Peach Cobbler Murder

by Joanne Fluke

  “Good idea.” Hannah gave her sister a nod and then she turned back to Delores. “Just ask him, Mother. Maybe there’s some sort of reasonable explanation. I mean…men carry all sorts of pictures in their wallets and they never think to update them. Maybe Shawna Lee had snapshots printed when her bakery opened and passed them out or something.”

  “It’s not a snapshot. And it’s not in his wallet.”

  “Okay.” Hannah accepted that at face value. “Where is it?”

  “It’s a framed picture, a big one. And…well…it’s in Winthrop’s underwear drawer.”

  That was another act ender and after one look at her sister, Hannah snapped her own mouth closed. Their mother was full of surprises this afternoon. “Okay,” she said, taking a deep breath. “I’ll ask the question we both want to ask. What were you doing in Winthrop’s underwear drawer?”

  “Would you believe I was putting away Winthrop’s laundry?”

  “No,” Hannah said unequivocally. “You don’t even put away your own laundry. Marjorie Hanks does it when she comes in to clean.”

  “All right. I was…it doesn’t really matter how I found the picture, does it? What matters is, I did. And because of the circumstances, I can’t very well ask Winthrop why he has it!”

  “Because then he’d know you were snooping?” Andrea guessed, starting to grin.

  “Well…yes, if you want to put it that way. I prefer to think of it as…gathering more facts.”

  “Nice,” Hannah said. “I may use that someday. But let’s get back to the picture. Can you describe it?”

  “Of course I can! I only got a quick peek before Winthrop came out of the shower, but it made a lasting impression.”

  Andrea gave Hannah a stricken look, and Hannah knew exactly what she was thinking. The shower? What was Mother doing in Winthrop’s bedroom when he was in the shower?

  “He was late getting dressed for us to go out, and I was supposed to be waiting in the living room. That’s why I got only a quick peek.”

  Hannah glanced at Andrea and saw her relax slightly. That was good. “Tell us everything you noticed in the photo.”

  “I think it was taken at a club, the kind of place where you can have your picture taken by a photographer who goes from table to table. Do you know the kind of place I’m talking about?”

  “Expensive,” Hannah said.

  “That’s right. And trendy. They were sitting in a booth and he had his arm around her. They looked very happy, and very…intimate.”

  “Are you sure it was Shawna Lee?” Andrea asked, after a glance at Hannah. “I mean…could it have been Vanessa? They look a lot alike.”

  Delores was thoughtful for a moment and then she gave a dainty little shrug. “It could have been Vanessa. I didn’t even think of that. But she’s still alive and that means I wasn’t being a drama queen and I do have to worry! I’d better go right back over to Winthrop’s and try to get another look at that picture.”

  “No,” Hannah said, holding up her hand. “It’s too much of a risk for you to do it, Mother. Winthrop might catch you snooping this time. Andrea and I will take care of it for you. We’ll find out if it’s Shawna Lee or Vanessa.”

  Andrea gave her older sister a look that said, We will? But she nodded in a show of sisterly solidarity. “Don’t worry, Mother. We’ll take care of it.”

  “All right,” Delores said, sighing deeply. “You two are better at that sort of thing anyway. And if Winthrop comes back tomorrow and suspects that someone’s been going through his things, I can say quite truthfully that it wasn’t me.”

  “If Winthrop’s coming back tomorrow, does that mean he’s out of town now?” Hannah asked, picking up on her mother’s comment.

  “That’s right. It’s some sort of investment seminar and he won’t be back until six tomorrow evening.”

  “Perfect timing,” Hannah said, turning to Andrea. “We’ll break into his apartment right now and look for that picture.”

  Delores gave a smug little smile. “I just knew you’d say that. I can always count on my girls to help me.” She reached down to pick up a key that was tucked next to her cup on the coffee table and handed it to Hannah. “You don’t have to break in, dears. Just use my key.”

  “I don’t want to know what this means,” Andrea said, clutching the key in her hand as she drove. “I don’t even want to think about it.”

  “Me neither. I hope he’s got some rubber gloves under the sink. I don’t want to dig around in that man’s underwear drawer with bare hands.”

