Wedding Cake Murder (30 page)

“Rita, the housekeeper you saw in the hall that night, told Sally about it. Sally’s her boss. And Sally told us this morning.”

“You won’t tell anyone else, will you?”

“No, we won’t,” Michelle promised for both of them. “It’s nobody’s business but yours.”

“How about you?” Hannah asked her. “Have you told anyone else about it?”

“No one except Heiti. And I know he won’t tell anyone.”

Hannah and Michelle exchanged glances. “Heiti is the man who built your bookshelves?” Hannah asked.

“Yes. He could see that I was upset when I came home.”

“You’re . . . living with Heiti?”

Aunt Nancy gave a little laugh. “No, nothing like that. Heiti has an apartment out near the highway. He was at my house, painting the decorative border under the living room ceiling. I asked him if he wanted to go to the competition with me, but he said he wanted to finish the stencils on the border.”

“Stencils?” Michelle looked interested.

“Yes. Heiti does tole painting. He learned it as a hobby. He does a wonderful job and he’s quite an artist. You can buy traditional border stencils at art stores, or you can make your own stencils. Heiti cuts his own stencils and they’re just beautiful! He finished the border around my kitchen ceiling, all sorts of decorative kitchen utensils, and I liked it so much that I asked him to paint one in my living room, too.”

“And he was still there when you got home?” Hannah led her back to the subject at hand.

“Yes. He’d just finished working and he was cleaning his brushes. Heiti saw right away that I was upset so he poured me a glass of sherry and asked me to sit down with him on the couch and tell him all about it.”

“And you did?” Michelle asked.

“Yes. I was so upset, I had
two
glasses of sherry. And I never have more than one.”

“Did Heiti have sherry, too?” Hannah asked.

“No, Heiti doesn’t drink much. If we go out to dinner, he occasionally has a glass of beer, though.”

“How about wine?” Michelle asked, and Hannah knew that she was also remembering the two wineglasses in Sally’s kitchen.

“He doesn’t care for it. As a matter of fact, he told me that he used to like red wine, but when he got older, it gave him a terrible headache right between his eyes. Don’t they say that the tannins in red wine give some people headaches?”

“Yes, I’ve heard that.” Hannah made a mental note to ask Mike if the police lab had found any fingerprints on the wineglasses. “This is really important, Aunt Nancy. Did you see anyone in the halls or the elevator when you left the inn?”

Aunt Nancy shook her head. “No one except that housekeeper. I was hoping she wouldn’t stop me and ask any questions so I rushed to the elevator as fast as I could.”

“You took the elevator straight down to the ground floor?”

“Yes, and I didn’t see another soul on the way out! In fact, even the bar was closed when I passed by. I guess there might have been someone in there cleaning up, but I wasn’t really looking. I just wanted to get out of there and go home as fast as I could.”

“Where did you park?” Michelle asked her.

“In their parking lot. I was so angry with Allen, I hurried to my car and drove off.”

“Were there any other cars in the lot?”

“Yes, but they’d been there for a while. There was a layer of snow on everyone’s windshield. I know because I had to use my brush to clear mine off.”

“Let’s talk about when you got home,” Hannah said. “You said Heiti could tell you were upset, so he poured you a glass of sherry and you talked about what had happened in Chef Duquesne’s room. Is that right?”

“Yes. Heiti is a wonderful listener. He’s totally nonjudgmental and he really cares about people. He’s just a wonderful, talented, intelligent person.”

Hannah drew a deep breath. She hated to ask the next question, but someone had to find out the extent of Aunt Nancy’s relationship with Heiti and whether Heiti could have been so angry with Chef Duquesne’s treatment of Aunt Nancy that he’d decided to take revenge. “It sounds like you’re very fond of Heiti,” she said with a smile.

“Oh, I am!”

“Are you fond enough of him that you think you could grow to love him?”

“Well, I don’t know about that, but . . .” Aunt Nancy paused and then she nodded. “You’re right, Hannah. I think, perhaps, that I
could
grow to love him. I look forward to spending time with him because he’s such a remarkably fascinating man.”

