-24-
Hannah paced along the strip of ice in front of the hole, waiting for Bill and Mike to arrive. She'd asked Mayor Bascomb to take Andrea back to the inn to warm up, and now she was alone with the mayor's 'fish.' Just when she thought her feet couldn't get any colder, Hannah heard a car pull up outside. A moment later, Bill and Mike came in the door.
'You found another body?' Mike asked, sounding incredulous.
'Yup.'
'And the mayor hooked it with his fishing line?'
'Yup.'
Bill began to frown. 'Is that all you can say?'
'Yup,' Hannah answered him. 'My teeth are chattering too hard to talk.'
'Go stand in front of the space heater,' Mike ordered, pointing to the area in front of the loveseat. 'Don't you know that heat leaves your body faster if you're standing on the ice?'
'I know. I just didn't want to leave him, or her, or whatever it is. I was afraid the line might break.'
Mike grabbed her arm and helped her over to the loveseat. 'What were you going to do if it did break?'
'I don't know. I was too cold to figure that out.'
Mike turned to Bill. 'I'll stay here. You drive Hannah to the inn and come right back.'
'No.' Hannah shook her head. 'I want to stay.'
'We're going to have to bring up that body, and it won't be pretty,' Mike warned her.
'That's okay.' Hannah's curiosity was stronger than the tide of revulsion that rippled through her stomach. 'This won't be the first dead body I've seen.'
Mike stared at her for a moment. 'Okay. Let's get started, Bill.'
With both Mike and Bill tugging, they managed to get the body out of the water. By the time they finished, the corpse was facedown on the ice, and both men were panting. Bill rolled him over and Hannah took a step closer so that she could see the dead man's face. 'It's Alan Carpenter!'
'How do you know that?' Mike asked, giving her a hard look.
'I met him at the Winter Carnival banquet. He was just leaving for a press conference.'
'Did you ask him any questions?'
'Of course not.' Hannah assumed a look of righteous indignation. 'You made me promise to stay away from the Connie Mac people while I was out at the inn.'
Mike wasn't buying it. His eyes bored through her. 'Hannah?'
'Well. . . maybe a few,' Hannah admitted, 'but I told you before. He was just leaving. I don't think I exchanged more than a dozen words with him, and Andrea was with me the entire time.'
Mike turned to Bill. 'Will you call Doc Knight and tell him we need him out here?'
'Sure. How about the forensics team?'
'Them, too. I don't think they'll get much, but you never know. This ice-fishing house was out here last night, wasn't it?'
'I saw the mayor hauling it out here yesterday,' Bill said. 'How about Sheriff Grant? Do you want me to give him a verbal report, or do you want to do it?'
'You can handle it. Just tell him what we know so far, and say that we'll keep him apprised of any new developments. Be politic. He's not going to be happy about this.'
Hannah felt a rush of warmth for Mike. With each case they handled, he was giving Bill more responsibility.
'Anything else?'
'If you think of something I missed, take care of it. We're partners. You don't have to check everything out with me. And while you're doing that, I'll take Hannah's statement.'
'What statement?' Hannah was puzzled as Mike joined her on the loveseat. 'I've already told you everything I know.'
'Not quite. Tell me about your conversation with Alan Carpenter. It could be important.'
'Let me think,' Hannah said, doing her best to recall every word of their conversation. 'We were introduced and. . .'
'What time?' Mike interrupted her.
'Right before Edna's girls served dessert. It was around eight-thirty, I think.'
'Go on.'
'Alan said it was a pleasure to meet us. And then he said he had to leave with Kurt Howe and he offered us their chairs. I asked him if it was something I said, and he laughed. And then he said that if they didn't leave right away, they'd be late for the press conference he'd scheduled at his office.'
'In Minneapolis?'
Hannah shrugged. 'I guess so. When we gave Connie Mac the tour, she mentioned that her corporate offices were in Minneapolis.'
'Did you ask him if the press conference was about Mrs. MacIntyre's death?'
'Of course I did. It was a natural question. He told us that that the media was in a feeding frenzy and they wanted the details.'
'Okay.' Mike jotted it all down. 'What else?'
'He said he was the spokesman for the family and Kurt was going to handle any questions that concerned the firm that published Connie Mac's cookbooks.'
'That'd be Savory Press. Did you say anything else to him?'
'I don't think so. I know Andrea said something about how difficult it must be for him, and he said he had a duty as the family counsel to spare Paul in any way he could. And then he left. With Kurt Howe.'
'And that's all?'
'I think so. . . . No, wait. I gave them some cookies for the trip and I said that the sugar would keep them going.'
'Okay.' Mike closed his notebook and slid it back into his pocket. 'It's obvious he drove back here after the press conference. We'll check to find out if anyone saw him when he got back to the inn.'
'I could do that for you,' Hannah offered without thinking, and then she winced as Mike started to frown. She wasn't supposed to interfere. She had to remember that. 'Forget I said that. I'll just keep my nose out of it and leave everything up to you.'
'Sure, you will.'
Mike sounded a bit sarcastic, and Hannah decided the best thing to do was to change the subject. 'I wonder what Alan was doing out here on the ice. It's not exactly a normal place for a walk before bedtime.'
'He didn't walk.'
'You mean. . . somebody dumped him?'
Mike looked sorry that he'd said anything. 'That's what it looks like to me. Did you see that wound on the back of his head?'
'I saw it,' Hannah confirmed, shivering slightly. 'It looks exactly like Connie Mac's wound.'
'That's what makes me think he was dumped. Somebody could have forced him to walk out here at gunpoint, but that doesn't make sense.'
'Because then they would have shot him instead of bashing in his head?'
'That's right. We'll know more when Doc Knight gets here. He'll be able to tell us if Mr. Carpenter was dead when he entered the water.'
'But how. . .' Hannah stopped in mid-question. She didn't really want to know how Doc Knight could tell something like that. 'Never mind. I'd better go see how Andrea's doing.'
'I'll take you back to the inn.' Mike motioned to Bill. 'Secure the crime scene and don't let anyone but Doc Knight and the forensics team in.'
Hannah started to grin as she followed Mike out of the ice-fishing house. The moment the door was shut behind them, she grabbed his arm. 'Are you going to rope off Mayor Bascomb's ice-fishing house?'
'I don't know. That all depends on what the forensics team finds. There could be trace evidence.'
'DNA?'
