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"Then I'd better hurry." Hannah took a deep breath as she stepped inside Claire's back room. "I know that this is a delicate subject, but do you know where Reverend Knudson was on Friday night?"
"Is this about Rhonda's murder?"
"Yes. Rhonda had a guest at the Voelker place on Friday night and he brought two takeout dinners with him. I know Reverend Knudson got takeout that night. I'm hoping he wasn't Rhonda's visitor."
"He wasn't."
"Are you sure about that?"
"As sure as I can be. Bob was my visitor."
"What time did Reverend Knudson get to your place, and when did he leave? And what did he bring you for dinner?"
"Do you really need to know all that?" Claire's green eyes narrowed. "Or is it just prurient curiosity on your part?"
"I'm never prurient... or at least not often. I really need to know, Claire. I realize you want to keep your relationship with the reverend private and that's one of the reasons I'm asking. If I can eliminate him from the suspect list, I won't have to mention him to Mike."
Claire thought about that for a moment. "All right. Bob got to my apartment at seven and he didn't leave until after midnight. And he brought me osso buco."
"Good. I can cross him off the list." Hannah gave a relieved sigh. "If you don't mind my asking, why did his grandmother think he was at a church meeting?"
Claire gave a little smile. "Because that's where he was supposed to be. It was Ecumenical Council night, but they canceled. Bob found out late that afternoon and we ... well ... we just took advantage of the moment. By the way, he's an incredible dancer."
"Reverend Knudson?"
"Yes. He put himself through college by working part time as a dance instructor. Bob can tango better than anybody I know. He's just wild."
Hannah blinked. She really had trouble imagining the
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solemn man who stood behind the pulpit at Redeemer Lutheran dancing a wild tango. "You went out dancing?"
"Not out. We shoved back the furniture and danced in my living room. Bob's just wonderful, Hannah. I've never been so happy in my life. He's almost got me persuaded to let him announce our engagement to the congregation and let the chips fall where they may."
Hannah sighed. She wished Claire well, but those would be some pretty big chips.
"I know what you're thinking, but even when I was involved with Richard, I stayed active in the church. I can always be the reformed sinner that Bob redeemed."
Another thought occurred to Hannah that she knew she shouldn't ask, but that had never stopped her before: "Do you really think you could be a small-town minister's wife?"
"I think so. I know I'd like to be Bob's wife. There's only one thing stopping me."
"Your past?"
"No, Bob doesn't care about that. But I don't read music and every other minister's wife in town plays the organ."
Hannah glanced at her watch as she pulled into a space in front of the Rhodes Dental Clinic. She was twenty minutes early for her lunch date with Norman despite the fact that she'd stopped off to deliver Loretta's Praline Charlottes. She got out of her truck, locked it up, and walked into the waiting room. She could hear voices in the back, coming from one of the examining rooms. Norman was still with a patient. Rather than sit and page through magazines she didn't want to read anyway, Hannah decided to dash up the block to Lake Eden Neighborhood Drugs and talk to Jon Walker about Rhonda's work at the drugstore.
The heat was shimmering up in little waves from the sidewalk as Hannah walked to the drugstore. Main Street was practically deserted and she could understand why. Anyone with half a brain was inside with curtains drawn and fan
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blades whirling as fast as they could to move the sluggish air. The heat today was powerful enough to make Hannah wish that the Lake Eden City Council would legislate required siestas.
As Hannah walked, she caught herself stepping over the cracks in the sidewalk. Grandma Ingrid had once told her that if she stepped on a crack, she'd break her mother's back. The old rhyme had evidently sunk deeply into her subconscious. Of course she didn't believe it. She doubted she'd believed it then. But twenty-five years had passed since she'd first heard that childish warning and she was still altering her pace to avoid the cracks.
There was a large revolving fan on a stand in the open doorway of the drugstore and Hannah moved around it to step inside. The lighting was dim compared to the brightness of the summer sun. She stopped several feet from the door to let her pupils adjust When her eyes had done their retinal magic and enabled her to make out obstacles again, she realized that she was standing next to the candy counter and quickly moved over to a display of stuffed toys.
"Hello, Hannah."
A voice greeted her from the dusky interior. Hannah gave a little wave as she spotted Linda Nelson. "Hi, Linda. I didn't know you were working here."
"I'm Beth Halverson's summer replacement. She got a scholarship to science camp."
Hannah nodded. Beth was the piccolo player who would be sorely missed by everyone who heard the Jordan High marching band. "I need to talk to Jon. Is he around?"
"He's in the pharmacy. Come with me and I'll call him."
Hannah was surprised. The last time she'd come in to talk to Jon, one of the clerks had just slipped behind the counter, opened the door to the pharmacy, and told Jon that Hannah wanted to see him. "Why do you have to call him?"
"New regulations. We're not allowed behind the pharmacy counter and the door is kept locked. If someone wants Mr. Walker, we have to call him on the phone."
