Lemon Meringue Pie Murder (Hannah Swensen #4)(68)

228 Joanne Fluke

giggled. "Just kidding. I want to wait to get pregnant until I'm as old as Hannah."

Hannah groaned. She wasn't sure if that was an insult, but it sure felt like it.

"That's a bad idea. Don't wait that long," Andrea advised.

Hannah groaned again. This time she was sure it was an insult. "Forget about my biological clock. Mother's already got that covered. If we're going to stay up and talk, I'll make us some hot chocolate. Andrea? You can bring Michelle up to speed on everything we learned about the robbery case."

It took a while to make the hot chocolate, because Hannah made it the old-fashioned way with cocoa, milk, and sugar. Once she'd poured it into two mugs and refilled her own mug with no-calorie coffee, she carried them back out to the living room. She caught the tail end of the conversation when she entered the room.

"... like him a lot, but there's someone at school I'm dating." Michelle turned to smile as Hannah set down her mug of hot chocolate and went on. "It's not exclusive, but we're really good friends, if you know what I mean."

"How good?" Andrea asked, taking her mug from Hannah.

Hannah winced as she took her place on the sofa. She'd apparently missed a conversation about Michelle's boyfriends and it sounded as if Andrea was grilling their baby sister.

"Not that good." Michelle looked a bit exasperated. "I'm not sleeping with him, if that's what you're asking."

"Tell me about him. Is he a student?"

"Yes. He's twenty-four, he's going for his M.B.A., and his name is Raj."

It was time for her to step in and Hannah did it with a rush. She wasn't sure how Andrea felt about inter-cultural dating. "Will you ask Raj if his mother has a good recipe for curry? I know most families from India have their own blend of spices and I don't really like the bottled curry powder you can buy in the stores."

Michelle laughed. "Raj's family isn't from India. His full name is Roger Allen Jensen. 'Raj' is just a nickname they got from his initials."

"Oh," Hannah said, feeling slightly foolish. Since she didn't enjoy that feeling, it was time to change the subject and fast. "I still can't believe that Freddy mooned people on the road, and I'm really disturbed about Jed. I wouldn't be a bit surprised to find out that he knows something about the stolen money and he somehow got his hands on it."

"Do you think so?" Michelle asked, looking relieved that the boyfriend discussion was over.

"It makes some kind of sense, especially if you got that ten-dollar bill at the drugstore. Freddy showed me his new sports watch today and I know the drugstore carries watches like that. Freddy told me it cost less than ten dollars and Jed gave him the money to buy it."

"But a lot of people shop at the drugstore," Andrea pointed out

"Wait. There's more. Jed told me he used to work on a maintenance crew at Stillwater Prison. He said he got some back pay, some sort of retroactive raise, but I don't believe it."

"Do you think Jed was a prisoner?" Andrea asked.

"No. Mike checked it out and he wasn't. But he could have met the bank robbers while he was working there and they could have told him where they stashed the money."

Andrea shrugged. "I guess it's not impossible."

"I hope Hannah's right," Michelle said. "Is it illegal to spend stolen money when you're not the one who stole it?"

"I think so, if you know it's stolen." Hannah looked at Andrea. "Do you know?"

"It's got to be. But even if Jed claims he didn't know the money was stolen, it still might be enough to separate him from Freddy, at least for a while."

"That would be good," Michelle said with a sigh. "Lonnie and I tried to explain things to Freddy when we took him

230 Joanne Fluke

home, but I don't think we did any good. Freddy still doesn't realize that Jed was the one who got him into trouble in the first place."

Hannah sighed. "That figures. Freddy's always been very loyal and trusting. It'll take a lot to convince him that Jed isn't a good guy. He's honest, though. If he finds out that Jed's been spending stolen money, that might be enough to change his opinion."

"That's a good place to start" Andrea motioned to Hannah. "Hand me my purse, Hannah. My cell phone has free long distance. I'll call Stillwater and see if the two bank robbers are there."

"Now?" Hannah stopped in the act of reaching for Andrea's purse. "But the prison offices will be closed."

"I know and that's just perfect. Whoever answers the phone might not know the rules and they'll give me the information I need."

"But won't they just tell you to call back when the office opens up in the morning?"

Andrea shook her head. "They might tell somebody else that, but not me. I've got a perfect reason for calling right now and they're going to fall over backwards getting me what I need. Now will you please hand me my purse?"

Hannah gave Andrea her purse, watched as her sister took out her cell phone, listened as she got the right number from directory assistance, and came very close to crossing her fingers as Andrea began to speak to someone at the prison. If Andrea could verify that the bank robbers were in Stillwater Prison, they'd be one step closer to proving that Jed was trafficking in stolen money.