Cinnamon Roll Murder hsm-16

by Joanne Fluke

  “That’s ... that’s ... ridiculous! You made that whole thing up because you’re jealous that I’m marrying Norman!”

  “No, I didn’t make it up. I got it from a waitress at Club Nineteen who just happened to be out in the parking lot taking a break when you were there arguing with Buddy.”

  “I told you before. I don’t like jazz, I’ve never been to Club Nineteen, and I don’t own a red sweater, a black leather skirt, or a pair of high-heeled boots. And I’ve never slapped anyone in my life!”

  “A black leather skirt? It’s interesting you should mention that. I didn’t say anything about a black leather skirt. Since you knew without me telling you, I’d say that proves you were there.”

  Doctor Bev grabbed her purse, pulled out a credit card, and tossed it on a chair. “There! Now I’ve paid for the dress and I’m out of here!”

  Michelle emerged from the dressing room just as the front door slammed behind Doctor Bev. “Uh-oh,” she said glancing at the coat rack by the front door. “Doctor Bev stormed out of here in such a hurry, she forgot her coat.”

  “That’s okay,” Hannah told her. “She’s hot enough under the collar without it.”

  “Well, I’ll be!” Claire walked over to pick up the credit card. “You nailed her, Hannah. And you did it in front of me. Thank you!”

  “Why are you thanking me?”

  “Because this has got to be the most fun I’ve ever had collecting a bill.”

  Chapter Twenty-Eight

  Hannah’s eyes burned from lack of sleep when her alarm went off the next morning. It was five o’clock, and she’d tossed and turned most of the night, thinking about Buddy Neiman’s murder case. At one in the morning, she’d been sure that there was something she was missing, so she’d padded out to the living room, retrieved her steno pad, and gone over every note she’d taken. There was a Seattle connection. She was sure of that now, despite Doctor Bev’s initial attempt to convince her that she’d never encountered Buddy in Seattle, a city of six hundred thousand.

  At two in the morning, Hannah had gone back to bed, but her mind wouldn’t sleep. She kept going over the clues, one at a time, trying to decide if Doctor Bev could be the killer. She’d slapped Buddy at Club Nineteen, and Shelby, the waitress, had told them that Buddy still had a red mark on his face when she saw him at least fifteen minutes later. Slapping was an act of physical aggression. It was clear that Doctor Bev wasn’t shy about confronting Buddy and using force when she didn’t get whatever it was she wanted. The red mark on Buddy’s face proved that she’d delivered a forceful slap. But what if just slapping Buddy hadn’t been enough for her. What if Doctor Bev had initiated an even more violent encounter, an encounter that ended with surgical scissors thrust into Buddy’s chest?

  Perhaps she’d slept for a while. Hannah had no way of knowing. But she did know that she was wide awake at four in the morning, wondering where Doctor Bev had gone when she’d fled Claire’s dress shop in her bridal finery. She wasn’t at her own apartment and she wasn’t at Norman’s house. Hannah knew that for a fact because when she’d called Andrea to tell her about the confrontation, Andrea had driven around town looking for Doctor Bev’s car. It had vanished. She was no longer in Lake Eden and that, to Hannah’s way of thinking, was also suspicious.

  And now it was five minutes past five. She could smell the coffee, and even though it was on an automatic timer, she suspected that Michelle was already up.

  It was a struggle to get out of bed, but Hannah made it. It was also a struggle to put the correct arm in the correct sleeve of her robe. After three attempts, she triumphed.

  One glance into the guest room as she passed by told her she was right. The bed was neatly made. Unless Michelle had fallen asleep on the living room couch last night, she was up and dressed, ready to go to the hospital with Hannah.

  “Here,” Michelle said, taking Hannah’s arm as she entered the kitchen and guiding her into a chair. “Drink your coffee. I heard you get up and I poured you a mug. It’s not too hot. I put a coffee ice cube in it.”

  “Thanks.” Hannah gulped down the coffee with a speed born of desperation. If there was any coffee left this morning, she’d make more coffee ice cubes. Leftover coffee went into an old-fashioned ice cube tray in her freezer. One coffee ice cube would cool down a large mug of coffee in a hurry without diluting it.