  “Hannah!” Andrea burst into giggles so infectious, Hannah had to join in. One giggle led to a gaggle and then, because Andrea’s Volvo was beginning to wobble all over the road, they had to pull into Cyril Murphy’s used car lot until they calmed down.

  “You got a problem with that fancy foreign car of yours?” Cyril asked, coming over to see what was the matter.

  “Yes, it needs a new driver,” Hannah answered, sending them both into gales of laughter again.

  By the time they pulled themselves together, Cyril was chuckling, too. “I just called your place,” he said to Hannah. “I need to work on your truck this afternoon.”

  “Why?” Hannah asked, hating to be without her vehicle even though she wasn’t driving it at the moment.

  “Factory recall. It won’t cost you a cent. I’ll have one of my boys run over there and get it, and he’ll leave a loaner for you. I should have yours done by the time I close tonight.”

  “That’s great.” And it was until Hannah remembered that Cyril’s garage was open until ten. “Do you want me to drive back to town and pick it up tonight?”

  Cyril shook his head. “I’ll have one of my guys deliver it to your condo. Just leave the key for the loaner under the floor mat on the driver’s side. He’ll drop your truck off and switch.”

  “Sounds good to me,” Hannah said, agreeing quickly.

  After a few more words with Cyril, Andrea pulled back out onto the road again. Hannah waited until they were on the highway, nearing the exit for Winthrop’s apartment complex, and then she turned to face her sister. “So what do you say we go through his whole place while we’re there?”

  “You mean search it?”

  “Right. I want to see if there’s any other reason why Mother should ditch Winthrop.”

  “I would have been really disappointed if you hadn’t suggested it,” Andrea said, turning off the highway and onto the access road that led to Lakeside Villas, an apartment complex frequented primarily by working singles. “Take a look at Mother’s key,” she said, handing it to Hannah. “It should be stamped with an apartment number.”

  “Two twenty-three,” Hannah read the number.

  “Okay. That’s building number two on the second floor.”

  “You’ve been here before?” Hannah was curious.

  “Every time I drive the dance class car pool. One of Tracey’s friends lives in building number three. Those are the two-bedroom units.”

  Hannah looked out the window with interest as Andrea drove past the A-frame clubhouse with siding cleverly formed to look like logs, and around the side of building number two. There were designated parking spots for the residents under a sloping roof that jutted out from the back of the building, but the area for the visitors was uncovered. Andrea pulled into one of the visitors’ spots and shut off the engine. “Okay. Let’s go defend Mother’s honor.”

  “It could be a little late for that,” Hannah said, grinning impishly.

  “I don’t want to hear it. Let’s go.”

  A sign announced that the front door was to be kept locked for security purposes and Andrea used their mother’s key. It opened onto a foyer that contained another door with another sign that said it was to be kept locked.

  “They’re very security conscious,” Andrea noted, sticking her key in the lock, pushing the door open, and stepping into the carpeted interior.

  Hannah followed her, grinning widely. “No, they’re not.
Both of those doors had paper stuffed into the locks to keep them open.”

  “No!” Andrea backed up to take a look, and then she turned to Hannah in shock. “You’re right! Absolutely anybody could have gotten in. Why did the sign say the doors were locked?”

  “To keep out the people who can read,” Hannah quipped, grabbing Andrea’s arm as her sister started to giggle uncontrollably again and leading her to the elevator.

  The two sisters were silent as they rode up in the elevator. It was the kind Hannah hated, a car with mirrored walls that made it seem as if twenty or thirty fashionably thin blondes were stuffed into an infinite number of elevator cars with the same number of plump, frizzy-haired redheads.

  “Whew!” Hannah breathed, stepping out of the elevator with relief. “That was just too synchronized to suit me.”

  “Synchronized?”

  “When I raised my hand to scratch my nose, all the redheads in the mirrors scratched, too.”

  “I know what you mean. I didn’t like looking at that many me’s.”

  Even though they didn’t see any tenants, Hannah and Andrea were quiet as they walked down the hallway and stopped in front of Winthrop’s door. Without being told, Andrea kept watch while Hannah unlocked the door and then they both stepped in and closed it behind them. Still perfectly silent, they tiptoed from kitchen, to bath, to bedroom, glancing in each door before Hannah finally spoke out loud.

