Red Velvet Cupcake Murder (Hannah Swensen, #16)(42)

Hannah did her best to shake off the dark thoughts. Perhaps Delores was right and a hot shower would help. She opened the bathroom door and blinked in surprise.

The bathroom was actually a suite that consisted of three separate rooms. The first contained what you’d expect in any bathroom. There was a washbowl with a mirror over it, a medicine cabinet, and a commode. The second, much larger room looked like a well-equipped dressing room, and she thought she knew why. Since Doc Knight spent so much time at the hospital, he needed a place to shower and change into whatever clothing was required for his various duties. He would need easy access to operating scrubs, a white coat for rounds, and street clothes for his consultations with families of patients. There was a mirrored closet along one wall and Hannah suspected it was filled with Doc Knight’s various choices of clothing. The wall opposite the closet held a gleaming stainless steel washer and dryer. The moment Hannah saw them she stripped out of her wet clothing and threw it into the dryer.

As she stepped into the third room, the room that contained a glass-enclosed shower, she noticed that her mother had set out towels for her to use. That little touch, that proof of caring, made her feel cosseted and loved. The feeling grew as she turned on the shower and stepped under the hot spray. Delores had known exactly what would make her feel better. It was good to have a mother.

Ten minutes later, feeling so much better she could scarcely believe it, Hannah stepped out of the shower. She retrieved the package her mother had given her with dry clothing and opened it. There were green scrubs with Lake Eden Memorial Hospital stenciled across the front, and they looked as if they might fit her. Hannah put on the top, stepped into the drawstring pants, and smiled. Everything fit. There was even a pair of hospital socks, the one-size-fits-all with non-skid patches on the bottom. She toweled off her hair, and dried it with the hair dryer that hung on a hook in the dressing room.

“Good enough,” Hannah said to her reflection in the mirrored closet doors. The green of the scrubs was actually a good color with her red hair. She was about to walk out of the bathroom when there was a knock on the door.

“Are you all right, dear?”

“I’m fine. I’m ready.” Hannah opened the door and stepped out.

“Sit here.” Delores pointed to one of the visitor chairs in front of Doc Knight’s desk. “I brought black coffee and sweet tea. They say that sweet tea is good for shock, but you choose.”

Hannah thought about that for a moment. Normally, she didn’t drink tea. This afternoon, for some strange reason, the thought of drinking it was appealing. “I’ll take the tea,” she said.

“You are in shock,” Delores informed her. “You don’t like tea.”

“I know. It just sounds good.”

Delores gave a quick nod. “Shock, just as I thought. It’s the only thing that would make you drink tea.”

“I’ll drink it, but I want a black coffee chaser,” Hannah said, feeling a bit better as she sipped the hot beverage. “Of course chocolate would be better, but you don’t have any, do you?”

Delores didn’t say anything. She just went to the file cabinet next to the window and pulled out the top drawer. She took something out and turned it so that Hannah could see what it was.

“Fanny Farmer?”

“Yes. It’s my emergency stash. I think this qualifies as an emergency, don’t you?”

“Oh, yes. It’s definitely an emergency. Are they soft centers?”

“Of course.” Delores set the box between them on the desktop and took off the cover so that Hannah could see what was inside. “You know I like soft centers the best. Doc brought these in for me this morning.”

“Are they for a special occasion?” Hannah asked, her fingers hovering over a dark chocolate piece that she hoped was filled with a maple center.

“Not really. It’s just a thank you.”

“For what?” Hannah reached down and plucked the piece of candy.

“For going out to the mall with him to help him choose two new jackets. Doc has no fashion sense. If it were up to him, he’d still be wearing that awful old tweed blazer. He told me he bought that blazer when his mother was alive and she picked it out for him.”

Hannah remembered the tweed jacket. Her mother was right. It was pretty awful. “So the lack of fashion sense runs in the Knight family?”

“It seems so.” Delores swallowed the last bite of her pineapple cream dipped in milk chocolate. “Doc always tells me how lucky he is to have me.”

Hannah was silent as she reached for what she thought was a coconut cream covered with white chocolate. She wasn’t sure exactly what that meant. “Where’s Doc Knight?”

“He’s still out at the scene, dear. He called me a few minutes ago. He said that you looked a bit glassy-eyed when he saw you out there and that you might be in shock.”

“Was it his idea for me to take a hot shower?”

“No, that was mine. The sweet hot tea was his idea.”

“Well, it worked. Between the shower, the tea with the coffee chaser, and the box of Fanny Farmer’s, I feel much better now.”

Delores shoved the box a little closer to Hannah’s side of the desk. “Do you think you feel well enough to go and see Barbara?”

“Not quite yet, but soon.”