  “Now shower and get dressed,” Michelle ordered, but she smiled as she gave her command. “We’re meeting Mike for breakfast at The Corner Tavern in thirty minutes.”

  “Mike called here?”

  “No, I called Mike. Somebody’s got to tell Norman that Doctor Bev lied about knowing Buddy Neiman, and it would be awkward if you had to do it. As a cop and as Norman’s best friend, Mike’s the logical choice. And since Doctor Bev wasn’t at Norman’s last night, and she wasn’t at her apartment either, she must have used the excuse that Diana was sick and driven back to the Cities. I think Norman ought to know that Diana’s just fine and it’s just another one of Bev’s lies.”

  Hannah nodded. Her brain was beginning to work, and what Michelle said made sense. “Okay. You’re absolutely right. Mike has to be in the loop at this point.” She pushed back her chair. “Will you pour me another mug of coffee, please? I’m going to shower and dress, and I’ll be back here to gulp it down in less than ten minutes.”

  The Corner Tavern was crowded when they walked in, but Mike had already snagged a table in the back room. Hannah sat across from him, directly in front of a planter on top of the room divider that was filled with bright green plastic ivy. She seemed to remember reading somewhere that placing something red next to something green made the red less intense. With the green ivy directly in back of her head, perhaps Mike wouldn’t notice her red, scratchy, didn’t-sleep-a-wink eyes.

  “Nice job, Hannah,” Mike said, handing the steno book back to her. “Of course you shouldn’t have handled it yourself. You know that, don’t you?”

  “I know.” Hannah did her best to look contrite. This was difficult because she felt like smiling at Mike’s praise.

  “You don’t contact her again. Okay?”

  “Okay,” Hannah agreed quickly. “Are you going to contact her and follow up?”

  “You bet I am! It’s pretty clear she knows Buddy Neiman’s real name, and I need to have it.”

  “But will she tell you?” Michelle asked. “She wasn’t exactly what I’d call forthcoming. Hannah had to trick her to get her to admit she was at Club Nineteen that night.”

  “She’ll tell me.”

  There was a hard glint in Mike’s eyes that told Hannah he’d get the information he wanted from Doctor Bev. “Do you think she killed Buddy? It’s pretty clear she had some kind of previous relationship with him.”

  “I agree. She’s my number one suspect right now, and I’m going to haul her in for questioning.”

  “But what if she’s left town?” Michelle asked. “She was so upset after Hannah questioned her, she left Claire’s dress shop without her coat.”

  Hannah was impressed with how innocent Michelle looked, considering the fact that Andrea had driven around looking for Doctor Bev’s car and reported back to them.

  “Don’t worry. I’ll find her. And after I do, I’ll have a talk with Norman. She’s probably fed him a pack of lies, and I need to straighten him out about that and everything else. Norman’s a reasonable guy. He’ll listen to me.”

  “Thanks, Mike,” Hannah said. She’d expected no less. Although Mike had dated Doctor Bev before her recent engagement to Norman, he was a cop. There was no way any tender feelings he might still harbor for her would affect his ability to put Bev through the wringer.

  “These are wonderful, Michelle!” Delores beamed at her youngest daughter. They were sitting in Doc Knight’s office, and Michelle had just given her mother a box of the bran cookies she’d made.

  “Do you think Doc will like them?”

  “I know he will. He likes bran a lot better than I do. H
e eats a big bowl of bran flakes every morning for breakfast. Are you sure these have bran in them?”

  “I know they do. I measured out the bran flakes myself.”

  “Well, all I can say is they’re very good. And I haven’t liked bran since Grandma Ingrid made those wonderful ...” Delores stopped speaking, and Hannah watched the light dawn on her face. “They’re Grandma Ingrid’s Bran Muffins!”

  “You got it!” Hannah said, giving her the high sign. “I had the recipe and I didn’t even know it. Michelle found it and baked it in cookie form.”

  “I’ll give one to Doc the moment he gets back here,” Delores said, putting the cover on the cookie tin. “It’ll cheer him up.”

  “What’s wrong with Doc?” Hannah asked.

