Strawberry Shortcake Murder (19 page)

Hannah was amused at the role reversal. Andrea was acting like a mother who’d just discovered that her child had done something perfectly dreadful.

“We’d better have a mother-daughter talk with her, Hannah. This just isn’t…” Andrea struggled to find the right word, “… appropriate for a woman of her age!”

“Relax, Andrea. Sally didn’t say that Mother was dating Chuck Wilson. She just said that they were dancing.”

Andrea thought about it for a moment. “You’re right. I guess dancing is okay, as long as it wasn’t a slow dance. Do you think we should ask Sally what kind of dance it was?”

“I think we should butt out. Mother’s old enough to know what she’s doing.” Hannah saw Dick heading their way. “Forget about it, Andrea. It’s probably nothing anyway. Here comes Dick, and we’ve got questions to ask.”

Five minutes later they had some of their answers. Lucy had arrived with the rest of the crowd who’d come from the Jordan High auditorium after the show. As far as Dick could tell, she hadn’t been with anyone in particular and had spent a couple of hours table-hopping, talking to the contestants and members of the KCOW television crew. He’d served her one drink, a glass of white wine, and she’d refused a refill. Lucy had told him that she was working on a big story and wanted to keep her head clear. Dick didn’t know if she’d gotten her story, but he said that she’d been smiling when she left.

“When was that?” Andrea asked.

“Around midnight. I saw her go out the door.”

“Was she alone?” Hannah stepped in to ask the question.

“She was when she went out the door.”

Hannah started to frown. “Could someone have followed her?”

“Sure, but I wouldn’t have noticed. It got busy right then, and I had my hands full.”

“Do you know if she drove out of here in her own car?”

“She did. Right after she got here, someone came in and told her she’d left on her lights. Lucy handed me the keys, and ordered me to run out to the parking lot to turn them off. I almost told her to stuff it, but I wanted to see her new car.”

“Is it possible she rode home with someone else and picked up her car this morning?” Hannah asked her final question.

“No. Mayor Bascomb’s battery was low, and I went out to give him a jump start at twelve-thirty. I know Lucy’s car was gone by then. She was parked right next to him, and I backed into her space to connect the cables.”

“Thanks, Dick. That’s all I need to know.” Hannah dismissed him with a smile.

“Okay, but I’ve got a question. Why are you so interested in Lucy?”

“I need to track her down,” Hannah answered truthfully. Then she crossed her fingers. “Nobody’s seen her since last night, and I’ve got to check that story she’s doing about the bake-off. She misquoted me last week, and I don’t want it to happen again.”

“Well, good luck finding her. I’ve got to go. The dessert cart’s heavy, and I don’t want Sally to push it out here by herself.”

“Bill was the same way when I was pregnant with Tracey,” Andrea said when Dick had let. “He even came out to the car to bring in the groceries for me.”

Hannah smiled. “That’s nice. Does he still do it?”

“Are you kidding? Now he’s glued to the television, and I have to lug in the sacks all by myself. He’ll help if I ask, but he sure doesn’t volunteer anymore.” Andrea looked thoughtful. “He really was a lot more considerate when I was carrying Tracey. Maybe there’s something to that barefoot and pregnant thing.”

Hannah laughed and slid off her stool. “Only if you live on a tropical beach and have an unlimited supply of disposable diapers. Come on, Andrea. Let’s check out that dessert buffet and see why Sally is standing there grinning like the Chesire cat.”

There was a crowd milling around the dessert buffet, and it took them a while to get close enough to see what was there. Once Hannah, who was five inches taller than her petite sister, managed to sneak a peek over someone’s shoulder, she gave a soft chuckle.

“What is it?” Andrea tapped her on the arm. “This isn’t fair, Hannah. You can see and I can’t.”

“That’s just one of the advantages of being tall.”

“What is it? Tell me.”

“It’s my cookies. Sally’s got six different kinds, arranged in baskets, and there’s ice cream and all sorts of toppings to make your own sundaes.”

“And you didn’t know?”

“NO, I didn’t go in this morning. I just called Lisa and asked her if she could handle the shop alone until this afternoon. When I left my condo, I drove straight out to pick you up so we could get to…” Hannah stopped and glanced around her. No one appeared to be listening to them, but it paid to be careful. “…to that apartment in time.”

Andrea looked puzzled for a moment. “Oh, yes. That apartment.”

“Do you want to stand in line for some cookies and ice cream?”

