Blackberry Pie Murder (3 page)

Lisa gave a little gasp as a blinding flash of lightning struck a tree in a nearby field. “It’s really bad out there,” she said, reaching up to cover her ears as the thunder boomed.

“That’s another reason I decided to take the back way,”

Hannah told her once the volley of thunder had reached its crescendo and faded. “This road is lined with trees and lightning will hit them before it’ll hit us.”

“So all we have to worry about is a tree getting struck by lightning and toppling in front of us?”

“Right.” Hannah listened to the rain drumming on the roof of her truck for a moment and then she gave a little laugh. “That and the road washing out.”

“I don’t think that’ll happen. It’s only been raining for . . .”

Lisa paused as the thunder boomed again, and then she continued, “. . . less than half an hour.”

Hannah picked up speed as they entered an open area and slowed down when the road was tree-lined again. “At least we’re not the tallest thing on the road right now.”

The two women rode in silence for a moment, safely en-sconced in their metal cocoon and listening to the electrical storm raging outside. Then Lisa spoke. “I wonder if we’ll get any customers at all today.”

“My guess is not many.”

“That’s exactly what I think. Maybe we’ll have time to sit 14

Joanne Fluke

and have a cup of coffee, and talk about something
besides
your mother’s wedding.”

“That would be a welcome change.” Hannah gripped the wheel tightly as they passed another open area. The blinding lightning flashes and crashing thunder were unnerving. She steered to avoid a puddle that was building up in a low spot on the road and her truck fishtailed slightly. There was a sharp bend ahead and she regained control barely in time to make the turn.

“Watch out!” Lisa hollered as she saw a large branch that had fallen in the center of the road.

“Hold on!” Hannah called out almost simultaneously as she spotted the obstacle and hit the brakes as hard as she could. The Suburban fishtailed again on the loose, wet gravel as she swerved to avoid the branch and then there was a sick-ening thump as Hannah’s front bumper hit something on the shoulder of the road.

Hannah uttered a phrase she never would have voiced if her nieces had been within earshot. “Sorry, Lisa. Are you okay?”

“I’m fine. You weren’t going that fast. And don’t worry about what you said. It’s exactly what I was thinking. Did you hit that tree branch?”

“I don’t think so. I’m almost sure I avoided it. It must have been something else.”

Hannah leaned forward to wipe fog from the inside of the windshield and Lisa did the same. Then both of them peered out into the driving rain. “Can you see anything?”

“Not much. There’s something there and I think part of it is light-colored, but . . .” Lisa stopped her description as lightning flashed and then she gave a little cry. “Oh, Hannah!

I think it’s . . . it’s a
person
!”

As if of one mind, both women opened their doors and jumped out into the elements. Hannah didn’t feel the rain that pelted down with the force of a spewing faucet. She didn’t flinch as a second and then a third bolt of lightning arced BLACKBERRY PIE MURDER

15

down only feet from where they were standing. She was concentrating solely on the motionless figure on the gravel.

“I can’t quite tell what . . . Oh, no!” Lisa was clearly badly shaken as she arrived at the front of the truck. “It’s a man, Hannah! And I think he’s . . . he’s . . . dead!”

Hannah heard the panic in her partner’s voice, but she was too busy to deal with it now. She knelt down beside the man on the ground and with cold and wet fingers, she felt for a pulse. For one brief moment, she thought she felt a slight sign of life, but that hope quickly faded when she saw that the man’s neck was bent at an impossible angle.

“Is he . . . ?” Lisa attempted to ask the question again.

“He’s dead,” Hannah answered.

Lisa swallowed hard, and then she asked another question. “Who is it?”

“I don’t know. I’ve never seen him before.”

“A stranger,” Lisa said in a shaking voice.

“Come on, Lisa.” Hannah motioned to her partner as she got up and walked back to the truck. “We need to call this in to the sheriff’s station.”

A few moments later, the call had been made and the two partners were silent, sitting in their respective seats, staring out at the rain splattering big, fat drops against the windshield. Tree branches were dipping low with the weight of the rain, thunder was rumbling like a prehistoric beast, and flashes of lightning caught the scene outside in freeze frame.

It was a bad storm, a nasty storm. Inside the truck, they were lucky to be protected from the elements.