“Tell us about him,” Michelle said.

“I’m not sure where to start. Heiti worked for years at an aerospace company as an engineer. He was their troubleshooter. Sometimes they sent him to other aerospace companies as their expert. He was very well paid and he never married or had a family, so he saved most of his money and invested it. He did so well with his investments that he could afford to take early retirement when he was fifty.”

“That’s really wonderful!” Hannah said, wondering if she’d ever be able to retire. “What did he do then?”

“He moved back home to help his parents until they decided that they wanted to go into a senior living complex in Florida. He helped them sell their house and move there. And that’s when Heiti decided that he wanted to do all the things he’d never had the time or the energy to do while he was working for the aerospace company.”

“Things like tole painting?” Michelle asked.

“Yes. And designing gadgets to make people’s lives easier. He’s working on something right now, but he won’t tell me what it is until he builds it and tests it to see if it’ll work.”

“He really sounds like an interesting man,” Michelle commented.

“Yes, he does,” Hannah added. “I can understand why you’re so intrigued by him. And it sounds as if he enjoys spending time with you. Do you think that Heiti’s interested in you romantically?”

As Hannah watched, Aunt Nancy’s cheeks turned pink, and it took her a moment to respond. “I . . . I don’t know, Hannah. He may be, although he’s never said so to me.” She paused again, and took a deep breath. “In a way, I hope he
is
interested in me romantically. Heiti would make a wonderful companion, and I think we could be very happy together.”

“Did Heiti seem as upset as you were when you told him about what Chef Duquesne had done?” Hannah asked.

“Oh, yes! He was
very
upset! He said that somebody ought to teach that man the proper way to treat a lady like me, and . . .” Aunt Nancy stopped speaking in midsentence and her eyes widened. “Oh, dear!” she gasped. “Surely you don’t think that
Heiti
could have driven out to the Lake Eden Inn and . . . and . . .”

Hannah knew that she was walking on eggshells. It was clear that Aunt Nancy was horrified by the notion that Heiti might have had anything to do with Chef Duquesne’s murder. She had to reassure Aunt Nancy and keep her from alerting Heiti until after they had time to question him.

“Of course we don’t think Heiti had anything to do with it,” she said, reaching out to pat Aunt Nancy’s shoulder. “I was just exploring the possibilities. He doesn’t sound like a man who would do anything like that.”

It was time to change the subject, and Hannah decided on another tack. “Did you know that Sally waited on you when you were in the bar?”

“No, but I remember what you said about the housekeeper telling her boss that I was upset when I left. Is Sally her boss?

“Yes, she is. Sally is also the head chef and co-owner of the Lake Eden Inn with her husband, Dick. Dick was behind the bar the night you were there.”

“I liked Sally. She was nice. I didn’t meet Dick because we sat at a table.”

“Right. Now, let me tell you something that you may really like about Sally. Did you know that Chef Duquesne slipped a twenty-dollar bill to Sally after the second round of drinks and asked her to put vodka in your hot lemonade?”

Aunt Nancy looked completely shocked. “No!”

“Well, he did. And of course, Sally would never do that!”

“And Sally didn’t put anything except hot lemonade in your drink,” Michelle picked up that part of the story. “Sally would never do anything like that. She told us that you looked like the kind of lady who would have ordered vodka if you’d wanted it and she wasn’t about to pour anything for you that you hadn’t ordered yourself.”

Aunt Nancy laughed. “Sally’s right. I would have ordered it myself if I’d wanted it. And it’s a good thing Sally’s so honest. I don’t drink very much and I had two more mugs of hot lemonade. I wouldn’t have done what Allen wanted anyway, but I might have had trouble driving home!”

“Sally told us some other things,” Hannah took over the conversation again. “It turns out that you weren’t the only woman who was upset when she left Chef Duquesne’s room.”

“Oh, dear!”

