Cinnamon Roll Murder

“Yes. I have to question Doctor Bev and I know she’ll be at Claire’s dress shop at three o’clock. Norman said she was driving back from the Cities for a wedding dress fitting.”

Andrea put her hands over her eyes and gave a little moan. “So you’re going to question Doctor Bev in her wedding dress?”

“Yes, as long as Claire agrees.” Hannah opened the door to her cookie truck and climbed up into the driver’s seat. “You’re going with me, aren’t you, Michelle?”

“I think I’d better be there. Claire might need help to break up the fight.”

“What fight?”

“The fight you’re bound to have if you see Doctor Bev in her wedding dress.”

“There won’t be any fight. We’re just going to have a nice, civilized question and answer session,” Hannah gave a little smile that belied her words. “Or perhaps I should say I’m planning to grill her within an inch of her life! Would you like to come along, Andrea?”

“No way!” Andrea said emphatically. And then she gave a little sigh. “I’m going to make a quick stop at the mall, and then I’m going home to wait for you to call me. I’ll be a wreck for the rest of the day if I’m not the first to know what happened!”

Chapter Twenty-Seven

“So what are we going to do?” Michelle asked as they parked in the back of The Cookie Jar.

“I’m not sure, but we’ve got ...” Hannah glanced at her watch. “... eight minutes to figure it out. The first thing we have to do is tell Claire what’s happening.”

“You’re right. And after we do that, I think you should take three or four outfits into a dressing room and try them on.”

“But I don’t need a new outfit.”

“I know that, but if you were Doctor Bev and you saw Hannah Swensen and her sister Michelle waiting for you in Claire’s dress shop, would you go in?”

“Probably not. I’d wait until they left.”

“Exactly! So the two of us will be in a dressing room when Doctor Bev walks in.”

“And she won’t know we’re there,” Hannah picked up the idea and ran with it. “We’ll wait until she tries on her dress and then I’ll come out.”

“Not me?”

“No, you stay in the dressing room and take notes for me. I’ll give you my murder book. We need a record of exactly what she says.”

“I can do that. Anything else?”

“Yes. I’m going to ask Claire to keep her with her back to our dressing room. That way you can peek out and let me know when she’s dressed. Then I’ll step out and confront her.”

“Confront?”

“Sorry. I meant greet. I’ll step out and greet her. And then I’ll start questioning her about Seattle and Buddy Neiman. I might even show her the copy of the photo Norman printed for me. Sally’s positive it’s her.”

“Do you think she’ll admit that she was there at Club Nineteen that night?”

“Probably not. She’ll try to tell me it’s not her, and she’s never been to Club Nineteen in her life. I’m looking forward to that part of it.” Hannah gave another hard-edged smile. “She’s going to get really nervous before I’m through with her.”

“All you have to do is smile at her like that. and she’s going to get nervous. I’m getting nervous and I haven’t even done anything wrong!”

“It’s called intimidation. Mike taught me that smile.”

“Well it’s a good one. Let’s go, Hannah.” Michelle got out of the cookie truck. “We’ve only got a couple of minutes to talk to Claire and tell her what we’re doing. Let’s get in there in case Doctor Bev is early.”

Of course Doctor Bev wasn’t early. She was five minutes late. And that gave Michelle and Hannah plenty of time to explain to Claire exactly what they were doing.

“Here,” Claire said, thrusting four outfits into Hannah’s arms. “Keep the door to the dressing room closed. It’ll be easier if I cue you. Get into one of these now and stay put until I ask you how you like the selections I’ve made for you. And then come out.”

Hannah sat down on the bench in the dressing room while Michelle took up a cross-legged position on the floor. “You’d better get one of those outfits on,” Michelle said.

“I guess,” Hannah said, hanging her parka on a hook, divesting herself of the clothes she’d worn to the brunch, and slipping one of the outfits Claire had chosen for her over her head.

“Nice color,” Michelle commented, eyeing the rich turquoise. “I like the fact it’s a pantsuit and you can wear it with dress flats.”

“I don’t have any dress flats.”

“We’ll get some.” Michelle got up to zip the tunic top of Hannah’s outfit. “It looks good on you, Hannah.

“Of course it does. Claire chose it for me. If I ever get rich, I’m going to hire Claire to be my personal fashion consultant.”

“I wonder if Doc will like the cookies I made,” Michelle said. “I wanted give him samples right away, but it seemed wrong to take them in to brunch.”

“We’ll take some out to the hospital in the morning. Mother said they’d be there early, and they can have a couple for breakfast.”

“Just like we did this morning, before we found out we were going to brunch.”

“Right.”

Claire gave a little knock on the dressing room door. “Here she comes. She’s just getting out of her car. I can hardly wait to see her face when she realizes that you’re here. This is going to be fun!”

“Do you get the feeling that Claire doesn’t like her either?” Michelle asked when Claire had left.

“I know for a fact that Claire doesn’t like her. She told me that she thought Doctor Bev was a phony from the word go. She said it was probably uncharitable, and unchristian, and all the other bad un-things, but she never liked Doctor Bev and she never would. And then she said she had half a notion to put a stop to the wedding.”

“How?”

“She said that when Reverend Bob gets to the part, If any person can show just cause why they may not be joined together, let them speak now or forever hold their peace, she wants to stand up and tell Norman he shouldn’t marry Doctor Bev.”

“Claire wouldn’t actually do that, would she?”

“I don’t know. Probably not, but it’s good to know that she feels the same way we do.”

The two sisters fell silent as they heard voices. Claire was greeting Doctor Bev, and Doctor Bev was being her sweet, nice, fake self. At least that’s the way Hannah thought of her now. Sweet by day, strumpet by night, Hannah thought, and unless I’m completely mistaken, Norman isn’t even the strumpee! She could hardly wait to see what Doctor Bev had to say for herself.

“Are you excited about the wedding?” Claire asked, and Hannah tried not to grit her teeth.

“Oh, yes! It’ll be wonderful to have all our friends there. I do hope my mother can make it, but Diana’s been down with the flu. It’s the reason I drove to Minneapolis for the weekend. The poor baby was still running a fever when I left this morning.”

And just how would you know that since you didn’t even bother to see her? Hannah thought exchanging glances with Michelle. Doctor Bev was an accomplished liar. Perhaps it was because she got so much practice lying to everyone in Lake Eden.

“I’m sorry your daughter’s sick,” Claire said, and Hannah heard a garment bag unzip. “Just let me put this dress over your head and we’ll check to make sure the alterations are done correctly.”