Cherry Cheesecake Murder (37 page)

“Right away, dear. Where are you going?”

“Out to the inn. Tell Mike to meet me there just as fast as he can, and I’ll try to hold Burke until he arrives.”

Sixteen minutes later, Hannah barreled down the circular drive of the Lake Eden Inn. She’d probably broken the winter land speed record for the gravel road that wound through the trees to the inn, and every spring in her truck could testify to that fact. The leftover cookies that Lisa bagged every night and Hannah stored in her truck to use as samples now decorated the floorboards in the rear. Hannah knew because she’d heard them hit the sides of the truck when she’d taken the turns. One errant Oatmeal Raisin Crisp, centrifugally challenged by the sharp bends she’d taken just adjacent to the inn’s parking lot, had whizzed past her ear and was now sitting, slightly the worse for wear, on the passenger seat.

As Hannah approached the loading zone, four head-in spaces next to the entrance that were reserved for arriving and departing guests, she heard a car motor start. A second later, taillights went on and Hannah spotted Burke’s rental car, a sporty, bright yellow Toyota. She rolled down her window, zipped into the vacant space to the left of his car, and shouted out, “Hi, Burke!”

“Hi, Hannah. What are you doing out here?”

Hannah thought fast. “Mother told me you were leaving tonight, and I wanted to say good-bye.”

“’Bye, Hannah. It’s been a real pleasure knowing you. Your cookies are the best I’ve ever had.”

“Thanks.” Hannah glanced at the gravel road, but she didn’t see approaching headlights. Somehow she had to keep Burke talking until Mike got here.

“I have to run, Hannah. I’ve got a plane to catch. I’m going to London to do another commercial.”

“No you’re not!” Hannah shouted out. “Not until you answer some questions for me.”

Burke gave her a boyish grin, the same grin that set the hearts of every female between sixteen and sixty beating faster than normal. “That sounds serious. Don’t you know you shouldn’t be serious on a night like tonight?”

“Why not?” Hannah stalled for time.

“This is a night for celebrating. The movie’s going to be a huge success, your niece is going to be the toast of the silver screen, and your cat will be famous. What could be better than that?”

“Not much,” Hannah said, “except maybe the lead in Remember Last Tuesday.”

“What was that?”

Burke looked totally confused by what she’d just said, and Hannah would have sworn he’d never heard the movie title before if she hadn’t known better. “Remember Last Tuesday is the major motion picture that would have made you a star…” Hannah paused and let that sink in, “…except Dean Lawrence made a phone call and kept you from getting the part.”

“What are you talking about?”

Burke still looked baffled and it was disconcerting. For a brief second Hannah wondered if she could be wrong, but then she reminded herself that Burke was a very talented actor who could play any part, including innocent.

“Dean was angry about that interview you gave and he found a perfect way to get even. All it took was a couple of words to his important director friends, and your career was down the drain.”

Burke gave her a tight smile. “I don’t know if you’re crazy, or if you had too much to drink at the wrap party. Whatever it is, I think you’d better go home and sleep it off.”

About time! Hannah thought as she heard a siren in the distance. Mike was coming and she didn’t have to stall much longer. Within seconds, he’d pulled up on the other side of Burke’s car and was rolling down his window.

“What’s going on here?” Mike asked, looking at Hannah and then Burke.

“I want you to arrest Burke,” Hannah said, hoping that Delores had given him a satisfactory explanation. “He killed Dean.”

Burke laughed long and hard, and then he turned to Mike. “That’s the third time she’s said that and I don’t know what she’s talking about. You’d better take her home and sober her up. She’s got some ridiculous idea that I’m a murderer.”

“Is that right?” Mike addressed Hannah.

“That’s right. Dean wrecked Burke’s career and Burke got even by switching the revolvers. He stood right there and let Dean demonstrate the suicide and he knew the gun would go off.”

“Isn’t that the craziest story you’ve ever heard?” Burke was joviality personified as he beamed at Mike. “I don’t know where she gets her ideas, but I think she ought to try writing a movie script.” He pulled up his coat sleeve and made a big show of checking his watch. “If I don’t leave now, I’m going to miss my plane.”

“You can’t leave!” Hannah protested, glancing over at Mike. “Tell him he can’t leave, Mike.”

Mike shook his head. “Sorry, Hannah. It’s an interesting theory, but I don’t have enough evidence to hold Burke.” Mike turned to the actor and said, “You’re free to go.”