Andrea shook her head. “No thanks. Besides, you’ve got cookies in the car. Let’s go find Mr. Rutlege. We’ve got to talk to him about…” Andrea stopped and cleared her throat, “… uh… that thing we wanted to ask him about.”

By one o’clock, they were ready to leave. They’d learned everything they could at Lake Eden Inn. Hannah stopped at the front desk and turned to Andrea. “Try calling Lucy’s number once more. Maybe she’s home by now.”

“What am I going to say if she answers?”

“Ask her if we can come over.”

“Btu she’ll want to know why.” Andrea started to frown. “What do you want me to tell her?”

“Say that we’re looking for a piece to round out Mother’s collection of antique jewelry. Flatter her a little and tell her that she’s the only person in town who might be able to help us. That should do the trick.”

“Okay.”

As Andrea picked up the phone and punched out Lucy’s number, Hannah thought about the information they’d learned from Jeremy Rutlege. He’d admitted that Ms. Avery’s husband had tried to bribe him, but that he’d turned down the money. Hannah knew that was the truth. Lucy had hidden the bribery money in her desk, and it was now in the bottom of Andrea’s leather purse. Mr. Rutlege had also told them that he’d talked to Mrs. Avery about it and she’d convinced him that she hadn’t known anything about the bribe. And then, when his tooth had acted up and he’d had to excuse himself from the judging, Mr. Rutlege had decided not to report it. As it turned out, Mrs. Avery, the contestant who’d baked the nut-filled pastry, had been eliminated anyway.

“She’s not home.” Andrea interrupted Hannah’s thoughts. “I don’t think she’s been home all day. There were fifteen messages on her answering machine.”

“How do you know that?”

“I counted. Lucy’s got one of those machines that beeps for each message and there were fifteen beeps. I didn’t leave a message from us. I just counted the beeps and hung up.”

“Good work, Andrea.” Hannah patted her on the back, and they went out the door and started to walk to the parking lot. “If Lucy hasn’t been home, she doesn’t know that her evidence is missing. That means she’ll be less suspicious when I run into her at Mother’s Regency Romance Club meeting.”

“What time is that?”

Hannah glanced at her watch. “They start at three, but I don’t have to be there until three-fifteen, and I have to bake six dozen Cocoa Snaps first. It’s ten after one now, and that should give me plenty of time. Do you want to come down to the shop and help me?”

“Me?” Andrea looked shocked at the suggestion. “You know I don’t bake.”

“Then just sit at the workstation and talk to me while I do it. We can work out a game plan for me to use with Lucy.”

By this time, they’d arrived at Hannah’s truck. Hannah unlocked it, and Andrea slid in. Hannah noticed that she was smiling as she wiggled past the gearshift and buckled herself into the passenger’s seat. “What’s so funny?”

“Nothing. I’m just glad that you invited me down to your shop.” Andrea’s smile grew bigger. “You’re trying to tell me that you need me, aren’t you, Hannah?”

“Of course I need you.” Hannah slid behind the wheel. Andrea seemed so grateful to be needed that she felt a pang of regret for all the harsh things she’d said to her when they were growing up. Andrea had deserved every one of them, but Hannah wished she’d been more tactful. Instead of calling Andrea an idiot for flunking her math test, she could have offered to help her study. And instead of yelling at Andrea for taking too long in the bathroom, she could have helped her rig up a makeup table in Andrea’s room. Tact had never been one of Hannah’s strong suits. She knew that. It still wasn’t, but she was learning, and she turned to her sister with a smile. “As far as sisters go, you’re not half-bad.”

Once Hannah had checked in with Lisa and thanked her for the extra work she’d done to fill Sally’s order for the dessert buffet, she conducted a poll of the customers in her coffee shop. None of them, including Rod, who’d come in on a late lunch break, had seen Lucy all day.

“Nothing?” Andrea asked, as Hannah came back to the counter.

“No sightings. Come on, Andrea. I’ve got to bake.” Hannah took Andrea back to the bakery and got her settled on a stool with a mug of coffee and a plate of Pecan Chews.

“I can help you if you tell me what to do,” Andrea offered.

“I’ll let you know.” Hannah headed off to the cooler to retrieve the chilled bowls of Cocoa Snap dough that Lisa had mixed up. She plunked them down on the surface of the stainless-steel work counter and watched as Andrea finished her third Pecan Chew. “Hand me that cookie scoop, will you? The medium-sized one.”

