Chapter Twenty-Five
Hannah had expected a noisy teenage party, but she heard no music as she approached Lorna’s condo. That was odd. Michelle had said it was a graduation party for Chris. She didn’t know a single teenager who’d just graduated from high school who would want a party without music. Was the party over this soon?
Light spilled out on the walkway that led to Lorna’s front door and Hannah could hear the thumping of dancing feet. The party wasn’t over. That much was clear. But how could Chris and his friends dance without music?
Hannah rang the doorbell and a moment later, Lorna opened the door. “Hi, Hannah,” she said with a smile. “I’m so glad you could make it! Come into the living room and join the adults. The kids are all dancing on the back patio.”
“But I don’t hear any music,” Hannah said as she stepped into the quiet living room where Esther and Howie were sitting, along with Lorna’s sister and brother-in-law. “How can the kids dance without music?”
“They have music. Come with me and I’ll show you.”
Lorna led Hannah to the open patio door where they could look out on the party. There were at least ten couples dancing on the patio and every single one was wearing earphones!
“Those earphones are incredible!” Hannah commented, watching them glow in the twinkle lights that Lorna had used to decorate the rafters on the patio. They were made of fluorescent plastic in bold colors and the clear plastic headbands flashed with the beat of the music.
“I know. The kids just love them.”
“You bought wireless earphones for everybody?” Hannah asked.
“No, I rented them from a store at the Tri-County Mall. It’s a great store, Hannah. It’s called Crazy Quiet Parties and they’ve got all sorts of fun things that don’t make very much noise.”
“Your neighbors are going to love you,” Hannah told her as they walked back into the living room. “Did Howie bring his Guac Ad Hoc?”
“Three batches,” Howie said, overhearing her question. “Help yourself. It’s right there on the table. And then come over here and tell me how you like it.”
Hannah took a small spoonful of Guac Ad Hoc and surrounded it with salted tortilla chips. She scooped up a little guacamole with a chip and popped it into her mouth. There was an instant explosion of flavors on her palate. She tasted rich buttery avocado, the tang of lemon juice, the fresh hint of oregano, and the smooth coolness of sour cream, all enhanced by just the right amount of garlic and onion. There was a crunch in addition to the tortilla chip and Hannah was amazed to taste bacon. “Wow!” she said, walking back to Howie with another loaded chip in her hand. “This Guac Ad Hoc is fantastic!”
“You like the oregano?”
“I love it. It makes guacamole into something entirely different.”
“You can make it with cilantro if you want to. It’s just that Florence doesn’t always have cilantro and Esther grows oregano in her kitchen window garden. I tasted it, thought it would work, and found an alternative.”
“It’s a great alternative.”
“Thanks.” Howie looked pleased. “Do you want the recipe?”
“Yes, I’d love to have it.”
Howie reached into his pocket, pulled out a recipe card, and handed it to Hannah. “Here you go. I always print these out before I take it to a party.” His smile disappeared and he looked very serious. “Are there any new developments, Hannah?”
“There’s a big one,” Hannah told him. “Mike sent a diver down this afternoon and he recovered a thermos from Doctor Bev’s car. The coffee that was left in the thermos was laced with enough tranquilizers to kill her.”
“Where did she get the coffee?”
“A busboy named Josh filled it with coffee that morning at the Inn and put it in her car for her. The car wasn’t locked and the top was down.”
“So anyone out there could have dropped the tranquilizers into the thermos.”
“That’s right.”
“And since you didn’t give her the coffee, you’re off the official suspect list?”
“Exactly.”
Howie looked relieved. “Good! I wasn’t looking forward to that trial. I know I could have gotten you off, but that wouldn’t remove the cloud of suspicion you’d still have hanging over your head.”
“I know. I’ll have to figure out who killed her in order to completely clear my name.”
“And you’re going to do that?”
“I’m going to try to do that,” Hannah corrected him.
“All I can say is be careful, Hannah! There’s someone out there who doesn’t care if an innocent person is convicted for the crime he or she committed.”
“I know. I’ll be careful. Send me a bill and I’ll pay you, Howie. I appreciate what you did for me.”
Howie waved away that suggestion. “No charge, Hannah. Just bake me some Molasses Crackles every once in a while. I love those cookies.”
“That’s easy,” Hannah said. “We’ll deliver them to your office tomorrow.”
“Great! I wish every client I’ve lost this week could bake.”
“You lost another client?”
Howie nodded. “A big one. I’ve got to admit I’m upset about it. Warren Dalworth switched to a lawyer in the Cities.”
