Raspberry Danish Murder (Hannah Swensen #22)(43)

Chapter Fourteen


“Here’s what happened,” Hannah said, sitting down on the stool across from Norman. “I put my personal checkbook in my purse because I didn’t want Michelle to have to pay any extra money for whatever car she chose. I knew my balance and I was hoping that I had enough in my account to cover the difference.”

“That was nice of you, Hannah.”

“Thanks. I wanted to do it for her, Norman. She never lets me pay her for helping out at The Cookie Jar and I owe her a lot. I didn’t have that much in my account, but I was hoping it would be enough. And if it wasn’t, I was going to put the rest on time with Cyril and pay it off.”

“I would have given you the money if it had been more, Hannah. All you had to do was let me know.”

“Thank you, Norman.” Hannah thought again about how sweet and caring Norman was, and then she went on with her explanation. “As it turned out, I certainly didn’t need any more money!”

“Because of the check from Cyril?”

“That’s just a small part of it. When I took Cyril’s check to the bank and deposited it, I said something to Lydia about how I hoped I wasn’t overdrawn. She checked my balance and she looked really shocked when she wrote the total on the deposit slip. It was sixty thousand dollars more than I thought I had.”

“The bank made a mistake?”

“That’s what I thought, and Lydia did, too. She looked at the teller’s initials and said that Doug Greerson had handled that deposit.”

“Doug?”

“Yes, and I went straight into his office to talk to him about it. It turned out it wasn’t a mistake at all, that Ross had come in to see Doug right before he left town, and he’d deposited sixty thousand dollars in my personal account!”

Norman gave a low whistle.

“Don’t whistle yet. That’s not all. Doug said Ross had added my name to all of his accounts and he had the signature cards for me to sign so that I would have full access. Ross has a lot of money in the bank, Norman. It’s much more than I ever would have guessed!”

Hannah had just given Norman that shocking news when there was a knock at the back kitchen door. It was rhythmic, three short knocks and then a louder one, almost like a snare drum cadence.

“Andrea,” Hannah informed Norman. “If you go let her in, I’ll pour a cup of coffee for her.”

“You’d better put this back in your purse for safekeeping,” Norman said, handing her the paper with the bank balances.

“Good idea.” Hannah took the paper and slipped it into her purse. Then she walked to the coffeepot to pour coffee for Andrea.

By the time Hannah was back with a fresh mug of coffee, Andrea had seated herself on the stool next to Norman. “Sorry, Hannah,” she said, looking very apologetic. “I’ve been out talking to people, and I couldn’t find anyone who . . .” She stopped speaking and glanced at Norman. Then she gave Hannah a distressed look. “Sorry, Hannah. I’ll tell you later.”

“I don’t have any secrets from Norman,” Hannah reassured her. “Tell me now.”

“Okay.” Andrea turned to Norman. “Hannah asked me to talk to people to find out if anyone seemed to have a grudge against Ross or disliked him for any reason. She said she didn’t know if that drugged candy was meant for P.K. or for Ross, and she didn’t think anyone would tell her anything negative about Ross.”

“I understand,” Norman told her.

“But there was nothing,” Andrea said. “I talked to everyone I could think of, even Irma York, and you know what a big gossip she is. Even Irma couldn’t think of anything bad about Ross, and neither could anyone else. Everyone really likes him. He’s very popular in Lake Eden.”

“How about work?” Norman asked. “Is there anyone at KCOW Television who might feel it wasn’t fair when Ross was hired and thought that they should have gotten his job instead?”

“I have to check that out later. I didn’t get time to go out there today.” She stopped and glanced at her watch. “I can’t go now. I have an appointment. Is it all right if I do that tomorrow, Hannah?”

“You’ve done enough, Andrea. And believe me, I appreciate it. I’ll run out to KCOW later and see if anyone there knows anything.”

“I did find out one other thing, but it’s not about Ross,” Andrea told her. “Grandma Knudson told me that P.K.’s funeral is going to be held tomorrow.”

Norman looked over at Hannah. “Are you planning to go?”

Hannah made an instant decision. “Yes, I want to go.”

“I’ll go with you,” Andrea told Hannah. “Detectives always learn something at a murder victim’s funeral. That’s true in almost every detective show.”

“You watch detective shows?” Hannah asked, knowing that Andrea preferred shows that involved fashion or interior decorating.

“Bill watches them. And since I like to spend time with him when he actually gets home at a reasonable time, I watch them, too. I’m definitely going to the funeral, Hannah. All those detective shows can’t be wrong, and you never know who might talk to one of us and tell us something we need to know.”

Once Andrea had left with a bag of Maple Crunch Cookies for Tracey and her friends, Norman turned to Hannah. “I’d better go. If I stay here, you’ll never get any work done.”