“Nice man!” Dick said, sounding as if he meant it. “I’m not sure I’d let Sally take my boat out.”
“We can take a rowboat,” Hannah offered. “You don’t have to give us your best boat, Dick.”
“I’m not giving it to you. I’m just letting you use it.”
Hannah laughed. “You got me, Dick! I’m usually more careful about my word choice.”
Dick laughed. “Chalk one up for me. I’ll walk you down to the boat and see you off.”
In what seemed like no time at all, Hannah and Andrea were out on the lake, the dock fading into the background behind them.
“I’m glad you’re driving,” Andrea said, settling back in the comfortable captain’s chair beside her sister.
“Actually . . . so am I,” Hannah replied, looking over at her with a grin. “I feel much drier when I’m behind the wheel!”
“Look over there, Hannah!” Andrea sounded excited as she pointed toward the small island. “Isn’t that Joe?”
Hannah squinted slightly in the bright sun. “Yes, it looks like Joe. And that must be his son-in-law with him.”
“Mark,” Andrea reminded her. “Shall we go over and interview them now?”
“Yes, as long as they’re not fishing. And it looks like they’re just sitting there talking and eating the Caramel Pecan Rolls they took with them from the breakfast buffet.”
“Do you want to question them now?” Andrea asked.
“Only if the opportunity presents itself. Let’s just go talk to them and see what happens.”
“But they don’t know about Sonny’s murder yet, do they?”
“No, and that’s one of the reasons I want to talk to them now. We can’t tell anybody until they make the announcement about Sonny.”
“Okay, Hannah. Let’s see what happens when we talk to them. You know Joe Dietz, don’t you?”
“Yes.” Hannah hid a little smile. Evidently, Andrea didn’t know that their mother had dated Joe. “I’ll take the lead. You jump in whenever you feel the time is right.”
Hannah drove the boat up to the small island where Joe and Mark were sitting. They’d found a place in the shade of the one tree that had grown on the island, and Hannah pulled right up next to them. “Hi, guys,” she said by way of greeting.
“Hello, Hannah!” Joe said, and he looked happy to see her. “We were just sitting here wishing that we’d taken more of your Caramel Pecan Rolls.”
“Well, you’re in luck,” Hannah told him, handing over the bag of rolls that she’d brought with her. “I just happen to come supplied with exactly what you want.”
“Hannah’s a mind reader,” Joe said as Hannah handed him the bag. “Have you met my son-in-law Mark before?”
“No, but Andrea told me that you were here for the fishing contest, Mark.” Hannah gave him a friendly smile. “It’s good to meet you.”
Joe turned to Mark. “This is Hannah Swensen and her sister Andrea. They bake all the rolls and cookies for the buffets.”
“They’re great, ladies,” Mark complimented them. “I saw you behind the buffet tables, but I haven’t met you formally.”
“Hannah, I didn’t realize you had your own boat,” Joe said.
“I don’t,” Hannah told him. “We borrowed Dick’s boat so that we could go out on the lake.”
“To find me?” Joe asked, looking a bit puzzled.
“No, just to enjoy the morning until we have to go back for the lunch buffet.” Hannah paused and drew a deep breath. “I did want to talk to you in private about Sonny, though.”
Joe gave a little nod. “Because of what I told Andrea last night?”
“That’s part of it.” Hannah turned to Mark. “Joe told Andrea that Sonny was once engaged to your wife.”
“That’s right. It was a college romance and it didn’t last long. From what Darla tells me, Sonny was a real playboy back then.”
Hannah smiled. “That’s right. And if you’d been in the bar two nights ago, you would have seen him in action.”
“I heard about that,” Mark said. “Joe said he was trying to pick up on all the women there.”
“And that includes Hannah and Andrea’s mother!” Joe told him, a wide grin spreading over his face. “But Delores came through big-time. She stepped on Sonny’s foot and Mike, Lonnie, and Doc were able to get him on a stretcher and take him up to his room.”
“I could kick myself for missing the whole thing!” Mark said, shaking his head. “I was on the phone with Darla. I would have loved to tell her about that, but maybe it’s a good thing I didn’t.”
“Why?” Andrea asked him.
“Because she’s still a little upset over the way he broke their engagement,” Mark explained. “I think Darla would like to believe that Sonny regrets it now.” Mark shook his head. “Of course Sonny doesn’t regret it. I found that out the first day of the fishing contest.”
Hannah leaned forward. This was getting interesting. “How did you do that?” she asked Mark.
“I got a chance to talk to Sonny alone and I asked him if he happened to remember my wife, Darla. I said she told me that they had gone to college together and she asked me to say hello from her.”
“Did Sonny remember your wife?” Hannah asked.
Mark shook his head. “No. I even showed him a photo of her when she was in college, but he said he’d met so many people back then, he just couldn’t remember having met her.”
“And they were engaged?” Andrea sounded shocked.
“That’s right. It’s one of the reasons she left college and went into the Air Force. She told me that she was going to wait until she graduated to join the military, but she just didn’t want to be on the same campus with him.”
“I can understand that!” Hannah said, thinking back to her own failed engagement in college.
“So can I,” Andrea added. “What did you do, Mark? Did you tell your wife that Sonny didn’t remember her?”
“Of course not!” Mark looked horrified at the prospect. “Darla doesn’t need to know that the man she wanted to marry thought so little of her that he forgot all about her the minute he found someone new.” He turned to Andrea. “That’s why I wasn’t in the bar when you talked to Joe. I was on the phone to Germany, calling my wife at the base.”
“It sounds like Sonny was a big disappointment for Darla,” Hannah said. “I wouldn’t blame you a bit if you didn’t like Sonny.”
“I don’t particularly like him, but I do owe him a vote of thanks. Darla joined the Air Force because of Sonny, and I’d never have met her at the base in Germany if she’d ended up marrying him.”
Hannah began to smile. “That’s a very good way to look at it. And I think you’re exactly right for not telling her. That might have hurt her feelings.”
“That’s exactly what I told him,” Joe said, patting Mark on the shoulder. “Darla was head over heels over Sonny at one time. It would be a real slap in the face for her to realize that she’d meant that little to him.”
Hannah glanced at her watch. “It was nice meeting you, Mark. And Joe . . . it’s always good to see you. We’d better get back to put out the food for the lunch buffet. There’s a really good Wild Rice Soup that I hope you try. It’s one of my favorite recipes.”