Peach Cobbler Murder Read online

  “Where is she?”

  “In the kitchen.”

  “And she was here when it happened?”

  Hannah swallowed hard as a picture of Shawna Lee’s body on the tile floor flashed through her mind. She wasn’t sure she could speak, so she nodded emphatically.

  “Then it was robbery, not burglary,” Mike explained. “Robbery takes place when the victim is present. Burglary happens when the victim isn’t home. If Shawna Lee was here, the crime was robbery.”

  “More than that,” Hannah managed to say.

  “What do you mean?” Mike turned to Hannah with a frown.

  “I mean maybe it was a robbery, but there’s more…”

  “What else could there be?” Mike asked. And then his frown grew deeper. “Is Shawna Lee all right?”

  “Not exactly.” Hannah, never the queen of tact under the best of circumstances, could do nothing except blurt out, “I only went in as far as the counter and the only thing I touched was the door-knob and the oven door when I shut it. I’m pretty sure the department has my prints on file from the last body I found.”

  “The last body?” Mike asked, turning a shade paler when Hannah nodded. At least Hannah thought he turned a shade paler, but it was difficult to tell under the weak illumination from the streetlight at the other end of the alley. “You mean Shawna Lee is…dead?”

  “I’m pretty sure she is, although I didn’t check to make sure. I didn’t think I should disturb the crime scene.”

  Mike’s lips tightened and he went in the back door without another word. Almost immediately, Norman moved to Hannah’s side and put his arm around her shoulders.

  “Do you want me to go get the car so you can sit down?” he asked.

  “No, that’s okay. When Mike comes out I’ll just answer his questions and then we can go.”

  “I wish I’d been with you,” Norman said, giving her a comforting hug. “Maybe I could have helped. And I’m sorry this always seems to happen to you.”

  “It’s my personal curse. I attract dead bodies like moths to a light.”

  “That’s funny.”

  “Not if you’re the light, it’s not.”

  Norman didn’t say anything. He just held her tightly until she stopped trembling and Hannah was grateful for that. It was surprising how much better things could get when you were with someone who understood.

  When Mike came back out several moments later, Hannah was calm. But Mike wasn’t. Hannah noticed that his hands were shaking and a fine bead of sweat lined his forehead.

  “She’s dead,” he said, visibly pulling himself together as he turned to face Hannah. “Why did you come over here in the first place?”

  “I was across the street, waiting for Norman, and I saw that all the lights were on. Since I didn’t see anyone moving inside, I wanted to make sure that everything was all right, especially since Shawna Lee said she’d bring three pans of peach cobbler to Lisa and Herb’s wedding reception and she never showed up.”

  Mike took out the notebook he always carried in his pocket and jotted down a few notes. “Did you call anyone to say that you were coming over here?”

  “No, but I taped a note to the outside of the back door for Norman.”

  “What did it say?”

  “I don’t remember exactly.” Hannah turned to Norman. “Do you still have it?”

  Norman pulled the note out of his jacket pocket. “Right here,” he said, and handed it to Mike.

  “Across the street at Shawna Lee’s. Maybe a burglary?” Mike read it aloud and then he turned to Hannah again. “What made you think it might be a burglary?”

  “I called and no one answered the phone.”

  “You called the bakery number?”

  “I called both numbers, the bakery and Shawna Lee’s personal line. Since she didn’t answer, I figured she wasn’t home and someone had broken in.”

  “So you went running over here half-cocked to see if you could catch a couple of burglars?”

  “Of course not! I looked in the windows. If I’d seen anybody inside, I would have run back to The Cookie Jar and called the sheriff’s station. As a matter of fact, that’s exactly what I was going to do when you and Norman got here.” Hannah turned to Norman. “Did you call the sheriff’s station when you got my note?”

  Norman shook his head. “No. I probably should have, but I just rushed straight over here.”

  “I’m glad you did!” Hannah said, and then she turned back to Mike. “There’s something I don’t understand. If I didn’t call the sheriff’s station and neither did Norman, what are you doing here?”