  “It’s just this whole intern thing. He’s going to have to interview candidates again, and that takes time. He’d much rather spend that time with his patients. And then he’ll have to train the new intern he chooses. Of course Marlene will help. Thank goodness she’s staying. It’s just that it’s all so sudden. When the clinic called Ben, they told him they needed him to start next week. It’s just a pity that they gave him such short notice, and he had to turn around and give Doc such short notice.”

  Short notice. The words repeated themselves several times in Hannah’s mind. Short notice was what Lee complained about when Buddy gave notice right after his argument with the dark-haired woman they now knew was Doctor Bev. If Buddy had trusted his instincts and left right away instead of giving Lee the time to find his replacement, he’d probably be alive today. But that wasn’t the situation with Ben. He had to leave Lake Eden right away because he took another job.

  “What’s the matter, dear?” Delores asked.

  “I don’t know. Something just struck me. You said something about Ben’s new internship, that the clinic had given him such short notice and that’s why he had to give Doc such short notice. Did Doc talk to the clinic to see why there was such a rush?”

  “No, dear. Ben talked to them. They called him directly.”

  “Did they know he was working here?”

  “Of course. Ben told Doc they asked for a recommendation, and Doc wrote one and gave it to him. Ben faxed it to the clinic.”

  “So Doc has never spoken to the doctors at the clinic. Is that right?”

  “That’s right.” Delores began to frown. “I see where you’re going with this. It is a little odd that the doctors at the clinic didn’t speak to Doc directly. It would have been the courteous thing to do. I think we should call the clinic.”

  “Do you want to do it, or shall I?” Hannah asked.

  “I will. I’ll say I’m Doc’s secretary. What was the name of that clinic again?”

  “Rolling Hills Vista Clinic,” Michelle said promptly. “I remembered it because I thought it sounded fake.”

  Five minutes later, they had their answers. Hannah’s head was reeling and she knew that Michelle and their mother felt the same way. There was a Rolling Hills Vista Clinic and it was a leader in the field of facial reconstruction. They did have several interns at the clinic, but none of them had left recently. There were no vacancies for interns, and they’d never heard of Doctor Ben Matson.

  “So what does this mean?” Delores asked, “other than the fact Ben lied to us.”

  “It means he wants to get out of Dodge for some reason,” Hannah speculated.

  Michelle looked puzzled. “Get out of Dodge?”

  “Dodge City, Kansas. That phrase comes from the Old West. Dodge City became a law-abiding town when Marshall Dillon took over, and all the criminals had to get out of Dodge.”

  “How do you know that?”

  “Lisa told me. Herb loves to watch re-runs of Gunsmoke while she’s fixing supper. That’s where she heard it. Dillon loves Gunsmoke, too. He gives a little woof every time he hears his name.”

  “That’s cute,” Delores said. “Doc and I watch M*A*S*H. He says it relaxes him. But let’s get back to business. Why would Ben want to get away from Lake Eden?”

  Hannah shrugged. “I don’t know, but I think we’d better find out. Maybe there’s a clue somewhere in his background. Can you get his personnel file?”

  “That’s easy.” Delores swiveled in her chair and switched on the computer. “All the employee records are accessible from Doc’s computer. I’ll pull it up.”

  Hannah and Michelle waited as Delores located and pulled up the file. “That’s interesting,” she said.

  “What’s interesting?” Hannah asked her.

  “Ben’s from Seattle.”

  “Seattle again?!” Hannah was dumbstruck. There were just too many people from Seattle. It was like a Washington State invasion in their own little town! “That settles it!” she said.

  “Settles what?” Michelle asked.

  Hannah was at a loss to explain. Her mind was churning too fast. It was all about opportunity, and coincidence that might not be coincidence, and things they had yet to discover. The key to Buddy Neiman’s murder was missing, but there might be a place they could find it.

  “Settles what, dear?” Delores asked, repeating Michelle’s question.

  “It settles what we’re going to do next. Ben’s working all day today, right?”

  “I believe so. At least that’s the way the schedule stood yesterday. Let me check to see if there are any changes.”

  Hannah waited impatiently as her mother pulled up another file. It seemed to take forever, but at last Delores nodded.

