Cinnamon Roll Murder (2 page)

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Authors: Joanne Fluke

Tags: #Romance, #Mystery, #Thriller, #Adult, #Chick-Lit

BOOK: Cinnamon Roll Murder
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Chapter Two
T
he two sisters waited breathlessly. Hannah was almost positive that they were thinking the same dire thought.
Was everyone dead inside the bus? Or were they so badly injured they couldn’t even call out?
“I can do it,” a faint voice came from the interior of the bus. “I was riding in the back. Give me a minute and I’ll get there.”
Several moments later there was the sound of a lock clicking, and the back door swung open to reveal a handsome but haggard-looking man with strips of cloth wrapped around his wrist. The cloth strips were holding a screwdriver in place as a makeshift brace. “Are you doctors?”
“No,” Michelle answered. “I’ve had first aid training, but that’s about it.”
“Who
are
you then?”
“Two passing motorists who came to help,” Hannah explained as quickly as she could. “It may take the paramedics some time to get to you. The road’s blocked by the wreckage and they’ll have to hike in over half a mile. Is anyone inside badly injured?”
“No. We’ve all got bruises, but I’m the worst … unless you count the bus driver. Lynnette made this split for me. She used to work in a doctor’s office.”
“Lynnette’s a nurse?” Hannah asked.
He shook his head. “She was in charge of the appointment desk, but she used to help the nurses when they got really busy. You know, hand them things and stuff like that.”
“Do you think your wrist is broken?” Michelle asked.
“I don’t think so, but I’m no doctor. I guess I can find out for sure from the paramedics, or the doctors … if they ever get here.”
You’re pretty impatient considering the accident happened less than five minutes ago
, Hannah thought, but she didn’t say it. He’d been injured and she should make allowances for that. “I’m sure they’ll come just as soon as they can,” she said, giving him a comforting smile. “Two ambulances and a fire truck passed us on the way here.”
Michelle stepped closer and examined his splint. “Your splint looks just fine. It’s holding your wrist immobile and that’s exactly what it’s supposed to do. You’ll probably need X-rays when you get to the hospital, but you’re fine for now. Just be careful not to bang it against anything or try to use your right arm. You don’t want to risk injuring it further, especially since you play keyboards.”
“You know me?” he asked, looking pleased.
“Not personally, but I know your music. You’re Buddy Neiman, the keyboard player with Cinnamon Roll Six.”
“That’s right.” Buddy gave her a long, assessing look. “So you’re a fan?”
“I certainly am. Your music is great.”
“Thanks. Hey … maybe you want to get together for a drink or something after we play tomorrow night.”
Hannah held her breath. She hoped Michelle realized that Buddy was trying to pick her up.
“That would be nice. I’ll be there with my boyfriend and his cousin, Devin. Devin’s your biggest fan, and he’s the one who introduced me to your music. He’s got everything the Cinnamon Roll Six ever recorded, and he plays keyboards with the Jordan High jazz band. He told me he can hardly wait to meet you and tell you how great he thinks you are.”
Hannah watched the play of expressions cross Buddy’s face. There was disappointment in the fact that Michelle had a boyfriend, regret that he’d asked her to have a drink since she’d assumed he was open to including her boyfriend and Devin, and pleased at the compliment to his musical talent. Flattery must have won out in the end, because he smiled.
“I’d like to meet your boyfriend and his cousin,” he said, going into fan mode. “Devin sounds like a nice kid.”
“Oh, he is. He’s pretty talented, too. He’s got a job playing the piano at the Lake Eden Inn during the dinner hour on weekends.”
Enough chit-chat
, Hannah’s mind prodded.
Get to what’s important.
“You said there weren’t any other serious injuries unless you counted the driver,” Michelle said, almost as if she’d read Hannah’s mind. “What did you mean by that?”
“He’s dead.”
“The driver is
dead
?” Hannah repeated, just to make sure she’d understood his response.
“That’s what Lynnette said. She went up there to see if he was okay, and when she came back, she told us he was dead. It’s probably why he went off the road in the first place. I’m thinking it must have been a heart attack or something sudden like that. One minute we were traveling along as smooth as silk, and the next minute we were fishtailing across three lanes of traffic and crashing sideways into the ditch.”
“We’d better take a look at the driver to make sure there’s nothing we can do for him,” Michelle said.
“Sounds good. Come on in.”
