Key Lime Pie Murder (34 page)

Michelle had done very well in tonight’s dance competition. Since live partners weren’t permitted, she’d appropriated the decorative scarecrow from the side of the stage and danced to Turkey in the Straw. She’d brought down the house and come in second. The first-place contestant had studied ballet for eight years and performed with a professional ballet company in Minneapolis.

They’d all gathered outside the auditorium after the competition to congratulate Michelle. Even Lonnie and Mike had been there, taking a break from their official duties to catch Michelle’s act. Hannah had congratulated her youngest sister, exchanged a few words with everyone who was there, told Delores that she agreed the ballet dancer had an unfair edge, and then headed for the Creative Arts Building with Lisa to judge the cookies.

As they’d tasted the sugary treats, they’d talked about Willa’s marriage. Pam still couldn’t believe that the classroom aide and student teacher she’d befriended had harbored such a painful secret.

“No wonder she turned Gordon down,” Pam said, taking a bite of the last entry, a soft molasses and raisin cookie that Hannah thought smelled a lot better than it tasted. “After being married to Jess Reiffer, poor Willa was probably afraid to trust any man again.”

Lisa gave a little nod. “I can understand that. Even though he wasn’t directly responsible, Willa’s parents would still be alive if she hadn’t gotten mixed up with him.”

Now was not the time for a discussion about time and consequence, and Hannah knew it. She just took another bite of her cookie and washed it down with the coffee Lisa had brought. “Maybe the reason Willa turned Gordon down was because she was still married.”

There was a moment of silence as both Pam and Lisa turned to her in surprise. “You think?” Lisa asked.

“I don’t know. Do you think I should ask Andrea to check it out? It might be mentioned in the real estate papers when she sold her parents’ house.”

“Ask her,” Lisa said.

Pam nodded. “Yes, do. It probably doesn’t have anything to do with her murder, but I’d really like to know.” She glanced down at her master sheet and then back up at them. “We’ve tested all the entries. Fill out your last scorecard, and we’re done for the night.”

Hannah filled out her scorecard and handed it to Pam. A moment later, so did Lisa. Once the scores were tallied, Pam completed the judge’s master sheet. “Do you want to guess which cookie won?” she asked.

“I thought the Chippers were the best,” Lisa said.

“Agreed,” Hannah offered her opinion. “The Chippers were absolutely delicious.”

“That’s what I thought, too.” Pam said, signing the sheet. “You’ll be happy to know that they won, hands down.”

“Who baked them?” Lisa asked.

“Let’s see…” Pam flipped the entry card over, read the name, and turned to Hannah. “It’s Regina Todd. That’s Andrea’s mother-in-law, isn’t it?”

“Yes. I’ll tell Andrea and she can break the news. It might win her points. And if you don’t mind, I’ll take the rest of those Chippers to Mother.”

“You’re forging a peace between Delores and Regina?” Pam asked.

Hannah laughed. “I think it’ll take more than blue ribbon cookies to do that! The last time they got together at Andrea’s house, Mother asked Regina if she was gaining weight, and Regina asked Mother if she was trying out a new hair color.”

CHIPPERS

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F., rack in the middle position.

1 1/2 cups softened butter (3 sticks, 3/4pound, 12 ounces)

1 1/2 cups white (granulated) sugar

2 egg yolks

1/2 teaspoon salt

2 teaspoons vanilla extract

2 1/2 cups flour (no need to sift)

1 1/2 cups finely crushed plain potato chips (measure AFTER crushing)

1 1/2 cups finely chopped pecans (measure AFTER chopping)

1/2 teaspoon finely grated lemon zest (optional) (zest is just the colored part of the peel, not the white)

1/3 cup white (granulated) sugar for dipping approximately 5 dozen pecan halves for decoration

Hannah’s 1st Note: Use regular potato chips, the thin salty ones. Don’t use baked chips, or rippled chips, or chips with the peels on, or kettle fried, or flavored, or anything that’s supposed to be better for you than those wonderfully greasy, salty old-fashioned potato chips.

In a large mixing bowl, beat the butter, sugar, egg yolks, salt, and vanilla until they’re light and fluffy. (You can do this by hand, but it’s a lot easier with an electric mixer.)

Add the flour, crushed potato chips, chopped pecans, and lemon zest (if you decided to use it.) Mix well.

