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While Hannah was upstairs, the banquet room had undergone a transformation, thanks to the Jordan High athletic department, whose members had volunteered to move tables and chairs for the party. Except for two long rectangular tables near the kitchen, the dining room tables had been folded and returned to the storage area under the stairs. In their place, dozens of round, four-person tables had been arranged near the giant Christmas tree, leaving a good-sized circular area, with the trees in the center, for a dance floor.
The lights had been dimmed, the coffee had been replenished, and Hannah noticed that quite a few adults were availing themselves of the punchbowl full of English Eggnog that Rod Metcalf was manning. A second punchbowl, almost identical but lacking the rum that flavored the first, was available for those who didn’t want to consume, or weren’t old enough to legally consume, the alcoholic version.
Kirby Welles and the jazz ensemble had gone through their Christmas music, and now they were playing a medley of jazz standards. A half-dozen couples were dancing to “Strangers in the Night,” and Hannah watched them without any real interest until she caught sight of Laura Jorgensen dancing cheek-to-cheek with a tall, dark-haired man. The couple turned and Hannah recognized Drew Vavra, a member of her graduating class at Jordan High and a graduate of the University of Minnesota. Just this September, Drew had been hired to replace Boyd Watson, and he was the new history teacher and head coach of the Lake Eden Gulls.
Hannah glanced down at Laura’s feet again. Drew was a nice guy, steady and reliable, and not bad to look at, either. Hannah hoped that Laura was wearing the special shoes for him. Since she would have been hard-pressed to slip a sheet advertising the cookie specials of the day at The Cookie Jar between them, it was a safe bet that Laura and Drew were a lot more than casual acquaintances.
The medley ended and Hannah headed straight for Drew and Laura. She caught them before they could even leave the dance floor. She greeted them both and was trying to think of a way to spirit Laura off to ask her where she’d been at the time of Brandi’s murder, when Laura solved the problem for her.
“Would you get me a cup of that wonderful eggnog, Drew?” Laura waited until Drew had left for the table with the punchbowl and then she turned back to Hannah. “I want you to be the first to know, since you were Drew’s classmate and he told me that you were the only reason he got through algebra. We just got engaged!”
“Congratulations!” Hannah exclaimed, giving Laura a little hug. “And I think I just blew it. I’m supposed to say that to Drew, not you. But I really am happy for both of you. And if Drew ever needs to solve a quadratic equation, you know where I live.”
Laura laughed and she looked happier than Hannah had ever seen her. “We’ve only been dating for three weeks, but we’ve spent almost every minute together. I just couldn’t believe it when we started to dance, and he slipped the ring on my finger and asked me to marry him.”
“That’s so romantic,” Hannah said, and she meant it. “And your ring is beautiful.”
“I know. And to think I’ve been pining over Martin for two years! I was so wrong, but it took meeting Drew to make me realize it.”
“Well . . . I’m really glad you did!” Hannah said, glancing up at the stage. The jazz ensemble was breaking up, some students heading toward the kitchen and whatever food was left, and others heading for the coolers of soft drinks that sat on a table next to the punchbowls. “Please tell Drew I’m delighted for both of you. I’d love to stay and tell him myself, but I’ve got to talk to Kirby before he takes his break.”
Hannah headed off toward the makeshift stage, mentally crossing Laura off her list. There was no way Laura was jealous enough to kill Brandi, not when she was head over heels with Drew.
“Kirby?” Hannah called out, catching the bandleader in the act of stepping off the riser. “We need to talk.”
“Couldn’t it wait . . . .”
“Now,” Hannah interrupted him, climbing up to grab his arm. “Why didn’t you tell me you knew Brandi when you were in high school and she was Mary Kay Hinklemeyer?”
“I . . . she didn’t want me to say anything. And I only knew her when we were kids, before she ran away from home.”
“What was she like?”
“Um . . .kind of wild, but she was a fantastic dancer and we used to enter dance contests as a couple. We always won when we danced together and we . . . uh . . . we dated occasionally.”
“Does dated mean what I think it means?”
Kirby turned a dull shade of red. “Yeah.”
“So did you tell Martin that you already knew Brandi when Martin introduced her to you?”
“No. I was about to say something about going to high school with her, but Mary Kay gave me a warning look. I’m pretty sure that Martin didn’t know she was from right around here.”
Hannah got down to business. “Did you get a chance to talk to Brandi privately before she was killed?”
“Um . . . well . . .actually . . .” Kirby turned a little pale. “I did. She stopped by the stage and asked me to meet her in the cloakroom.”
“And you did?”
“It was nothing out of the way, or anything like that. We just talked about old times and what happened to the other kids we’d gone to school with.”
Something about this conversation was bothering her, and it took Hannah a moment to figure out what it was. There was something Kirby wasn’t telling her. It was in the way he failed to meet her eyes, and his stance, which was as defensive as that of a cornered ‘possum. It was time to probe for the truth.
“So what did you think about Brandi’s marriage to Martin?” Hannah asked, watching closely for Kirby’s reaction.
