Joanne Fluke Christmas Bundle: Sugar Cookie Murder, Candy Cane Murder, Plum Pudding Murder, & Gingerbread Cookie Murder (81 page)

“She didn’t kill Brandi,” Shirley spoke up. “It was an accident. The only reason Babs went after Brandi was to recover the stolen knife.”

Babs nodded. “Shirley’s right. I’m really sorry, but it was an accident. She came after me with the knife and both of us slipped in the snow. I just hope Mike will believe me. I have to go tell him now.”

“You can’t!” Martin objected, grabbing his mother’s arm. “Don’t tell him, Mom. He’ll arrest you for murder!”

“I don’t think he will. After all it
was
an accident. And don’t forget that Brandi had a weapon and I didn’t.”

“But he won’t know that. No one else saw Brandi steal the knife, and some smart lawyer could argue that you took the knife and went out to confront Brandi to get the ring back. You could be convicted, Mom. You could go to jail!”

“Relax, Martin,” Hannah said. “Norman has a photo of Brandi stealing the cake knife.”

“He does? That’s…that’s great! Then you think everything is going to be all right?”

“I think it will be, especially since your mother’s fingerprints won’t be on the knife. She might have to spend a few hours down at the sheriff’s station, and she may even have to stay there until they can corroborate her account of what happened with Doc Knight’s findings, but I’m sure she’ll be cleared.”

“We’ll go along with you, Mom,” Martin said, taking his mother’s arm.

Shirley took her other arm. “Absolutely. And once we get over this hurdle, Martin and I have some news for you.”

“Really?” Babs gave the first smile Hannah had seen cross her face all evening. “I think I know what it is, and that’s just wonderful!”

Once Hannah had escorted Babs, Martin, and Shirley to the room that Mike was using for interviews, she raced back to the lobby to meet her sisters and Norman and tell them what had happened.

“You ignored your own advice?” Norman asked, looking more amused than angry.

“That’s right.”

Andrea’s eyes narrowed. “But you would have been madder than a wet hen if we’d ignored your advice.”

“That’s right, too.”

“Come on, everybody,” Norman said, playing the role of a peacekeeper. “Let’s go see if there’s any chocolate left. I’m beginning to droop a little, and we can’t go home until the storm lets up.”

As they trooped toward the stairs leading down to the banquet room, Hannah glanced out the large window by the front door. Norman was right. The storm was still raging. The wind was every bit as fierce as it had been before, and it was still dangerous to drive. As she stared out the glass at some of the worst weather a Minnesota winter had to offer, a snow-covered figure materialized at the end of the sidewalk leading up to the front door.

“There’s somebody out there,” Hannah said, squinting through the driving snow. “I think it’s Bill!”

“Where?” Andrea asked, rushing back to join Hannah.

“Out there at the curb. I’d better tell Lonnie to go out and help him in. You catch Michelle and ask her to go get him a hot cup of coffee.”

Lonnie wasted no time fetching Bill. Once Bill got inside, Andrea helped him out of his parka and Hannah hung it up on the coat tree by the front door. Bill looked half frozen, and he took the coffee gratefully when Michelle brought it up to him. “It’s cold out there. My heater went out halfway to town.”

“Oh, honey,” Andrea said, snuggling up to him in an effort to warm him up. “You shouldn’t have tried to make it all the way here. It’s all over now.”

“What’s over?”

“The case,” Michelle told him. “We solved it about fifteen minutes ago. Sip some coffee and warm up a little. Then we’ll take you to the room Mike’s using for interviews.”

“What case? What interviews? What’s going on?”

“Didn’t the dispatcher tell you?” Hannah asked, frowning a bit. “I know Mike tried to reach you right after I found the body.”

“What
body?” Bill’s head swiveled from Andrea, to Hannah, to Michelle, and then back again.

“Martin’s new wife, Brandi Wyen Dubinski. She ended up dead in the parking lot. We’ll tell you all about it right after we thaw you out,” Andrea promised. “All we really need to know right away is how soon Mike can release Mother’s antique cake knife. We need to get it back to her before she finds out.”

“Before she finds out what?”

“That it was used as a murder weapon…except it really wasn’t,” Hannah explained, getting up to see if Norman had managed to find any chocolate. It was obvious that Bill really needed some because they were explaining things perfectly, and it was taking him forever to catch on.