Burke gave a little wave and put his car in reverse. He was about to back out of the parking spot when Hannah grabbed the prop gun and aimed at him. “Stop or I’ll shoot!” she yelled.

“Hannah! Where did you get that revolver?” Mike looked shocked.

“From the sewing machine at Granny’s Attic.” Hannah answered, and then she turned to Burke again. “I’m a good shot, so don’t fool around with me. Get out of the car with your hands up, or I’ll shoot.”

“No, you won’t,” Burke said with a nasty laugh. “That gun doesn’t have a firing pin.”

“Gotcha!” Hannah said. And then she watched as the smug look on Burke’s face disappeared. “The only way you could know that is if you hid the prop gun in the sewing machine right after you switched revolvers. And you know what that means!”

Burke stepped on the gas, but Mike was quicker and his squad car shot back to block Burke’s exit. At the same time, a second squad car arrived with Lonnie Murphy at the wheel and his brother, Rick, riding shotgun. Literally. Rick had his department-issued twelve-gauge pointed at the driver’s side window of Burke’s yellow Toyota.

“Read him his rights and take him in,” Mike told his deputies and he stood by to watch them do it. It was only after they’d cuffed Burke, loaded him into the backseat of the squad car, and were pulling away that he walked over to Hannah’s cookie truck and leaned down to talk to her through the open window.

“Did you know all along that the revolver I had was the prop gun?” she asked.

“Sure I did. Your mother told me all about it.”

“I don’t understand. If you knew how Burke killed Dean and you knew that we’d found the prop gun, why did you wait to arrest him?”

“I wanted a little extra insurance, and we got it. Burke admitted in front of both of us that he knew the gun in the sewing machine didn’t have a firing pin.”

“And you were afraid that without that admission, Burke might convince a jury that he was innocent?”

“It’s possible. Don’t forget that he’ll be playing the part of a lifetime.” Mike leaned through the window and touched his lips to Hannah’s. “I’ve missed you, Hannah.”

“Because you were busy working on the murder investigation and I wasn’t with you?”

“Yup.” Mike moved forward and kissed her again, a little more deeply and a lot longer. “Guess I should’ve deputized you after all,” he said.

Hannah glanced in the mirror as she fastened the pendant Ross had given her around her neck. The red stones in the miniature cherries sparkled brightly in the sun that was streaming in her bedroom window and flashed scarlet streaks against the wall. Ross had presented her with the pendant the previous night, right before he’d left for the airport and his flight to California. “Think of me every time you wear it,” he’d told her. “If Crisis in Cherrywood makes it to Cannes, I’ll send you a ticket.”

Then he’d pulled her into his arms and kissed her, and Hannah had been spared a reply. Of course she wanted to go to Cannes. Who wouldn’t want to go to Cannes? But wanting and actually going were two different things. She’d thought about it for hours after Ross had left, imagining what it would be like to be an important producer’s date at a gala movie premiere.

It seemed as if she’d just fallen asleep when the phone had rung this morning. It was Andrea and she’d sounded on top of the world when she’d invited Hannah to join them for a family brunch. It would be the usual crowd and Norman would pick her up. And now Hannah was sitting at Sally’s largest table at the Lake Eden Inn, directly across from Bill, who was resplendent in his raspberry pink shirt.

“I should have brought sunglasses,” Norman said under his breath, and Hannah hid a grin. Norman was right. On the linear brightness scale, Bill’s shirt was only a point or two short of eye-popping. Mike, who was sitting on Hannah’s other side and had overheard Norman’s comment, stifled a chuckle with his napkin.

Hannah smiled at Norman and then she turned to smile at Mike. On past occasions she’d resented the fact that she was always seated between them. She’d even made cracks about being the filling in a Mike and Norman sandwich. Today she didn’t mind at all. She’d upset their equilibrium by going out with Ross and it was time to reassure them. Ross was like an exotic dessert, a diversion to tingle the taste buds and make her savor her own life with a more discerning palate. He was like a baked Alaska flambéed with fine brandy, flashy and exciting, but not something you’d serve with an ordinary supper of meat and potatoes. Mike and Norman were more like…cookies. Cookies were something you could have every day without ever tiring of them.

