Lemon Meringue Pie Murder (Hannah Swensen #4)(66)

"I hate to put a damper on your spirits, but I don't think that'll work." Norman shook his head. "Prison officials don't give out that kind of information on the phone."

Hannah laughed. "They don't, not usually, but you've never seen Andrea in action."

"That's right." Andrea preened a bit. "I'm a real estate agent. We're trained to get confidential information out of people."

The doorbell rang and Hannah glanced at her watch. It was only eleven and Michelle had said she'd be late.

"Look through the peephole before you open the door," Andrea advised.

"I can't use it at night. The outside light's in the wrong place and all I can see is a silhouette."

"Then leave the chain on," Norman suggested.

Hannah thought it was silly, but she did leave the chain on. After all, there was a killer on the loose.

"It's me, Hannah," Michelle said, waving at Hannah through the crack in the door.

"You're early. Did something go wrong on your date?"

"No. Or maybe that's a yes. Lonnie got called back to the station."

"Did they catch Rhonda's killer?"

"No, nothing like that. Lonnie's the youngest deputy and they call him in to do all the grunt work."

"That's too bad," Hannah said, knowing exactly what Lonnie was going through. The most recent hire in any business had to do all the things the veteran employees didn't want to do. "Wait just a second. I have to shut the door to take off the chain."

221

When the chain was off and the door was fully open, Michelle stepped inside. She made a maneuver that would have made any running back proud, and neatly blocked Moishe's headlong rush to the door. "Hi, Moishe. You remember me from last night, don't you?"

"He remembers the smoked salmon you brought him for Christmas. Listen to that. He's purring already."

"I don't have any salmon this trip, but I do have this." Michelle reached into her purse and brought out a cellophane wrapper with a long string tied around it.

"He really doesn't play, Michelle," Hannah said, as Michelle dropped the wrapper on the rug.

"He'll play with this. Just watch."

Hannah watched as Michelle began to walk forward, tugging the wrapper behind her. And then the cat Hannah had thought was non-playful began to chase the wrapper. Moishe pounced, Michelle jerked the wrapper away, and then they did it all over again, all the way to the sofa where Andrea and Norman were sitting.

"I'll be!" Hannah said, heading for the kitchen to take the last pan of cookies out of the oven. She'd spent a fortune on high-priced kitty toys when Moishe had first moved in with her, and he hadn't played with any of them. Now it seemed that all she'd needed was a crumpled cellophane wrapper and a piece of ordinary string.

When Hannah came back with a fresh plate of cookies, Michelle dug right in. She ate two in rapid succession and then she gave Hannah a thumbs-up. "These are great. I waited for you to get back so I could tell you all together. The reason Lonnie had to go back to the station is that Freddy Sawyer got in trouble tonight."

"Is Freddy okay?" Hannah asked, imagining the worst. Freddy had told her that Jed was teaching him to fight.

"He's fine now, but he got hauled in for drunk and disorderly. Jed promised that it would never happen again and they let him off with a warning."

'I didn't think Freddy drank." Andrea looked puzzled.

222 Joanne Fluke

"He didn't before his cousin got here," Hannah said with a sigh. "But now that Jed's in the picture, he's teaching Freddy all sorts of things that aren't good for him."

"I got the same impression," Michelle said. "Lonnie and I sobered Freddy up and then we drove him home to sleep it off. Lonnie had to go back to the station to file the paperwork, so he dropped me off here."

"I'm sorry your date didn't work out," Norman said. "Lonnie seems like a really nice guy."

"You know him?" Michelle looked surprised.

"He's been coming in every Saturday morning since he got his dental insurance. It's part of the county heath package. His teeth were in good shape to start with, but we did a few things to correct his bite."

"Right. You never know when you have to bite someone in the line of duty," Hannah joked, and then she turned to Michelle. "Tell us what happened with Freddy. Was he in a bar fight?"

"No, nothing like that. He was riding in the back of that pickup truck Jed just bought and mooning people as his cousin passed them on the road."

Hannah was shocked. It wasn't really a serious offense since no one had been hurt, but it would offend a lot of people. "As far as I know, Freddy's never been in trouble with the law before. And that doesn't sound like something he'd think of to do, all by himself."

"You're right. According to Lonnie, the girl Freddy was drinking with in the bar admitted that she'd egged him on. She said she thought it was funny."

Hannah felt sick. "Freddy's drinking, getting involved with girls in bars, and mooning people on the road? If this is Jed's way of teaching him to be a man, I don't like it one bit!"

"Neither do I," Norman said. "Freddy did some work for me when I was remodeling the clinic. He was always a good, responsible worker and he seemed a little shy to me. This just doesn't sound like it's in character for him."