“Y
ou’re a really good dancer,” Michelle said, as Norman led her back to the table.

“I took lessons. I didn’t want Hannah to turn me down when I asked her to dance.”

Hannah laughed, her good mood at the beginning of the evening fully restored. It was wonderful to know that Lake Eden hadn’t been the scene of another murder. Now she could relax and have fun for the rest of the evening. “I’m no Pavlova, Norman. There was a good reason why Mother didn’t name me Grace.”

“I’ll check on that right after I dance with your other younger sister.” Norman held his hand out to Andrea. “Are you up to it?”

Andrea smiled. “I love to dance, but…I don’t think so tonight. I’m feeling extremely awkward and extremely full. I must have eaten twenty desserts.”

“Close,” Hannah mumbled under her breath adding up the desserts she’d seen Andrea consume. It was at least a half-dozen, and that was probably the tip of the iceberg. “You’re feeling all right, aren’t you?”

“I’m fine. It’s just that I’m a little tired, and my feet are swelling. I’ll sit here and watch you, and put my feet up on your chair.”

“I’ll get my down jacket and you can put your feet up on that,” Michelle said. “You’ll be more comfortable that way.”

Norman held out his hand and Hannah took it, but she turned back for one more question before she went off to the dance floor. “You don’t think anything’s going to happen while we’re gone, do you?”

“Oh, I think so,” Andrea said. And then she laughed at the shocked expression on Hannah’s face. “It’s not what you’re thinking. You’re going to enjoy dancing with Norman, that’s all I meant.”

When they got to the dance floor, Kirby and the jazz ensemble were playing “Moon River,” and Hannah snuggled up to Norman as they danced. For once, she didn’t have the urge to lead, a residual effect of having taught Andrea to dance. Andrea hadn’t wanted to get mixed up, and Hannah always had to be the “boy.”

Norman was warm and steady, a perfect partner for dancing cheek to cheek. Of course cheek to cheek was also chin to shoulder, which didn’t sound even remotely as romantic, and it was also chest to…

“Excuse me.” A deep, achingly familiar voice interrupted the thoughts she probably shouldn’t have been thinking anyway. Norman turned her around and pulled back slightly, and Hannah found herself face to face with Mike, except that it was her face to his chest, because he was taller.

“You want to cut in?” Norman asked, and Hannah thought he looked just a tiny bit jealous.

“No,” Mike said, and then he smiled at Hannah. “Not that I wouldn’t like to, but I’m still on the job. I just came over to tell Hannah that Bill and I are taking Babs Dubinski to the station.”

“You’re not going to charge her, are you?”

“No. We’re just going to take her formal videotaped statement. We won’t charge her unless the results of Doc’s au
topsy prove that her account of Brandi’s death couldn’t be accurate.”

“That’s good news,” Norman said, squeezing Hannah’s hand. “Thanks for telling us, Mike.”

“No problem. You guys did all the legwork for me, and I appreciate it.”

Hannah clamped her lips together so that she wouldn’t blurt out what was on her mind. What was Mike talking about? They’d done a lot more than legwork. They had solved the whole case for him!

“Anyway, I just wanted to tell you that Shirley and Martin are following us in Shirley’s car, and Earl Flensburg’s leading the way in the county snowplow.”

“You’re not taking your Hummer?” Hannah was surprised.

“No. She can go through just about anything, so I want her to stay out front in case anyone needs to leave.”

Hannah grinned. “You shouldn’t anthropomorphize inanimate objects.”

“Huh?”

“Your Hummer. She won’t like it.”

Mike looked blank, but Norman caught on right away. He started to chuckle, but he held it in. Since his arms were still around Hannah, she felt as if she were riding out an earthquake.

“Whatever,” Mike waved her comment away. “The point is, Earl won’t be back for at least an hour and you can use her if there’s some kind of emergency.”

Hannah couldn’t believe what she was hearing. Mike’s Hummer was his baby. He must trust her a lot to let her drive his powerful new toy.

“Here.” Mike dropped the keys in her hand. “I’m putting her in your hands, Hannah, and I’m trusting your judgment. If someone has to leave, look around for a guy who knows how to handle her.”

Hannah’s blood pressure began to rise. She should find a
guy
who knew how to handle his Hummer? She was so angry, it felt as if her eyes were burning smoldering circles into his back as he strode off across the dance floor. Mike Kingston was tall, handsome, unbelievably attractive, and about as sexist as a man could get.

