Red Velvet Cupcake Murder (Hannah Swensen, #16)(41)

If someone had been clocking her for the Olympics, Hannah might have made the swim team. When she arrived at a point near the submerged car, she dove down into the water, and saw the car clearly for the first time.

The driver was still behind the wheel, her long blond hair waving in the current from the stream that fed Miller’s Pond.

Uh-oh! Hannah’s mind shouted out a warning as she shot up to the surface for air. Are you really sure you want to try to rescue her? Hannah ignored the inference and dove down again. Yes, it was a red convertible. And yes, there was someone with blond hair behind the wheel. Her imagination had not been playing tricks on her. As she swam around to the side of the car she could see that it was a Maserati convertible and the driver was Doctor Bev!

Hannah worked as fast as she could, locating the seat belt and releasing the latch, but Doctor Bev remained in the white leather driver’s seat. Since Hannah couldn’t tell if she was dead or alive, she didn’t waste time feeling for a pulse. She just shot up to the surface for another big gulp of air and dove back down again.

There was only one thing to do and Hannah did it. She put her arms around Doctor Bev and attempted to pull her from the seat. Even though the water lent buoyancy to her efforts, that was not enough. As Hannah got under Doctor Bev and used her weight to lever her up, she realized what the term dead weight meant. She just hoped that it wasn’t accurate, as she muscled her rival for Norman’s affections out of the seat and pulled her up to the surface.

With one arm clasped around Doctor Bev’s chest, Hannah managed to swim with her. She knew if she dropped Doctor Bev, her rival would sink like a stone. Once she got to the shallow part of the pond, she managed to grasp Doctor Bev under both arms and drag her all the way to the shore.

Even though the prospect was almost too much to bear, Hannah immediately began resuscitation. She didn’t stop to think. She just followed the procedure she’d learned during the last class she’d taken at the sheriff’s station.

Hannah checked her waterproof watch after what seemed like an eternity. Five minutes had passed with no response. Doctor Bev was not showing any signs of breathing on her own. She started the procedure again, but after ten minutes there was no sign of life. Hannah kept at it rhythmically, fruitlessly, until a full twenty minutes had passed. Then she climbed back up the steep embankment to her truck to retrieve her cell phone.

Luckily, her phone was fully charged and she dialed Mike’s cell phone. “Mike!” she gasped when he answered his phone. “Come out to Miller’s Pond right away. And call for the paramedics. Doctor Bev was in a terrible accident and I think she’s dead!”

Chapter Fourteen


“You remembered to bring these after all you’ve been through?” Delores looked completely amazed as Hannah handed her the box with Mom’s Bran Muffins.

For a moment Hannah was confused. Her mind seemed to have slowed to idle speed. It took her a minute to process her mother’s words, but then she understood what Delores was saying. “How did you know about it?”

“Doc told me when the call came in for the paramedics.”

“Oh.” Hannah steadied herself on the edge of Doc Knight’s desk. She wanted to sit down, but her clothes were wet and the chairs in front of Doc Knight’s desk were upholstered in fabric, not plastic.

“Put these on, dear,” Delores held out a package. “You have to get out of those wet clothes. You’re shivering.”

Hannah accepted the package her mother handed her. She hadn’t realized that she was cold until her mother had mentioned it. Of course maybe it wasn’t that she was cold. It could be that she was exhausted from the effort of dragging Doctor Bev out of the water. Whatever the reason, she was shivering and now her teeth were beginning to chatter.

“Go right in there and take a hot shower,” Delores ordered, pointing to Doc Knight’s bathroom. “It’ll make you feel much better. There’s shampoo, and towels, and everything you need. And throw your wet clothes in the dryer.”

“Okay,” Hannah said, not bristling at all, even though her mother was telling her what to do.

“While you’re showering, I’ll run down to the kitchen and get you a hot cup of coffee. Are you hungry?”

“No,” Hannah said even though she wasn’t sure she’d eaten recently. For some reason her mind was stalling out and it was difficult to think.

“I’ll be right back, dear,” Delores said, and then she gave Hannah a gentle shove toward the bathroom. “Go ahead.”

Hannah crossed the room even though she wasn’t sure she had the energy to take a shower. She’d stood guard over Doctor Bev’s body until Mike and Lonnie had arrived, and then she’d driven the rest of the way to the hospital. As she’d navigated the twists and turns around Eden Lake, she’d felt horribly alone. She couldn’t seem to shake the specter of sudden, unexpected death. Doctor Bev had been alive such a short while ago, zipping along the lake road in her fancy new convertible, anticipating the move to her new penthouse condo. Hannah could picture her with her blond hair streaming in the breeze, listening to her favorite music and planning out where to put the new furniture she’d chosen with Roger. She wouldn’t have had a clue that only moments later, she’d be at the bottom of Miller’s Pond, strapped in her seat, cold and dead, robbed of the riches she’d lied and schemed to get.