by Joanne Fluke
Hannah took up the position Norman indicated. It was probably crazy, but she felt a lot warmer under the platform, with the illusion of a roof over her head. The barking had grown steadily louder as they’d talked, and Hannah found herself wondering why the dogs ran and barked at the same time. Maybe it was just for the sheer joy of the exercise on such a crisp winter day.
“Here they come, and Otis is in the lead!” a voice yelled out from above.
Hannah wasn’t surprised. Otis and Eleanor were dog lovers from way back. When they retired, they’d built a house on Old Bailey Road, just outside the town limits. There, the two-dogs-per-household rule didn’t apply, and they’d taken in a host of strays over the past three years. The ones they couldn’t find homes for, they kept, and Otis had trained all their huskies and malamutes as sled dogs.
As Hannah watched, the lead musher and his team came over the crest of the hill. It was Otis, and he was still in front.
“Look at his dogs.” Norman slipped his free arm around Hannah’s shoulder. “They’re all smiling.”
Hannah didn’t point out that huskies and malamutes always appeared to be smiling because of the shape of their faces. It was simply too lovely a sentiment to dash. Actually, the dogs did seem to be having a huge amount of fun. Their tails were high and tightly curled, their tongues were wagging from side to side, and they were barking and yelping in excitement.
“Okay. Here we go!”
Norman dropped to one knee and focused his camera. A few seconds later, Otis and his dogs rushed by at lightning speed. Hannah laughed out loud in sheer pleasure as Otis slowed his dogs at the far end of the course and guided them through the break in the ropes where they would wait for the other contestants.
One by one, the other teams raced by and Norman took pictures of all of them. When he was through, Hannah told him she’d see him later and headed back for the sidelines to collect Andrea.
“Eleanor did make the booties,” Andrea told Hannah on their way back to the truck, “and they’re going up to the Iditarod next year.”
Hannah was surprised. “Does Otis think he can win?”
“Oh, they’re just going as tourists. Janice is going to stay at their place for two weeks and take care of their dogs.”
Hannah unlocked the doors and they climbed into the cookie truck. It was still slightly warm inside, and it felt good after the bitter cold outside.
“Could you drop me off at the office?” Andrea asked as Hannah pulled out onto the highway. “I have to write up a listing.”
“Sure. You got a listing at the race?”
“Eleanor’s cousin, Roger, got a job offer in Wisconsin and it was too good to turn down. They were going to rent out their house, but I convinced them that renting was a headache they didn’t need, so they’re going to sell.”
“But didn’t they just buy it last year?”
“Seven months ago. I handled the sale.”
“If they sell this soon, they’ll lose money, won’t they?”
“No. Roger converted the basement into two separate bedrooms and put in a full bathroom down there. Now I can relist it as a five-bedroom, three-bath, and that increases the asking price. Best of all, I think I’ve already got a buyer. I ran into Lelia Meiers at the cleaners yesterday and she’s pregnant with twins. She asked me to keep my eye out for a bigger house, and this would be just perfect for them. I called her right away and she wants to see it tomorrow.”
“You’re amazing,” Hannah said, and she meant it. Andrea was always looking for ways to list and sell real estate. It was an ideal job for her, because she could socialize and work at the same time.
“Call me later,” Andrea said as Hannah pulled up in front of Lake Eden Realty. “I should be through here in about an hour.”
“Okay. I’m going back to the inn to collect the cookies. I’ll deliver them to the warm-up tents and then we’ll figure out a place to meet.”
As Hannah drove off, she glanced at her watch. It was eleven-thirty, and she’d be back at the inn before noon. If Lisa and Alex had finished the baking, she could have all the cookies delivered by one.
The truck seemed silent without Andrea, and Hannah switched on the radio. A moment later, she wished she hadn’t, because the KCOW news team was covering the latest about Connie Mac’s murder. Hannah winced as they mentioned that her body had been found at The Cookie Jar, and she hoped that the old adage was true. If any publicity was good publicity, it wouldn’t hurt her cookie business.