Andrea found the right scoop and handed it over. “Anything else? I really want to help you, Hannah.”

“You can… wait… let me think.” Hannah caught herself just in time. She’d been about to ask Andrea to help her scoop out dough, roll it into balls, and dip the balls in white sugar, but that task would require explaining, and Hannah didn’t have time to instruct Andrea in the fine points of cookie baking right now. “I know what you can do. You can get that notebook by the sink and write down all the facts we learned today. We need some kind of record.”

Andrea jumped up to retrieve the notepad. “Okay. I’m good at taking notes. What shall I write down first?”

“Make a list of Lucy’s victims. We’ll have to talk to them all eventually to find out exactly what she extorted from them. Start with Norman.”

“Okay.” Andrea wrote down Norman’s name. “He was just doing her caps, right?”

Hannah nodded as she rolled cookie balls and placed the in the bowl of sugar. “Then there’s Claire. We know she gave Lucy clothing.”

“And Mayor Bascomb, but we don’t’ know what he gave her.”

“It’s probably money, but I’ll have to check. Just put down a question mark for now.” Hannah placed twelve sugar-coated dough balls on a cookie sheet and flattened them with a spatula. “Write down the contestant’s husband next.”

“Mr. Avery?”

“That’s right. Put down cash after his name, but don’t specify the amount.”

Andrea looked up with a puzzled expression. “But you counted the money. You said it was two thousand dollars.”

“It was, but there could have been more. Lucy may have spent some of it. I’ll have to talk to Mr. Avery to find out how much was in the envelope when he gave it to her.”

“Okay.” Andrea put a dollar sign next to Mr. Avery’s name and added a question mark. “Who’s next?”

Hannah carried two cookies sheets to the oven and slid them inside. She set the timer and came back to the workstation to roll more dough balls. “Put down Boyd’s name. We’re not sure if Lucy actually succeeded with him, but I’ll have Danielle check her bank records to see if there’s any money missing.”

“She should check her credit-card bills, too. Boyd might have charged something for Lucy or taken a cash advance.”

“Good point. Jot down a note so I don’t forget to tell her.” Hannah filled two more cookie sheets and carried them over to her second oven. When she came back to the workstation, she saw that Andrea was frowning. “What is it?”

“I was just thinking about Lucy’s evidence. I know you gave back Norman’s letter, but are you going to turn the rest of it over to Mike and Bill?”

“I don’t know yet. I guess I’ll have to, if it has anything to do with Boyd’s murder.”

“But what if it doesn’t?”

Hannah thought about it for a moment. “I guess that’ll be up to Lucy’s victims. When I return the photos to them, I’ll ask if they want to prosecute.”

“They won’t.”

Andrea sounded very definite, and Hannah glanced at her. “They might. What Lucy did is illegal.”

“And what they did is embarrassing. Claire and Mayor Bascomb won’t want his wife to find out about their affair. That’s why they gave Lucy what she wanted in the first place.”

“That’s true.” Hannah started to roll more dough balls.

“And Norman won’t prosecute. You said he told you that his mother would be devastated if she found out what was in that letter.”

Hannah picked up the bowl with the dough balls and sugar and shook it to coat them. “You’ve got a point. Mr. Avery won’t want to prosecute either. And Boyd’s dead, so he can’t.”

“Then Lucy’s going to get away with it?”

Hannah shrugged. “Maybe. If her victims choose not to file charges, there’s nothing we can do about it.”

“But that’s not fair!” Andrea assumed an expression very similar to the one that Hannah had seen on Moishe’s face the only time she’d tried to give him a bath. Her sister was spitting mad and outraged. “We’ve got to do something, Hannah. We can’t let Lucy get off scot-free!”

Hannah certainly agreed with her sister’s sentiments. It wasn’t fair to let Lucy get away with extortion. “Maybe we’ve already done something. Lucy won’t know who broke into her apartment and took her stash of evidence. She’ll wake up every morning, wondering when the other shoe is going to drop. And when her victims stop paying her off, she’ll really start to sweat.”

“I get it.” Andrea started to smile. “Lucy won’t know if they’re planning to prosecute her. Being locked up in jail must be awful, but at least you know when you’re going to get out. Lucy’ll have this sword hanging over her head.”

The timer beeped, and Hannah got up to take the first two pans of cookies from the oven. She set them on the bakers’ rack to cool for a moment and slid in two more.