by Joanne Fluke
Delores caught on immediately. It was time to open the Larry Jaeger discussion. “I’m so sorry about your ex-husband,” she said, reaching out to pat her friend’s hand.
“He’s not. He’s not my ex-husband.”
“You mean you weren’t married to Larry Jaeger?” Hannah asked, slipping easily into question mode.
“Oh, I was!” Dr. Love reached for a cookie. “And I’m still married to him…or at least I was married to him right up until the moment he died. You see, we never divorced.”
“Because you couldn’t stop loving him?” Delores asked, sensing a romantic tragedy in the making.
“No, it’s because I couldn’t find him. I wanted to divorce him fifteen years ago, right after he left me high and dry, but I needed his address to serve him with papers.”
“How awful for you!” Delores breathed.
“It wasn’t one of the happier times of my life,” Dr. Love agreed. “Since I was only months from graduating from college and I didn’t have the money for a quickie divorce in another state, I simply let it go. I always thought Larry would turn up somewhere and I’d hear about it, and then I’d serve him with papers and divorce him.”
“But what if you’d met someone else you wanted to marry?” Delores posed a dilemma.
Dr. Love gave a little shrug. “Then I would have been forced to do something. But I didn’t meet anyone I wanted to marry, so there wasn’t any rush to divorce Larry.”
“Did you hear from him during those fifteen years?” Hannah asked.
“Never.”
“No calls? No letters? No e-mail?”
“Nothing. It was like he’d dropped off the face of the earth.”
“And he didn’t tell you where he was going?” Delores asked.
“I didn’t even know he was going! It was a total shock to me. We were having trouble in our marriage, but I didn’t expect him to vanish.”
“What kind of trouble?” Delores asked her.
“What kind do you want?” Dr. Love gave a rueful chuckle. “He was dishonest, disloyal, and he couldn’t hold down a job.”
“That must have been frustrating for you,” Hannah said.
“It was. I was working part time as a secretary at the college and taking a full load of classes. Whenever Larry got fired, I’d have to increase my hours so we could pay the rent. And then there was Brenda.”
“Brenda?” both Hannah and Delores asked at once.
“Brenda lived in the apartment next door. She had an inheritance from her grandmother and she didn’t have to work like the rest of us.”
Hannah had a sinking feeling in the pit of her stomach. She thought she knew where this story was heading. “So Brenda was home all day?”
“That’s right. I think it all started when Larry lost his job at the carpet store. He told me he went out looking for work every day, but several people I knew said he was spending his afternoons at the Indian Casino with Brenda.”
“Gambling?” Hannah asked, remembering how Larry had kept track of the score of the basketball game while he’d discussed her cookie order and wondering whether he’d bet on the outcome.
“Larry loved to gamble and he was pretty good at it. That was the unfortunate thing. It was a game to him, like playing with Monopoly money, and he started believing that he couldn’t lose.”
“Did Brenda finance his gambling?” Delores asked.
“Yes, but I didn’t know that at the time. All I knew was that when I got home from a three-day graduate seminar on Marriage and the Family at another university and opened our apartment door, every stick of furniture was gone. The only thing that was left was the pink plush teddy bear Larry won for me at a carnival when we were newlyweds. It was sitting on a huge pile of my books in the corner, and there was a note pinned to its chest.”
“What did the note say?” Delores asked, clearly heartsick for her friend.
“It said, I left your clothes in the closet.” Dr. Love gave a little chuckle that sounded bitter to Hannah. “I still get mad when I think about it. And that’s one story about the Lunatic that I’ll never tell on the air.”
“How about Brenda? Did you confront her?” Delores wanted to know.
“I couldn’t. Brenda was gone, too. No one had actually seen her leave with Larry, but it was the logical conclusion.”
“So what did you do?” Hannah asked the follow-up question.
“What could I do? I coped. My friends helped me out with the extra furniture they had, and my landlord was understanding about the rent. I worked overtime at the college and after a month or two, I managed to replace all the essential items Larry took with him, including the money in our joint checking account.”