  “It’s okay. He’s gone. What do you think of the place?”

  Andrea glanced around the living room and shrugged. “It’s…generic. Just like Winthrop.”

  “Generic!” Hannah crowed, bursting into delighted laughter. “That’s exactly the right word for him. Winthrop’s a generic Englishman, typical in every way. It’s like he took his personality straight from the pages of a book.”

  “A movie where he plays an English lord. He’s not the type that reads.”

  “You’re probably right.” Hannah took a tour around the room. “This is much too tasteful to suit me.”

  “It’s too tasteful to suit anybody. I don’t know how Mother can stand it here.” Andrea got up to look at the framed pictures on the mantel over the fake fireplace and gasped.

  “What?” Hannah asked.

  “These pictures. That’s Pete and Daisy.”

  “You know them?”

  “I know of them,” Andrea corrected. “It’s a kids’ movie about a boy and his dog. I took Tracey and Karen to see it last year. I thought it was cute, but Winthrop must have liked it a lot to frame pictures of the characters.”

  “Not necessarily. Maybe he just wanted pictures on his mantel and he didn’t want to use real photos.”

  “Why not?”

  “Because…he didn’t dare use pictures of real people from his past.”

  “Okay. But why didn’t he dare to use real pictures?”

  “Because he’s running from the law?”

  “Or for the law. Winthrop could be in the witness protection program.”

  “I suppose, but he doesn’t look like the type. Then again, people in the witness protection program aren’t supposed to look like the type to be in the witness protection program. Maybe you were right the first time and he just happened to love that movie. How about the rest of the pictures? Do you see any other famous movie stars?”

  “I don’t think so.” Andrea went over for a closer look. “Pete and Daisy are the only ones, but…” She stopped at one picture and flipped it over.

  “What?” Hannah asked.

  “This is a Keep-It frame.”

  “What’s that?”

  “It’s a brand name they carry at CostMart. I just bought a Keep-It frame for the picture Norman took of Tracey on The Cookie Jar float in the Fourth of July parade.”

  “Is that important?” Hannah asked, knowing that it sometimes took her sister a while to get to the heart of a story.

  “It could be.” Andrea walked over with the picture. “See this older couple in the frame?”

  “I see them. Are they famous movie stars?”

  “No, but they could be famous picture frame models. I’m almost certain it’s the same couple that came in the Keep-It frame I bought for Tracey’s photo.”

  “Winthrop bought these frames at CostMart and left the demo pictures in them?”

  “I think so. I just framed Tracey’s photo last night and I think the demo photo is still in the wastebasket. I’ll look when I get home and call you.”

  “Okay.” Hannah patted her sister on the back. “It’s a good thing you’re here. I never would have noticed.”

  “Thanks, but I don’t think it’s illegal to buy picture frames and leave the demo pictures in them.”

  “No, but it is suspicious. You start in here and see what else you can uncover. I’m going to look for those rubber gloves and tackle his bedroom.”

  Chapter Twenty-One

  “I’m up. I’m up,” Hannah groaned, sitting up in an evasive maneuver to avoid Moishe’s sandpaper tongue. The raspy licks were Moishe’s way of telling her that it was morning in the frozen tundra, she should hurry and shut off the alarm clock because it hurt his ears, and his food bowl was empty.

  Hannah slapped the Off button on the alarm clock before it had time to do more than give the first electronic squawk, and shoved her feet into the soft fur-lined moccasins she used for winter slippers. “Come on, Moishe. I need coffee. There’s no way I want to go back to sleep and dream that dream again!”

  She slipped on her warmest robe, an ancient chenille that had faded so much Hannah could only guess at its original color. She’d found the robe at the Helping Hands Thrift Shop when she’d first come back to Lake Eden, and she’d gladly paid the dollar they’d asked for it. It reminded her of her Grandma Ingrid’s robe and wearing it was almost like a hug from the grandmother she missed every time she baked one of her recipes.

  “I dreamed about Shawna Lee and Vanessa,” Hannah explained, on her way down the hallway toward the kitchen. “They were at Wimbledon playing tennis, and Winthrop’s head was the ball.”

  “Roww!” Moishe commented, reaching out to give her slipper a halfhearted swipe.