Buddy held out his uninjured arm, and Michelle hopped nimbly into the bus. It took Hannah a bit longer to get inside, but soon the two sisters were standing at the very back of the bus in the space where the band stored their instruments. The locked cabinets, which had been bolted to the floor, were now hanging upside down over their heads, and they were standing on what looked like a shallow trough, but was really the slightly arched ceiling of the bus.
It was a bit disorienting. The shadows were deep, the interior illuminated only by two strips of emergency LED lights that had been installed on the floor. Those lights were now above their heads, and Hannah could see that close to a dozen people were huddled against the windows on either side.
“The back door’s unlocked if anybody wants to get out,” Buddy announced, “but it’s warmer in here.”
“I think we should all stay here,” an older man spoke up. There were several nods from the group huddled around him, and Hannah could see that he was the leader, unofficially or not. “Better hold onto the pup. He’s so little, we could lose him in the snow.”
Buddy shrugged. “We’re going to have to lose him anyway now that Clay’s dead. He’s the one who stopped to rescue him. And he’s the one who said he’d find him a home.”
“Maybe we can take him,” a girl with long black hair spoke up. “He’s so cute.”
Hannah moved a step closer and saw a tiny puppy face with impossibly big ears peeking out from a blanket on the girl’s lap.
“You know we can’t take him,” the brown-haired guy sitting next to her said. “We’re on the road all the time.”
“We can just turn him loose once we get to town,” Buddy suggested. “Maybe somebody will feel sorry for him and take him in.”
“You can’t do that! It’s cold out there, and you know he was almost frozen to death when Clay rescued him. He’s got to have a warm place to sleep and food to eat. He’s so thin I can feel his little ribs right through the blanket. We’ve just got to find somebody to take him in.”
“I’ll take him,” Hannah said, surprising everyone including herself.
“Who are you?” the older man asked her.
“Hannah Swensen. And this is my sister, Michelle. We spotted the bus in the ditch and we came to see if we could help.”
“Nice of you,” the man said. “I’m Lee Campbell, the band manager.”
“Karl Reese. Drums.” A tall gangly redhead with hair almost as curly as Hannah’s spoke up. “And this is my girlfriend, Penny.”
“Glad to meet you,” Penny said. “Thanks for coming to help us out.”
The girl holding the puppy gave Hannah a shy smile. “I’m so glad you’re taking this little guy. He’s been through a lot, and he’s really a good puppy.”
“My wife, the patron saint of anything with fur,” the brown-haired man sitting next to her said. “She’s Annie and I’m Tommy Asch. I play sax and clarinet.”
“Conrad Bergen. Bass,” the guy who looked like the boy next door in so many old movies introduced himself.
“I’m Eric Campbell,” the guy with long, dark hair pulled back into a ponytail gave them a smile. “And he’s Drake Mason,” he introduced the bald, slightly heavyset guy sitting next to him. “We’re brass.”
“I’m Cammy.” The girl with an extremely low-cut sweater told them. “I travel with the band.”
The bleached blonde sitting next to her gave both of them an assessing look to see if they might be competition. “And I’m Lynnette. We help the boys set up and … uh … things like that.”
Hannah was not about to ask what
things like that
meant. Instead she said, “I understand the driver is dead?”
“Yeah. I went up there to check on him. He was dead.”
“Did you try to find a pulse?” Michelle asked her.
“Do I look like an idiot? Sure I tried to find a pulse. There wasn’t any, and he wasn’t breathing either. I’ve got some medical training, you know.”
Of course you do
, Hannah’s mind replied.
You know how to say “Doctor will see you at ten on Thursday, Mrs. Smith. Please let us know twenty-four hours in advance if you can’t keep your appointment.”
But instead of voicing her thoughts, she asked, “Do you mind if I take a look, Lynnette? Sometimes those pulse points can be very difficult to find, especially if the patient is comatose. It’s not that I don’t trust you. I’m sure you know what you’re doing. It’s just that if I don’t check to make certain, I could lose my license.”
“Oh. Well … sure!
That’s
different. Have at it.” Lynnette dismissed her with a wave. “No way I’m going up there again. Clay looked really creepy.”
Wonderful!
Hannah’s mind replied.
I can hardly wait to see what you think is creepy
. But of course she didn’t say a word. She certainly wasn’t looking forward to a trip to the front of the bus. It would be a test of agility because she’d have to walk in the metal trough that formed the high part of the upside down ceiling, but she wanted to spare her sister the sight of the dead driver. She turned to Michelle and chose her words carefully. If Michelle thought she was needed, she’d come along even if the prospect was daunting. “I’ll go check on the driver. You stay here and see if you can help anyone else.”