As she turned off on the road that led around Eden Lake, Hannah noticed a plume of smoke coming from the one of the summer cabins that dotted its shores. She watched for a moment to make sure it wasn’t a house fire, but the smoke was too confined for that. It was definitely coming from a chimney, and Hannah didn’t think that any of the cabins on the far side of the lake had been converted into year-round dwellings. It must belong to one of the summer people who’d come back to Lake Eden for Winter Carnival and had decided to brave the discomfort of no central heat, frozen water pipes, and a lack of insulation to save on the price of a nice, snug motel.
Chapter Fifteen
Hannah pushed open the door to Sally’s kitchen and stopped short as she saw the massive array of baked cookies on the counter. Lisa and Alex had finished the baking, and she immediately felt guilty for shirking her share of the work. Some of the cookies were already boxed for transport, and others were still cooling on the racks. Hannah walked over to take a closer look and smiled at what she saw. The Molasses Crackles were perfect rounds, the Chocolate Chip Crunch Cookies looked crisp and delicious, the golden-brown Peanut Butter Melts were crosshatched with perfect fork marks, and the Oatmeal Raisin Crisps tempted her with their spicy aroma. She was just reaching for one, to give it a taste test when Lisa and Alex came into the kitchen.
“Hi, Hannah,” Lisa greeted her, lifting the box she was carrying up to the counter. “Where’s Andrea?”
“She got a listing at the dogsled race and I dropped her off at Lake Eden Realty to write it up.”
Alex lifted her box to the counter and smiled at Hannah. “Thanks for letting me help. I really enjoyed baking those cookies.”
“You got that backwards,” Hannah told her. “I should be thanking you. Just let me mix up the Little Snowball dough and I’ll show you how to make those.”
Lisa shook her head. “It’s too late. We baked them already. The instructions were right on the recipe and once we got going, we didn’t want to stop.” She stepped over to whisk back a towel that covered six of Sally’s crystal ice buckets, and Hannah saw that each one was filled with small snow white balls. “They’re absolutely delicious, Hannah. We just had to taste them.”
“Of course you did,” Hannah said, reaching out to take one. The Little Snowballs were so tender they practically melted in her mouth, and she started to smile. “Delicious.”
“Are you sure?” Alex looked a bit worried. “I rolled them in powdered sugar twice, just like it said in the recipe. Once when they were hot, and once after they’d cooled. Do you think it’s too much?”
“There’s no such thing as too much powdered sugar. They’re perfect, Alex, even better than I remembered. I’ll help you two mix up the cookie dough for tomorrow morning and then I’ll deliver the Little Snowballs to Edna.”
“What cookies are we making tomorrow?” Lisa asked.
“It’s basically the same lineup, except we’ll substitute your White Chocolate Supremes for the Molasses Crackles. You can mix up the dough for those.”
“I’ll do the Oatmeal Raisin Crisps,” Alex offered. “I read the recipe and I bet my boss would just love them.”
“You mean Sally?”
“No, my regular boss.”
“Who’s that?” Hannah asked, trolling for a little information.
“I work for Remco. It’s a big accounting firm based in Edina. My boss is the senior vice president. I’m on vacation right now. I had three weeks coming and I had to use it up before I
lost it.”
“Wait a second.” Hannah turned to her with an amazed expression. “You took a temporary job with Sally on your vacation?”
Alex laughed. “I know this isn’t exactly a vacation, but I wanted to see how a place like this was run. I inherited my parents’ house last year, and I thought I might turn it into a bed-and-breakfast.”
“Well, the inn is certainly a good example of what you can do with an old place,” Hannah said, still watching Alex closely. She looked perfectly sincere, but she didn’t quite meet Hannah’s eyes. That made Hannah suspect that Alex wasn’t telling her the whole truth and that she had a second reason for accepting Sally’s job.
“I’ll start in on these,” Alex said, glancing down at the recipe. “I’ll go get a fresh box of oatmeal.”
When Alex had gone, Hannah turned to Lisa. “Did you find out anything more about her?”
