Christmas Cake Murder

by Joanne Fluke

  Delores laughed. “And that’s just fine, Lisa. They’ll work just as well.” She turned to Hannah. “Am I right in thinking that you and I have flutes of Perrier Jouët and the girls have sparkling apple juice?”

  “You’re right. Help yourself, Mother. The meatloaf is cooling in the kitchen and so are the baked potatoes. And I brought the pie in and placed it on a cold stovetop burner. We can eat our dinner in about twenty minutes.”

  “That’s just perfect, dear.” Delores picked up a Ritz Cracker, used the knife next to the brie, and cut a wedge to put on top of her cracker. “While I was upstairs, I called Andrea and asked her to meet me at the hotel tomorrow morning. We’re going to make notes on what we should do to decorate the ballroom once the repairs are done. She sounded very excited about the Christmas Ball and promised to help any way she can.”

  “Good!” Hannah said with a smile. “Andrea’s very talented when it comes to things like flower arrangements and table decorations.”

  “Exactly. And she was very grateful when I told her that since she’d opted not to go to college, there was money in her college fund to pay off the loan that they’d taken out for the down payment on the house.”

  “That was very generous of you, Mother,” Michelle said.

  “Thank you. And that brings me to you, Michelle,” Delores continued. “You may not know this, but your father made some very wise investments before we were married. He had a good job and he still lived at home so he didn’t have many expenses. He bought stock with the remainder of his paycheck and he invested heavily in a small company called Minnesota Mining and Manufacturing. Of course that small company turned into a huge corporation and by the time we got married, he’d already made enough profit on the stock to buy the hardware store. Your father was a very intelligent man.”

  “I know he was,” Hannah said, and Michelle gave a nod of agreement.

  “When we found out that I was pregnant with Hannah, we decided to start a college fund for her. We did this for each of you.” Delores paused long enough to fix herself another cracker, this time with white cheddar cheese, and went on with her explanation after she’d eaten it. “Everything turned out very well for almost all of your father’s investments. He only lost on one and he sold that before there was any real damage. He could have been a marvelous stockbroker or investment counselor, but he was more interested in running the hardware store.”

  “I never realized that Dad was that successful,” Michelle said.

  “Neither did I,” Delores admitted with a little laugh. “Your father did all of the banking, paid the bills, and took care of everything for us. He told me not to worry about money because that was his job, so I never gave it another thought. I had no idea that he’d established investment accounts for all three of you girls. It was only after he . . . he died that I realized that your college funds had grown enough for each of you to get your doctorate.”

  “You mean . . . I could go for my doctorate if I wanted to?” Michelle asked her.

  “Yes, your father figured that it would take five years of college to earn a master’s degree and another two years to earn a doctorate. He kept up with tuition prices at major universities and living expenses on and off campus. He wanted to make sure that his daughters could realize their dreams, and he wanted to give all three of you a good start in life. He put it all in a letter he wrote and left with Howie Levine for me.” Delores turned to Hannah. “I’m sorry I never mentioned this to you, Hannah. I was just too depressed to talk about it before.”

  “I understand, Mother,” Hannah said, and then she reached out to give her mother a hug. And her mother, who’d grown up in an undemonstrative family, surprised Hannah by hugging her back.

  “And that brings me to you, Hannah,” Delores told her. “You have two years of expenses left in your college fund. If you really don’t want to go back to college for your doctorate, I think I have a plan for you.”

  “What is it, Mother?”

  “Use the money to rent the bakery on Main Street. It’s only been vacant for a few months and before she left, Veronica told me that all the major appliances are in excellent shape. Alex listed it for sale with Al Percy, but Veronica said that if it didn’t sell within four months, they were going to rent it out with an option to buy. I’ll give Al a call to make sure, but since that was over five months ago, it must be for rent by now. I think you should rent it, Hannah.”

  Hannah just blinked. She was too shocked to say a word. But suddenly the world was a much friendlier place than it had been only moments before.