“No way. I’m going with you.”
“But you don’t have to …”
“Yes, I do.” Michelle insisted. “I don’t want to lose my license either.”
The trip up the nonexistent aisle wasn’t easy. The way Hannah assessed it, they had two choices. They could walk upright, putting one foot directly ahead of the other and risk losing their balance, or they could straddle the very center of the ceiling and walk with their feet spread out several feet apart. Hannah opted to straddle the steepest part of the ceiling and they preceded forward, small step by small step, with their arms extended out from their sides for balance.
Michelle waited until they were out of earshot and then she tapped Hannah on the arm. “What license are we in danger of losing if we don’t do this?”
“Uh …” Hannah thought fast. “I think that would be our Good Sense license. I’m willing to bet that Lynnette didn’t even know
how
to check for a pulse.”
“I’ll buy that.”
The two sisters made their way toward the front of the bus. The dim glow from the strips of LED lights was cold and blue, and everything, even ordinary things like bus windows and shades, seemed eerie and unreal. Most of the bus seats had fallen open into a reclining position, and hung above their heads flapped out like giant prehistoric bats.
When they reached the front, Michelle glanced around. There was no one slumped by the walls or spread out on the ceiling that was now the floor. “I don’t see the bus driver. Where is he?”
“There,” Hannah answered, pointing upward at the driver still strapped in his seat above them.
For a moment neither sister said a word. They just stared at the driver, suspended by his seat belt, with one arm dangling down so far the fingers almost touched their heads. His mouth was open as if in surprise, and he appeared to be regarding them fixedly with his sightless eyes.
Michelle shivered, and then she turned to Hannah. “Lynnette’s right. He’s creepy,” she whispered.
“No argument here,” Hannah replied, taking Michelle’s arm and turning her around. “Let’s go.”
“But … shouldn’t we check for a pulse?”
Hannah was about to point out that the driver’s neck was twisted at an impossible angle and no one could live with his neck turned halfway around like that, but Michelle looked shaken enough as it was. If Michelle wanted her to feel the dead driver’s wrist for a pulse, she’d do it.
She was about to reach up for the driver’s wrist to search for signs of life she knew weren’t there when Buddy hailed them from the back of the bus.
“Come on back! The paramedics just arrived!”
Chapter Three
“
I
s everybody okay back there?” Hannah asked as she turned onto the highway.
“We’re fine,” one of the wives responded. Hannah wasn’t sure which wife it was since there were two married couples riding in the back of her cookie truck. They were part of the group that Doc Knight’s interns had asked her to take to the hospital, since there were only a few vehicles available and the ambulances were transporting the more seriously injured.
Luckily, the two couples had escaped with minor scrapes and bruises. One of the husbands had a cut on his leg that might require a couple of stitches, and the other husband had suffered a blow to his head and would be watched for several hours for signs of a concussion. The wives had scrapes and bruises, but their injuries were minor. They had been on their way to the Tri-County Mall to see a movie when they’d come upon the accident and been unable to avoid becoming part of the massive pileup.
“How about you, Buddy?” Hannah asked. The keyboard player had the most serious injury in her little group of what Ben Matson, one of Doc’s interns, had called the “walking wounded”.
“I’m okay, except those cinnamon rolls are driving me crazy. Usually we stop somewhere on the road, but we were supposed to have dinner out at the Lake Eden Inn before our practice.”
“All he had was some of my vegetable chips,” Lynnette, the final member of Hannah’s group reported. She was completely uninjured, but she was riding along so that she could rejoin the rest of the band at the hospital.
“We were going to have dinner at the food court out at the mall,” one of the husbands told Hannah, “so we’re pretty hungry, too. How long until we get there?”
“No more than fifteen minutes. I have to make a quick stop to drop off the puppy, and then we’ll go straight to the hospital. We’ll get you all something to eat from the vending machines just as soon as we get there.”
“Forget the dog, just get us some food,” Buddy said, sounding more than a little petulant. “I want one of those cinnamon rolls right now.”
Hannah shook her head. “I’m sorry, but I can’t do that. The cinnamon rolls are part of an order that’s been bought and paid for. But I do have some cookies in the back. How about a couple of Triplet Chiplets?”
“What are those?” one of the wives asked.
“Cookies with three kinds of chips. These have white chocolate, semi-sweet chocolate, and milk chocolate chips.”
