Red Velvet Cupcake Murder (Hannah Swensen, #16)(74)

I wonder if he’s busy with Misty, that waitress out at the Corner Tavern, or whether he’s busy with work, Hannah thought to herself. She hoped it was work. But instead of spending time thinking about that, she asked another question. “Was there anything else in Doctor Bev’s stomach that . . . uh . . . maybe I shouldn’t ask about that now.”

“It’s all right, dear,” Delores said. “This conversation would have bothered me a few months ago, but Doc’s been doing his best to desensitize me.”

“Is it working?” Doc asked her.

“Somewhat.” Delores gave a ladylike little shiver. “But it’s not doing much for my appetite.” She turned to Hannah. “Could you ask another question, dear? One that doesn’t have the words stomach or contents in it?”

“Actually, there’s another important question,” Hannah said, remembering what Barbara had said about her water pitcher. “Do you know if Barbara has ever knocked over her water pitcher?”

Delores looked surprised. “I can answer that, dear. Yes, she has and it happened just last night. Her nurse went to get another bag of glucose for her IV drip and when she came back into Barbara’s room, the water pitcher was on the floor.”

Norman and Hannah exchanged glances. Either Barbara had actually tried to hit someone with her water pitcher, or she’d knocked it over accidentally. Now, after the fact, there was no way of knowing for certain.

“Is it important, dear?” Delores asked when Hannah didn’t respond.

“Not really. It’s just something she mentioned and I was wondering if it had happened.”

“All right then.” Delores smiled at Hannah. “Since you’re no longer a suspect, I think we should celebrate. I wonder where Sally is with the . . .” Delores peeked out of the curtain they’d pulled for privacy in one of Sally’s raised booths. “Here she comes now.”

“Knock, knock,” Sally said, and then she pulled the curtain open. “Here we are, Delores. I made my special appetizer tray for you.”

They all watched in awe as one of the waitresses set a large silver platter in the center of their table. There were small slices of black bread topped with smoked salmon, cream cheese, and capers, several kinds of paté to spread on toast points, and a round of Brie baked in a pastry crust, surrounded by small bunches of grapes.

“Very impressive,” Doc Knight said, smiling at Sally.

“Thank you.” Sally smiled back. “I love to do these appetizer platters.”

“Will you join us?” Delores asked, sliding over a bit so that Sally could sit.

“I shouldn’t,” Sally said, but Hannah noticed she wasn’t slow to take a seat. “I understand we have something to celebrate?”

“We do,” Doc answered. “Hannah is no longer a suspect in Doctor Bev’s murder.”

“Well, thank goodness for that!” Sally raised her glass.

“Anybody who thought that she was should have their head examined.”

“By me,” Doc said and everyone laughed.

Sally turned to Hannah. “Would you mind coming with me for a minute? I have that recipe you wanted, but I left it on my desk. And if you don’t get it now, I’ll probably forget which pile of papers it’s in. It’ll only take a minute or two.”

Hannah wasn’t fooled for a second as she followed Sally out of the curtained enclosure. Something was up.

“I’ve got Josh waiting for you in my office,” Sally said, the moment they were out of earshot. “He’s one of my newest busboys and he filled Doctor Bev’s silver thermos this morning.”

“Hannah? This is Josh. He’s my newest busboy.” Sally turned to smile at the teenager, who looked exceedingly uncomfortable. “Tell Miss Swensen what happened when you filled Doctor Bev’s thermos.”

Josh took a deep breath. “She asked me to fill it with coffee and I did. But first I took it into the kitchen and rinsed it out with scalding hot water the way we’re supposed to do with thermoses.”

“Very good. What happened next?”

“She told me she wanted a fresh pot of coffee, not the coffee from the carafe we have at the breakfast buffet. She said to put a quarter-cup of real cream in the bottom and then eights packs of artificial sweetener. After that, I should add the coffee and leave enough room so that I could shake it before I brought it up to her room.”

“And you took it up to her room?” Hannah asked.

“Yeah. She was on the phone and she told me to leave it on the table by the door. And then, before I could leave, she told me she’d changed her mind and I should take it down and put it on the floor behind the driver’s seat of her new car.”

“Did you do that?”

“Yeah. It was a beautiful car!”

“Did she give you the keys?”

“She didn’t have to. She said it was parked in a no parking zone in the back of the hotel and the top was down.”

“Did anybody else see you put the thermos in the car?”

“Sure. There were a couple of other people out there admiring the car. And then, just as I was leaving, Mr. Dalworth came down to drive it up to the front for her.”

“Do you know if he saw the thermos?”