  “That’s exciting, Mother,” Michelle said. “Are you going to go down there and take a look at the bakery?”

  “That’s my plan, Michelle. I’ll make an appointment with Al for tomorrow morning and Hannah and I will go down there. If everything is still functional and Hannah wants to rent it, I’ll make a deal with Al for the rent.” Delores turned to Hannah. “If it’s in good shape, you can do all the baking down there for the Christmas Ball. And if the bakery doesn’t have a freezer, I’ll change the delivery address for the one I ordered on the phone yesterday. How does that sound, Hannah?”

  Hannah, who’d always felt a bit resentful of the way that Delores had wanted to control her life, was so glad that her mother was back to normal again, she found that she didn’t mind in the slightest.

  “Of course it’s your decision, Hannah,” Delores said. “If you don’t want me to do that, just say so and I won’t.”

  Hannah began to smile. Delores had always simply done things and this was the first time Hannah could remember that she’d actually asked for anyone else’s opinion.

  “Hannah?” Delores prompted.

  “It sounds like a dream come true, Mother,” she said. “Thank you so much for thinking of it.”

  “Good.” Delores glanced at her watch. “Only fifteen minutes to go until it’s time for the meatloaf and baked potatoes. Have some more cheese, girls. And then we’ll go in the dining room and eat my very favorite meal.”

  Chapter Six

  “That was superb, dear,” Delores complimented Hannah. “Perhaps I should offer to send you to culinary school so that we could open a restaurant.”

  Hannah shook her head. “No thanks, Mother. I like to cook, but I love to bake. And there’s no way I’d open a restaurant here in town.”

  “Why?” Delores asked her.

  “I wouldn’t like to compete with Hal and Rose at the café. If I open a bakery, I wouldn’t be competing because I wouldn’t be offering breakfast, lunch, or dinner.”

  It was clear by her expression that Delores was puzzled. “But I thought you wanted to open a coffee shop with your bakery.”

  “I do, but all I’m going to sell is baked goods.”

  “Rose has doughnuts, sweet rolls, and pies at the café,” Michelle pointed out.

  “That’s true, but it’s not the bulk of her business. Rose doesn’t bake the doughnuts and sweet rolls.”

  “How about pies?”

  “If I have them, it won’t be often. And I’ll check with Rose before I even consider it. I’m going to call my bakery The Cookie Jar. I’ll have big jars filled with cookies on display and people can buy them to have with their coffee.”

  “That sounds good, dear,” Delores said. “Rose shouldn’t have a problem with a coffee shop like the one you just described. Let’s clear the table and put away the leftovers. And then we can have dessert.”

  “That sounds good to me,” Hannah said. “I’ll put on the coffee while the girls do that.”

  “Perfect,” Delores agreed. “I’m really looking forward to that pie. And when we’re done cleaning up, we’ll go in the living room and listen to you read more of Essie’s notebooks.”

  * * *

  Once the bus arrived in Brooklyn, she peered out the window and wondered where to go. The driver had been stopping to let people off and she waited until she saw a small café in the middle of a block before she got up from her seat and
stood in the front, indicating that it was her stop.

  The driver nodded to acknowledge her, and pulled over at the bus stop on the corner. She got off and walked quickly to the café she’d seen from the bus window.

  The café was small and very clean inside. Customers were sitting at the counter and there was a table open near the back of the room. She headed straight for the table, pulled out the chair, and sat down.

  There was only one waitress working, an older woman with frizzy hair who seemed to know the customers at the counter. She took a moment to deliver two plates, one with an omelet and the other with a hamburger, and then the waitress, who was wearing a name tag, hurried over to the table. “What can I get for you, honey?” she asked.

  “Coffee and a hamburger, please,” she responded, glad that she’d cashed her last paycheck and had the money to pay for her meal.

  “You haven’t been in here before, have you?”