“Really?” Hannah asked, remembering what her mother had said about the visitor in the three-piece suit who had come to see Warren in the hospital. “How about Roger? He’s still with you, isn’t he?”
“Yes, but Roger doesn’t do much business with me. Almost everything goes through Dalworth Enterprises and Warren controls that . . . at least for now. I no longer know what will happen when Warren dies. And I understand from Roger that his condition is terminal.”
Hannah’s antenna for trouble went on full alert. “But Warren’s wife is dead and Roger is his only son. He’ll inherit Dalworth Enterprises, won’t he?”
“That’s the way Warren set it up with me. I don’t know what’s changed now that Warren has a new will.”
“There’s a new will in place?”
“Yes. I never would have known about it, but a guy I knew from law school dropped by to see me at the office the other day. He’s working for a big firm in the Cities. I asked him what he was doing here in Lake Eden and he said he drew up a will for somebody and he had to go to the hospital to get it signed. Of course I asked him who his client was and when he said it was Warren Dalworth, you could have knocked me over with a feather.”
“Did you try to find out why Warren used someone else?”
“Of course I did. The next morning I went out to the hospital to see Warren and ask him what was going on. Unfortunately, I didn’t get the chance to talk to him. He was in I.C.U. and the visitors’ list was limited to members of his immediate family. Roger was there, visiting his father.”
“Did you get a chance to talk to Roger?”
“Yes. I waited for him to come out and I asked him about the new will. He said that his father had told him about calling in a lawyer from Minneapolis and changing a few things to make it easier for him to take over Dalworth Enterprises when the time came.”
Hannah was curious. “Do you have any idea what those changes could be?”
“I don’t have a clue unless circumstances have changed over the past month or so. I thought that Warren and I had every contingency covered in the will I drew up for him.”
“Did Roger give you any reason why his father called in a lawyer from Minneapolis?”
“Yes. He was reluctant to say it, but Roger thinks his father’s mind is slipping. He said Warren probably forgot he had a lawyer right here in town.”
“Poor Warren!” Hannah didn’t like to think that the man most people regarded as the shrewdest investor and developer in the state could be failing mentally. “And poor Roger, too. It must be awful to see your father failing that way.”
“Roger’s had a lot of grief lately.” He was silent for a moment and then he continued. “Roger was embarrassed. It was clear he didn’t want to go into details, but he said that when he asked Warren what was wrong with the will I drew up for him, Warren didn’t seem to know who I was and he didn’t remember that he even had a will.”
“That doesn’t sound good.”
“No, it doesn’t. Of course Warren is on some pretty strong pain medication so we have to make allowances for that.”
“But do you think he was capable of making out a new will?”
Howie shrugged. “I don’t know. I didn’t speak to him. But if what Roger says is true, Warren certainly shouldn’t have drafted a will without the advice and assistance of someone he knew and trusted.”
“Like you?”
“Not necessarily. It could have been someone like Doc Knight, or an old friend he knew in town.”
“But Warren did it all by himself.”
“That’s what I understand. And he did it with a lawyer who’d never met him before and couldn’t accurately judge his mental state.”
Hannah shivered slightly. “What if there’s something . . . wrong in the will?”
“That’s exactly what Roger asked me. He didn’t see the new will and all he knows about it is what his father told him. He asked me what he could do if his father had done something crazy, like leave Dalworth Enterprises to a total stranger, or a shelter for homeless earthworms.”
“What did you tell Roger?”
“I said that if there was something outrageous like that in Warren’s new will, it might go toward proving that Warren was incompetent, or not in his right mind when he instructed his new lawyer and signed the will. The courts have to decide that.”
“And if they do, then the new will can be . . .” Hannah stopped, unable to think of the correct legal term. “Revoked?”
“Declared invalid,” Howie provided the phrase. “If Warren was not of sound mind when he signed the new will, it doesn’t exist.”
Forty-five minutes was long enough to stay at a teenage party even if the teenagers were dancing to music the adults couldn’t hear. Hannah and Michelle got back to Hannah’s condo at five minutes to ten.
“Do you want to catch Moishe, or shall I?” Michelle asked as Hannah drew out her keys.
“I’ll do it, but I don’t think he’ll be jumping into anyone’s arms tonight. He was so tired, he was snoring on my pillow when I left.”
“Cuddles?” Michelle asked.
“Cuddles,” Hannah confirmed it. “They were playing chase when we left for dinner.”
