Chapter Twenty-Four
“Tranquilizers,” Doc said the moment Sally had left. “Three times the normal dosage and that was only in the coffee that was left in the thermos. Whoever did it must have dumped a whole bottle in there.”
“I have a question for you,” Hannah said. “I know Doctor Bev was drinking sparkling water at lunch yesterday. Why didn’t it show up in her stomach contents?”
“Because there’s not much to identify in carbonated water. It would merely have diluted the other liquid contents.”
“Does Mike know that the tranquilizers were in the thermos?” Hannah asked.
“I called from the hospital to tell him. We invited him to dinner when he stopped by to pick up the report, but he said he was busy and I could give you the good news myself.”
I wonder if he’s busy with Misty, that waitress out at the Corner Tavern, or whether he’s busy with work, Hannah thought to herself. She hoped it was work. But instead of spending time thinking about that, she asked another question. “Was there anything else in Doctor Bev’s stomach that . . . uh . . . maybe I shouldn’t ask about that now.”
“It’s all right, dear,” Delores said. “This conversation would have bothered me a few months ago, but Doc’s been doing his best to desensitize me.”
“Is it working?” Doc asked her.
“Somewhat.” Delores gave a ladylike little shiver. “But it’s not doing much for my appetite.” She turned to Hannah. “Could you ask another question, dear? One that doesn’t have the words stomach or contents in it?”
“Actually, there’s another important question,” Hannah said, remembering what Barbara had said about her water pitcher. “Do you know if Barbara has ever knocked over her water pitcher?”
Delores looked surprised. “I can answer that, dear. Yes, she has and it happened just last night. Her nurse went to get another bag of glucose for her IV drip and when she came back into Barbara’s room, the water pitcher was on the floor.”
Norman and Hannah exchanged glances. Either Barbara had actually tried to hit someone with her water pitcher, or she’d knocked it over accidentally. Now, after the fact, there was no way of knowing for certain.
“Is it important, dear?” Delores asked when Hannah didn’t respond.
“Not really. It’s just something she mentioned and I was wondering if it had happened.”
“All right then.” Delores smiled at Hannah. “Since you’re no longer a suspect, I think we should celebrate. I wonder where Sally is with the . . .” Delores peeked out of the curtain they’d pulled for privacy in one of Sally’s raised booths. “Here she comes now.”
“Knock, knock,” Sally said, and then she pulled the curtain open. “Here we are, Delores. I made my special appetizer tray for you.”
They all watched in awe as one of the waitresses set a large silver platter in the center of their table. There were small slices of black bread topped with smoked salmon, cream cheese, and capers, several kinds of paté to spread on toast points, and a round of Brie baked in a pastry crust, surrounded by small bunches of grapes.
“Very impressive,” Doc Knight said, smiling at Sally.
“Thank you.” Sally smiled back. “I love to do these appetizer platters.”
“Will you join us?” Delores asked, sliding over a bit so that Sally could sit.
“I shouldn’t,” Sally said, but Hannah noticed she wasn’t slow to take a seat. “I understand we have something to celebrate?”
“We do,” Doc answered. “Hannah is no longer a suspect in Doctor Bev’s murder.”
“Well, thank goodness for that!” Sally raised her glass.
“Anybody who thought that she was should have their head examined.”
“By me,” Doc said and everyone laughed.
Sally turned to Hannah. “Would you mind coming with me for a minute? I have that recipe you wanted, but I left it on my desk. And if you don’t get it now, I’ll probably forget which pile of papers it’s in. It’ll only take a minute or two.”
Hannah wasn’t fooled for a second as she followed Sally out of the curtained enclosure. Something was up.
“I’ve got Josh waiting for you in my office,” Sally said, the moment they were out of earshot. “He’s one of my newest busboys and he filled Doctor Bev’s silver thermos this morning.”
“Hannah? This is Josh. He’s my newest busboy.” Sally turned to smile at the teenager, who looked exceedingly uncomfortable. “Tell Miss Swensen what happened when you filled Doctor Bev’s thermos.”
Josh took a deep breath. “She asked me to fill it with coffee and I did. But first I took it into the kitchen and rinsed it out with scalding hot water the way we’re supposed to do with thermoses.”
“Very good. What happened next?”
“She told me she wanted a fresh pot of coffee, not the coffee from the carafe we have at the breakfast buffet. She said to put a quarter-cup of real cream in the bottom and then eights packs of artificial sweetener. After that, I should add the coffee and leave enough room so that I could shake it before I brought it up to her room.”