“He took the furniture and all the money?” It was clear from the tone of Delores’s question that she was fuming over Larry’s actions.
Hannah wasn’t surprised when Dr. Love nodded. She’d only met Larry briefly, but he’d struck her as the type of man who put himself first and rarely gave a passing thought to the feelings of others.
“When I found out he was in Lake Eden, I made an appointment with a lawyer. And that’s why I’m relieved that Larry’s dead,” Dr. Love stated in no uncertain terms. “The killer saved me lawyer’s fees, time in court, the airing of our dirty laundry in public, and the necessity of seeing Larry again. It’s not nice to say, but I’m glad he’s dead!” She stopped and gave each of them a searching look. “I hope you’re not too shocked with me.”
Delores reached out to pat her hand again. “Good heavens, no! I’m not one bit shocked after what you’ve told us.”
“Hannah?”
Dr. Love turned to her and Hannah said the first thing that popped into her head. “I’d be shocked if you didn’t feel that way. I don’t blame you for being glad he’s dead. You must have hated him for all the trouble he caused, and I can certainly understand why you wanted him out of your life for good.”
There was a moment of silence when her words echoed back to her. Glad he’s dead. Hated him for all the trouble he caused. Wanted him out of your life for good. And then Hannah stopped and stared at Dr. Love hard.
“What is it?” Delores asked, acknowledging the worried expression on her daughter’s face.
“This isn’t good,” Hannah said, her eyes locked with Dr. Love’s. “I wouldn’t tell anyone else what you just told us, not unless you have an airtight alibi for the time of Larry’s death.”
“Hannah!” Delores looked shocked at the implication. “Surely you don’t think that…”
Hannah interrupted her mother’s question with a look. “Of course we don’t, but someone else might.”
“Someone like Mike?”
“Yes.” Hannah turned back to Dr. Love. “Do you have an alibi?”
“I don’t know. What time was Larry killed?”
“Sometime after I called him at a little before nine and when Norman and I got there at nine forty-five.”
“Between nine and nine forty-five,” Dr. Love repeated and as they watched, her face turned pale and she swallowed with difficulty. “This isn’t good. This isn’t good at all.”
“You don’t have an alibi?” Hannah asked, fearing the worst.
“I’m afraid not. I was home alone from eight o’clock on, grading term papers.”
Of course she’d promised to help clear Dr. Love and Delores seemed relieved as they walked down the hall. Hannah was about to push open the heavy outer door when it opened from the other side and a woman dressed in a heavy parka and a ski cap pulled down low over her ears rushed in.
“Hello, you two,” the woman said, pulling off her cap to reveal her features. “Were you looking for me so that you could turn in your homework?”
Hannah laughed. “Not exactly, Miss Whiting. I followed Mother here so she could drop off her car for my youngest sister. She goes to Macalister and she’s in the Christmas Follies.”
“How nice.” Miss Whiting dismissed that bit of information quickly and turned to Delores. “Tell me, hav
e you discovered the bad business practice on the handout I gave you?”
“We think we have. If we’re right, it has to do with paying for supplies in cash and recording higher prices than were actually paid on supplier receipts.”
“That is correct,” Miss Whiting frowned slightly, “but you sound as if you had help. This was intended as an individual homework assignment.”
Her mother looked a bit deflated and Hannah stepped in. “My mother and I discussed it, Miss Whiting. And several other people in the shop were interested, including my partner and Mayor Bascomb. I believe you met him?”
“Oh, yes. Mayor Bascomb. What a charming man.” A smile flickered across Miss Whiting’s face. “Don’t tell me it took all four of you to unravel my little puzzle!”
“It took five,” Hannah corrected her, “and we weren’t completely sure we had the correct answer. You dish out some hard homework, Miss Whiting.”
“It’s my job to keep you on your toes and my duty to keep you from being cheated by people who employ nefarious business practices.”
