Carrot Cake Murder (34 page)

There it was, one of her grandfather’s ice picks. The paint on the red-and-green wooden handle was flaking off, but the point was sharp and wicked looking. Was this the ice pick that had killed Gus Klein? And if it was, what was it doing in the kitchen of the cottage that Mac and Patsy had rented for the reunion?

“Hannah?” Michelle called out. “There’s nothing in the bedroom or bathroom.”

“Nothing in the living room, either,” Andrea added.

“Are you almost done?” Michelle asked.

Hannah was silent. She hadn’t heard the question. Her mind was racing, trying to put the pieces together. Was it possible Mac had stabbed Gus when Gus refused to repay the old loan that Marge had told her about? And had he lied about seeing Jack from the kitchen window because he wanted to throw suspicion on someone whose memory was failing, someone who couldn’t defend himself?

“Hannah?” Michelle called out again.

“What’s wrong?” Andrea asked.

This time their voices broke through the busy workings of her mind, and Hannah whirled to see both of her sisters standing just inside the kitchen door.

“I’ve found the ice pick,” she said. “It’s in the tool drawer. And I think I know who killed Gus.”

“Where are you, Hannah?” Mike answered on the first ring.

“Outside the pavilion with Andrea and Michelle. I found the ice pick, Mike.”

“Where?”

“In Mac and Patsy’s cottage. And I think Mac killed Gus.”

There was a moment of silence, and then Mike sighed. “But that doesn’t make sense, Hannah. If Mac killed Gus with the ice pick you found, why would he keep it?”

“I don’t know. Maybe he was afraid that the owner of the cottage would notice it was missing. And since Gus was killed with an ice pick, somebody like you would put two and two together and come up with him as the killer.”

“Okay. It’s circumstantial, and we don’t even know if the ice pick you found was the murder weapon, but I can see why you’re suspicious. Do you have anything else to point a finger at Mac?”

“Yes! Mac told me he looked out the kitchen window in the cottage where he’s staying with Patsy, and he saw Jack Herman out for a walk right around the time Gus was murdered. And he was lying.”

There was a long silence, and Hannah began to frown. “Mike? Did I lose you?”

“You didn’t lose me. It’s just that Mac told us the same thing. Why do you think he’s lying?”

“Patsy told me Mac went out for a walk that night. He goes for one every night, doctor’s orders. He couldn’t have seen Jack through the cottage window. There’s a big pine tree in the way. He saw Jack on the road, all right, but they were both out there. And all this time, I’ve been afraid that Jack killed Gus.”

“Me, too,” Mike said, “and there’s no way I wanted to believe that.”

“But you didn’t bring him in for questioning,” Hannah reminded him.

“No. I probably should have, but…why? We all know Jack’s memory goes in and out. And…well…there’s no real proof he did it.”

“You’re a good man, Mike,” Hannah said, meaning every word of it.

“Thanks. But maybe I’m not. Maybe I just didn’t think I could get anything useful out of questioning somebody with Alzheimer’s.”

“There’s that, too,” Hannah said, “but I prefer to think that you cut him some slack because you thought it was the right thing to do.”

There was another silence, and then Mike cleared his throat. “You said you found the ice pick. Where was it exactly?”

“It’s in the kitchen tool drawer.”

“You didn’t touch it, did you?”

“Of course not! I left it right where it was.”

“Okay. Everything you told me is circumstantial, but it’s the best we’ve got unless we actually find traces of blood on the ice pick. Do you think Patsy will testify that Mac went out for a walk?”

“I’m almost sure she will. She told me that Mac came to her and asked her to lie for him. He wanted her to say he was with her all night, but Patsy refused. She told Mac she wouldn’t volunteer the information, but if you asked her directly, she wouldn’t lie for him.”

“Good for her! I’ll be right out to pull Mac in for further questioning. He’s definitely a person of interest, if not more. Where is he right now? Do you know?”

“He’s watching the children’s talent show, and Patsy’s with him. Andrea and Michelle saw them in line, waiting to get inside the pavilion.”

“Good. Go on in and watch him for him, and don’t say anything to anybody. I don’t want him to know we’re interested in him. I should be there in less than fifteen minutes to take him in for questioning.”

“Okay. We’ll go inside and watch him. What do you want us to do if he leaves?”

“Don’t follow him. If he is the killer, it could be dangerous if he thinks anybody’s on to him. Just let him go, and we’ll find him later.”

