Raspberry Danish Murder (Hannah Swensen #22)(103)

Better check the wheel wells, her mind told her. That’s even more proof that it’s Pinkie’s Jeep.

It was a good idea, and Hannah shut the door of the Jeep, locking the door behind her. She crouched down as far as she could near the driver’s side wheel well and held her cell phone out to snap another photo. One glance at her photo told her that it was even more proof that Gary’s Jeep had once belonged to Pinkie. Hannah was smiling as she typed a text message to Mike.

My neighbor at the convention, Gary Fowler, owns Pinkie’s Jeep. Then she attached the two photos. As she walked back toward the door to the convention hall, Hannah felt very virtuous for fulfilling her promise and letting Mike know what she’d just discovered.

*

There was a line of waiting customers at Gary’s booth, and once Hannah delivered the box with the sleighs and took one for herself, she went back to The Cookie Jar booth with Michelle’s bar cookies. She would wait to talk to Gary until he finished with his customers.

Michelle immediately cut up the bar cookies she’d brought, and since Norman was there to help wait on customers, Hannah grabbed a cup of coffee and took a moment to sit down at a table in the food court to sip it. She had just begun to relax when her cell phone rang. She glanced at the display and was surprised to see a number from Clarissa High displayed there.

“Hello, this is Hannah,” she answered.

“Oh, good! I got you! This is Lila from Clarissa High. I just thought of the name of Pinkie’s brother. Remember when I told you that it was a common name?”

“I remember,” Hannah said.

“Well, it’s Gary.”

“Gary?”

“That’s right, or at least I’m pretty sure it is. He’s the one who sold the farm and rented that apartment in town for Pinkie.”

There was a pause, and then Lila said, “I’ve got to go. I’ve got another call. Good-bye, Hannah.”

The phone clicked off, and Hannah just sat there for a moment with a puzzled expression on her face. Pinkie’s brother’s name was Gary. She reminded herself that there were a lot of men named Gary in the world and the fact that one of them had Pinkie’s Jeep didn’t necessarily mean that her neighbor, Gary, was Pinkie’s brother. Actually, now that she thought about it, Lila had said that she was pretty sure, not completely sure. Gary had told her that his sister, Violet, had given him the Jeep. Violet could have bought it from a car lot. And all this could be a coincidence. Things like that happened, didn’t they?

*

Hannah wiped down the counters of their booth for the sixth time as she waited for everyone to leave so that she could talk to Gary alone. Norman had gone home to shower and change clothes, and Michelle had gone off to Dick’s bar to have a glass of wine and meet her friend, Trish, who was working the afternoon shift today. Trish would take Michelle to The Cookie Jar to get her car, and then all three of them—Norman, Trish, and Michelle—would meet at Hannah’s condo at seven to have leftover Chinese food and fresh pizza that Norman had promised to bring.

There were only a few vendors left in the convention hall, and Hannah took heart. It wouldn’t be long now. She told herself again that all she had was circumstantial evidence linking Gary to Pinkie and there really wasn’t any reason to be overly suspicious. Even if Pinkie’s brother’s name happened to be Gary, he might not be the Gary who’d been Pinkie’s brother. And even though Gary had told Hannah that everything Violet sold was handmade on consignment and she’d found a label that said the cookie ornament Tracey had bought was made in China, that could have been Gary’s mistake. Perhaps Violet had ordered the ornaments for a friend, or even for her personal Christmas tree at home, never intending to sell them at her shop. Actually, even the fact that Violet’s name hadn’t been on the patient list of any hospital or rehabilitation facility that they’d called could be explained. Violet could have been discharged before they’d called and now she was at home, being cared for by her part-time assistant who worked at the store.

Then there was the fact that Violet’s store, Many Hands, wasn’t listed in the telephone directory or with the Better Business Bureau. This could also be easily explained. Violet could be following the lead of so many businesses and was using her cell phone number for business. And the fact that she wasn’t listed with the Better Business Bureau wasn’t that unusual either. If there had been no complaints about her business, Violet might not have chosen to pay to be listed with them. The last and final piece of circumstantial evidence could also be explained quite easily. Pinkie’s brother, whatever his name, could have sold Pinkie’s Jeep after she died, the car lot could have had it repainted black so that it would sell more easily, and Violet could have purchased it for Gary. Michelle had a used car, and they had no idea who the previous owner was. They hadn’t even thought to ask Cyril. Most people who bought used cars checked the history of the car itself, but not the history of ownership. Everything Hannah had that pointed her to Gary as Pinkie’s brother was entirely circumstantial.

The coffee Hannah had poured for herself before she’d cleaned out Sally’s coffeepots was sitting in a large Styrofoam cup on the counter. It was still almost full and she picked it up and took a sip of the lukewarm brew while she waited.

Finally, Gary’s last customer left. Hannah knew that somehow she needed to trip Gary up and catch him in an outright lie. And she’d need proof of Gary’s outright lie for Mike. Hannah used the app on her cell phone to record her upcoming conversation with Gary, picked up her coffee, and walked over to Gary’s booth.