“Where are you going?” Lisa asked as Hannah grabbed her umbrella from the back seat and opened the driver’s door.

Hannah didn’t answer. She couldn’t find the words. Head bent, her eyes on the ground, she walked around to the front of her truck, opened the umbrella, and propped it up over the dead man’s face. No one should have to be outside and un-protected in this storm. It just wasn’t right.

Tears were running down Lisa’s face as Hannah climbed 16

Joanne Fluke

back in the truck. She reached over to pat Hannah’s hand and then she reached in her purse for a tissue. Hannah handed her the box that she always kept on the console.

“I’m glad you did that,” Lisa said, wiping her eyes.

“I had to,” Hannah replied, and then she began to shake almost uncontrollably. She knew it was a combination of the rain, the cold, and the wet clothing she was wearing. It was also the fact that despite her promise to her mother at The Cookie Jar, she’d found another dead body. And this time it was even worse because she’d killed him herself!

Chapter

!
Three
#

It didn’t take long for the ambulance to arrive since the hospital was only a few miles away. Hannah watched from the driver’s seat as Doc Knight, clad in a yellow slicker and hat, checked for vital signs. It took him awhile, Doc was nothing if not thorough, but she knew there was no hope because of the grim expression on his face when he came around to her side of the car.

“He’s dead?” she asked, fearing the worst.

“Yes.”

But before Doc could do more than pat her on the shoulder, Mike Kingston and Lonnie Murphy pulled up. Even though Hannah dated Mike occasionally and usually felt a surge of excitement when she saw him, today it was different. She wasn’t sure why, but perhaps it was because she felt heartsick and guilty about the accident and the fact that a man had died. Looking back, she didn’t think she could have anticipated and avoided it, but she was utterly miserable all the same. Coupled with the fact that she was shivering almost uncontrollably from shock and thoroughly chilled from wearing wet clothing, there was no joy at seeing one of her boyfriends.

“Hannah,” Mike said and there was a warmth in his voice that she would have gloried in under any other circumstances. “What happened, Hannah?”

18

Joanne Fluke

“It was raining really hard, and I wasn’t going fast, but my truck skidded when I tried to avoid that tree branch, and . . .”

“Hold it,” Mike ordered, reaching out to squeeze her arm as he pulled out his notebook. “Start from the beginning and don’t leave anything out. Lisa? Lonnie’s going to take your statement in the squad car, so please go with him.”

As Lisa opened the passenger door to get out of her truck, Hannah had the crazy urge to beg her not to leave. But before she could act on her impulse, Mike patted her shoulder.

“It’s okay. You’re going to be all right, Hannah. Just start from the beginning and tell me exactly what happened.”

The next period of time seemed impossibly long as Hannah described the details of the accident and Mike proceeded to ask questions. The volleys of questions and answers seemed endless and Hannah wished she could just go back to her condo, climb into bed, and pull the covers over her head.

This wasn’t real. It couldn’t be. When she got up this morning, the sky was clear and she’d looked forward to the day.

Now, less than four hours later, she was guilty of causing a man’s death!

“Okay, Mike. That’s enough,” Doc Knight called out, walking up to the open window of Hannah’s truck. “I need to take Hannah and Lisa back to The Cookie Jar now.”

“But I’m not finished taking . . .”

“Yes, you are.” Doc glanced at Hannah. “Do you have dry clothes at work?”

Hannah nodded. Her teeth were chattering so hard it was difficult to speak.

“All right then. I left the heater on in my car and Lisa’s already inside. Leave your keys for Mike, hop out, and go join her. I’ll be there in just a second.” He turned to Mike. “You’ll make sure that Hannah gets her truck back when you’re through with it?”

“Yes, but I really need to . . .” Mike started to object, but Doc shook his head.

“Whatever you need to do, you can do later at The Cookie BLACKBERRY PIE MURDER

19

Jar when they’re dry and warm. You wouldn’t want to be responsible for two cases of pneumonia compounded by severe shock, would you?”

“Of course not, but . . .”

“Good!” Doc opened Hannah’s door and helped her out.

“Come along, Hannah. You need to leave right now, doctor’s orders.”

