Raspberry Danish Murder (Hannah Swensen #22)(67)

“To prove that they showed up for dinner and what time they came in?” Hannah guessed.

“Yes. Anyway, as I said, when Pinkie came in alone, she told Dot she missed P.K. and she didn’t understand why he’d broken off their engagement.”

Michelle’s mouth dropped open in surprise. “But . . . I thought it was the other way around and Pinkie broke up with him!”

“Let’s just say it was mutual and there were bad feelings on both sides. I’m almost positive that there’s no way they could have patched it up and gotten back together.”

Hannah really didn’t want to ask the follow-up question, but this was a murder investigation and she was obligated to ferret out the truth. “Do you know the reason they broke up?”

“Oh, yes. Everyone who was in the dining room that night knows. Their breakup was very contentious.”

“Did it involve another woman?”

“No. That wasn’t it at all.”

Hannah had been holding her breath, and she let it out in a soft sigh of relief. She’d been hoping that the words other woman, or Michelle’s name, wouldn’t come up in their conversation.

“You said everyone who was here knew the reason they broke up,” Hannah followed up again. “Tell us about it.”

“Of course. You have the background now. Just remember that everyone here thought they were a perfect couple and they never did anything to make us think differently. That’s why it was so shocking.”

Hannah leaned a little closer, and then she realized that Michelle and Norman were also leaning forward toward Sally. It was as if their action would cause Sally to hurry and tell them. But instead of continuing, Sally reached for the coffee carafe and filled everyone’s cup.

Sally could give Lisa a run for her money, Hannah thought. She’s got all three of us on pins and needles, waiting to hear what she’s about to tell us.

“Pinkie decided she wanted the Maine lobster with drawn butter that night, and P.K. ordered my tenderloin tips with wild mushrooms. When their entrees came, Pinkie took only one bite of her lobster, put down her fork, and started to argue with P.K.”

“Was it a bad argument?” Michelle asked.

“I’ll say! It went on for at least ten minutes and that’s a long time to fight, especially in a public place with people listening. And my lovely Maine lobster sat there getting as cold as icicles. The drawn butter had already started to congeal before they were through arguing.”

“Do you know who started the argument?” Hannah asked in an effort to bring Sally back to the subject of the argument itself.

“Pinkie did. P.K. was about to take his first bite of tenderloin when she began to accuse him of all sorts of things.”

“What things?” Norman asked.

“Everything under the sun,” Sally said. “She started by accusing P.K. of not really loving her, and then she told him all the things he did wrong.”

“Like what?” Michelle asked.

“She said he was mean to her, he never remembered to call her from work, he couldn’t possibly be too busy to take a second to tell her he loved her, and on, and on, and on. She became positively unhinged and it all ended badly. Very badly.”

Sally stopped, drew a deep breath, and then she went on. “We’ve had some squabbles in here, but this one was legendary. I’ve never seen anyone carry on the way Pinkie did. P.K. tried to calm her down, but their fight got louder and louder.”

“P.K. got loud?” Michelle sounded surprised, and Hannah knew why. P.K. had been very soft-spoken and they’d never heard him say a harsh word about anyone.

“Not him, her. P.K. never raised his voice, not even when she got totally ridiculous. Pinkie was the one who started yelling and screaming at him. Would you like my opinion on this?”

“Yes, please,” Hannah said quickly.

“All right. I think Pinkie was just trying to start a big public fight with him, and she got madder and madder when he stayed calm and refused to fight with her.”

“Did P.K. attempt to answer her accusations?” Norman asked.

“Yes, he did. And he did it in a nice, calm voice. But that seemed to infuriate her even more. She kept carping at him and he kept trying to calm her down and reassure her. It seemed to go on forever, but eventually P.K. reached the end of his patience.”

“What did he do?” Norman asked.

“He said that if she was going to be like that and throw a tantrum in front of a whole roomful of people, he didn’t want to marry her.”

“Was P.K. really angry?” Michelle asked her.

“He didn’t sound angry. He just sounded very definite, as if he’d just reached a logical conclusion. And then Pinkie told him that was fine with her, she wouldn’t marry him even if he was the last man on earth. And she yanked off that engagement ring that she was so proud of.”

“And did she give to him?” Michelle asked.

“And how! She threw it at P.K. so hard, it bounced off the water glass and ended up two tables away. And then she stomped out of the dining room, out to the parking lot, and drove away.”

“That’s . . . awful,” Michelle looked shocked and upset. “What did P.K. do?”

“He got up from the table, apologized to everyone here for her behavior, collected his engagement ring from the lady who held it out to him, and stopped at the desk to pay his bill. And then he left.”