  “I know it could have been worse, but that was bad enough. I think I dreamed about them because I’ve got the picture Andrea and I borrowed from…”

  “Roww!” Moishe interrupted loudly.

  “Okay. You’re right. We stole it. But I’m going to put it back this afternoon and that means it was only borrowed.”

  “Roww!” Moishe commented again, a little louder this time.

  “All right. We borrowed it without permission. Will that do?” Hannah grinned down at him as he gave another yowl. Some people claimed that cats didn’t understand what their people were saying, but Moishe meowed at the appropriate places and Hannah was willing to give him the benefit of the doubt. “Anyway, I’ve got the picture and I can’t tell which sister it is. Neither can Andrea. Mike could probably tell, but there’s no way I want to ask him!”

  Once Moishe had been fed and the caffeine from her first cup of coffee was coursing through her grateful veins, Hannah headed off to the shower. She always tried to shower and dress before fully awakening, and this morning was no exception.

  Less than ten minutes later, Hannah was sitting at her kitchen table. She was halfway through her second cup of coffee when full awareness hit and then she gave a tortured groan. “Mother,” she said.

  “Oww!” Moishe howled, arching his back.

  “That’s true, but I should have called to tell her about Winthrop’s frames last night. Of course, maybe it’s a good thing I didn’t. We should have all our ducks lined up in a row before we shoot Winthrop down.”

  Moishe seemed to approve of that concept because he squinted before he returned to his food bowl, the closest he ever got to actually smiling. And to show his enthusiasm for shooting Winthrop down, or the ducks in a row, Hannah wasn’t quite sure which, he crunched much louder than usual. Hannah was just hoping that he wouldn
’t break a tooth and need a kitty dentist when the solution to their problem hit her.

  “Norman!” she exclaimed, causing Moishe to startle and look up at her. “I didn’t mean to scare you, but you just gave me a great idea.” Hannah grabbed the canister of fish-shaped salmon-flavored treats her feline adored and tossed a couple in his direction. “It’s just like that forensic dentistry program we watched last week. Both Vanessa and Shawna Lee were Norman’s patients. And the woman in the picture is smiling. Norman can probably tell which sister it is by comparing their dental records.”

  Hannah grabbed her steno pad and wrote down her plans for the day. BAKE went on the first line, NORMAN & PIX on the second, and RETURN PIX on the third. Then she flipped to the pages she’d used to jot notes about Shawna Lee’s murder to see if any lightbulbs would go on over her head.

  She’d listed the suspects on the first page and Hannah reviewed them. The first was Mike and the motive listed was a lovers’ quarrel. Hannah had crossed his name out when Andrea had cleared him by talking to Marjorie Hanks. There was no way Mike could have murdered Shawna Lee when he’d been within sight and sound of Marjorie’s vacuum at the sheriff’s station the whole time.

  Next on the list were the wives of several deputies that Shawna Lee had flirted with blatantly. Their motives were jealousy. But every single wife had an alibi and so did their deputy husbands. They’d all attended Lisa and Herb’s wedding and they’d arrived at the reception in a group.

  Ronni Ward’s name was next on her list, but Hannah had crossed it out. While it was extremely unlikely that Ronni had hobbled around the back of the bakery with her ankle in a cast to shoot Shawna Lee, Hannah had called to make certain that Ronni had spent the whole day and night at Lake Eden Hospital.

  Barbara Donnelly’s name was next on the list and it was also crossed out. Hannah had done that after Norman’s report. He’d cleaned Barbara’s teeth and she’d mentioned that she’d gone to the wedding and the reception with Nettie Grant. One call to Nettie had confirmed that and Barbara was in the clear.

  Farther down on the page, right after the horizontal line Hannah had drawn to denote a change in her thinking, was the word VANESSA in block letters. At this point, Andrea had raised the question about whether the killer might have mistaken Shawna Lee for Vanessa, and they’d talked about new motives and new suspects. Gloria Travis was listed, but after they’d met with Gloria, Hannah had added a question mark behind her name. Gloria didn’t have an alibi and she’d admitted that she had good reason to kill the woman she’d thought was Vanessa, but neither Hannah nor Andrea thought she’d done it.