Raspberry Danish Murder (Hannah Swensen #22)(95)

“Yes, but let’s not do takeout. I have another idea. I’ve never eaten in at Lan Se Palace. All we ever do there is pick up Chinese takeout. Instead of takeout tonight, let’s actually eat in their dining room.”

“That sounds good,” Hannah said, and then she turned to Michelle. “Do you want to have dinner there?”

“Yes. I’ve never been in their dining room, either. Andrea described it, and it sounded nice.”

Norman looked pleased. “Then I’ll meet you there in a few minutes, unless you have to go home first and feed Moishe?”

Hannah shook her head. “Moishe doesn’t expect his dinner until after six at night. That’s the earliest I usually get home from work.”

“Okay then. I’ll drive straight there and get us a table. Do you want me to put in an order for an appetizer?”

“Yes!” Michelle looked delighted. “Let’s have shrimp rolls. I’ve always wanted to order those, but the woman at the takeout desk told me they don’t travel well.”

“Hannah?” Norman turned to her.

“I’ll have a shrimp roll, too,” Hannah told him.

“How about drinks? Shall I order those for you?”

“That would be nice. Iced tea for me if they have it,” Hannah decided. “And if they don’t, I’ll have lemonade or any other fruit drink.”

“Same for me,” Michelle told him. “We’ll just wipe down the counters, and then we’ll close up and meet you there.”

*

Hannah pulled up in front of Lan Se Palace less than fifteen minutes later. Traffic had been light and it had stopped snowing, so visibility was good.

“I think it turned colder,” Michelle commented as she got out of Hannah’s Suburban.

“It does feel colder than it did this morning,” Hannah agreed. “I’d better plug in my cookie truck.”

Michelle waited, stomping her feet to stay warm, as Hannah attached the cord she’d wound around her front bumper to the electrical strip that ran all the way around the side of the building. Then the two sisters walked to the entrance and opened the outside door.

“I love the blue mirrors on the front,” Michelle said, stepping into the warmer area between the outer door and the door to the interior of the restaurant.

“So do I,” Hannah said, chuckling a bit as she hung up her parka in the classroom and switched her boots for the moccasins she’d carried in with her. “Do you remember when Andrea told us that she’d been here when she was in high school and it was called the Watering Hole?”

“Yes, and Mike asked her why she was there when she was underage, and Andrea had to make up that ridiculous story about just coming in to call for help because Bill’s car had broken down.”

Once Michelle had switched to her street shoes, they walked into the toasty warm interior of the restaurant itself. They spotted Norman sitting at a booth by the window and went over to join him.

“Just in time,” Norman said as they slid into the horseshoe-shaped booth. “Adam came by to say the shrimp rolls would be here in a minute or two.”

As they sipped their drinks and waited for the shrimp rolls to arrive, Hannah told Norman about the ornament that Tracey had shown her and how they’d gotten Gary’s sister’s name from Sally.

“Are you going to call Violet at the hospital and ask her why she has ornaments in her store that aren’t handmade?” Norman asked.

“No,” Hannah said. “That’s not really the important thing. The real question is why Gary lied to Tracey and to us when he mentioned the ornaments.”

“Did you ask him about that?”

Michelle shook her head. “We decided not to. Hannah didn’t want him to know that we’d stumbled on his lie.”

Norman’s eyes narrowed slightly as he turned to Hannah. “So Gary’s about to join the other suspects on your list?”

Hannah shrugged. “Maybe. I have a couple of things to check out first.”

“Like what?”

“Like whether his sister is really in the hospital. But first, we have to find out which hospital it is. All we know is that it’s in the Cities.”

Norman smiled. “I can do that for you if we stop by my place. I’ve got a really fast online connection, and I’ll print out a list for you. Or, if you’d like, I can help you call the hospitals to ask.”

“That would really save time,” Michelle told him. “Then there’d be three of us calling.”

“Michelle’s right,” Hannah agreed. “If you’ll get that list for us and come to the condo with it, we’ll all work on making those phone calls. And bring Cuddles. Doctor Bob said that all Moishe’s tests came back just fine and he’s perfectly healthy. He even lost a pound and a half, and that’s good.”

“So Doctor Bob wasn’t worried about the Moishe flop?”

“Not at all. Sue said that if there were anything wrong, Doctor Bob would have found it.”

“I’m sure that’s right,” Norman agreed. “I’ll bring Cuddles, and with all three of us calling, it shouldn’t take long to locate the right hospital.”

“If she’s actually in the hospital,” Hannah reminded him.