Form one-inch dough balls with your hands and place them on an UNGREASED cookie sheet, 12 to a standardsized sheet.

Place the sugar in a small bowl. Spray the bottom of a glass with Pam or other nonstick cooking spray, dip it in the sugar, and use it to flatten each dough ball. (Dip the glass in the sugar for each ball.) Place a pecan half in the center of each cookie and press it down slightly.

Bake at 350 degrees F., for 10 to 12 minutes, or until the cookies are starting to turn golden at the edges. Let them cool on the cookie sheet for 2 minutes and then remove them to a wire rack to cool completely.

Yield: Approximately 8 dozen, depending on cookie size.

Hannah’s 2nd Note: Mother loves these when I use orange zest instead of lemon zest. Since the orange flavor isn’t as strong as the lemon, I use one whole teaspoon of orange zest when I bake Chippers for her. I also substitute one teaspoon orange extract for the vanilla.

Hannah and Lisa had just stepped outside the Creative Arts Building when Andrea and Michelle came running up the steps.

“I thought you’d never get through!” Andrea exclaimed, grabbing Hannah’s arm. “I tried to call you, but there’s something wrong with your cell phone. Let me have it.”

Hannah reached into her purse and handed her sister the phone. “Here, but there’s nothing wrong with it. I just didn’t turn it on.”

“But what if there’d been an emergency?”

“Then I would have turned it on. Why were you trying to call me?”

“They caught him,” Michelle explained, obviously the calmer of the two.

“Willa’s killer?”

“That’s right.” Michelle turned to Lisa with a smile. “Your husband is the one who caught him! He’s down at the sheriff’s station right now, watching Mike and Lonnie interrogate him.”

“Herb caught Willa’s killer?” Lisa was clearly astonished. “How did he do that?”

“He was standing right where we are now, waiting for you to finish judging,” Andrea took over from her younger sister. “He was just staring out over the crowd, and he noticed a cowboy hanging around the office building. At first Herb thought he was waiting for somebody, but he didn’t look at his watch or anything, the way you’d do if somebody you were supposed to meet was late.”

Michelle picked up the thread. “So Herb was about to walk over and ask him what he was doing when the cowboy glanced around to see if anybody was watching him.”

“He didn’t see Herb because Herb wasn’t on ground level,” Andrea interjected.

“And when the cowboy thought no one was paying any attention to him, he snuck around the corner.” Michelle stopped and turned to Hannah. “Is that snuck, or sneaked?”

“It’s sneaked, but it doesn’t matter. Go on.”

“So Herb ran down the steps and over to the building. He went around the same corner, and he saw the cowboy halfway through one of the office windows.”

Lisa’s eyes widened. “What did Herb do?”

“According to Bill,” Andrea took over, “and Bill’s the one who called to tell me about it, Herb grabbed the cowboy by both legs, pulled him backwards really fast, and dumped him on the ground on his back. Then he flipped him over, pinned him down, and called for security. Roland Weiss, he’s the retired deputy that discovered the break-in, came to put the cuffs on.”

“Wait a second.” Hannah was confused. “Did this cowboy confess to killing Willa?”

“No, but he’s the one who stole the box-office receipts on the night Willa was killed. He didn’t confess to that either, but Mike sent Lonnie to search his motel room, and Lonnie recovered the money bags the secretary used for the box-office receipts.”

Hannah just shook her head. “And this guy came back to the same place to steal more box-office money?”

“That’s right.” Andrea gave a little laugh. “Of course he was severely impaired at the time.”

“Drugs? Or booze?”

Michelle shrugged. “Lonnie wasn’t sure. He said the guy was either drunk as a skunk, high as a kite, or both. Doc Knight came in to draw blood for a tox screen, but that’ll take a couple of hours.”

Hannah was silent for a moment, putting together the pieces. “You said this guy was a cowboy. Was he with the rodeo?”

“He was until Tuesday night. That’s when the manager fired him.”

“Let me guess,” Hannah said. “They marched him down to the office and had the secretary pay him off, right?”

“That’s right. And that’s how he knew exactly where the money was kept. He just stuck around and broke in.”

Hannah began to frown. “But that was between six and a quarter to seven. And Willa wasn’t killed until after the carnival closed at ten.”