“Too bad that white chocolate’s not peanut butter chips,” Buddy complained.
Well it’s not, and there’s not a lot I can do about it at this late date
, Hannah thought, but she snapped her mouth tightly shut and reminded herself that Buddy had been in an traumatic accident. It was true that his injury wasn’t life threatening, but he was probably afraid that his wrist was broken, and that might end his musical career.
“Try one. You’ll like them,” Michelle said, just as Hannah pulled into Lisa and Herb’s driveway. “Hannah’s going in with the puppy, but I’ll stay here and find all the extra cookies she has in the back. Then you can choose the ones you want to try.”
“Hannah! What are you doing… oh! How precious!” Lisa held out her arms to take the puppy.
It was precisely the reaction Hannah had been hoping for. She stepped into her business partner’s warm kitchen and put the puppy into Lisa’s waiting arms. “This poor little guy was on the band bus when it went into the ditch. He was part of that accident on the highway. Someone was holding him and he’s not hurt.”
“Thank goodness for that! I know all about the accident. Herb got a call about twenty minutes ago, and he left to go out there to help transport people to the hospital.” She looked down at the puppy with a concerned expression. “Are you
sure
he’s not hurt?”
“I’m sure. One of the paramedics checked him out. I think he’s really hungry though. The driver of the band bus found him shivering in the cold and stopped to pick him up. The wife of the bass player wrapped him in a blanket and held him. They were going to take him to a shelter.”
“
Were
?” Lisa asked, carrying the puppy to Dillon’s dog bed, tucking the blanket more securely around him. She opened a can of dog food, put some into a bowl, stirred in some chicken broth to thin it, and heated it in the microwave. “So does he belong to anybody?”
“No. That’s why they were going to take him to the shelter. And when they told me that, I said
I’d
take him. I don’t know why I did that. I have no idea if he’ll get along with Moishe. And even if he does, he’ll be alone all day in the condo while I’m at work. And since I’m on the second floor, I can’t even have a doggy door.”
“I have a doggy door,” Lisa said, stirring the bowl of warm food and picking up the puppy again. She nestled the little guy in her lap, dipped her finger in the bowl of food, and let him lick it.
“I know you have a doggy door, but I didn’t come here to ask you to take me off the hook. I can try it and see how it goes. I just need you to babysit while I take some of the accident victims to the hospital to get checked out.”
“Okay, I can do that. But I’m serious, Hannah. I can take him. We only have one dog and we’ve been talking about getting another one. When you have two, they’re company for each other.”
“But will a dog this little get along with Dillon?”
“Of course he will. Dillon loves other dogs and he’s crazy about puppies. He’ll adopt this little one in no time flat.”
“Well … I don’t want you to feel you
have
to take him.”
“I don’t feel I have to. I
want
to take him. Dillon’s always with Herb. He rides in the squad car with him and he goes on rounds. They’re practically inseparable. Dillon loves me. I know he does. But Herb trained him and spent more time with him than I did. Dillon’s really Herb’s dog, and I’d like a dog of my own. This little guy could be
my
dog.”
“Well …”
“Come on, Hannah. The only reason you said you’d take him is you felt sorry for him. And now you’re having second thoughts and …” Lisa stopped talking and narrowed her eyes. “You figured I’d take him right from the start, didn’t you!”
“Who, me?” Hannah put on her most innocent expression.
“Yes, you. You knew I’d take him, and that’s why you said that
you
would. And you brought him over here so I’d fall in love with him and keep him. Don’t deny it, Hannah. We’ve been partners for almost three years and I know you.”
“Okay. Maybe I had you in mind. You
did
say you wanted a dog that was all your own. And this little guy is so small, we could keep him down at The Cookie Jar during the daytime.”
“How about the health regulations?”
“Your husband is in law enforcement. Police dogs are in the same category as service dogs. You know the rules. Service dogs can go into places that normally don’t allow dogs.”
“But Sammy isn’t a police dog or a service dog.”
She’d named him already! Hannah felt almost giddy with success. “Sammy could be a service dog in training. Why did you name him Sammy anyway?”
“It’s his markings. He looks like he’s wearing a little Sam Browne belt. Are you sure I can bring him to work?”
“I’m sure. All we need is a crate for when we’re super busy, a bed and some toys, and a leash and harness for when he wants to visit in the coffee shop.”
“You had this all planned out, didn’t you?”
