah walked down the deserted hallway, smelling the same unique combination of sweeping compound and chalk dust that had welcomed her as a child. She still felt a pang on the first day of school, when freshly washed school busses carried spiffed-up students to the Lake Eden school complex. The first day of the school year had always been her favorite. Dressed in her new school clothes with summer freckles still dancing a line across her nose,