“Maybe he was the cowboy Willa was dating,” Lisa proposed. “If he was, he probably stuck around to wait for her. Maybe he was stupid enough to show her the money and invite her to go off with him for the weekend, or something like that. Willa could have known about the robbery by then and put two and two together.”

“So you think he killed her to keep her from talking?” Hannah asked.

All three women nodded. Hannah thought about it for a moment, and then she had an idea. “It all makes sense,” she said, “but let’s take it even further. Let’s say that the cowboy Herb caught isn’t who he says he is. His real name is Jess Reiffer.”

“Willa’s husband?” Andrea asked, staring at Hannah in surprise.

“Exactly. We know that Willa liked to ride. Pam mentioned it, and the album Norman and I found had all those pictures of horses. Jess Reiffer might have liked to ride, too. That could be how they met. And if he was a good rider, he could have changed his name when he got out of jail and joined the rodeo circuit.”

“And he was in the roping demonstration, and that’s why Willa looked so shocked?” Michelle asked.

“Yes. Willa recognized him. And maybe, despite all the grief he caused her, Willa was still in love with him.”

“You could be right,” Andrea agreed, “especially if he managed to convince her that he’d learned his lesson in jail and he promised her he’d never break the law again.”

“And then, when he met her on Tuesday night, he suddenly had lots of money. And Willa had heard about the break-in at the carnival office and the box-office money that was stolen.”

“So her husband killed her because she guessed what he’d done,” Lisa said with a sigh.

Michelle sighed, too. “Willa died because she loved the wrong man.”

There’s a Country-Western song here, Hannah thought, but she didn’t say it. “It all ties in with the photo album,” she said instead.

“You’re right,” Michelle said with a nod. “Jess Reiffer used Willa’s keys to open her desk to make sure she didn’t have anything to identify him. He found their wedding photo and cut himself out of the picture so that no one would recognize his face.”

All four of them were silent for a moment, thinking about Willa’s unlucky fate. “At least they’ve got him,” Hannah said at last.

“That’s right. There’ll be justice for Willa.” Andrea turned to Lisa. “I’ll give you a ride out to the sheriff’s station.”

“Thanks. That’d be great.”

“It’s on our way. Michelle and I are going to Mother’s. She asked us to stop by the mall to pick up an ink cartridge for her printer. Do you want to come along, Hannah?”

“No, thanks. You can take these cookies to her, though. They’re Regina’s Chippers, and they won first place in the cookie competition.” Hannah thrust the package of cookies into Michelle’s arms and turned to Andrea. “You can call and tell Regina that she won.”

“I’ll call her when I get to the sheriff’s station. Then Bill can congratulate her, too. Are you heading home now, Hannah?”

“Just as soon as Norman gets here.”

“Uh-oh.” Michelle looked guilty. “I forgot.”

“You forgot what?”

“I forgot to tell you that we ran into Norman and he said to tell you he was going straight to the condo. I hope it’s all right that I gave him my key to get in.”

“It’s fine, but I thought he was going to meet me here after the judging.”

“He was. And we were supposed to tell you about the change of plans. In all the excitement about catching Willa’s killer and everything, I just plain forgot.”

“That’s understandable. So Norman’s at the condo right now?”

Michelle glanced at her watch. “He should be. He wanted to see if he could figure out what’s bothering Moishe. He told me he thought that maybe if he was alone with Moishe and there wasn’t anything else going on, he could spot whatever it is.”

“It’s certainly worth a try.” Hannah was slightly disappointed that Norman wasn’t meeting her until she remembered one important fact. As soon as her sisters and Lisa left, she’d be by herself, and the food court was still open. That meant she could dash over to the Sinful Pleasures booth and get a deep-fried Milky Way at last!

“I’ve got something to wrap up here,” she said, not saying that what she was planning to wrap was her mouth around a gazillion scrumptious calories. “I’ll see you at the condo later.”

Once Michelle and Andrea had left with Lisa, Hannah headed for the food court. But her great escape into carbohydrate nirvana was cut short by the appearance of Ruby herself.

“Ruby!” Hannah called out, causing the candy bar chef to stop in her tracks and whirl around.

“Hi, Hannah. I hope you didn’t want a deep-fried Milky Way tonight. I closed a little early.”

Hannah was about to say that was exactly what she wanted, but then Ruby might feel bad. “That’s okay. I was just coming to tell you that they caught the guy who stole the box-office money.”