  “Me?” Mike repeated, looking very uncomfortable. “Um…well…I had an appointment with Shawna Lee at my apartment and she didn’t show up. It wasn’t a date or anything like that, just a personal talk we needed to have to get things straight between us. Then I was going to drive out to the reception before it ended and hook up with you.”

  “I see,” Hannah said, wondering if Mike had planned to tell Shawna Lee that he had another appointment after hers.

  “I got a little concerned when she didn’t show up and she didn’t answer her phone. I mean, Shawna Lee’s not the most punctual person in the world, but she usually calls to say she’s running late.”

  “Unlike you,” Hannah muttered under her breath, still burning about the fact that Mike hadn’t bothered to contact her, but he’d phoned Shawna Lee.

  “When she didn’t show by nine, I tried calling again. And then I called every fifteen minutes after that. At ten-fifteen I decided that I’d waited long enough and I drove over here to see what was the matter.”

  “That was very considerate of you,” Hannah said, barely concealing her sarcasm.

  “Well, hey…you were considerate, too. You didn’t have to walk over here to check it out. I just want you to know that I’m sorry I never made it to the reception. I was looking forward to that last dance with you.”

  “As a matter of fact, so was I,” Hannah said, meaning every word of it. It would have been their very last dance, especially if Mike had told her the reason he’d arrived late!

  “Are you all right, Hannah?” Norman asked, the moment they stepped into her condo.

  “I am now.” Hannah glanced at the clock on the wall. “I wonder if I have time to make a pot of coffee before Mother calls.”

  Norman laughed. “Let’s see…we left the minute Bill and Rick Murphy arrived and it took us twenty minutes to get here. I’d say you’ve got at least five minutes.”

  “Two,” Hannah said, grinning at him. “Loser has to pick up the tab the next time we go out to dinner?”

  “Deal. Where’s the big guy? He usually meets you at the door.”

  “Tries to knock me over, is more like it.” Hannah gave a little laugh, remembering how surprised she’d been the first time she’d opened her door and Moishe had jumped up into her arms. “He must be in the bedroom sleeping on my pillow. Why don’t you go check while I start the coffee?”

  Hannah had just put on the coffee when Norman came into the kitchen carrying Moishe in his arms. It never ceased to amaze her when her independent tomcat let Norman carry him cradled in his arms, belly up. If Hannah had tried that for more than a few seconds, Moishe would have turned into a flurry of claws and teeth. But when Norman held him in his very least favorite position, he just purred contentedly.

  “Rowww,” Moishe complained, looking up at Hannah accusingly.

  “What?”

  “Rrrrrroooow!”

  “It’s his food bowl,” Norman interpreted. “Just look. It’s empty.”

  “So you speak cat?” Hannah couldn’t resist teasing him a bit.

  “Not really, but that’s the only thing he gets really upset about, isn’t it?”

  Hannah nodded and unlocked the padlock to her store of cat food. Once Moishe’s bowl was filled to the brim, Norman set him down. Hannah’s resident feline gave Norman’s thumb a quick lick, and then he headed straight for his favorite
spot in the kitchen, the place mat that contained his food and water bowls.

  “Looks like I won,” Norman said, glancing up at Hannah’s apple-shaped kitchen clock.

  “No, you didn’t. It’s been only four minutes and you said at least five.” Hannah poured two mugs of coffee and handed one to Norman.

  “But four minutes is longer than the two minutes you guessed.”

  “I know. As it stands right now, neither one of us won. Let’s have our coffee in the living room. It’s more comfortable.”

  “You just don’t want me to see the clock,” Norman grumbled, but there was a grin on his face as he carried his mug to the living room and sat down with Hannah on the sofa. “What do we do if the phone rings right now and we both lose?”

  “Then we each pay for our own dinner.” Hannah craned her neck so she could see the kitchen clock. “But I don’t think that’s going to happen. All you’ve got left is twelve…”

  The phone pealed loudly, interrupting Hannah’s prediction.

  “Aha!” Norman crowed. “If that’s your mother, I win.”

  “It is.”

  “How do you know?”