Hannah held out her arms, but no orange and white twenty-two-pound cat landed anywhere in the vicinity. They walked in, shut the door, and listened to the faint snoring coming from Hannah’s bedroom.
“Your guard cat is sleeping,” Michelle commented.
“I know. How about you? Are you tired?”
“Not really. Maybe we should bake. That always gets me relaxed enough to go right to sleep.”
“Sounds good to me,” Hannah said, heading for the kitchen to switch on the lights. “What do you want to bake?”
“Something we can use tomorrow at The Cookie Jar. You decide.”
Hannah thought about that for a moment, but before she could decide, the phone rang. She reached up to grab the wall phone that hung near the kitchen table. “Hello?”
“Thank goodness you’re home, dear!”
“Mother?” Hannah was surprised. She’d seen her mother less than an hour and a half ago. Surely nothing drastic had happened in that short length of time.
“You weren’t in bed, were you?”
“No, Mother. Michelle and I were about to bake. Where are you?”
“At the hospital. We’re having some trouble with Barbara tonight.”
“What kind of trouble? She’s not worse, is she?”
“Not physically. This is very silly, but Jenny’s talked to her, Doc’s talked to her, and I’ve talked to her. We just can’t make her understand that you’re not bringing Moishe back tonight. She insists you said you were.”
“Uh-oh!” Hannah sighed deeply as she thought back to her parting words. “Barbara asked me if I’d bring Moishe back and I said I would. I had no idea she wanted me to bring him back after dinner tonight.”
“That’s what we all told her, but she said you promised. And she claims she can’t go to sleep until you get here with Moishe. She’s very agitated, dear. Doc says he can give her an injection that will put her to sleep, but he hates to do that when she’s doing so much better in every other way.”
“Tell Doc Knight to hold off. I’ll be there in . . .” Hannah glanced at the clock. “Less than twenty minutes. Better warn her though. Moishe’s tired from playing with Cuddles while we were at dinner and he’ll probably just fall asleep on her bed.”
“I think that’s what she wants, dear. She’s hoping that Moishe can stay overnight. We can rig up a litter box in Barbara’s bathroom. That’s no problem. And I can take the rest of Jenny’s shift and sleep on her cot in the room.”
Hannah made a quick decision. “No, Mother. I’ll take Jenny’s cot and stay with Barbara and Moishe.”
GUAC AD HOC
Hannah’s 1st Note: This is Howie Levine’s guacamole recipe. He’s Lake Eden’s most popular lawyer.
2 ounces cream cheese
4 ripe avocados (I used Haas avocados)
2 Tablespoons lemon juice (freshly squeezed is best)
1 clove garlic, finely minced (you can squeeze it in a
garlic press if you have one)
cup finely chopped fresh oregano leaves
1 Italian (or plum) tomato, peeled, seeded, and
chopped
4 green onions, peeled and thinly sliced (you can use
up to 2 inches of the green stem)
? teaspoon salt
10 grinds of freshly ground pepper (or teaspoon)
? cup sour cream to spread on top
Bacon bits to sprinkle on top of the sour cream
Tortilla chips as dippers
Howie’s Note: I use chopped oregano because Florence doesn’t always carry cilantro at the Lake Eden Red Owl. This guacamole is equally good with either one.
Heat the cream cheese in a medium-sized microwave-safe bowl for 15 seconds on HIGH, or until it’s spreadable.
Peel and seed the avocados. Put them in the bowl with the cream cheese and mix everything up with a fork. Mix just slightly short of smooth. You want the mixture to have a few lumps of avocado.
Add the lemon juice and mix it in. It’ll keep your Guac Ad Hoc from browning.
Add the minced garlic, chopped oregano leaves, tomato, sliced green onion, salt, and pepper. Mix everything together.
Put your Guac Ad Hoc in a pretty bowl, and cover it with the sour cream. Sprinkle on the bacon bits. If you’re NOT going to serve it immediately, spread on the sour cream, but don’t use the bacon bits. Cover the bowl with plastic wrap and refrigerate it until time to serve. Then sprinkle on the bacon bits. (My bacon bits got a little tough when I added them to the bowl and refrigerated it. They were best when I sprinkled them on at the last moment.)
Hannah’s 2nd Note: Mike and Norman like this best if I serve it with sliced, pickled Jalapenos on top. Mother won’t touch it that way.
Yield: This amount of Guac Ad Hoc serves 4 unless you’re making it for a Super Bowl game. Then you’d better double the recipe.