“And you took it up to her room?” Hannah asked.
“Yeah. She was on the phone and she told me to leave it on the table by the door. And then, before I could leave, she told me she’d changed her mind and I should take it down and put it on the floor behind the driver’s seat of her new car.”
“Did you do that?”
“Yeah. It was a beautiful car!”
“Did she give you the keys?”
“She didn’t have to. She said it was parked in a no parking zone in the back of the hotel and the top was down.”
“Did anybody else see you put the thermos in the car?”
“Sure. There were a couple of other people out there admiring the car. And then, just as I was leaving, Mr. Dalworth came down to drive it up to the front for her.”
“Do you know if he saw the thermos?”
Josh shrugged. “I don’t know. He didn’t see me put it in the car and it was on the floor behind the driver’s seat, where she told me to put it. He probably didn’t even notice it at all.”
Dinner at the Inn had been wonderful, as always, and once Hannah had told them about Sally’s new dessert, they’d all had the Snappy Turtle Pie with a Snappy Turtle Cookie on top. Hannah was certain she couldn’t eat another bite as she climbed into Norman’s car.
“Are you as stuffed as I am?” Norman asked, taking the access road to the highway.
“I’m more than stuffed. I think I’m positively round.” They rode in companionable silence until they reached Hannah’s condo complex. They’d already discussed the busboy she’d interviewed about the thermos when Hannah had returned to the table. Doc had told them that the fingerprint team hadn’t been able to get any clear prints from the outside and they’d all concluded that absolutely anyone at the Inn could have opened the thermos and dropped in the tranquilizers. They’d also talked about Roger and the fact that both Norman and Sally thought he was genuinely heartbroken over Doctor Bev’s death. Her murder was still a complete mystery and nothing Hannah had discovered was helping to solve it.
“I can take Moishe up the stairs for you,” Norman said as they pulled into Hannah’s extra parking space.
“That’s okay. I can do it. You look tired.”
“I am. It’s been a long day and I didn’t sleep very well last night.” Norman reached over to give her a hug. “If you’re sure you don’t mind, I’ll just drive home and fall into bed.”
“I don’t mind at all,” Hannah told him, picking up the end of Moishe’s leash. “Come on, Moishe. Let’s go up and get to bed ourselves.”
“I’ll pull out and make sure you get into your condo okay,” Norman promised as Hannah and Moishe got out of his car. “I’ll watch from the visitor parking lot.”
“Okay,” Hannah said, knowing it was futile to argue. Norman was unfailingly considerate and he’d wait until she got into her condo safely before he drove off.
It didn’t take long for Hannah and Moishe to get to the head of the stairs. Both of them were eager to go inside, but they waited until Norman pulled into the visitor parking lot before Hannah opened the door. She gave a wave, Norman gave a polite little beep on his horn, and Moishe led her inside. “Michelle?” she called out.
There was no answer and Hannah glanced at the clock. Her cookie truck had been parked in her spot and that meant Michelle had come back from The Cookie Jar. It was only nine at night. Surely Michelle wasn’t sleeping already!
One glance inside the guest room and Hannah could see that it was empty. Perhaps Lonnie had picked up her youngest sister for a date. If Michelle had left, there would be a note in front of the coffee pot or on the kitchen table. Michelle always left a note.
“Go ahead, Moishe,” Hannah told him, noticing that he was eyeing the door of her bedroom hopefully. She went in to turn down the bed for him and patted his pillow. “You can go to bed. I’m going to go see if there’s a note from Michelle.”
As Hannah retraced her steps to the living room, she heard a thump from her bedroom. Moishe had accepted her invitation to go to bed. She flicked on the kitchen light and spotted the note on the table. Michelle was every bit as considerate as Norman was.
Ran into Lorna Kusak when I came back here, the note read. She’s having a graduation party for Chris tonight and I said I’d help her with the refreshments. Howie and Esther are there and Lorna said to come over when you get home so you can taste Howie’s Guac Ad Hoc. He’s bringing a huge batch and everybody loves it.
The last thing Hannah wanted to do was go to a teenage party, but Howie and his wife were there and she wanted to tell him the good news about the thermos and how she’d been cleared as a suspect. Then there was the guacamole. She’d heard that Howie made the best in town and she’d never had the chance to taste it. If she liked it and if she played her cards correctly, she might even be able to talk him into sharing the recipe!