Carrot Cake Murder Part 16

"Because I've got something I have to tell you. I wanted to talk to you yesterday, but every time I tried, you were with someone. And I don't want anyone else to hear."

"Not even Andrea?"

"Especially not Andrea!"

Hannah put down the pepper grinder with a thump. "Why?"

"Because she can be kind of...prudish."

"And I'm not?"

"Maybe a little, but nothing like Andrea! I think it's because she's married."

Hannah thought about that for a moment. "You'd think a married woman would be more sophisticated and worldly than a single woman. What you said seems counterintuitive."

"Maybe it seems that way, but it's not. Married women don't date anymore, and that means they don't do any wild and crazy things like single women do."

"I see." Hannah picked up the pepper grinder again and gave it a series of twists. "And since I'm single, you a.s.sume that I do wild and crazy things?"

"Well...no. Maybe you don't. But you could, if you wanted to."

"Hmm." Hannah made the most noncommittal comment of all. "So what did you want to tell me? Or did you change your mind?"

Mich.e.l.le walked over to the counter where Hannah was working, and pulled up a stool. "It's about Sunday night and the murder. I think I saw the killer."

"Really?!" Hannah was glad she hadn't opened the bottle of c.u.min. If she'd been in the process of measuring it, the whole thing might have landed in her hotdish.

"Well...maybe. It was really quiet and there wasn't anyone else out. It just stands to reason that the person I saw go across the road and around to the front of the pavilion is the murderer."

Hannah drew in her breath sharply. "Did this person see you?"

"No. He didn't even know I was there. Or maybe it was a she, a woman wearing pants and a jacket. I was a long ways away, and I couldn't really tell."

Hannah glanced out the window over the sink. If Mich.e.l.le had been in the kitchen of the cottage at two in the morning, she would have had a perfect view of the road and the entrance to the pavilion. "You were standing at the sink at two in the morning?"

"Not exactly."

"What does that mean?"

"It means that's not precisely correct."

"I know that's what it means!" Hannah gave a little sigh. That made twice today that she'd fallen into a semantic trap. "Why don't you just tell me where you were?" she suggested.

"Down on the dock with Lonnie. We were swimming and we climbed up on the dock to take a rest."

At two in the morning?! Hannah's mind shouted, but she didn't voice the sentiment. And she didn't ask about swimming attire, either, since she was supposed to be the nonprude.

"And you saw this person at two o'clock?" she asked instead of the thousand and one questions she really wanted to ask.

"I think it was about two. I met Lonnie on the dock at one-thirty. Mother and Carrie were asleep by then. And by the time we climbed back up on the dock and got our towels, it was probably close to two."

"But you don't know for sure, because you weren't wearing a watch."

"That's right. I don't have a waterproof watch. As a matter of fact, I wasn't wearing..."

"You said you saw this person walk across the road. Did he get out of a car?"

"There was no car. I would have heard it drive up. It was really quiet except for the crickets and the frogs and the mosquitoes. And the lapping of the waves against the dock, and the loons across the lake."

"Describe the person for me," Hannah interrupted her sister before she could hear more than she wanted to hear. "You said you couldn't be sure whether it was a man or a woman?"

"That's right. I just saw him or her through the trees. And this person went inside and didn't come out while we were sitting on the dock."

"And that was how long?"

"I was in bed by two-thirty. I know because I looked at the clock. Do you think I should tell Mike what I saw?"

Hannah shrugged. "You probably don't need to do that. I'm sure Lonnie has already told him."

"No, he hasn't. Lonnie didn't see the person. He was sitting with his back to the road. I was right next to him, facing the other way. I really don't want to tell Mike unless you think I absolutely have to. Mother's bound to hear about it, and I shouldn't have been out that late."

"Let me get this straight," Hannah said, reaching into her purse for her steno notebook and grabbing a pen. She really wanted to cut her baby sister a break, but this was a murder investigation. "Tell me exactly what you saw and when you saw it."

"I saw a person walk across the road, go around the side of the pavilion, and enter through the front door."

"You know, for sure, that this person went inside?"

Mich.e.l.le nodded. "Light spilled out on the concrete when the door opened. A second later, the light disappeared, so the door must have shut again."

"Makes sense. And you were so far away you couldn't tell the ident.i.ty of this person, or even if that person was a man or a woman?"

"That's right."

"Giving your best estimate, you think it was about two in the morning when the person went inside the pavilion?"

"I think so."

"Would you have seen the person if he or she had come back out while you were still sitting on the dock?"

"Yes. The light would have spilled out again when the door opened, and I would have noticed it."

"So you believe that the person was inside the pavilion for the entire period from two to two-thirty? And two-thirty is the time you left the dock and went back into the cottage?"

"A little before two-thirty. I already told you, I looked at the clock when I climbed in bed, and it was two-thirty. And I know the lights were still on inside the pavilion."

"How do you know that?" Hannah asked, remembering that when she'd checked the next day, the lights had been off.

"Because I saw light leaking out one of the shutters when I pa.s.sed by the kitchen window on my way to the bedroom."

"Okay," Hannah said, flipping her notebook shut. "I've got it all down."

"So what do you think? Do I have to tell Mike?"

"No. All you saw was a shadowy figure entering the pavilion and not coming out again. That's not going to help in Mike's investigation. He already knows somebody went inside to kill Gus, because Gus didn't stab himself in the chest."

Mich.e.l.le looked very relieved. "Thanks, Hannah! I'm really glad Mother won't know I was out so late. I'm too old to punish or anything like that, but she gives me that look."

"What look?"

"You know the one. It's her hurt look. And then she says, Oh, Mich.e.l.le! I'm so disappointed in you! And then I know I've let her down, and it just about kills me."

