Fudge Cupcake Murder

    'What?'

    'Here,' Hannah said, joining Lisa behind the counter. She glanced at the few tables that were filled, but no one was paying any attention to them. 'Nettie doesn't have an alibi. She was working alone in her sewing room and she had the window open. When I asked her if any of the Maschlers might have seen her through the window or heard her sewing machine, she said no, they were out for the evening. But she also said the television was on really loud and Kate had left it tuned to a kung fu movie.'

    'What time was that?'

    'Between seven and nine.'

    Lisa shook her head. 'Impossible. You can only get four channels without cable and none of them were showing movies. Believe me, I know. I flipped through before I went out to the video store for Dad.'

    'So… it must have been a tape,' Hannah said, frowning slightly. 'But Kate wouldn't have put on a tape and then left the house.'

    'Of course not. But she has a teenage son, doesn't she?'

    'Richie. Kate told Mike that he was out that night with friends.'

    'Wrong. Richie was in that night with friends. And he probably didn't tell his parents. They watched a tape, the movie that Nettie heard, and then they cleared out before Kate and Jerry got home.'

    'And they lied about it because they probably drank some beer while they were watching the movie?'

    'It's good to know you're not that old.' Lisa gave Hannah a pat on the back. 'If it wasn't beer, it was probably a girl. And in that case, they might not have been all that interested in the movie.'

    'Right. So I should talk to Richie?'

    'Sure. Unless you want someone younger and more in touch with the teenage mentality to do that research for you.'

    Hannah grinned. 'And that would be you?'

    'It would be me. And it just so happens that one of the girls who was here this morning left her class notebook. I'll call the school to tell them it's here and when she comes to pick it up, I'll ask her which girl is dating Richie Maschler. And then I'll talk to his girlfriend and find out what really happened on Monday night.'

Chapter Seventeen

    Hannah opened the street door at the side of the Red Owl Grocery and climbed the long stairway leading up to the second floor. The stairs had been newly carpeted and Hannah admired the way that Danielle had decorated the walls with dance diagrams, each set of footprints in a different color.

    As she climbed, Hannah heard faint strains of music that became louder with each step she took. And when she opened the heavy door at the top of the stairs, the music rolled out to greet her, something upbeat and jazzy that she didn't recognize.

    Hannah stood there staring for a moment. Danielle's dance studio was impressive. With the exception of a wall that sectioned off rooms at the rear and an area of red deep pile carpeting in front of it that contained padded theater seats, the rest of the space gleamed with a highly polished wooden floor and mirrored walls. The only wall that wasn't mirrored was the one facing the street and it contained the high narrow windows that Danielle had loved when Andrea first showed her the loft.

    Looking up, Hannah noticed tracks on the ceiling. She was puzzled for a moment. Then she spotted the red velvet curtains that were stored in alcoves in the walls and realized that the curtains could be pulled to cordon off a large area for the stage.

    'Clever,' Hannah murmured, looking back up at the tracks again. She'd seen tracks like that on the ceilings of hospital rooms so that an individual patient in a double or triple room could have privacy.

    Danielle rushed over the moment she noticed Hannah standing by the door. 'How wonderful to see you, Hannah! Tracey's doing very well in her dance class.'

    'That's good to hear,' Hannah said, giving her a warm smile. Danielle looked really good. The anxious, scared-rabbit expression she'd worn in the past had gone the way of the theatrical makeup she'd been forced to use to cover up the signs of her husband's abuse. 'How's business, Danielle?'

    'I'm doing better than I ever thought I would. And to think that Boyd pooh-poohed the idea of my opening a dance studio! He said it would never go in a town the size of Lake Eden.'

    'Looks like Boyd was wrong,' Hannah said, adding an addendum to that sentence in her mind, about a lot of things!

    'All my classes are filled and I'm looking for an assistant teacher in the evenings so I can offer more sessions. Do you know anyone?'

    Hannah was sorely tempted to suggest Shawna Lee Quinn. If she worked two jobs, she'd be too busy to go out with Mike. But because Danielle was a friend and friends didn't try to pull the wool over each other's eyes, Hannah ditched that idea. 'I'll call you if I think of anyone,' she said.

    'Great. I'd really like to start another ballroom dancing class. I have enough names on the waiting list.'

    Hannah was surprised. 'I wouldn't think the kids would be interested in ballroom dancing.'

    'Quite a few of them are, but I was talking about my seniors class. I just love working with them, Hannah. Most of them know the basics already. It's just a matter of brushing up and getting back in practice. And the cheerleaders are really a lot of fun. They're doing a dance routine at the Halloween party and Mr. Purvis lets them out of study hall to practice. You'll stay and watch, won't you?'

    'I’d planned on it. I'm meeting Barbara Donnelly. I need to talk to her.'

    'Of course you do. Your mother mentioned that you were investigating and secretaries always know a lot about their bosses. Barbara's in the dressing room helping the girls with their hair, but that's her coat and purse on that seat at the end of the first row. You can sit next to her.'

    Once Danielle rushed off to see if her cheerleaders were ready to perform, Hannah took the seat next to Barbara's. It was padded in all the right places and it cradled her like a pillow. It was so comfortable that Hannah almost nodded off. Between getting home late last night and rolling over on the contents of Moishe's food bowl early this morning, she'd had a grand total of four hours sleep. That wasn't enough. All she had to do was look into the mirror at the dark circles under her eyes to know that.

    The music that Danielle played over the loudspeakers was pleasant. Hannah leaned against the cushioned seatback and closed her eyes to appreciate it better. It would be fun to dance to this music, and she had two men to dance with her. Norman had even taken dance lessons and he'd improved so much, she no longer had the desire to lead. And Mike… well… dancing with Mike was like… she really shouldn't think of that now.

    There was a warm hand on her arm and Hannah smiled. Here was Mike now, asking her to dance. He was a bit late. The music had been playing for quite some time now, but perhaps he'd been busy. He was patting her arm now, saying her name, and she did her best to open her eyes. She'd just nodded off a bit sitting here and listening to the music while he'd been… been…

    'Hannah? Wake up.'

    No, it wasn't Mike. It was a woman's voice. Her college roommate? No, college was over so that couldn't be right.

    'Hannah? Come on, Hannah.'

    'Huh?' Hannah's eyes popped open and she sat up with a start. She looked over at Barbara Donnelly and blinked. What was Barbara doing in her bedroom?

    'Sorry, but you were starting to snore,' Barbara said with a grin. 'I'm surprised you could sleep with that music so loud.'

    Hannah shook her head. 'I wasn't sleeping. I was just resting my eyes.'

    'Sure. And checking the inside of your eyelids for holes.'

    Hannah took stock. Her eyes felt scratchy, her arm had little pinpricks of sensation where she'd jammed it