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"You had a break-in?" Hannah guessed.
"I don't know. Mr. Walker just told us the new rules when we came in to work Friday morning. He didn't explain why."
Hannah followed Linda to the front of the pharmacy counter and watched as she punched a series of numbers into the phone. It rang in the pharmacy, the door behind the counter opened, and Jon Walker came out. He was a full-blooded Chippewa Indian, born at Red Lake Reservation. When it had been time for Jon to start high school, his family had moved to Lake Eden and Jon had graduated from Jordan High. He'd gone on to college and come back to Lake Eden to buy the drugstore and take over the pharmacy.
"What can I do for you, Hannah?" Jon asked, locking the door behind him.
"I need some information. Can we step inside the pharmacy so we can talk privately?"
Jon shook his head. "Sorry. The pharmacy's off limits to everyone except me. We can go to my office, though."
Hannah followed Jon through the storage area at the back of the store and into the small cubicle he called his office. It was closet-sized, barely large enough to hold his desk and two chairs, but it was private and that suited Hannah's purpose.
"Coffee?" Jon asked, gesturing toward a small coffee-maker. It was clear the carafe hadn't been cleaned in recent memory and it was half-filled with dregs of a brown liquid that looked lethal to Hannah.
"Thanks, but no. What's with all these new rules you have? Did somebody break into the pharmacy?"
"No, nothing like that. I just decided we were getting too lax and it was time to beef up our security."
Hannah gave him a challenging look. "Come on, Jon. Nobody fixes something that isn't broken. Level with me and tell me what gives."
Jon dropped his eyes and refused to meet hers. "Let's just say we had an unfortunate incident and I had to make certain it couldn't happen again."
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"Unfortunate incident? You sound like a politician, Jon."
"Maybe I do, but I can't tell you any more than that."
Hannah studied Jon carefully. His mouth was set in a straight line and he looked determined not to say more. "Okay. If Rhonda wasn't involved in this incident of yours, I don't have to know what it was."
There was complete silence from Jon, although he looked very nervous, and Hannah put two and two together. "Rhonda was involved."
"Yes. I see where you're going, Hannah. You think this might have something to do with Rhonda's murder. Are you working with the sheriff's department again?"
"I've never worked with the sheriff's department. They've always taken great pains to let me know that they don't want me."
"I guess that's true." Jon gave a small, humorless laugh. "But you are investigating Rhonda's murder, aren't you?"
"Unofficially, yes. And that's why I need to know."
"What I say has to stay with you. You can't tell anyone else."
"You've got it," Hannah said and sat back to wait. Jon had caved and this might be good.
"Rhonda was working late last month, making out her order for the cosmetic department. I'd already left for home and she was the only one here. Around eight o'clock Reggie York pulled up and he hammered on the door. He told Rhonda he'd called in a prescription from work, but traffic was heavy and he'd just gotten back to town."
Hannah knew Reggie was Gus and Irma York's oldest son and they were very proud that he'd landed a job as a pilot for Worldways Airline. The last time Hannah had seen Irma, she'd complained that Reggie's commute to and from the airport in the Twin Cities took longer than most of his flights.
"Rhonda did exactly what I would have done. She let him in. Since she was my manager, she had a master key. She unlocked the door to the pharmacy and found his prescription on the shelf."
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"Rhonda filled his prescription?"
"No, it was filed alphabetically and all ready to go. She rang it up and then she asked Reggie if he was still flying."
"What's wrong with that?"
"Nothing. Not then. When Reggie said he was, Rhonda said she thought pilots who had glaucoma were grounded."
"How did she know Reggie had glaucoma?"
"Her great-aunt, Mrs. Voelker, had glaucoma. Rhonda used to pick up her medicine and deliver it to her. That's how she recognized the name of the eyedrops Reggie used."
"Let me guess," Hannah said with a sigh. "Rhonda blabbed, somebody reported it to Worldways, and Reggie was grounded?"
"That's exactly what happened. Reggie's glaucoma was mild and it was completely under control, but Worldways has very strict rules about their pilots. Reggie applied for a desk job right after he was diagnosed, but it hadn't come through yet and he could have been fired for concealing his condition."
"So Reggie was angry with Rhonda for blabbing?"
"Angry wasn't the word. Reggie was fit to be tied. He called me at home on Thursday night and threatened to sue me for breach of confidentiality."
Hannah's mouth dropped open. "Reggie's suing you?"
"No, I managed to calm him down. He wasn't really angry with me, but he was furious with Rhonda for gossiping about his disease. He demanded that I change the lock on the pharmacy door and guarantee that no one except a registered pharmacist could get inside. And he also demanded that I fire Rhonda."
"Oh boy," Hannah groaned. "Did you fire her?"
"I had to. I told her on Friday morning when she came in to work. I felt bad about it, especially since it was her last day before her vacation, but I knew that people would take their prescriptions to another pharmacy if they found out about it."
"How did Rhonda take it?"