Red Velvet Cupcake Murder (Hannah Swensen, #16)(43)

“Then how about telling me what happened at the pond?” Delores asked. And then she paused and looked slightly sorry she’d asked. “But only if you feel up to it, of course,” she added.

Hannah took a milk chocolate candy and was pleased to find it had a dark chocolate center. Her mother always asked her to describe the scene of a murder, but this was a car accident. “Okay,” she said, and told her mother everything that had happened, beginning with the last time she’d seen Doctor Bev alive and how she’d barged onto the porch of the Peterson house. She told her mother the whole story, the dive into the water to try to save Doctor Bev when she’d spotted the car, her efforts to bring Doctor Bev to shore and revive her, all the way through to when she’d finally given up and called Mike at the sheriff’s station.

“Oh, my!” Delores exclaimed, giving a ladylike shiver. “This is a terrible thing to say, but since Doctor Bev was so nasty to you, it almost makes me believe in divine retribution.”

Hannah was slightly shocked. She knew that her mother loved her, but when Delores had heard some of the things that Doctor Bev had said to her on the Petersons’ front porch, Delores had jumped in to defend her eldest daughter like a mother lion defending her cub.

“This whole thing must have been awful for you dear, especially since you were the one to find her.” Delores gave a little sigh and reached out to pat Hannah’s hand. “Then again, you usually do.”

“True,” Hannah acknowledged, “and it’s never easy.”

“I know, but this must have been worse. I’m sure you wished that you could get rid of Doctor Bev once and for all. As a matter of fact, I heard you say it right before the last time she left Lake Eden. You probably wished her dead on countless occasions. And then you’re the one to find her.”

Hannah thought about that for a moment. She didn’t feel at all guilty. Perhaps her mother was projecting. “I don’t think I ever wished that Doctor Bev was dead. I just wished that she would be gone for good.”

“You’re a better woman than I am,” Delores said with a sigh. “Have another chocolate, dear. You still look a little pale.”

Hannah reached for another piece of candy and realized that there were only three left. She looked up at her mother in total surprise. “Did I eat all those?”

“No. I helped.”

“I’ll buy you another box the next time I go out to the mall,” Hannah promised.

“There’s no need. Doc has several right here in the bottom drawer of his desk. He says it makes me more . . .” She paused and gave a little shrug. “I think he used the word compliant.”

“Oh.” Hannah said the most noncommittal thing she could think of. And then she thought, That’s the same word I used when Norman brought me the split of Dom Perignon. Norman said that there wasn’t enough champagne in the world to make me compliant. But are there enough boxes of Fanny Farmer to make my mother compliant?

“Are you ready to visit Barbara now?” Delores asked. “I’ll go with you.”

“I’m ready,” Hannah replied, clamping the cover back on the box so that she wouldn’t have to see the evidence of her transgression. And then she stood up and walked out of Doc Knight’s office with her mother, making a valiant effort not to think about champagne, chocolate, and compliancy.

Barbara smiled when they entered the room. She was sitting up in a chair by the bed and she looked much better. She was still hooked to monitoring devices and an IV that beeped at irregular intervals, but at least she was out of bed.

“Is that your . . . daughter?” she asked.

“It’s me, Barbara. I’m Hannah. And you’re right.” She gestured toward Delores. “I’m Delores’s daughter.”

“Hello, Hannah. I didn’t know you were a nurse.”

“Hannah’s not a nurse,” Delores said. “But I can see why you thought she was. Hannah got her clothes wet and so she changed into dry clothes from the hospital before we came to see you.”

“I see. Green is a good color for you, Hannah.”

“Thanks,” Hannah said and then she exchanged looks with Delores. Barbara didn’t seem as confused today and that was good. Perhaps it was time to ask why she’d been summoned. “Mother said you wanted to see me, Barbara.”

“Yes. I was trying to remember the name of your cat and I couldn’t remember. I have trouble with names.”

“My cat’s name is Moishe.”

“Yes. Of course it is. I don’t know why I couldn’t remember. I guess my brain is still swollen. Can your Moishe be a therapy cat?”

“Therapy cat?” Hannah repeated it in the form of a question. She really didn’t understand what Barbara was asking. “Do they have therapy cats?”

“If they don’t, they should,” Barbara replied. “They have therapy dogs. One was here this morning. I don’t remember his name. It was nice to see him, but seeing a cat would be better. I miss my cat. Is somebody taking care of him? I tried, but I can’t remember the last time I fed him. When I left for school on Tuesday, we were going to have a spelling test and I might have forgotten to give him his food.”

“Don’t worry, Barbara,” Delores jumped in quickly, before Barbara could get upset. “Hannah and I will take care of it.”