  “Look at Moishe,” Hannah said, gesturing in his direction.

  “What’s the matter with him? His hair is standing up.”

  “He always gets like that when Mother’s on the phone.” Hannah plucked the receiver from the cradle before it could ring again. “Hello, Mother.”

  The sigh Delores gave was so loud, Hannah imagined that she could feel it tickling her ear. “I really wish you wouldn’t do that, dear. Unless you have caller ID. You don’t, do you?”

  “I have my own version,” Hannah said, glancing at her puffed-up cat. “I take it Andrea called you.”

  “That’s right.”

  “And Bill called her?”

  “Correct. I do wish you’d stop finding bodies, Hannah. It’s unladylike. Now people will start calling you names again.”

  “People called me names before?”

  “Yes. It all started out when Mike called you his corpse catcher and Barbara Donnelly, out at the sheriff’s station, overheard him. She told Bertie Straub when she got her hair done at the Cut ’n Curl, and Bertie told everyone who came in the door that she thought Mayor Bascomb ought to give you a badge and call you the Lake Eden corpse catcher.”

  “Really,” Hannah said, being as noncommittal as possible. Actually, she thought it was pretty funny.

  “People think they’re being so clever. I shudder to think of what names they’ll come up with this time.”

  Hannah could think of several that might apply, but she wisely remained silent. Delores was upset and the last thing she needed at this point was further aggravation. “Don’t worry about it, Mother. It’ll all blow over in a few days.”

  “I hope so, or I’ll never be able to hold my head up in this town again!” There was a moment of silence and when Delores spoke again, she sounded more curious than angry. “Andrea mentioned that Bill said Mike told him that you gave an excellent description of the scene. Tell me everything, dear, from the moment you left The Cookie Jar right up until the time you found her.”

  Hannah related the story for the second time, leaving out any graphic details she thought might disturb her mother’s sleep. When she was through, Delores sighed.

  “I’m sorry she died. It’s frightening to think that someone we all knew ended up as the victim of violent crime. But at least it wasn’t anyone I liked.”

  Hannah bit back a burst of startled laughter. Leave it to Delores to say precisely what she was thinking!

  “So how do you think Vanessa will react? Will she go back to Georgia?”

  “I don’t know, Mother.”

  “Well, I hope she does! With your competition gone, you won’t have to worry anymore.”

  Hannah was thoughtful as she said good night and hung up the phone. She hadn’t really thought about what Shawna Lee’s death would mean to her personally. Delores was right. If the Magnolia Blossom Bakery closed its doors, all of her former Lake Eden customers would be back.

  “What’s the matter?” Norman asked, noticing Hannah’s frown.

  “I was just thinking that…”

  The phone rang again, interrupting her thought, and Hannah grabbed it. This seemed to be the night for phone calls. Since Moishe was no longer bristling, it couldn’t be her mother, and Hannah answered normally. “Hello?”

  “Hello, Hannah. I hope I’m not calling too late.”

  “You’re not,” Hannah said, recognizing Carrie’s voice. “I just finished talking to Mother.”

  “Then I’ll get all the details from her. Norman’s there, isn’t he?”

  “Right here. Would you like to speak to him?”

  When Carrie answered in the affirmative, Hannah handed the phone to Norman. There wasn’t much she could glean from his end of the conversation since it consisted entirely of “Okay,” “I’ll do that,” and “You too, Mother.”

  “She didn’t ask you about Shawna Lee?” Hannah asked after she’d replaced the phone in the cradle.

  “No, she had something else on her mind. She wanted me to ask you for a favor.”

  Every suspicious bone in Hannah’s body twinged. There was no way she’d agree to a favor before she knew what it was. When she was in high school, Andrea had used that tactic and Hannah had ended up chaperoning Andrea and five giggling friends at a rock concert. The headlined band had been called Hearing Impairment and they’d lived up to their name. “What does Carrie want?” she asked.

  “Delores mentioned what a good mouser Moishe was, and my mother has a mouse that she’s been trying to get rid of. I’m supposed to offer you a package of frozen shrimp if you’ll bring Moishe over tomorrow so that he can catch her mouse.”