The smile on Hannah’s face grew wider. If she had to choose their cookie types, Norman would be an Old-Fashioned Sugar Cookie, one of her very favorites. You couldn’t go wrong with an Old-Fashioned Sugar Cookie. It was perfect for any occasion and at any time of day.

Mike was different, and Hannah gave it some thought. She finally decided that he’d be a Black-and-White Cookie, perfectly shaped and gorgeous to look at. It was sweet on the outside, and darker and more intense once you got past the powdered sugar.

“Hannah?” Andrea raised her from her mental dessert game. “Come up to the buffet with me. I want you to show me which bar cookies you brought.”

Hannah made her excuses and got up to join Andrea at the dessert table. She pointed out the Ooey Gooey Chewy Cookie Bars she’d made in honor of the fact that Dean’s killer was behind bars, but Andrea simply nodded.

“I knew which ones they were,” she said. “I just wanted an excuse to talk to you alone.”

Hannah took a deep breath and prepared for bad news. Andrea and Bill had been smiling throughout the brunch, but that could have been for their mother’s benefit. “What is it?”

“Ronni Ward got engaged and she’s getting married next month!”

“That’s great news! When did this happen?”

“Last week in Miami. Remember when Lisa was trying to make me feel better and she said that maybe Ronni would meet another fitness instructor and they’d do exercises together?”

“I remember.”

“Well, that’s exactly what happened. Ronni met a personal trainer from The Cities and they’re going to open a studio together. Isn’t that just wonderful?”

“It certainly is.” Hannah swiveled around as someone tapped her on the shoulder. It was Michelle and she looked a bit dazed. “What’s wrong, Michelle? You look as if a strong wind could blow you over.”

“That’s because it could blow me over. Lonnie just told me that he entered me in the Miss Winnetka Beauty Contest.”

“He did it without asking you first?” Andrea asked the critical question.

“That’s right. He said he knew I was the prettiest girl in the county and he wanted everybody to see how beautiful I am. Is that crazy, or what?”

“Crazy in love,” Hannah offered, grinning a little. “That’s very sweet, and you don’t have to worry about it. If you get chosen as a finalist, you can always turn it down.”

“I was chosen as a finalist. Lonnie just told me. And I can’t turn it down.”

Andrea began to frown. “Why not?”

“Because Mother signed the papers agreeing I’d be a contestant.”

“Can she do that?” Hannah recovered enough to ask.

“Oh, yes. The rules say that if you’re under twenty-one, a parent can sign the forms for you.”

“Oh, boy!” Hannah muttered. “When is the contest?”

“In June. It’s part of the Winnetka County Fair. And I’m not going to college this summer, so I don’t have that for an excuse. I’m stuck, and I don’t know how to get out of it. But at least I’m not alone.”

“What do you mean?” Andrea asked.

“I’m not the only one Mother signed up. She entered you and Tracey in the Mother-Daughter Look-Alike Contest, and she entered Bethany in the Beautiful Baby contest.”

“Oh, for Pete’s sake!” Andrea said, but she didn’t look too upset.

Hannah burst out laughing. “I’m going to have fun at the fair this year. I can hardly wait to see both of you up there on stage.”

“Don’t laugh too hard,” Michelle warned.

“Why not?”

“Mother signed you up to judge the baked goods at the fair.”

“That’s fine with me. It sounds like fun.” Hannah smiled, but her smile turned into an anxious look as Michelle burst out laughing. “What?”

“Don’t crow yet. She also volunteered you for the Lake Eden Historical Society Booth.”

“That’s not so bad. I don’t mind passing out literature for the Historical Society.”

“It’s not literature this year.”

“It’s not?”

“No, they’re doing a fund-raiser. Have you ever seen the type of booth where a lady in a fancy silk dress and a parasol sits over a tank of water?”

Hannah gasped. Surely Mother wouldn’t do that to her! “Are you talking about the kind of booth where people try to hit a target with a baseball and dunk the lady?” she asked.

“That’s right. You’re in the booth from two to four on Saturday afternoon. According to Mother, that’s a heavy traffic period. And Bill says to tell you that Norman and Mike have already signed up with a coach to take pitching lessons!”

_OOEY GOOEY CHEWY

COOKIE BARS_

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F., rack

in the middle position

For the Crust:

½ cup white (granulated) sugar

¾ cup flour (not sifted)

1/3 cup unsweetened baking cocoa*
(I used Hershey’s)