“I thought it was a big mistake. And actually, so did Mary Kay. She said Martin was no fun at all and . . . and she was going to dump him. And then . . .” Kirby faltered and raised stricken eyes to Hannah’s face. “Do you really need to know this?”
“I do. You need to tell me everything if we’re going to catch Brandi’s killer.”
“Okay. But please call her Mary Kay. That’s the way I want to remember her. She . . .she asked me to leave Lake Eden with her.”
Hannah blinked hard. “You mean, Bran . . . I mean, Mary Kay was going to dump Martin for you?”
“No! It wasn’t like that, Hannah, really. Mary Kay was dumping him anyway. And she wasn’t interested in marrying me, or anything permanent like that. She just didn’t like being alone, and she wanted me to come along with her for company.”
“I see,” Hannah said, even though she didn’t. “Did . . . um . . . Mary Kay tell you when she was planning to go?”
“Tonight. She was going to wait until Martin was busy talking to somebody, and then she was going to take off with his car and leave it at the airport in Minneapolis.”
“She was flying back to Las Vegas?”
“Not Vegas. She was going to the Bahamas, and she offered to buy my ticket if I’d come along. She said she could get at least fifty thousand for her coat and the ring Martin gave her, and if that wasn’t enough, she had an antique knife that was worth a bundle. She told me that we could live high on the hog in the Bahamas.”
“So what did you say?”
“I told her I couldn’t go, that I liked my job in Lake Eden. At first, she thought I was kidding, but when she realized I was serious, she called me a . . . “ Kirby stopped, clearly embarrassed. “You don’t really have to know, do you?”
“No, I don’t. How about the antique knife she mentioned? Did she show it to you?”
“No. I had no idea she was talking about stealing your mother’s antique cake knife until you told me that it was the murder weapon.”
Hannah thought about what Kirby had said for a moment. She was almost sure that he was telling her the truth. “Why didn’t you tell me all this the first time we talked?”
“I couldn’t! I figured if you knew about the history Mary Kay and I had between us, you might think I killed her!”
“Did you?”
Kirby stared at Hannah in absolute shock. “Of course I didn’t kill her. I loved Mary Kay. She was my first real girlfriend. I kept thinking about that when the group was playing and remembering how much fun we used to have. You know how you caught me that first time just as I was about to leave on break? And I didn’t want to talk to you because I had something important to do?”
“I remember. What was so important?”
“I was going to find Mary Kay and tell her I’d go with her after all!”
Hannah found Andrea at a table with Claire, Reverend Knudson, and his grandmother Priscilla. She chatted for a few moments and then she turned to Andrea. “Will you meet me in the lobby upstairs in five minutes?”
“Sure,” Andrea said, and there was a question in her eyes.
“I’m going to find Michelle and ask her to meet us, too.” Hannah ignored the question Andrea was dying to ask and excused herself to Claire and the Knudsons.
Hannah’s younger sister was sitting with Luanne Hanks and Danielle Watson. “Hi,” Hannah said, plunking herself down in a chair. “How’s the dance business, Danielle?”
“It’s great. I was just asking Luanne if she knew anyone who might like to handle one of my senior ballroom dancing classes. I’ve got three going now and my waiting list is large enough to start another.”
“That’s just wonderful.” Hannah admired the transformation her friend had undergone. Danielle had been a timid and abused wife when she’d first come to Lake Eden, but now she was a successful businesswoman with plenty of self-confidence. “You’re not trying to recruit Luanne, are you?”
Danielle shook her head. “Are you kidding? Your mother and Carrie would kill me if I tried to hire Luanne out from under their noses.”
“You’ve got that right,” Luanne said with a laugh. “And starting next week I’m going to be even more valuable to them.”
“What happens next week?” Hannah asked.
“Mom, Suzie, and I love into the other half of Nettie’s duplex. That means I can work later in the winter because I won’t have to match my hours to the county snowplow schedule.”
“Good for you!” Hannah said with a smile. She was glad that Luanne was leaving the isolation of her family home at the end of Old Bailey Road and moving to town. And she was doubly glad that Nettie Grant would be able to spend time with Suzie. After the losses the former sheriff’s wife had suffered in the past three years, it was bound to lift her spirits to be around a sunny little girl like Suzie.
“Michelle?” Hannah turned to her youngest sister. “Will you meet me in the upstairs lobby in five minutes?”
Michelle nodded, and as Hannah watched, she assumed the identical expression that her next-older sibling had worn. It was obvious that Andrea wasn’t the only Swensen sister who was dying of curiosity.
“ ‘Bye, ladies. See you later, Michelle.” Hannah headed up the stairs to wait for her sisters. She waved at Lonnie, who was manning the outside door, and walked over to the grouping of chairs around the miniature Christmas village.
There was a large gilt-framed mirror on the wall behind the village and Hannah frowned as she caught sight of her hair. Her unruly red curls had been tousled by the wind and snow in the parking lot, and they looked as if they hadn’t seen the tender ministrations of a hairbrush in months. Hannah smoothed them down as best she could, and paused to admire the new sweater Norman had given her. It fell gracefully from her shoulders and came to just the right length in back to minimize that I-wish-it-were-smaller part of her anatomy.