“The other woman left right away, too,” Michelle told her, not mentioning any names or the fact that Brooke had reportedly been in tears.

“Do you suspect her of killing Allen?” Aunt Nancy asked.

“No, but that’s just the tip of the iceberg,” Hannah told her. “There were also two women at the hotel in New York.”

“Oh, my! It sounds as if you have your work cut out for you, Hannah.” Aunt Nancy drew a deep breath. “Well, if I’m on that suspect list of yours, you can cross me off right now. You know that I didn’t kill him.” She turned to Michelle. “I’ve heard Lisa’s story three times today, and she said that you found him in the walk-in cooler in the kitchen. That’s true, isn’t it?”

“It’s true,” Michelle said.

“Well, I saw that kitchen at the competition, but I’ve never been in there. And I’ve certainly never set foot in that cooler! Allen Duke, or Chef Duquesne, or whatever name he calls himself now, was very much alive when I left his room at eleven forty-five!”

“I have absolutely no doubt of that, Aunt Nancy,” Hannah told her. “And I’m convinced that Heiti couldn’t have had anything to do with it, either.”

Aunt Nancy smiled. “I’m very glad to hear that! Is it because I told you how nice Heiti is?”

“No.” Hannah gave a little smile. “Nice people can be capable of murder under extraordinary circumstances. I’m glad he’s nice, but nice has nothing to do with why I no longer suspect him.”

“What was it then?”

“The red wine. When Michelle and I unlocked Sally’s kitchen door and went inside on the morning following Chef Duquesne’s murder, we saw a bottle of red wine and two glasses sitting on the counter. And you told us that Heiti doesn’t drink red wine.”

Aunt Nancy looked delighted at this news. “I’m certainly glad that I mentioned that!”

“So am I,” Hannah told her. “It cuts down on my suspect list, and there are a lot of suspects. It seems that no one liked Chef Duquesne and quite a few people had motives for wanting him dead.”

When Aunt Nancy got up from her stool, she noticed the bowl on the counter with cookie dough. “What are you girls making?”

“Peanut Butter Potato Chip Cookies.”

“Would you like me to help you bake those?”

“That would be nice,” Hannah said.

“Heiti loves peanut butter,” Aunt Nancy said as she helped them scoop out the cookie dough and place it on cookie sheets.

“Then you should take some home for him,” Hannah said. “Is he still working at your house?”

“Yes, he’ll be there until I get home. We’ll have a bite to eat and then he’s going to take me to the competition tonight.”

“Good. We’ll see you there,” Hannah said, slipping the cookie sheets onto the racks in her industrial oven. “After these cookies cool, we’ll bring them out front for you. Then we’re going to try to get some rest before tonight. Feel free to pack up a dozen of them before they’re all gone and take them with you for Heiti.”

After Aunt Nancy had left the kitchen, Michelle turned to Hannah. “We’re not going to rest, are we?”

“Probably not.”

“Because we’ll be too busy driving to Aunt Nancy’s house to question Heiti, and trying to find out more about Mayor Bascomb and Gloria? And asking Andrea to see if she can get a copy of the police report ?”

“And meeting with Mother at the hospital to get a copy of the autopsy report from Doc’s files.”

“And after all that, we’ll go back to your place to rest up before the competition?”

“Not a chance,” Hannah said. “Remember how Grandma Ingrid used to say
No rest for the wicked
?”

“I remember. It was her favorite phrase.”

“Well, between the two of us, we must be very, very wicked.”

PEANUT BUTTER POTATO CHIP COOKIES

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

The following recipe can be doubled if you wish. Do not, however, double the baking soda. Use one and a half teaspoons.

1 cup softened butter
(2 sticks,
½
pound, 8 ounces)

2 cups white
(granulated)
sugar

3 Tablespoons molasses

2 teaspoons vanilla

1 teaspoon baking soda

2 beaten eggs
(just whip them up in a glass with a fork)

2 cups crushed salted potato chips
(measure AFTER crushing) (I used regular thin unflavored Lay’s potato chips)