“No, at least not everything. I was just hoping, that’s all. So do you think it’ll work?”
Lisa glanced down at little Sammy. He’d finished most of the food and fallen asleep snuggled in her arms. “Oh, yes,” she said, giving a happy smile. “It’ll work just fine.”
 
When Hannah pulled up by the emergency entrance to Lake Eden Memorial Hospital, she was met by Freddy Sawyer, who had been pressed into service as an orderly, and Marlene Aldrich, one of Doc Knight’s interns.
“Ben’s inside running triage,” Marlene said, motioning for Freddy to help the two couples out of the back of Hannah’s cookie truck. “Any serious injuries, Hannah?”
“A possible concussion, a cut that may need stitches, and bumps, scrapes, and bruises. Nothing life threatening. The most serious is Buddy Neiman.” Hannah watched as Freddy carefully helped Buddy down from the cookie truck. “He plays keyboards with the Cinnamon Roll Six, the jazz band. Their band bus went into the ditch. Buddy hurt his wrist and we’re hoping it’s not broken.”
Marlene inspected Buddy’s splint and gave a quick nod. “It’s fine for now. Get your whole group settled in the waiting room, and I’ll come to take Buddy to X-ray myself.”
“I’ll get everyone settled,” Michelle said, and led the little group away. As soon as they were out of earshot, Marlene turned to Hannah. “I heard them play at Club Nineteen in the Cities, and Buddy was terrific. The whole band was terrific. Are any of the rest of them injured?”
“Just Buddy. Someone else is bringing the rest of them in. Is there anything I can do to help out, Marlene?”
“Just get your group coffee, or something to eat if they’re hungry. The kitchen’s closed, but the vending machines in the lobby have sandwiches and fruit, and things like that. We’ll be by to check out your people just as soon as we can.”
“How’s Freddy doing?” Hannah asked as they entered the emergency room doors. Ever since the mildly retarded young man had started to work for Doc Knight and his staff at the hospital, he’d seemed more relaxed and cheerful.
“Freddy’s great. He really loves to work, and once he learns how to do something, he never forgets. This place couldn’t run without him. I tell him that every day, and he always gives me that big smile of his and says his mother used to tell him that.” Marlene stopped and gave a little sigh. “And speaking of mothers, I almost forgot to tell you. Yours is here, and she said she wanted to see you right away if you came in. I think she’s in Doc Knight’s office making phone calls to bring in the Rainbow Ladies.”
“Okay. I’ll find her.”
Hannah helped Michelle get beverages and snacks from the vending machines for the two couples, Lynnette, and Buddy. Once she’d made sure they were comfortably settled, she went off in search of her mother.
Delores Swensen had taken over as leader of the group of women now called the Rainbow Ladies, a hospital auxiliary that helped patients fill out paperwork, acted as companions to those who didn’t have family present for their treatments and procedures, visited anyone who didn’t have visitors, read books to patients who were bored with watching television, and generally served as a liaison between patients, family members, and the hospital staff.
The new responsibility their mother had taken on had come as a surprise to all three of her daughters. Hannah, Michelle, and Andrea all knew that their mother was not known for her charity work. Andrea thought that their mother might have become more sympathetic to those less fortunate now that she was older, but Hannah and Michelle still thought there must be another motive. Delores wasn’t a joiner and she certainly wasn’t a do-gooder. There had to be a reason for this sudden change, and they had yet to discover what it was.
Before Delores had taken over this charitable group, it had been known as the Gray Ladies. The gray smocks the women wore were definitely not to their mother’s liking. Delores preferred bright colors, and she immediately indulged her preference. The Gray Ladies, now known as the Rainbow Ladies, wore blazers in their favorite bright color. As the leader of the group, Delores had her choice of colors, and she’d ordered three blazers for herself. Tonight she was wearing one in a bright cherry color, and Hannah spotted her coming out of Doc Knight’s office.
“Hannah!” Delores exclaimed, giving a relieved sigh. “I knew you were driving out to Sally’s tonight and I hoped you and Michelle weren’t involved in that big accident.”
“We weren’t. I managed to turn off at the rest stop just in time.”
“Well! That’s the last time I complain about that rest stop and all the money the state wasted.” Delores gave her eldest daughter a sharp look. “You should have called me immediately. I was worried about you and Michelle.”
“Sorry, Mother. We were busy trying to get to a bus that was overturned in a ditch, and we didn’t even think of it. We didn’t mean to make you worry and we apologize.”

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