Delores cleared her throat. “Yes…well…thank you, Miss Whiting. And we’ll see you in class on Monday evening.”
“Yes, indeed you will. I haven’t missed a class since I arrived here as a visiting professor three months ago.”
Hannah waited until they had exited the building and then she turned to her mother. “Miss Whiting’s an odd duck.”
“Perhaps, but she’s an excellent teacher.” Delores headed toward the parking lot and then she turned back to Hannah with a frown. “I just saw something else odd…I think.”
“What was it?” Hannah moved a little faster to keep pace with her mother.
“I thought I saw a student jump off the edge of the parking lot!”
“Where?”
“At the far end. Right over there by that big pine tree. It looked exactly as if he were on the end of a diving board and he dove off into space.”
“Have you seen any programs about lemmings on the animal channel lately?”
Delores turned to give her a stern look, but the corners of her lips twitched up. “Very funny, dear.”
“Don’t worry, Mother. Midterms are over and the students have no reason to commit suicide in hordes. Your eyes must be playing tricks on you. I notice that you’re not wearing your glasses.”
“They’re for reading, not distance. And this was in the distance, dear. It was right over…” Delores pointed and then she gasped. “There goes another one over the edge! You’re wrong, Hannah! They’re jumping off like lemmings!”
Hannah looked where her mother was pointing. Delores was right. Another student was hurtling off the edge of the parking lot and disappearing into thin air. “Wait here. I’ll see if I can find out what’s going on.”
It didn’t take Hannah long to discover exactly what phenomenon was occurring. It wasn’t an illusion at all. The students really were jumping off the edge of the parking lot, or very close to it. Three or four feet beyond the asphalt was the crest of a steep hill. A rack of stiff plastic sheets sat next to the precipice with a sign that read, Take a Slider Made by the Lake Eden Community College Shop Class. Ride and Return Please.
Hannah watched as a girl in a parka grabbed a green plastic Slider from the rack. It had a handle at the top that was fashioned of plastic rope and the rest was simply a sheet of industrial plastic. The girl grabbed the handholds on either side, held the sheet against her chest, and raced to the crest of the hill to throw herself over on her stomach.
“Want to try one?” the girl’s companion, a student Hannah didn’t think could be any older than twelve, asked her with a grin.
“No, thanks. I think I’m a little old for that type of sledding.”
“You’ll never know unless you try it,” the boy encouraged her, holding out the top slider on the rack, a bright red one.
Hannah wavered. Red was her favorite color, but her mother was waiting. “Maybe later,” she said, giving him a smile and heading back to tell Delores that she wasn’t imagining things after all.
“Colored plastic sheets?” Delores looked amazed as Hannah finished telling her about the Sliders the shop class had made.
“It makes sense. That’s a great sliding hill and the plastic is probably impervious to the elements. I had a plastic disk when I was a kid, didn’t I?”
“Yes, but I took it away.”
Hannah started her cookie truck and turned to look at her mother. “Why did you do that?”
“Because it made you sick. You never were any good with things that whirled around.”
Hannah had a flashback to the Tilt-A-Whirl at the last county fair and shivered slightly. “You’re right,” she said. “The Sliders don’t whirl, though. I watched and they go straight down the hill.”
“You weren’t any good with sleds that went straight, either. You never could control them. You always ran into trees unless Uncle Ed was with you. Then he took the big blue sled and he did the steering.”
“I’d forgotten all about that!” Hannah said, smiling at the memory. Her Uncle Ed had taken the front seat and she’d ridden behind him with her arms clasped around his waist.
“You loved it and so did your sisters. It’s really too bad Ed never married. He was so good with children, and he should have had some of his own.”
“You’re right,” Hannah said, wondering if someday people might say the same about her.
Delores leaned back in the passenger seat and closed her eyes as Hannah pulled out of the parking lot and headed down the access road to the highway. “I’ve got to rest my eyes, dear. I didn’t get much sleep last night.”
“Why is that, Mother?”