“What?” Norman asked, noticing Hannah’s intent expression. “I thought that was a very generous thing Mike did. Everybody in town knows how he loves his Hummer.”

“Sure, he loves it. And sure, it was generous. I’m sure the
guy
I choose to drive it will think so, too!”

“Oh,” Norman said, leaving it at that, but Hannah knew he understood. “Let’s finish our dance. I love to dance with you.”

“I love to dance with you, too.” Hannah smiled as Norman pulled her close into his arms and they moved smoothly across the floor. She was just starting to really enjoy herself again when someone tapped her on the shoulder.

It was Andrea, and Hannah turned to greet her sister. “Hi, Andrea. Did you change your mind about dancing?”

“No. I don’t want to cut in. I just came out here to tell you it’s time.”

Hannah stared at her sister for a moment in absolute disbelief. Then she asked, “Do you mean what I think you mean?”

“I mean exactly what you think I mean. And I think we’d better hurry.”

L
ess than a minute later, they had gathered up their coats and boots and they were headed for the stairs, Norman on one side of Andrea and Hannah on the other. Luckily, Delores was dancing with Winthrop and she failed to notice the exodus of her pregnant daughter, her eldest daughter, and her dentist.

Michelle was talking to Lonnie, who was still manning the front door to discourage anyone who might be foolish enough to brave a blizzard. Hannah called out to Michelle as they helped Andrea up the final stair.

Michelle’s face paled as she caught sight of Andrea. “Is it…”

“Yes,” Hannah told her. “Norman and I are taking Andrea to the hospital in Mike’s Hummer. I need you to do a few things for us here.”

“Anything. What?”

“We need you to deal with Mother. She’s bound to guess what’s happening when she realizes that we’re gone. You have to convince her to stay here and not try to get to the hospital.”

“Mother would drive to the hospital in a blizzard?”

“Absolutely,” Andrea gave a little grin. “She wants to be the first one to see her namesake.”

Michelle looked stunned. “You mean…you’re going to name the baby Delores?”

“I said I would if the baby was a girl. But that won’t happen.”

“It won’t? How do you know that?”

“I had the test. And since it’s a boy, I can get full credit for offering, and I don’t actually have to do it.”

“Nice,” Michelle said. “Don’t worry about a thing here. I’ll make sure Mother doesn’t get within fifty feet of a motor vehicle.”

“There’s one other thing you can do. If she’s too excited to take charge of Tracey, will you do it?”

“Of course I will!” Michelle reached out to give Andrea a little hug. “This is so exciting. I get to be an aunt again!”

Hannah turned to Lonnie. “Will you help us get Andrea out to Mike’s Hummer? It rides pretty high off the ground, and she might need a boost up. Michelle can guard the door until you get back.”

With Lonnie helping, it didn’t take long to load Andrea in the backseat of the Hummer. The moment he’d run back inside, Hannah turned to Norman and held out the keys. “Do you want to drive?”

“You do it. I’ll ride in the back with Andrea.”

“But don’t you want to drive a Hummer?”

“Sure, but not as much as I want to see the expression on Mike’s face when you tell him you drove.”

Hannah could hear Andrea panting as she started the engine and pulled away from the curb into the swirling blanket of white snow that awaited them. “What are you doing back there?”

“Panting. It slows down labor. I’m just glad Norman’s here with me.”

“Why?”

“I know dentists take some of the same classes doctors
do. And so I was hoping that…do you know how to deliver a baby, Norman?”

There was a long silence from the backseat and then Norman chuckled. “I think I can handle it. It can’t be all that different from a root canal.”

Once she’d navigated the first few blocks, Hannah concluded that Mike’s Hummer was a perfect vehicle for such horrible weather. It plowed through dense drifts that would have stopped other trucks cold, and the traction was nothing short of miraculous on the icy patches of road. Under other circumstances Hannah might have enjoyed driving Mike’s prized vehicle, but not with the stakes this high.