  “I hope Mother doesn’t tell anyone else what a good mouser Moishe is, or everyone in Lake Eden will want to hire him,” Hannah commented, tearing open a package of her favorite Bavarian pretzels and dumping them in a bowl. “I can’t believe I’m hungry after all that food at the buffet.”

  “I can. What did you eat?”

  “Let’s see…I had…” Hannah stopped and a surprised expression crossed her face. “Actually, I don’t think I ate much at all. I filled my plate and took a couple of bites, but then Lisa asked me to clip some flowers before she tossed her bouquet.”

  Norman looked confused. “Why did she do that?”

  “She’s going to press them in the microwave and keep them as mementos.”

  “You can press flowers in a microwave?”

  “I can’t, but Lisa can. She read about it in a magazine. All I had to do was put the flowers in a plastic bag and stick them in Sally’s cooler. I know it didn’t take me more than a few minutes, but when I came back my plate was gone. One of Sally’s waitresses had cleared it.”

  “So you went back for more?”

  “I was going to. I even had a fresh plate in my hand. But Sally came up and recruited me to serve the wedding cake.”

  Norman laughed. “That’s exactly what I thought! Did you have anything from the dessert buffet?”

  “No. I was too busy serving cake. By the time Sally sent someone to relieve me, I’d lost my appetite. I had a piece of Shirley’s Poppy Seed Cake after I unloaded the truck, but if I’d come straight home and gone right to bed, I would have forgotten all about eating.” Hannah stopped speaking and looked thoughtful.

  “What?” Norman asked her.

  “I think I just discovered a new weight loss program. I’ll call it the Busy Day Diet, open diet centers all over the country, and make millions by giving people so much to do that they won’t have time to eat.”

  Before Norman had time to respond, the phone rang again. This time it was Andrea and she wanted to know exactly what Hannah had seen when she’d entered the Magnolia Blossom Bakery.

  Hannah gave Andrea the same description she’d given their mother with one added fact. “And guess what I saw on the counter.”

>   “What?” Andrea sounded intrigued.

  “A box of Betty Jo’s Frozen Peach Cobbler.”

  “I knew it!” Andrea exclaimed. “Remember when I said I thought I’d tasted that peach cobbler before?”

  “I remember.”

  “And do you remember when Norman said it tasted like something you’d get at a twenty-four-hour coffee shop?”

  “I remember that, too.”

  “Well, Betty Jo’s is a chain of coffee shops in Georgia. The Jordan High cheerleaders stopped at one once when we went to that national competition in Atlanta.”

  “How about that!” Hannah exclaimed. “Just wait until I tell Norman he was right.”

  “Right about what?” Norman asked.

  “Shawna Lee’s peach cobbler tasting like the kind you’d get in a coffee shop. It was from Betty Jo’s and Andrea says that’s a chain of coffee shops in Georgia.”

  “Norman’s with you?” Andrea asked in Hannah’s ear, lowering her voice slightly.

  “That’s right.”

  “Does Mike know you took Norman home with you?”

  “What does it matter? He gave up all rights when he didn’t bother to show up for our date.”

  “I know, but you wouldn’t want to get him too jealous. He’s the lead investigator and he might decide to zero in on you. After all, you’re the one with the most to gain.”

  “What’s the matter?” Norman asked, noticing Hannah’s disturbed expression when she hung up the phone.

  “Andrea thinks I could be a suspect.”

  “That’s ridiculous!”

  “You know that and I know that, but Mike doesn’t.”

  “Well, he should.”

  “Maybe, but you’ve got to admit I’ve got the best motive.”

  “You mean because she was cutting into your business?”

  “That’s only part of it,” Hannah said, ticking the reasons off on her fingers. “One, she was my rival in business. Two, she was dating Mike and so was I.”

  “Was?” Norman interrupted her in mid tick.

  “The way I feel right now, it’s past tense. And three, there was no love lost between us and everyone in town knew it.”

  “But there must have been other people with motives. Who else would want to kill Shawna Lee?”