  “Ben’s scheduled for a twelve-hour shift from eight this morning until eight tonight. Then Marlene comes on. She works until eight tomorrow morning.”

  “Great. Do you know where Ben lives?”

  Delores looked puzzled. “Of course I do. Ben lives here in the intern quarters. There are two one-bedroom apartments built at the end of the middle corridor. Ben lives in the one to the right, facing the lake. Marlene lives in the one on the left, facing the pine grove. They’re lovely little apartments. Marlene showed me hers.”

  “Okay. We’re all set.” Hannah got up from her chair. “Let’s go, Michelle.”

  “Sit!” Delores said, motioning her back down in her chair. “You’re not going anywhere until you tell me where you’re going!”

  Hannah sat back down. She knew adamant when she heard it. “We’re going to break into Ben’s apartment. And then we’re going to toss it for clues.”

  “Why?”

  “Because I can’t think of anything else to do. And I’m hoping we’ll find something that’ll help us put the pieces together.”

  Delores reached into Doc’s center desk drawer and pulled out a key. “You don’t have to break in. I’m coming with you, and I’ve got the master key.”

  Chapter Twenty-Nine

  The first thing they saw when they entered Ben’s apartment was a huge pile of cardboard boxes in the center of the room, waiting to be assembled. A roll of packing tape sat on top of the boxes, and a black felt-tipped marker was next to it. One box was already closed and labeled. It had the word Mementos written on all four sides, and Hannah made a mental note not to leave Ben’s apartment without opening it and taking a look.

  “This is your show, Hannah,” Delores said. “What do you want us to do?”

  “You take the kitchen,” Hannah said to Michelle. “Call me if you find anything that has to do with Seattle, jazz clubs, Buddy Neiman, or Doctor Bev.”

  “Or anything else that piques her curiosity?” Delores asked.

  “Exactly right. You get the bedroom, Mother. Just call out if you need us for anything. I’ll take the bathroom and the living room, in that order. When we’re through, we’ll all meet in the hallway by the back entrance.”

  “Got it,” Michelle said, heading off to the kitchen.

  “Seattle, jazz clubs, Buddy, or Doctor Bev,” Delores repeated, walking toward the bedroom.

  Hannah didn’t really expect to find anything in the bathroom, and she wasn’t wrong. The only item of interest was
an expensive-looking silver watch that was nestled around the bottom of a replica of the Seattle Space Needle. Hannah picked it up and saw that it was engraved with a name, Dr. Gene Burroughs, on the back.

  The living room was next, and it was devoid of personal items. If there had been any, they were probably already sequestered in the box marked Mementos. The bookshelves contained nothing but books, the coffee table had a plant that looked in dire need of water, and since there was a half-empty bottle of water nearby, Hannah watered it. The entertainment center housed nothing but DVDs, the wicker chest by the window was empty, and the closet by the front door accommodated only a coat, a windbreaker, and a parka.

  “Hannah!” Delores rushed in with a large binder in her hands. “It’s a scrapbook. Is this the sort of thing you want to see?”

  “It’s perfect,” Hannah said, reaching out to give her mother a little hug. “This could be important, Mother.”

  Michelle came in just then. “Nothing in the kitchen. There aren’t even any frying pans. I think it’s safe to say that Ben didn’t cook.” She noticed the scrapbook in Hannah’s hands and hurried over. “What’s that?”

  “A scrapbook.”

  “There are photos, clippings, and some other things,” Delores reported. “I just flipped through it, and then I brought it right out here to Hannah.”

  “Let’s take a look,” Hannah said, taking a seat on the couch and waiting until her mother and sister had taken places on either side of her. She flipped the book open to the first page, and they saw a photo of two boys, one a toddler and the other about ten years older.”

  “Ben and Gene,” Delores read the caption. “They were cute kids. Gene must be his brother.”

  “I think Gene was his stepbrother,” Hannah told her. “At least they had different last names. I found a silver watch in the bathroom, and it was engraved, Dr. Gene Burroughs.”

  “I wonder if he’s a medical doctor,” Delores said. “It could explain why Ben went into medicine. They might be planning to open a practice together. Sometimes families do things like that.”