  “No, we just moved here and we got a notice that our building is being tented tonight. I was wondering if you knew of a nice hotel where we could stay for a couple of nights.”

  “There’s the Garden Spot, but I wouldn’t go there. It’s pretty run-down and from what my regulars tell me, it’s not very clean. If I were you, I’d stay at the Dubuque. It’s not fancy, but it’s nice and clean, and they’ll treat you right.”

  “Where is the Dubuque?” she asked.

  “Two blocks back that way,” the waitress pointed. “You can’t miss it. It’s just past the drugstore. I’d go there right after you finish eating, though. It’s the nicest hotel around here and they fill up fast.”

  She glanced at the waitress’s name tag again. “Thanks, Fern. I really appreciate the advice.”

  * * *

  Less than an hour later, she was sitting on the edge of the bed in a third-floor room at the Dubuque Hotel. Fern had been right. It was clean and the man at the desk had been friendly when she’d checked in and paid for two nights in cash. She’d given him the same story she’d given Fern, that their apartment building was being tented for the night and they had to stay somewhere else. He’d asked her why she’d paid for two nights when their building was only being tented for one night. She’d quickly concocted an explanation and told him that since she was pregnant, her husband hadn’t wanted to take any chances on anything that might hurt their baby.

  “Smart man,” the desk clerk had told her. “I’d make the same decision if I got married and my wife got pregnant.”

  She sighed as she opened the bag of items she’d purchased on her way to the hotel. She had a bottle of peroxide and blond hair dye, an oversize raincoat that she hoped would hide her pregnancy, and some snacks she’d picked up at the front drugstore counter. All this would fit in the duffel bag now that the bulky package had been mailed.

  It was lonely in a hotel room all by herself and she wished that her husband was with her. Even though they’d discussed it, she still hadn’t decided exactly where she should go. Sharon knew that she couldn’t go to any of Tony’s relatives in California. They’d talked about that and decided it would be the first place anyone would look for her. She would buy a ticket to California, just to throw everyone off the track, but she’d get off the train somewhere in the Midwest.

  “But how will you find me if you don’t know where I am?” she’d asked Tony.

  “Don’t worry, honey. I promise that I’ll find you,” he’d told her. “I want you to get off the train somewhere in Minnesota.”

  “Why Minnesota?” she’d asked him.

  “Because I’ve never been there. You haven’t either, have you?”

  “No, never.”

  “Then they’ll never expect you to go there, especially in the winter. I’ve heard about Minnesota winters.”

  “What did you hear about them?” she’d asked.

  “It’s really cold in Minnesota and sometimes they have blizzards with lots of snow.”

  “It doesn’t sound very nice,” she’d commented.

  “You’ll be all right. I’ll make sure you have everything you need. And I’ll look for you there and find you.”

  A tear ran down her cheek and she brushed it away. She had to be strong for their baby. Tony would find her. He’d promised. She had to believe that her husband was all right and they didn’t suspect anyone except her.

  An hour after she’d transformed her appearance and her hair had dried, she finally gathered enough courage to look in the mirror. What she saw gave her hope that the plan she’d discussed with her husband would actually work. She’d cut her long dark hair short and since it was naturally curly, it had curled up in ringlets. The peroxide and blond hair dye had done its work, but the final result didn’t look as ridiculous as she’d feared. No one she knew would recognize her now.

  She pulled out the oversized raincoat she’d found in the thrift shop she’d passed, zipped out the lining, and tried it on. It covered her pregnancy fairly well. Anyone who saw her would simply assume that she was overweight. Even though it was cold in New York this time of year, she’d wear the raincoat without the liner when she bought the train ticket to California. The station would be warm and the train would be warm, too. She stuffed the liner into the duffel bag and hoped that the conductor and the other passengers would assume that it was her carry-on luggage.

