Lemon Meringue Pie Murder (Hannah Swensen #4)(92)

Jed looked amused. "Freddy's always giving me little things that he finds. It's probably an old pair of shoes I got rid of."

"But you're going to be delighted to get it back, whatever it is, aren't you?"

"Absolutely." Jed gave her a grin. "Freddy's a sweet guy and I wouldn't spoil his surprise for anything in the world."





Chapter TWenty-Nine

Hannah glanced at the clock on the wall as she switched on the lights in her kitchen at The Cookie Jar. It was five minutes past ten—late at night to be mixing up cookie dough. She was closed tomorrow and Sunday so there were no cookies to bake for her customers, but she'd promised to donate some cookies to the Redeemer Lutheran bake sale and she wanted to take Freddy some Molasses Crackles. She'd mix up a batch, let them chill overnight, come in early to bake them, and split them between Reverend Knudson and Freddy. As Hannah assembled her ingredients, she thought about Freddy and who might have injured him. It was possible that Rhonda's killer was the culprit, especially if Freddy had seen or overheard something that could lead to his arrest. Hannah freely admitted that such a theory was a little far-fetched, but she refused to believe that any of the local residents were to blame. Freddy was well liked around town and everyone knew that he had limitations. It was more likely that someone who wasn't local had attacked Freddy. The fireworks had drawn a big crowd from outside the Lake Eden area and a stranger could be the culprit. In any event, standing at the workstation thinking about it wasn't going give her the answer.

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On her way to fetch one of her stainless-steel mixing bowls, Hannah retrieved the crime-scene photos she'd taken through the basement windows and spread them out at the workstation. While she was mixing the cookie dough, she'd think about Rhonda's murder. She gave the photos a glance as she waited for the butter to melt in the microwave, but she didn't spot anything she hadn't noticed before. The only thing unusual was the strawberry jam on the peach jam shelf. She was almost certain that the three jars of strawberry jam had been set there to replace the three jars of peach jam that had broken on the floor, but why would anyone go to that trouble and not sweep up the broken glass?

Once the butter was melted, Hannah went to fetch the molasses from the pantry. As she took down the jar, she noticed what was stashed behind it and she groaned. It was a large bag of Hershey's Kisses she'd bought for her almond cookies and it was staring her right in the face. She had to hide it quickly before she weakened and opened it. Hannah reached down to grab a sack of pecans and placed them in front of the bag. She kept all of her nuts on the shelf below, but this was just a temporary measure to hide the candy from view. Then she carried the molasses back to the kitchen, picked up her spoon, and set it right back down again as what she'd just done struck her with full force. She'd hidden her Hershey Kisses from view by placing a sack of pecans from a lower shelf in front of them. What if Rhonda's killer had done the same thing? What if he'd hidden something by placing the jars of strawberry jam in front of it?

That theory seemed reasonable and Hannah made a mental note to tell Mike and Bill about it in the morning. Perhaps the murder weapon was hidden there, or some other clue that might help them track down Rhonda's killer. It was certainly worth a look.

Hannah mixed in the molasses and then the sugar, stirring much longer than was necessary. The three jars of strawberry jam had been on the peach jam shelf and Mrs. Voelker's letter had mentioned the peach jam. Hannah set down her

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spoon and went to retrieve it from her purse. Lisa was sure that the game Speedy had mentioned was the Treasure Hunt game. What if this whole letter was the first clue in a game he wanted Mrs. Voelker to play? Speedy had practically begged her to make peach jam and it was obvious he hadn't known that she was in a wheelchair and her jam-making days were behind her. What if there really was a treasure behind Mrs. Voelker's peach jam? Was it still there?

She thought about that while she grated fresh nutmeg and added the rest of the spices to her bowl. She measured out the baking soda and salt, and stirred everything up. Giving a little shake of her head, Hannah turned back to the letter. One phrase stood out. The guy next to me is going to find someone to take this letter out and mail it to you. Take the letter out? Out where? What sort of hospital would refuse to mail a patient's last letter?

A prison hospital! The moment that answer occurred to Hannah, the whole thing made sense. If the dying man had been in prison, all correspondence in or out would have been examined by prison officials and it was obvious that this man hadn't wanted his letter screened.

Hannah thought about that as she beat the eggs and added them to her bowl. Who was Speedy? And why had he been in prison? Edna had remembered the summer he'd spent with Mrs. Voelker, but she hadn't been able to remember his real name. She'd promised to tell Hannah if she remembered, but so far there'd been no word from Edna, unless ...

Delores had given her a message from Edna, but she hadn't paid much attention to it. Edna had said to tell her that it was a tree. Speedy's name was a type of tree?

Hannah set down the flour canister so hard, a little puff of flour rose up into the air. She paged through her notes, came to the section about the bank robbery, and let out a whoop. One of the bank robbers was David Aspen and an aspen was a tree. This put a whole new spin on things!