the back of his skull killed him almost instantly.
Hannah's suspect list was growing, although she doubted that any of them had murdered Sheriff Grant. There was Nettie, who had no alibi, and Luanne, who didn't have one either. Then there was Bill, but Hannah refused to add him to her suspect list. It would have been great if they'd been able to track down Bill's second call, but Hannah called every roofing company in the county and found that none of them used telemarketers. Andrea and Tracey drove all over to look for anyone either getting a new roof or having their old roof repaired, and Herb had kept a sharp eye out for roofing trucks on his rounds. They all did their best, but the roofer who may or may not have been working in the Lake Eden area was still anonymous.
After another bracing sip of coffee, Hannah stood up and stretched. It was time to start the day. The Cookie Jar wasn't open on Sundays, but she decided to go in anyway to take inventory of their supplies. Since it was a relatively clean job that shouldn't take more than a couple of hours, she dressed in something appropriate for a funeral, and wore an apron over it just in case.
'You might know it!' Hannah muttered from the top of the stepstool, as the phone in the kitchen of The Cookie Jar began to ring. She waited through three rings, juggling a canister of cocoa in one hand and a bag of flaked coconut in the other, then set them back on the shelf and climbed down. It was almost impossible for her to ignore a ringing phone. It could be an emergency, something she needed to respond to right away. It could be Bill, saying that Andrea had gone to the hospital to have the new baby. It could be Norman, calling from the dental convention, trying the shop because he'd been unable to reach her at her condo. It could be Mike, saying that he'd caught the murderer and Bill was free to come back to work. And it could be a salesman, which was much more likely, even on a Sunday.
Hannah hurried across the floor and grabbed the phone. 'The Cookie Jar. Hannah speaking.'
'Oh, Hannah! I'm so glad I caught you!'
Hannah gripped the phone a little tighter. It was Andrea and she sounded frazzled. 'What's wrong, Andrea?'
'Uh-oh! Just hang on a second, okay?'
Hannah listened to the sound of the open line. She heard soft footsteps and then a bang and a click as a door closed and locked. 'Andrea?'
'It's okay. I'm here now.' Andrea's voice was not much more than a whisper.
'Where's here?'
'In the bathroom.'
'Why are you whispering?'
'Because Bill just came back to the bedroom and I don't want him to hear what I'm saying. Hold on again, Hannah. He's knocking on the door.'
Hannah held on. What else could she do? She heard Andrea say something to Bill, but her words were muffled. Then she heard what sounded like running water. 'Andrea?'
'I'm still here. I just told Bill you called me and I had to take the phone in here, because I had to… you know. Can you come over early, Hannah? Please?'
Hannah glanced toward the open pantry. She'd just started the inventory and if she stopped now, she'd have to come in early tomorrow morning to finish. On the other hand, she could bring Andrea here and her sister could write things down as Hannah counted them. 'I could come early. But why?'
'Bill's cleaning out my closet. I'm trying to be understanding, but he keeps asking me why I'm keeping certain things and I just want to kill him!' There was a whoosh as Andrea took a deep breath and let out again. 'It's terrible, Hannah. He actually said I should throw away that wonderful pair of red clogs I bought at the mall last summer.'
Hannah remembered the clogs. Andrea had taken advantage of a giant shoe sale and paid only five dollars for them. 'But you told me that they hurt your feet when you wore them. You said they practically crippled you.'
'I know, but it's just a matter of getting used to them, that's all.'
'You mean you have to break them in?'
'Not exactly. Clogs are wood. They don't break in. But my feet will adapt.'
Hannah wanted to say that feet shouldn't have to adapt to shoes; shoes should adapt to feet. Andrea was crazy if she thought otherwise, but Hannah resisted the urge to tell her so. It wasn't a warm, supporting comment to make to a sister who was beginning to resemble the Goodyear blimp.
'So can you pick me up early, Hannah? I just don't know how much more of this closet cleaning I can handle.'
'Sure,' Hannah said, not wanting to deny Andrea anything at this stage of her pregnancy. 'Can you be ready in fifteen minutes?'
'I can be ready in less time than that. Just hurry, Hannah. He's driving me nuts and I'm afraid I'll say something I'll regret later. I do love him, you know.'
'I know.'
Hannah hung up to the sound of a toilet flushing. Andrea was obviously pulling out all the stops to convince Bill that she'd had to take the phone in the bathroom.
'There's Mother,' Andrea said, nudging Hannah as they walked into the lobby of the Jordan High auditorium. Even though they arrived a half-hour early, the Lake Eden Regency Romance Club was already there in full force.
Hannah glanced in the direction of Andrea's gaze and caught her mother's gesture. 'Uh-oh. She wants us to come over.'
'We might as well do it,' Andrea said with a sigh, taking a step in her mother's direction. 'She probably wants to criticize your outfit.'
'What's wrong with my outfit?' Hannah looked down at her navy blue dress and shoes.
'Nothing, but Mother'll find something. Do you want me to head her off at the pass?'
'That would be great. Do you think you can?'
'Of course. Just watch.'
Hannah watched as Andrea sailed up to their mother and whispered something in her ear. Delores looked surprised for a moment and then she smiled from ear to ear, an unusual expression at a funeral. There was another volley of whispered conversation and then the two parted, and Andrea came back to Hannah's side.
'It's so crowded, I thought I was going to get bowled over before I got back here. Mother says hi. Let's go talk to some other people before she remembers what she wanted to talk to us about in the first place.'
Hannah glanced out over the crowd and spotted Beatrice Koester. 'There's Beatrice and Ted. I want to ask him about his mother's cupcakes.'
'The ones with the secret ingredient?'
'Right. Just stick behind me and I'll run interference.' Hannah led the way across the crowded lobby, clearing a path for her sister. Beatrice looked as she always did, neat as a pin in a charcoal gray dress with a white collar. Ted, however, was tugging at the sleeves of his suit and Hannah was sure he'd rather be wearing his coveralls and towing a car on his flatbed.
'I'm glad you're here, Ted,' Hannah said, once she'd greeted Beatrice and made sure that Andrea had engaged her in conversation.
'Why's that?' Ted frowned slightly and his heavy eyebrows almost touched.
'I've been trying to figure out that recipe for your mother's cupcakes.'
'Beatrice has been working on it at home and I've never had so many bad cupcakes shoved down my throat. I finally had to tell her to knock it off.'
'Oh,' Hannah said, biting back a smile at the mental image Ted's words had created. Beatrice was a small woman, barely five feet tall, while Ted topped six feet and looked as if could eat a whole cow for breakfast. 'I thought it might help if you could describe your mother's cupcakes for me.'
'Chocolate. And when you bit in, it wasn't all air. You know what I mean?'
'I think so. They were heavy?'
'I'll say!' Ted gave a little grin, exposing one silver-capped tooth. Hannah remembered Norman saying he'd