"That's why she does it," Hannah said, remembering the very same phrase with her name in the culprit spot.

The screen door opened, and Andrea hurried in, carrying a Jell-O mold. She headed straight for the refrigerator, opened the door, and found a place for it inside. "I hope my Lemon Fluff Jell-O Mold didn't get hot and melt!"

"What's in it?" Hannah asked her.

"Lemon Jell-O, lemon pie filling, crushed pineapple, and Cool Whip."

"Cool Whip and not real sweetened whipped cream?"

"That's right."

"Then it should be fine. Cool Whip doesn't break down as fast as whipped cream. And even if your mold got a little runny, it'll firm up again before dinner. There's plenty of time."

"Oh, good. And you'll help me unmold it? I'm not very good at that."

"Of course I will," Hannah promised her. "Mich.e.l.le said you were out on the road talking to Bertie Straub?"

"That's right. I was making an appointment for this weekend. She's going to give me a full weave, and this time it's going to be in four colors. I've never done more than three, but I want a reddish blond in the mix. And I'm having a layer cut to give my hair more body."

"A four-color weave's going to take all morning," Mich.e.l.le commented.

"You don't know the half of it! I'm also booked for a manicure, a pedicure, and a full makeover. And when I'm all through with that, I'm heading down to Claire's to try on some of her s.e.xy summer sundresses. The next time you see me, I'll be a new me."

"But I like the old you," Mich.e.l.le said.

"So do I," Hannah added. "I think you look just fine the way you are. I really don't know why you want to be a new you, when..." her voice trailed off as the obvious reason occurred to her. Mike had mentioned it on the phone this morning. "Ronni Ward?" she guessed.

"Of course not! I just want to look good, that's all. When you've been married for as long as Bill and I have, you have to work to rekindle the romance every now and then, and..." Andrea stopped speaking and gave a little sigh. "You're right. It's Ronni Ward. Bill told me she was back in town when he got home last night. How did you find out about it?"

"Mike. He called me this morning to give me the number for the Animal Channel for Moishe, and he mentioned it."

"Did he also mention that Ronni rented the apartment across the hall from him?" Andrea asked.

"He did."

"Are you jealous?" Mich.e.l.le raised the question.

"Mike and I don't have that kind of commitment. It's true that I date him, but I go out with Norman, too. That means I don't have any right to be jealous."

Andrea gave a nod of concurrence. "That's a perfectly reasonable point, but it's not what Mich.e.l.le asked. Are you jealous?"

"What do you think?" Hannah faced them squarely.

"You're jealous." Andrea spoke for both of them. "You just don't know what to do about it, that's all."

LEMON FLUFF JELL-O.

3 small (3-ounces apiece) packages of Lemon Jell-O 2 cups water 1 large can (20-ounces) crushed pineapple 2 cups cold water *

1 small (2-cup) container Cool-Whip (or any other whipped, non-dairy dessert topping) 1 can (enough to make an 8-inch pie) lemon pie filling *This is approximate because it all depends on your can of crushed pineapple. You're going to drain the crushed pineapple and save the liquid. Then you'll add the cold water to the juice until it makes a total of 2 cups.

If you can't find lemon pie filling in a can (Andrea couldn't-Florence didn't have it at the Red Owl) you can use a 3.4 ounce package of lemon pudding and pie filling. Just follow the directions for pie filling and add it to your Jell-O mixture at the proper time.

Drain the can of crushed pineapple. Save the liquid to use later.

Boil two cups of water in a small saucepan. Take it off the burner.

Empty the three packages of Lemon Jell-O powder into the recently boiled water. Stir until the Jell-O is dissolved. This step should take about 2 minutes. (There's nothing worse than Jell-O powder that doesn't dissolve. It makes a layer of sweet lemon rubber at the bottom of your Jell-O mold and the mixture on top is runny. To tell if Jell-O powder is dissolved, reach in with your impeccably clean fingers and rub a bit of liquid between your thumb and your finger. If it's not gritty, it's dissolved.) When the Jell-O powder is dissolved, combine the pineapple juice with cold water to make 2 cups of liquid. Add this to your saucepan and stir it in.

Refrigerate your saucepan until the Jell-O is partially set. (This should take approximately 45 minutes.) Put the Jell-O mixture into a bowl and whip it with a whisk or an electric mixer.

Fold in the Cool-Whip.

Fold in the lemon pie filling. (This is the time to make the instant pudding and pie filling and fold it into your Jell-O if you couldn't find canned pie filling.) Fold in the drained, crushed pineapple and blend thoroughly.

Spray a 2-quart Jell-O mold, or a standard-sized Bundt pan with Pam or another nonstick spray. You'll also need a second, much smaller bowl or mold to hold the Jell-O that won't quite fit in the first mold.

Transfer the Jell-O mixture to your molds and chill it in the refrigerator for at least 12 hours before serving.

Chapter Seventeen.

The three sisters worked in silence, helping Hannah a.s.semble the ca.s.seroles she was making for tonight's dinner. Andrea opened cans, Mich.e.l.le chopped onions, and Hannah fried hamburger, enough for four batches of Wanmansita Ca.s.serole.

"To tell you the truth, Hannah, I really don't know what to do about Ronni Ward, either." Andrea broke the heavy silence that had fallen over them. "It's just that I thought a complete makeover might help. I shouldn't have said that about you being jealous."

"That's true. You were dead wrong, you know. The sinking feeling in my stomach and the overwhelming urge to wrap my hands around Ronni Ward's perfectly shaped throat and squeeze couldn't possibly be caused by jealousy."

Both Andrea and Mich.e.l.le burst into laughter, and Hannah joined in. It was a good moment sandwiched in between all the bad things that had happened lately, and all three wanted to savor it for as long as they could.