“Okay. Anything else?”

“Keep an eye on his wife, too. If he thinks she might mention that walk he took, he could try to silence her.”

Hannah gulped. “You mean he might…kill her?”

“That’s exactly what I mean.” Hannah heard an engine roar into life. “I’ve got to go, Hannah. I’m on my way, and I need to keep this line open.”

Once Hannah hung up, she turned to her sisters and related what Mike had said. “He said he’ll be here in fifteen minutes,” she concluded.

“Let’s go find Mac and Patsy,” Andrea led the way to the door of the pavilion. “If we fan out, it’ll be easier for us to see them in the audience. Lisa said they were making three aisles. There’s one in the middle and one on either side.”

“I’ll take left,” Michelle said.

“And I’ll take the middle and look on both sides,” Andrea said. “It’ll take me a little longer, but that way I can double check for both of you.”

“That leaves me with the right,” Hannah said. “We’ll just walk down the aisles, turn around, and walk back. Then we’ll get together right outside the door to see which one of us spotted them.”

When they entered the pavilion, the Beeseman sisters were ending their five minutes of song with “Gary, Indiana” from The Music Man, a perfect choice since it was their hometown.

The next act started the moment the Beeseman sisters left the stage. It was a group of twelve girls with lighted batons, performing an act to a Sousa march. All eyes were on the stage to see who could twirl her baton the longest without dropping it, and it was the perfect time to canvas the audience without being noticed. Once her sisters had arrived at their starting points, Hannah motioned them forward.

Hannah’s eyes scanned the rows as she moved slowly forward, down one row to the end, up to the row in front of it, and then all the way back to the aisle. Like the carriage on an old-fashioned typewriter, she wove her way to the front of the room, and then she started the return trip.

Where only the backs of heads had been visible on her way to the front of the room, Hannah could see actual faces on her return trip. She saw her mother and Carrie, Jon Walker and his wife, Earl Flensburg, and Marge’s cousins from Florida, but she didn’t spot Patsy or Mac.

Hannah finished first, and she ducked out the door to wait for her sisters. Michelle came out next and she was shaking her head.

“You didn’t spot them?” Hannah asked her.

“No, and there were no empty chairs, so they weren’t in the bathrooms or anything like that.”

“Good for you!” Hannah complimented her foresight. “Let’s just hope that Andrea spotted them.”

It seemed to take forever, but it probably wasn’t more than a minute or two before Andrea came out.

“Anything?” Hannah asked her.

“No. I checked both sides, and they weren’t there. I’m sure of it, Hannah.”

“What now?” Hannah asked, the sinking feeling in her stomach growing into a full-blown panic. “You saw them in line.”

The door opened again, and the three sisters turned to stare as Marge stepped out. “Hi,” she said. “I saw you come in, and then I saw you leave. Is something wrong?”

Hannah gave a little sigh. “It could be. We were looking for Mac and Patsy, but we didn’t spot them in the audience.”

“They decided to skip the talent show,” Marge reported, and she looked happy. “They were waiting in line, and Patsy said Mac had a change of heart. He begged her to give their marriage one more chance, and he said he wanted to take her to the water lily garden to propose to her all over again.”

“The water lily garden in the middle of the lake?” Hannah asked, feeling her panic grow.

“That’s right. It’s where he proposed to her the first time. Isn’t that just too romantic for words?”

Things happened so fast that Hannah’s mind spun, even though she was the one who was making them happen. Hannah and Michelle raced for a canoe, while Marge and Andrea waited on the road for Mike so that they could tell him where they’d gone.

No more than two minutes passed before Michelle and Hannah were paddling out in one of the rental canoes. Lisa and Herb had lined them up on the shore for the relatives to enjoy, and Michelle and Hannah had claimed the one on the end for their own.

“Do you know where the water lily garden is?” Michelle asked her.

“It’s just off Sandy Point,” Hannah told her. “Norman took me there.”

It was a still night, and sounds carried across the water. There was the sound of the waves lapping against the shore, the occasional cry of a night bird, and a splash as some creature of the lake surfaced and then dove back down again.

Hannah held her finger to her lips, and Michelle nodded to show she understood. Their words would carry a great distance if they spoke aloud.