“Oh, Hannah!” Delores gave a little cry of distress as Doc led Hannah and Lisa into the kitchen.

Here it comes
, Hannah thought, taking a deep breath in preparation. Her mother was going to chew her out royally for not only finding another dead body, but actually causing his death. “I’m sorry, Mother,” she said.

“Sorry for what?”

“I promised you I wouldn’t find another dead body.”

“Don’t be silly, dear. I was talking about murder victims.

I’m just so glad you’re both all right!”

“So am I, but I feel terrible about hitting that man. I was trying to avoid a branch in the road and I didn’t see him.”

Delores rushed over to give Hannah a hug in spite of her daughter’s drenched clothes and wet hair. “Just remember that it was an accident. You certainly didn’t mean to hit that man. When Doc called me he said it was raining so hard and visibility was so bad, he almost hit
your
truck.”

“I should have pulled over and stopped,” Hannah said, stating the obvious.

“But you couldn’t,” Lisa reminded her. “You were trying to get around the bend and under the trees so that we wouldn’t be struck by lightning.”

“This is not the time to lay blame,” Delores said, and Hannah recognized the no-nonsense, mother-knows-best tone of voice. “Hannah?” She pointed to the tiny bathroom off the kitchen. “You get straight into that shower and get warm. Then put on dry clothes and come out here.”

“But Lisa should . . .”

20

Joanne Fluke

“I turned on the oven for Lisa. You know how much heat that puts out. All she has to do is stand in front of it while you shower and dress and then she can do the same.”

Doc walked over to give Delores a hug. “No wedding talk today, Lori. The girls are too upset.”

“I know that. We won’t even mention it.”

“Good. I’ll need you at the hospital later if you’re free. A couple of board members are coming in from Minneapolis and I always behave better if you’re there.”

Hannah was on her way to the tiny bathroom off the kitchen, but she turned in time to see her mother smile. It was a beautiful smile, an appreciative smile that came from the heart. Just seeing the expression on her mother’s face assured her that they’d have a loving marriage.

It didn’t take long for Hannah to shower and dress. She turned the bathroom over to Lisa, who didn’t take more than ten minutes, either, and then they sat down at the workstation with Delores to have a bracing cup of coffee.

“Michelle and I baked something for you while you were gone,” Delores told them.

“
You
baked?” Hannah felt her eyebrows shoot up in surprise. Delores hadn’t baked when they were growing up and, as far as she knew, her mother hadn’t baked since.

“Well . . . I didn’t actually do the baking, but I measured the ingredients.”

“And I’ll bet you did a wonderful job,” Lisa said diplo-matically.

“That’s what Michelle said. Of course she had to explain that a stick and a half of butter equaled three-quarters of a cup, but there’s no way I could have known that without softening it up and measuring it.”

“Absolutely right,” Hannah told her, feeling absurdly pleased that her mother had measured ingredients to help Michelle bake for them. “What did you bake?”

“Tio Tito’s Sublime Lime Bars.”

“Who’s Tio Tito?” Lisa asked her.

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21

“He’s the man who makes the vodka that we put in the cookie bars. Tito is his nickname and
tio
means
uncle
in Spanish.”

“How did you come up with the name?” Lisa asked her.

“Michelle named them. She took a summer school class in Spanish and she thought it sounded cute.”

“We can’t sell those to minors, Mother,” Hannah reminded her, “not with alcohol in them.”

“Oh, they’re not for sale. They’re for you and Lisa. When Doc called, he told me to run across to the Municipal Liquor Store and buy a bottle of brandy to put in your coffee. But Hank had so many different kinds of brandy, I couldn’t decide. Then I noticed that one bottle had a copper top and it was different from all the rest so I bought that. I didn’t realize that it was vodka and not brandy until I got back here.”

“What made you decide to bake with it instead of pouring it in our coffee?” Lisa asked her.

“It was Michelle’s idea. She remembered the Double Whammy Lemon Cake you made for my last party and she decided to try it in lime cookie bars.”

Hannah smiled at her mother to show she was about to tease her. “They sound wonderful. Are we going to talk about them, or do we actually get to taste them?”

“You get to taste them.” Delores laughed as she reached for the foil-covered plate at the end of the workstation.