“Gorgeous,” Hannah said, turning a bit so that he skirt swirled against her legs. But what was that bulge at her hips? She looked like an anatomically incorrect chipmunk with his cheeks lower than his waist.
Hannah reached in her pocket and drew out dozens of paper napkins, far too many for the lines of the sweater. Even though she’d folded them neatly and divided them between the two pockets, the piles had grown, and now her sweater pockets were ballooning with a plethora of paper Santas, reindeer, snowflakes, Christmas trees, angels, and snowmen. It was definitely time to scare up a steno pad, and she knew just the place to find one.
A few moments later, Hannah was standing at Janice’s desk in Kiddie Corner, begging office supplies. The younger kids were crowded around the Christmas tree in the corner, listening to one of the high school girls read a story, and the older children, like Tracey, had gone off to the library to watch a Disney movie with several high school seniors as chaperones.
“How about this?” Janice asked, pulling a neon-pink steno pad from her center desk drawer. “I know you like the green ones, but it’s all I have at the moment. Here’s the pen that goes with it. The Velcro attaches to the cover, see?”
“It’s just perfect,” Hannah said gratefully, even though she would have preferred something less conspicuous. It was exactly as Delores had taught her; beggars couldn’t be choosers.
“I’m glad you’re here, Hannah. I’ve got something I want to show you.” Janice opened a drawer and took out a stack of letters. “I had the older kids write letters to Santa, and the high school girls helped them with the spelling. Linda Nelson came up to tell me that Tracey had asked her to spell some very strange words for a letter to Santa.
“Like what?”
“Like blizzard. Linda didn’t think that was so odd, because we’re in the middle of one, but the next word Tracey wanted was detective. And then she asked Beth if body had two d’s or one.”
“Uh-oh.”
“Exactly. I looked it over, and I thought you should read it, too. I’m crazy about Tracey, but that girl is too smart for her own good!”
Hannah took the letter Janice handed her and sat down in one of the little chairs by the blackboard. The chair was so low that her knees almost touched her chin, but she barely noticed how uncomfortable she was once she started to read.
Dear Santa,
How are you? I am fine. I sure hope you remember me, what with all the kids who write to you this time of year. My name is Tracey Todd and I live in Lake Eden, Minnesota. My daddy’s the new sheriff of Winnetka County and my mommy’s a real estate professional. I asked you for a dollhouse last year and you gave it to me. it’s real nice.
I’m writing this to help my Aunt Hannah. You probably remember her. Those were her cookies that we left out under the tree for you. We’re all stuck here at the community center after the big recipe-testing Christmas party dinner. The food was great and it was fun, but we can’t go home. It’s supposed to be because of the big blizzard, but that’s not the real reason. Right after Edna Ferguson finished cutting the cakes, I saw Aunt Hannah come in from the parking lot and she had that look on her face. Then she pulled Uncle Mike (he’s Daddy’s most important detective) off in a corner so they could talk. They looked real worried, and that’s why I think Aunt Hannah found another body. She does that a lot. Anyways, they want all of us kids to stay busy writing letters to Santa, and watching movies, and things like that. I bet they figure that way nobody will guess what’s really wrong.
I better start writing my Christmas wish list now so you know what to bring me.
The first thin I want is for Mommy to have the new baby. She’s awful big, so could you please let her have it right away? I can tell Daddy’s worried about her and they’ll both be happy after the baby’s born. Mommy says he’s a boy and his name is Billy. That’s nice, but if you can still do it, could you please make Billy a girl? I’d much rather have a little sister.
The next thing I want is for Rose from Hal and Rose’s Café to give my Aunt Hannah her famous coconut cake recipe for the cookbook. Poor Aunt Hannah’s asked for it a bunch of times, but Rose won’t give it her. Could you get it, please? Tonight was supposed to be the last chance to test recipes for the cookbook, but Aunt Hannah’s editor is very nice, and I bet he’ll let her put it in.
This next thing is a big favor I need. I know this is your busy season, but if you have time, please talk to Uncle Mike. Tell him that Aunt Hannah would make a perfect wife and he should ask her. And then please talk to Uncle Norman. I want him to ask Aunt Hannah, too. That way she can make up her mind which one she likes best and I’ll get to be in another wedding. I’m already going to be in Lisa and Herb’s wedding. It was supposed to be on New Year’s Eve, but Lisa and Herb didn’t have time to do everything, so Lisa asked Mommy to help her. Now it’s on Valentine’s Day, and Mommy says I get to wear a beautiful red velvet dress and carry white roses with the thorns cut off.
There’s another thing I want, Santa. Mommy and Aunt Hannah are all worried about Grandma and Winthrop. They think he’s a crook. If he is, please make him leave Grandma alone. If he’s not, I guess it’s okay, even though I don’t like him very much.
I don’t really want anything else for Christmas except maybe a puppy. I think I’m gong to get that anyway, but not right away.
Love,
Tracey.
P.S. If it’s not a secret, will you tell me how you got my dollhouse inside our living room last Christmas? I know it’s too big to fit down the chimney. I measured.