Another minute or two of steady paddling and they could hear voices. At first they were indistinct. Only the intonation was heard. It sounded conversational, rather than confrontational, and Hannah took heart. She couldn’t tell how far away they were, but she knew it would take them at least five more minutes of paddling to get to the water lily garden.

Then the tone of the voices changed, and the words became distinct. The woman, Hannah was almost certain it was Patsy, sounded angry.

“I don’t understand!” her voice floated over the water. “What difference does it make if the police know you went for a walk? They can’t arrest you for murdering Gus if you didn’t do it!”

Mac gave a mirthless chuckle. “Oh, but I did,” he said.

“You…did?” Patsy sounded horrified.

“That’s right. I told you I wanted to get that money back, and I went over to the pavilion to get it. Gus said you gave it to him. And since it was your money in the first place, he didn’t have to pay me back.”

“He was right. It wasn’t your money.”

“Sure it was. You’re my wife. I earned it by being married to you all these years.”

Patsy didn’t say anything. Hannah could imagine how hurt and frightened she was.

“When I told him he had to pay it back, he laughed at me. And he wouldn’t quit laughing, so I stabbed him to shut him up.”

“You…killed him,” Patsy said, and Hannah could tell she was close to a state of shock.

“That’s right, and I’m not sorry I did. The only problem I’ve got now is you.”

“But I won’t tell anybody you killed him! I promise, Mac!”

Mac laughed, and it wasn’t a pleasant sound. “Oh, sure. You won’t tell anyone until I take you back to shore and you can run for help. Don’t try to lie to a liar, Patsy. I’m a lot better at it than you are.”

“But I love you, Mac!” Hannah could tell by the tone in Patsy’s voice that she was desperate.

“Well, that’s nice. Too bad I don’t love you, huh?”

There was a moment of silence while Hannah and Michelle paddled hard. Mac was going to kill Patsy. Hannah was convinced of it. She just hoped that they could make it to the water lily garden in time!

We’re on the way. Just keep him talking until we get there! Hannah urged her silently. And that was when Patsy spoke again.

“I can’t testify against you, Mac.”

“What do you mean?”

“Even if I wanted to, I couldn’t.”

“Why not?” Mac sounded suspicious.

“Because a wife can’t testify against her husband. And I’m your wife, Mac. Even if I tell somebody what you said, they can’t use it against you. That would be hearsay. And hearsay’s not admissible in court.”

“You’re sure about that?” Mac sounded as if he were considering her argument, but Hannah had her doubts. It was more likely he was playing with Patsy like Moishe played with a mouse.

“Of course I’m sure,” Patsy said, and to Hannah’s ears she sounded desperate again. “I’ve been a legal secretary for almost thirty years.”

“Well that is interesting. I’ve got to admit that. You’re positive you’re right then?”

Hannah motioned for Michelle to hurry. The water lily garden was just ahead. They’d be on the scene in less than a minute.

“I’d stake my…” Patsy stopped suddenly and gave a little sob. “It’s all true, Mac. There’s no way I can say anything in court to hurt you.”

Mac gave a little chuckle and the hair stood up at the back of Hannah’s neck. She could tell a crisis was coming with the force of a speeding freight train.

“Patsy, Patsy, Patsy,” Mac mock chided her. “You’re talking about a trial here. But there’s not going to be any trial. There’s not even going to be an arrest.”

Hannah could hear Patsy crying. They were very close now.

“We’re all alone out here, and this canoe is going to flip right over.” Mac chuckled again. “And you can’t swim, can you, Patsy girl?”

“Stop!” Hannah shouted out, giving a mighty lunge on her paddle to hurtle them forward. “Stop or I’ll shoot!”

Michelle gave her a startled glance, but she leaned on her paddle and the canoe leaped forward into the clearing that contained the water lily garden.

Mac didn’t wait to see who it was. He just flipped the canoe and Patsy hit the water with a cry. Michelle and Hannah arrived just in time to see her go down into the watery depths.

“I’ll get her,” Michelle shouted.

“Take her to the point.” Hannah gestured toward Sandy Point, which was only a half mile away. “I’ll get him.”

Hannah watched as Michelle grabbed Patsy and started to swim to shore with her. Patsy didn’t panic the way most non swimmers do. Instead she let Michelle support her in the water and kicked with her feet to help them move. Once Hannah was sure they were going to make it, she turned to locate Mac. But before she could do more than glance at the overturned canoe, her own canoe began to tip.