  The hamburger she’d had at the café for lunch had been inexpensive and good. She considered going back there for dinner, but perhaps that wasn’t a good idea. It would be best to eat the snacks she’d purchased and not take chances. She’d followed her husband’s advice and been very aware of her surroundings. She’d watched and she knew that no one else had gotten off the bus when she had and no one had followed her to the café. She was safe, at least for now.

  When she went to bed, her dreams were filled with fearful conjecture. The gunshots she’d heard as she’d rested on the bench at the bus stop in front of the post office still terrified her. She tried to convince herself that a car had backfired and they hadn’t been gunshots at all, but she didn’t believe that. They were gunshots. She was sure of it. What if one of those shots had killed her husband? And if he’d somehow escaped, what if he couldn’t find her in the Minnesota winter? Neither one of them had ever been there, but she knew it was a fairly large state. How would he know where to look for her?

  Another frightening problem was the money. She had some left from her paycheck and he’d tucked some money in the duffel bag, but it would run out eventually. Then what would happen to her? And even more frightening, what would happen to their baby?!

  At last the long night was over and she could see the dim light of the dawning day outside her window. She was tired and depressed after her long night of frightening dreams, but she knew that she had to get up and devise a plan. She had to figure out the safest way to get to Minnesota. She couldn’t stay here. It was too close to danger.

  “I promise I’ll keep you safe,” she whispered to her unborn baby. “You don’t have to worry. I’ll find the best way to take care of you.”

  She took a quick bath in the spotless tub and used the clean bath towel that was hanging on the rack. Then she dressed in the same clothing she’d worn the previous day, picked up the duffel bag, and went out the door. She climbed down the steps to the first floor and glanced at the desk. The friendly clerk who had been there the previous day had been replaced by an older man with a mustache and glasses.

  Breathing a sigh of relief, she walked past the desk and out the front door. She was on a mission to find out the location of the train station and learn how to get there. It would have been a simple matter to walk to the café and ask Fern, but that was simply too risky. She’d find another café, in a direction she hadn’t gone the previous day, and ask someone there.

  Four blocks later, she found a larger café, one with booths and customers sitting at a long counter. She went in the door and took a vacant stool at the counter next to a woman dressed in a business suit, who was just finishing her breakfas
t. The wall clock over the counter indicated that it was ten minutes before nine in the morning and she knew that if luck was with her, the woman would be hurrying off to her job soon.

  “Excuse me,” she said to the woman. “I’m new to the area and I have to get to the train station. Do you happen to know where it is?”

  “Yes, I do. Are you traveling somewhere?” the woman asked, gesturing toward the duffel bag.

  “No.” She thought fast and came up with a plausible reason for carrying the duffel bag. “This bag belongs to my husband, but I always take it with me when I go out to shop. That way, I can put several other bags inside and I only have to carry one. I thought I’d just drop by the train station to pick up a schedule so we could go into the city this weekend.”

  “That duffel bag is a great idea!” the woman declared, giving her an approving look. “I think I’ll start doing that, too. We don’t have a car and it would be a lot easier than juggling bags of groceries on my walk home. And to answer your question about the train station, all you have to do to get there is turn right when you go out the door, go left at the second corner, walk three more blocks and you’re there. There’s no way you can miss it. It takes up the whole block across the street and it’s a big commuter station so trains are coming in and going out all day.”

  “Thank you so much,” she said, picking up a menu and studying it. It was a menu that covered the whole day and she read through the choices for breakfast, lunch, and dinner. She decided she’d have the cheapest thing on the menu, scrambled eggs and toast, for breakfast.

  “Can I take your order?” the waitress asked, noticing her and bustling over, her order pad in her hand.

  “Yes, thank you. I’ll have scrambled eggs and toast, please.”

  The waitress nodded. “Do you want coffee with that?”

  “Yes, please.”

  The waitress turned to the lady in the business suit. “Do you want a warm-up on your coffee?”

  “I’d love it, but I have to get to work. My supervisor gets crabby if I’m half a minute late.” The lady opened her purse, put some money down on the counter, and got up from her stool.