Raspberry Danish Murder (Hannah Swensen #22)(94)

Sally started to shake her head, but then she stopped. “It’s in Minneapolis, but Gary didn’t give me the street address. I could ask him if you want it.”

“No, that’s okay,” Hannah said quickly. “If we need it, we can get it from directory assistance. It sounds like an interesting store, and I was thinking of dropping by there the next time I get to Minneapolis.”

“Does Gary run Many Hands with Violet?” Michelle asked Sally.

“I asked him that and he said no, that Violet has an assistant who comes in part-time and the assistant was keeping the store open for Violet until she got out of the hospital.”

“Thanks, Sally,” Hannah said. “You’ve helped a lot already.”

Sally looked a bit uncomfortable. “You don’t suspect Gary of sending that drugged candy to KCOW, do you?”

“Gary’s not on my suspect list,” Hannah said quite truthfully. “Michelle and I were just interested in learning more about him.”

“Yes,” Michelle said. “Both of us think it’s very nice of him to come here and run his sister’s booth.”

“He seems like a nice enough guy,” Sally said.

“Nice enough?” Hannah questioned Sally’s choice of words. “Do you have some reservations about Gary?”

“Well . . . not really. It’s just that . . . some things about him are slightly . . .” She stopped and began to frown. “I was going to say odd, but that’s not really the right word. Curious is closer to what I mean.”

“What do you find curious?” Hannah asked her.

“Well . . . he came here a week before I asked my vendors to arrive. He said he just wanted a little respite before he began to unload his sister’s ornaments and prepare her booth for the convention.”

“Did you ask him why he needed a respite?” Michelle asked.

“No, I didn’t want to pry into his personal life, but when I thought about his situation, I could understand why he might need a respite.”

Hannah thought she knew what Sally’s reasoning was, but she was silent, waiting for Sally to explain.

“I think Gary wore himself out staying with his sister in the hospital. And now that she’s recovering, he needed a little time to himself.”

“Was Gary his sister’s only visitor?” Michelle asked.

“Heavens no, but I think Gary felt obligated to be there. He told me that all her friends and clients came to see her, and she had so many visitors that the charge nurse had to limit the time they could spend in her room.”

Hannah nodded. “I can understand that. Too many visitors can exhaust a patient. How about Gary and Violet’s parents? Did they visit her, too?”

“No. They were in Europe, visiting his aunt, and since Violet’s injury wasn’t life-threatening, Gary didn’t want to tell them and spoil their overseas visit.”

“What was Violet’s injury?” Michelle asked.

“She fell on the ice and broke her leg. Gary told me that he didn’t leave her until she was moved to the rehabilitation center. Then she told him that everything was okay and she had plenty of people who would come to visit. She said she wanted him to take some time for himself before the convention started and he had to take care of her booth.”

“So he came here early,” Hannah concluded.

“Yes. I gave him a nice suite with a view of the lake, and he stayed to himself for the first day or two, ordering meals from room service and just sitting in an easy chair by the window.”

“He was probably tired from taking care of Violet,” Michelle said.

“Yes, I think so. But then he seemed to recover and he started coming down to the restaurant for meals. He’s fine now that he got his energy back. And he calls his sister at the hospital every day.”

“From the phone in his suite?” Hannah asked, hoping that she could get the number of the hospital from the phone records.

“No, there are no charges to his room for phone calls, so he must use his cell phone.” Sally paused and looked at her watch. “Go get some dessert, girls, and I’ll tell Dot to clear your table and bring you coffee. I’ve got several things on the dessert buffet that you might want to try.”

Hannah laughed. “I might want to try them all, but I don’t think I’d better do that. I’ll limit myself to three samples.”

“A wise decision. We’ll have the same choices tomorrow and you can try another three. I’ll run back to the office to get a copy of Violet’s booth application and bring it out to you. That way, if I wrote it down, you’ll know her last name.”





Chapter Twenty-eight


“Thanks for packing up, Norman,” Hannah said, as Norman came back to The Cookie Jar booth. He’d carried the leftover cookies out to Hannah’s cookie truck for them and left two dozen behind in case there were last minute sales to handle.

“It’s almost five o’clock,” Michelle told them after checking the time on her cell phone. “Let’s throw out the trash on our way to our cars.”

“I’ll do it,” Norman offered, lifting the bag out of the container under the counter. “Do you two have any plans for dinner?”

Hannah shook her head. “Not really. I thought we’d pick up some takeout on the way home. Would you like to join us, Norman?”