Driving through town wasn’t bad, and Hannah was just starting to feel confident when she turned onto Old Lake Road. Then things changed for the worse. The land was flat here, and there were no buildings to act as windbreaks. Visibility was only a foot or two, and it was almost impossible to distinguish the ice-packed shoulder of the road from the pavement itself. Hannah forced herself to hold the wheel steady and prayed that she was on the right track. The snow swirling and whipping in front of the headlights didn’t help. It caused her to lose all sense of direction, until it was virtually impossible to tell left from right, or even up from down.

Somehow, Hannah knew she’d never be sure exactly how they’d made it, they arrived at the turnoff for Lake Eden Memorial Hospital and successfully navigated the circular driveway. Hannah stopped only inches from the emergency room door and leaned on the horn with a vengeance.

“We’re here!” a burly orderly shouted out, opening up the rear door. “Lonnie Murphy called us to say you were coming.”

“Hannah?”

“Yes, Andrea.” Hannah turned back to watch the orderly help her sister out onto a gurney.

“I don’t bake the cake.”

“What cake?”

“The Jell-O Cake. I buy a pound cake at the Red Owl. I just wanted you to know that. I don’t think you’re supposed to go into the delivery room with a lie on your conscience.”

Once Andrea had been whisked inside, Norman and Hannah spent a full minute in silence, she in the front seat and he in the back. Finally Norman broke the silence. “You want coffee?”

“Yes.”

“Inside?”

“Yes. Were you nervous?”

“Of course I was. I’m a dentist, not an obstetrician.”

Without another word they opened their respective doors and headed straight through the emergency room to the coffee machine in the lobby.

“Here, Hannah.” Norman handed her a small fortune in change. “You get the coffee and I’ll find out where they took Andrea.”

Before the coffee had time to cool and turn into the tar that Hannah was sure it would, Norman was back. “Andrea’s in the maternity ward. That’s down at the end of the south wing. The nurse said we can go down there and wait in the expectant fathers’ room.”

“Okay,” Hannah said, handing Norman his paper cup of coffee and following him down the hall. “I should probably find a phone and call Bill.”

“I did that already. There’s nothing for us to do now but wait.”

“Waiting is the thing I hate to do the most,” Hannah said, gazing around as they entered the waiting room. There was a small Christmas tree on the table in the corner, and someone had strung red and green paper chains across the expanse of the ceiling. “This is nice. They decorated for Christmas. I wonder how long it takes to have a baby.”

Norman shrugged. “I asked the nurse that and she said, ‘It depends.’ She also told me that Doc Knight would come to tell us when the baby was born.”

Ten minutes passed as they paged through outdated magazines and pretended interest. Another five minutes passed as they stared at the small Christmas tree. The chairs were comfortable enough, and there was a television set that was programmed to play shorts entitled, “Baby’s First Bath,” and “Burping Your Baby,” but neither Hannah nor Norman felt like watching it.

“Restless?” Norman asked, catching her mood.

“Yes. Let’s walk.”

The hallway was wide and long, and Hannah wondered whether it had been designed for expectant fathers who wanted to stretch their legs. It felt good to walk off the tension, and Hannah linked arms with Norman and let him set the pace. The hallway was also decorated for Christmas with cutouts of Santas, reindeer, holly, wreaths, snowmen, and Christmas trees. Hannah counted the number of times they passed the snowman with the red muffler, and she was nearing one hundred when Mike came rushing down the corridor.

“How’s it going?” he asked.

“We don’t know,” Hannah told him. “Norman asked the nurse and she said Doc Knight would come out and tell us once the baby’s born. Is Bill here?”

“Not yet. He’s still interviewing Babs, but he’ll come as soon as he can. Good thing I left you the Hummer.” Mike turned to Norman. “She handles great, doesn’t she?”

“Like a champ. Hannah didn’t have a bit of trouble.”

Hannah felt like applauding as Mike’s mouth dropped open. Norman certainly knew how to deliver a zinger. She gave him a little wink behind Mike’s back and then she reached out to take Mike’s arm. “Come walk with us. There’s nothing to do here except pace the floor.”

Time seemed to go a little faster with three of them pacing, or perhaps it was the conversation. Mike was just telling them about how Bill had come close to getting stuck only a few feet from the turnoff for the sheriff’s station, when Earl Flensburg came running down the hall.

“Boy, am I glad to see you here!” Earl said, reaching out to pump Hannah’s hand. “I went back to the community center and your little sister told me where you went. I just grabbed a cup of coffee and then I got back on the road and followed in your tracks. I figured that if you went off in the ditch, I could pull you out.”

