Cinnamon Roll Murder

Hannah flipped through the pages. There were family photos, school portraits, snapshots of Christmas and other holidays. They were followed by graduation pictures and announcements. There was Dr. Gene Burroughs standing with a class of graduates, and an announcement of his graduation from medical school. Then there was the same type of photo of Ben, and the announcement of his medical school graduation.

“Here’s the last page,” Hannah said, flipping it over and staring at a clipping from the Seattle Times. The headline read, Local Doctor Murdered In Alley Behind Jazz Club, and there was a picture of Dr. Gene Burroughs.

“What is it?” Delores asked as Hannah gasped.

“It’s an article about Ben’s brother Gene. He’s dead. He was stabbed in the chest with a broken beer bottle in the alley behind a Seattle jazz club called Jazzmen.”

“Did they catch the killer?” Michelle asked.

“I don’t know. It doesn’t say. And there’s nothing else here except ...” Hannah stopped speaking and unfolded a piece of paper that was stuck to the back cover of the album.

“What is it?” Michelle asked when Hannah was silent.

“It’s a photo of the band that was playing the night that Ben’s brother was stabbed. They’re called Ticket To Tulsa.”

Michelle leaned closer to look at the photo. “That’s Buddy!” she said, and her voice was shaking. “His hair’s blond in the photo, but it’s him.”

“You’re right,” Hannah said. “It’s definitely Buddy. I wonder if Ben recognized him.”

“It’s Ben’s photo,” Delores pointed out. “I’m sure he must have noticed the resemblance. Even I noticed it and I only saw Buddy after he was ...” Delores stopped speaking and gave a little gulp. “Girls!”

“What is it, Mother?” Hannah asked.

“Ben must have known Buddy in Seattle. That much is clear. You don’t think that Ben ... that Ben killed Buddy, do you?”

Hannah was speechless for a moment and then she reached a conclusion. “I don’t know,” she said, “but we’d better show this photo album to Mike.”

“And we’d better get out of here,” Michelle added, grabbing the book from Hannah’s hands. “Let’s go, Mother.”

“Come on, Hannah.” Delores motioned to her. “Hurry! It’s too dangerous to stay here. Ben could be the killer!”

Hannah shook her head. “You two go and find Mike. Give him that scrapbook and tell him everything you know. I’ll be along in a minute. I just want to go through that box marked Mementos. There could be something important in there.”

“I think you should come with us now,” Delores argued.

“It’s okay, Mother. Ben’s working until eight tonight, and it’s only eleven in the morning. You know his schedule. You looked it up yourself. Just go on ahead with Michelle and I’ll meet you later.”

The first thing Hannah did after her mother and Michelle left was to get the silver watch and slip it into her purse. If Ben had killed Buddy, it could be important to the murder investigation. Then she went into Ben’s living room and dragged the heavy box to the couch. She had no intention of leaving Ben’s apartment. She was going to stay right here, gathering possible evidence, until her sister and her mother got back with Mike.

A little tingle of apprehension gave Hannah pause. She would have felt more secure if Ben’s apartment had been several miles from his workplace, but she convinced herself that she was perfectly safe. Ben was busy seeing patients and he had no idea that she was searching his apartment.

Hannah used the scissors on the coffee table to slit the tape on the box. So far everything they’d found was circumstantial. She didn’t expect to find a handwritten confession in the box, or the pair of gloves that Ben had worn when he stabbed Buddy Neiman in the treatment room, but a box labeled Mementos might contain something from Ben’s life in Seattle that would be useful.

Once she’d opened the box, Hannah removed the items one by one. She found photos of Ben’s parents, smiling at the camera, and one of the family dog romping with Gene. There was another of Ben and Gene in a rowboat on a lake. They were smiling and holding up fish on a stringer.

A stuffed toy cat was near the bottom of the box. One ear was shorter than the other. It had been mended with black thread, and Hannah decided that it had probably been a childhood toy. And then, very near the bottom, she pulled out a framed photo of Gene standing on stage with the man Hannah had known as Buddy Neiman. The photo was inscribed near the bottom right corner in silver ink. It read For my good friend, Gene. And it was signed Chaz Peyton.

That was when she heard it, a key in the lock. It wasn’t Mike. Even if they’d found him right away, he couldn’t have gotten here that fast. And it couldn’t be Michelle or Delores. There was no reason for them to come back. And if it wasn’t any of them, it had to be ...

Ben! No time to put things back in the box and tape it up. She had to get out. Now! He’d spot her if she tried to go out the back way. Ben had what was called a shotgun apartment. If you opened the front door and opened the back door, anyone standing on the steps outside could fire a shotgun straight through the apartment without hitting anything. No time to get out. And that meant she had to hide.

Quick as a bunny, the phrase flew through Hannah’s mind. But didn’t a very frightened bunny freeze? Her feet felt frozen to the floor, but she forced them to move to a spot just to the left of the front door. When Ben opened it, she’d be hidden. He’d spot the open box, walk over to it, and she’d slip out the door while his back was turned, and make a run for it.

The door opened. Hannah caught the knob so that it wouldn’t bounce back and close. Then she counted to five, just time enough for Ben to spot the box and walk over to it.

Cautiously, she peeked out. Yes! Just as she’d expected, he’d walked across the floor to the box. He was standing there staring at the contents, his back to her. It was time to get out. Now!

Hannah stepped out, her heart pounding so hard she was afraid he’d hear it, and slipped out the open doorway. And then she broke into a run for her very life.

Chapter Thirty

He’d seen her. She knew that from the pounding footfalls she heard behind her. Hannah ran down the hallway as fast as she could. She opened the door to the hospital corridor, dashed through, and made a sharp turn to the left, thanking her lucky stars that she was wearing her tennis shoes.

She’d never been down this corridor before. Lake Eden Memorial Hospital was expanding and this section was still under construction. Her hope was that Ben would expect her to flee in a straight line and not to veer off into a construction zone.

The lighting was dim in this section. The overhead fluorescents had yet to be installed, and only the occasional bare incandescent bulb hung from the open ceiling. This was uncharted territory for her, and her hope was that it would be uncharted territory for Ben as well.

Hannah rounded a corner and saw a door. It was painted bright yellow, and that was a good sign, wasn’t it? She paused, wondering if she should take a chance and go in.

The running footfalls she heard behind her were the deciding factor. Hannah yanked the door open and ran into another corridor. This one seemed to be leading downward and it was tiled. The walls were painted institutional green, and she passed another door with a stenciled sign on it that read Engine Room, and she knew where she was.

She was in the basement of the hospital. She remembered taking a tour when it was first built and the tour had included the basement. It ran under the entire hospital and it housed the power plant, the backup generators, the furnace, and the air conditioners. If she remembered correctly, there were also several storerooms for things like medical and janitorial supplies. There had once been a cafeteria in the corner of the basement, but it had closed several years ago and a new cafeteria for visitors and hospital workers was under construction on the ground floor