“She’s forty-five years old, she lives in Edina, she has two cats, she loves to dance, and she sews in her spare time. That’s about it. You got more real information from her in two minutes than I did in two hours.”
“You primed the pump,” Hannah said, patting Lisa on the shoulder. “I just happened to be here when the water gushed out.”
“Do you really think so?”
“Absolutely. Just keep working on her.”
Alex came back in with a jumbo-sized box of oatmeal, and the three of them worked in silence for several minutes. It didn’t take long to mix up the cookie dough with all three of them working, and that was all to the good. Sally’s staff had begun to arrive to prepare the lunch buffet, and Hannah didn’t want to get in the way.
“Don’t worry,” Alex said, noticing Hannah’s concerned expression as more kitchen workers arrived. “Sally’s serving soup and sandwiches for today’s lunch buffet. She figured that most of the guests would be out at venues and she could keep it simple. All the kitchen staff has to do is lay cold cuts, cheeses, and breads on platters and carry it out. There’s potato salad, but that’s already made, and so is the coleslaw and the soup.”
Another five minutes of work and they were finished. Hannah covered the bowls with plastic wrap, and Lisa and Alex stashed them in Sally’s walk-in cooler.
“Why don’t you go pull your truck around to the back entrance?” Lisa suggested. “We’ll finish up here and then we’ll help you load.”
Hannah headed out to get her truck. As she walked through the halls to the lobby, she didn’t meet another soul. Sally had been right. Almost everyone was out at the venues.
Her boots were on the rack by the front entrance, right where she’d left them when she’d come in, and Hannah sat down on the bench to pull them on. She was just putting on her parka, preparing to go out into the cold, when she noticed a small crowd of people out on the lakeshore. Two parka-clad men were unloading a wooden structure from a pickup truck that had been driven out on the ice, and Hannah realized that they were setting up for the ice-fishing contest. The actual contest would take place tomorrow, but the preparations had to be made in advance. By the time night fell, the surface of Eden Lake would be sprinkled with ice-fishing houses.
Hannah was about to step out the door when she noticed that the plume of smoke on the far side of the lake was still there. A die-hard Winter Carnival attendee would be out at the venues by now. He wouldn’t be huddled in his summer cabin, feeding the fire in his fireplace. But this column of smoke showed no signs of diminishing. It was still just as thick as when she’d first spotted it.
Hannah turned on her heel and headed for the phone. If she remembered correctly, Janie’s parents had owned a cabin on the far side of the lake. She had to find out if they’d sold it when they’d moved to Florida, and there was one person who could tell her that in a flash.
Two minutes later, Hannah had Andrea on the phone. But the moment she started to ask her question, Andrea interrupted her.
“Wait a second, Hannah. I’ve got big news. You can take Ray off your suspect list.”
“The bus driver called you?”
“That’s right. Ray rode all the way up to Duluth and his parents were there to meet him. The driver saw him get into their car. That was at eight last night, and the driver told me that the roads up north were a mess. He was an hour behind schedule, and there’s no way Ray could have driven back to Lake Eden last night.”
“Great. That’ll make Earl happy. Now listen carefully, Andrea. I just got a wild idea. Didn’t Janie’s parents own a cabin on the far side of Eden Lake?”
“Yes, and they still own it. We rent it out for them every summer. They didn’t want to sell, because they thought that someday Janie might want to…” Andrea stopped speaking and gasped. “Do you think she’s there?”
“She could be, if the smoke I saw is coming from her parents’ cabin.”
“I know which one it is. I’ll drive right out and check.”
“No, you stay put,” Hannah ordered. “There’s an APB out on Janie, and if you find her, you’ll have to tell Bill.”
There was a long silence and then Andrea sighed. “You’re right. I love Bill, but sometimes I wish I’d married a dermatologist. They never get called out on emergencies and you don’t have to worry about what you tell them. You’re going out there, aren’t you?”
“I’m on the way.”
“Are you going to turn Janie in?” Andrea asked, sounding very worried.
“Not until she tells me exactly what happened last night. And then I’ll get her to turn herself in.”