“I came close a couple of times,” Hannah said, sneaking a quick glance at Mike’s face. He didn’t look happy, but he was wise enough not to ask if there was any damage to his Hummer. Of course, he probably
knew
there wasn’t, because he’d sneaked a look before he came inside.

“Edna sent this,” Earl told her, pulling a giant metal thermos from the deep back pouch in his county issue parka. She said you shouldn’t be tortured with hospital coffee.”

“I’ll get the cups,” Norman said, dashing inside the expectant fathers’ waiting room and coming back with four Styrofoam cups.

When everyone had a good cup of coffee, Hannah raised hers high. “To Edna. She’s a lifesaver!”

“How’s your sister doing?” Earl asked once the cups were empty.

“Fine I guess, or we would have heard something. The nurse said Doc Knight will come out and tell us right after the baby’s born.”

Just talking about it made Hannah nervous, and she started to pace again. Mike quickly took one of her arms, and Norman took the other. Earl watched them for a moment, and then he took up a position by Mike’s side and started to pace with them.

It was a good thing it was a wide hallway, because Lisa appeared next. She rushed up to Hannah and asked, “Did she have the baby yet?”

“Not yet. How did you get here?”

“Herb borrowed the biggest truck in the lot and drove us. He’ll be here in a minute.”

“How’s Andrea doing?” Herb asked Hannah, rushing up to take Lisa’s arm.

“We don’t know,” Hannah said, wondering if she should borrow some crayons from the children’s waiting room and make a sign. “Everything must be okay, or we would have heard something. Doc Knight’s going to come out and tell us right after the baby’s born.”

Lisa and Herb watched them pace for a moment, and then they joined in. Herb took his place next to Norman and Lisa paced next to Herb.

Hannah had just passed the snowman in the red muffler for the three hundred-and-fourteenth time when she saw Bill rushing toward them from the end of the hallway. “Here comes Bill!”

“How’s Andrea?” Bill asked, panting a bit as he sprinted the last few yards.

Hannah smiled to set the expectant father at ease and chastised herself mentally for not making that sign. “She must be okay, or we would have heard something. Doc Knight’s going to come out and tell us right after the baby’s born.”

“Great. What are you doing?”

“Pacing. We couldn’t think of anything else to do.”

“Sounds reasonable to me,” Bill said, linking arms with Lisa and taking up the outside position on the left. Let’s pick up the pace a little. I’m getting nervous.”

All they needed was music and the ability to kick in unison, and they could have tried out for a cabaret. The Todd
party horizontal conga line was just rounding the corner for the forty-third time since Bill had joined them, when Doc Knight appeared at the end of the hallway.

“You can stop wearing out my linoleum,” he said, smiling widely. “It’s a girl, and mother and baby are just fine!”

“A girl!” Bill exclaimed, grinning from ear to ear. “That’s wonderful!”

“A
girl?”
Hannah asked, wondering if Doc Knight was so worn out from working long hours that he’d gotten Andrea’s son mixed up with another female baby he’d delivered tonight.

As everyone crowded around Bill to offer congratulations and slap him on the back, Hannah rushed up to Doc before he could go off to do whatever doctors do after they deliver a baby.

Doc Knight turned as she grabbed his arm. “What is it, Hannah?”

“You said Andrea had a girl. Are you sure?”

“Of course I’m sure. You can’t be in this business for as long as I have if you can’t tell a girl baby from a boy baby.”

“Right. I just thought maybe…well…she had the test, and she told me it was ninety-nine percent accurate.”

“That’s true, but she just happened to hit that one percent. Your sister had a baby girl, seven pounds, three ounces. I’m sorry if that disappoints you, but those are the facts.”

“I’m not disappointed,” Hannah did her best to explain. “It’s just that Andrea promised to name a girl after Mother and Regina Todd. And the only reason she did that was because she was sure she was having a boy. Now it turns out to be a girl, and…”

“She’s in hot water,” Doc Knight finished the sentence for her. “No wonder she cried when I told her the baby was a girl.”

“She cried?” Hannah asked, feeling a bit like crying herself.

“Not for long. One look at her daughter and she was
happy again. But just as soon as the new daddy goes off to celebrate with his friends, I think you sisters had better put your heads together and see if you can come up with a name that’ll please both families.”