“I kept thinking about Carrie and imagining all sorts of horrid things that could be wrong.”
Hannah frowned. There was no way she could keep her mother in the dark any longer. She had to tell her what they suspected even though they didn’t know the full story. “I think I found out what’s wrong, Mother.”
“You did?” Delores’s eyes flew open. “Tell me!”
“Norman and I think she’s dating.”
“Dating? Carrie?”
“That’s right. We’re almost positive that Carrie and a date were at the Lake Eden Inn last night for dinner.”
As her mother listened, Hannah explained everything that had transpired. And then she ended her account with their dilemma. “But we don’t know who she’s dating yet.”
“Dating.” Delores sounded bemused. “Well, that’s certainly less disastrous than I imagined. We have to identify the man, though. He may not be right for our Carrie.”
“Don’t worry. We will. We’ve even got Mike working on it.”
Delores smiled and reached out to pat Hannah’s arm. “Thank you, dear. You’ve relieved my mind and I feel so much better. I just hope Carrie’s found someone wonderful.”
“So do we, Mother. Why don’t you catch a short nap now? I’ll wake you when we get back to town.”
By the time she reached the highway, her mother was sleeping. Hannah glanced over to make sure she had her seatbelt fastened, and mentally patted herself on the back. Her mother felt much better now that she knew about Carrie’s dinner companion. It was never good to keep secrets from family…unless, of course, they involved Christmas presents.
Chapter Nineteen
“Take a break, Hannah. You look beat,” Lisa said, as she took the last sheet of her friend Nancy’s Chocolate Oatmeal Cookies out of the oven. “We’ve still got at least a half hour before the noon rush starts, and I can answer any questions they ask about last night.”
“Okay.”
“And eat one of Nancy’s cookies. The oatmeal’s nutritious and the chocolate will give you a lift. Besides that, they’re really good.”
“Thanks, I will,” Hannah answered, reaching for one of the cookies she’d wanted to try anyway. She could certainly use a break. The morning had been hectic to say the least. Everyone and their cousin had come in
to hear the story of how Norman and Hannah had found Larry’s body. “Call me if you need me. I’ll stay right here in the kitchen.”
Once Lisa had gone back to the coffee shop, Hannah sat down at the stainless steel workstation and pulled out the steno pad she’d come to think of as her personal murder book. So far the pages were blank, but she’d learned quite a bit about Larry Jaeger over the past few days. Some of what she’d learned could mesh with facts she had yet to discover, other tidbits could guide her to questions she needed to ask, and still other facts could give her clues to the identity of the killer.
She started as she always did, with a page listing the suspects. Dr. Love’s name headed the list. After her unhappy marriage to Larry, she might have hated him enough to kill him.
Courtney was next. If Larry’s fiancée suspected that Larry was cheating her out of her investment, she could have killed him in spite. There was also the possibility that she’d found out about his marriage to Dr. Love and the fact they’d never divorced. If Courtney believed that Larry was stringing her along for her money and he never intended to marry her, she could have been so angry, she’d done him in.
There was also Mayor Bascomb. Hannah felt a bit strange writing down his name, but he’d said that he was going to ask Larry about those blank receipts Lisa had signed. While Hannah didn’t think that the mayor would actually pull out a gun and shoot Larry over a bad business deal, it was within the realm of possibility. And if Mayor Bascomb was a suspect because of his business relationship with Larry, then so were the other investors in the Crazy Elf Christmas Tree Lot.
Who were the other investors? Hannah would have to ask the mayor if he’d name names. But what if Mayor Bascomb didn’t know all of Larry’s investors?
Hannah flipped the page and wrote INTERVIEWS at the top in block letters. She’d start with Mayor Bascomb and ask for the names of every investor he knew. Then she’d talk to Luanne and ask her if there had been a list of names on any of the papers that Courtney had given her. It was also possible that the names of the investors could be a matter of public record and she could get them by going to the courthouse. She’d have to find out about that.