Hannah uttered a word that she would have swallowed if her niece had been a passenger in her truck. The road that ran around the lake was in poor repair, and this was the fourth time she’d hit the top of her head as she bounced over the ruts. She glanced in the rearview mirror and heaved a sigh of relief as she saw the cookie boxes, still exactly where they’d placed them. It would be a real pity to arrive at the venues with broken cookies.
Andrea had given her detailed directions, and Hannah turned left at the fork in the road by the green cabin with yellow trim. Every cabin she’d passed had been vacant. No one except a desperate person would sleep overnight in a summer cabin in this kind of weather. She turned off again, at the pink cabin, and took the winding road down to the lakeshore. Andrea had told her to look for the sky blue cabin, and she could see it through the pine trees.
As Hannah approached, she spotted a familiar car. It was Janie’s. She breathed a sigh of relief. She parked next to a little snowdrift near the front door of the cabin and got out of her truck.
The padlock on the front door was open, and Hannah gave a polite knock on the door. Then she opened it and stepped in. It took a moment for her eyes to adjust to the dim interior of cabin after the brightness of the snow outside, but she could see a huddled shape in a sleeping bag by the fire.
“Janie?” Hannah stepped forward and the sleeping bag moved.
“Hannah?” Janie sounded very tentative as she poked her head out of the sleeping bag. Then she smiled as she recognized her. “Oh, Hannah! I’m so glad to see you! But how did you know I was here?”
“The smoke from your chimney, but that’s not important. Are you okay?”
“I’m all right, but I really did it this time. And there’s no way I’m going back, not even if she calls me to apologize. She’s a horrible person and I’ll find another job!”
Hannah didn’t say anything, but her mind was working overtime. It was pretty obvious from what Janie had said that she didn’t know Connie Mac was dead. “What are you doing here?”
“I didn’t want to face all the rest of them this morning. I knew they’d be sympathetic, and I just couldn’t stand it. That’s why I’m here.”
“But you went back to the inn to pack up your clothes. Didn’t you see any of them then?”
Janie shook her head, and now that Hannah’s eyes had adjusted to the lack of light, she could see tearstains on her cheeks. “I guess they were all busy, or in their rooms, or out somewhere else. That wa
s a big relief. I was really upset and I didn’t want to talk to anybody about it. She accused me of sleeping with her husband, Hannah. She said all sorts of awful things, and then she fired me!”
“Look, Janie…” Hannah winced slightly, but she had to ask. “Were you sleeping with Paul?”
“Of course not! I’m practically engaged, Hannah. Jim’s saving his money and he’s getting me a ring next month. I told her all that, but she just wouldn’t listen to reason. She went ballastic and she…she started to throw things at me!”
“What did you do then?”
“I grabbed my purse and my coat and I ran out the back door. She’s got a horrible temper, Hannah. It’s practically legendary. I sure didn’t want to be on the receiving end of it.”
“Has she ever thrown things at people before?”
“Not me, but I’ve heard stories, and I know she fights with Paul all the time. I had the room next to them when we opened the boutique in Shakopee, and I heard her yelling at him and throwing things. The next morning he came down with a big bruise on the side of his head. He told everyone that he hit it on the side of a door, but I knew better.”
“How about Connie Mac? Did she have bruises that morning?”
“You mean…from Paul?”
“Yes. I wouldn’t blame him if he fought back.”
“I wouldn’t either, but he never did. And that wasn’t the first time I heard them fight. She’d scream and throw things and he’d just try to calm her down. Paul’s really nice, Hannah. I know he’s never raised a hand to her.”
“Let’s get back to last night. Connie Mac was throwing things at you and you didn’t just peg something back at her as you went out the door?”
Janie shook her head. “No. All I could think about was getting out of there. She wanted to fight and I just wanted to get away from her.”
“Then Connie Mac was still alive when you left?”
Janie blinked and then she leaned forward to peer at Hannah intently. “Still alive? You mean she’s…dead?”
“As a doornail,” Hannah said, wishing she hadn’t told Janie quite so abruptly. “What time did you leave The Cookie Jar?”
