“Yes. I’m finally warming up,” Tom told her. “The coffee and the parka really helped.”
“I can always run back in the coffee shop and get your hat,” Hannah offered. “Mother always says that most of your body heat escapes from the extremities and if your feet and your head are warm in the winter, you’ll stay warm all over.”
“It’s okay, Hannah. I don’t need my hat. It’s warm here in the kitchen.”
“I noticed your hat and it’s really nice,” Hannah opened the subject of Tom’s hat. “I haven’t seen Buffalo Plaid on a hat before.”
Careful! the rational part of Hannah’s mind warned. He’s beginning to look suspicious.
Go ahead, Hannah, the suspicious part of her mind egged her on. You have to find out if Tom pushed Clara down in the snow because he didn’t want anyone to know that he was hiding out in the clubhouse and watching our staircase for Ross.
But where’s the motive? the rational part of her mind asked. If Tom killed Ross, he had to have a reason.
Hannah ignored the ongoing debate in her mind and asked another question. “Do you know anyone who lives in my condo complex, Tom?”
Tom looked puzzled by her question. “I don’t think so. Why do you ask?”
“Because I was in the clubhouse yesterday and there was a towel from the Gala Expedition hanging in the men’s shower room. I thought that it might be yours.”
Now you’ve stepped in it! the suspicious part of Hannah’s mind chided her. Just look at his face. He’s on to you!
You’re right, the rational part of Hannah’s mind agreed. The fat’s in the fire now. But if Tom watched for Ross and killed him, what’s the motive?
Hannah dipped another frozen peanut butter ball in the chocolate. She had to work quickly because it wasn’t quite cool enough.
“I should never have stopped here,” Tom said, reaching inside his pocket and pulling out a gun. “I should have known you’d figure it out. Sorry, Hannah. I liked you. And I liked Ross, too, until he double-crossed me with the movie.”
Hannah froze with her hand on the handle of the pan with the chocolate. Do something! both sides of her mind shouted. Keep him talking!
It was good advice and Hannah took it. She had to keep Tom talking until Mike arrived! “I don’t understand. Ross double-crossed me, but how did he double-cross you?”
The pistol pointed at Hannah’s head didn’t waver, but a slight smile crossed Tom’s face. “It won’t do you any good, you know. I have to kill you whether I tell you or not.”
“I understand that. What I don’t understand is how Ross double-crossed you.”
“It was an investment. I invested other people’s money in Ross’s movie.”
“Are you talking about Crisis in Cherrywood?”
“Yes, and I convinced several of my biggest investment clients to join me. We completely financed the movie.”
“But Crisis in Cherrywood made money, didn’t it?”
Tom gave a humorless laugh. “Yes, it did. And that’s the problem.”
Hannah could tell that Tom was watching her face and not paying much attention to her hands. Her right hand was on the handle of the chocolate pan and her left hand was holding the food pick that contained the peanut butter candy ball. Slowly, Hannah released her hold on the food pick and let the peanut butter ball slip down into the melted chocolate. This meant she had both hands free. She wasn’t quite sure how much good this did, but she told herself to concentrate on asking questions. Somehow, she had to keep Tom talking until Mike got here.
“I knew that Crisis in Cherrywood made money. A few weeks before we got married . . .” Hannah stopped speaking and sighed. “I guess I should rephrase that. A few weeks before I thought we got married, Ross sold his independent films to WCCO-TV and he told me he made a lot of money. Didn’t he pay you and your clients back for your investment?”
“That wasn’t the problem, Hannah. You see . . . we’d invested in Ross’s films before and all of them had lost money. My clients and I thought that Crisis in Cherrywood would lose money, too.”
“You wanted it to lose money?”
“That’s right. You can buy insurance against bad investments. Backers of Broadway plays do it all the time. The insurance pays off if the play fails to make money in a certain time frame. I found an insurance company that did this for indie films, and my clients and I bought the insurance.”
Hannah knew exactly what Tom was talking about, but she decided to play dumb. If he had to explain it to her, it would buy her a few more minutes.
“That seems . . . wrong somehow. You and your clients paid to finance Crisis in Cherrywood, but you wanted it to fail?”
“That’s right. It all has to do with the insurance, Hannah. We were all ready to collect on the insurance when Ross sold Crisis in Cherrywood as a television movie. If he’d waited a month, we would have collected on the insurance company.”
“But . . . how was that double-crossing you?”
“Ross knew about the insurance and he agreed to hold off on the sale. But what they offered him was a lot more than we’d invested, and he decided to go for the bigger bucks.”
“And he didn’t pay back your original investment?”
“Oh, he paid that back. But we weren’t looking for our money back. We were looking for the insurance payoff. And that was a lot more money.”
“And Ross knew that?”
“He knew, but he didn’t care. Fame was more important to Ross than fortune. He loved going to film festivals and being touted as the new auteur in the indie circuit. And remember. . . we also lost money because we couldn’t write off the losing investment on this year’s taxes. Instead, every one of my clients simply broke even and they were counting on taking advantage of the loss.”
“I think I’m beginning to understand,” Hannah said, sending up a silent prayer for Mike to hurry.
“And now, Hannah . . . hand me one of those candies you just made and I’ll tell you if I like them right before I pull the trigger.”
Hannah reached for a piece of candy with her left hand and carefully lifted the melted chocolate with her right hand. “Here you go,” she said, holding out the candy so that Tom would have to reach out with his hand to pull the candy off the food pick.
Things happened very fast from that point on, although Hannah saw them in slow motion.
Tom reached out for the candy. Hannah lifted the pan with the hot, melted chocolate. Tom grasped the candy, preparing to pull it off the food pick. Hannah threw the chocolate. Tom screamed as the heated chocolate drenched his face. A shot rang out. There was another scream and Hannah knew that it came from her as Tom crumpled to the floor.
It took long moments for the realization to hit her. She was still alive. Tom was stretched out on the floor, but she was still alive.
Hannah sat down hard as her legs gave out beneath her. She was still alive. She could feel her toes and her legs, and her arms, and there was chocolate everywhere. Then strong arms wrapped around her and Hannah burrowed into them.
“Easy, Hannah. It’s over now,” Mike said. “And if you ever do this again, I’m going to take away your license to heat chocolate.”
Hannah couldn’t help it. She started to laugh. And as she laughed, the room stopped whirling around her and she drew a deep breath of air.
“Thank you, Mike,” she said. “But next time, please get here faster.”
CHOCOLATE-COVERED PEANUT BUTTER CANDY
No need to preheat oven—this is a NO-BAKE recipe.
? cup peanut butter (I used Jif)
? cup salted butter (? stick, 2 ounces), softened ? cup finely chopped salted peanuts (measure AFTER chopping)
? teaspoon vanilla extract 2 cups powdered (confectioners) sugar (do not sift)
1 small box food picks or long toothpicks
2 cups (12-ounce by weight package) semi-sweet chocolate chips (I used Nestlé)