“You’re right,” Dot began to smile. “Delores and Mrs. Chambers, my first grade teacher, have something in common. They both hate it when someone is late.”
Hannah and Michelle exchanged smiles. Dot had been working at the Lake Eden Inn since she was a senior in high school and she knew everything about everybody who came in regularly.
“Just follow me,” Dot told them. “I’ll take you to your mother’s booth. And congratulations for being on time. Your mother’s going to be happy.”
Michelle poked Hannah gently in the back as if to say I told you so! and then she followed Hannah as Dot led them up the three, carpeted steps that led to the raised area with five private booths.
“How are Jimmy and Jamie?” Hannah asked Dot on their way past the other booths.
“They’re both just fine. Jimmy got a promotion. They really like him at work. And Jamie’s just as active as ever. I don’t know how we’d manage without Jimmy’s mother to babysit. We’d have to hire a Jordan High track star to keep up with Jamie. Somehow he must have missed learning how to walk because it’s nothing but run, run, run.”
“But your mother-in-law can handle that?” Michelle asked.
“Yes. She says it keeps her in training and she loves it.”
“In training?” It was Hannah’s turn to ask the question.
“Yes. She runs the Minneapolis Marathon every year and next year she wants to run the Boston one. The whole family is very athletic.”
When they arrived at the last booth on the end, the privacy curtain was drawn. Each booth had a lace curtain for semi-privacy, and another heavier curtain for total privacy.
“They’re here, Delores,” Dot announced, pulling back the curtains and ushering Hannah and Michelle inside the enclosure.
“Wonderful!” Delores greeted them, and then turned to Dot. “Could you please ask our waitress to serve the wine now?”
“Of course, but I’ll be happy to do that,” Dot offered, and napkin in hand, she extracted a wine bottle from the silver cooler next to Delores.
Uh-oh! Hannah mind warned. It’s not champagne. And it would be champagne if Mother had learned the name of Tori’s business manager from Stephanie.
“Just a half-glass for me,” Michelle told Dot. “I’m the designated driver tonight and it looks like it’s going to snow.”
Dot laughed. “It’s November in Minnesota. Of course it’s going to snow.”
All three of them laughed and Dot looked pleased. “It’s not going to be a storm, Michelle. Jimmy always puts on the weather before he goes to work and they were predicting light snow and no winds to speak of. You shouldn’t have any trouble driving home.”
“In that case, I’ll have a whole glass,” Michelle said. “But only one. After that, I’d like soda water.”
“I’ll tell your waitress,” Dot said with a smile. “You’re having wine, aren’t you, Delores?”
“Yes. Doc dropped me off on his way to his consultation and he’s going to pick me up later. I don’t have to worry about driving home.”
Once the glasses were filled and Dot had left to go back to her hostess station, Delores gave a little sigh. “I’m afraid I have bad news, girls.”
Hannah guessed. “Stephanie wouldn’t tell you the name of Tori’s business manager?”
“Stephanie didn’t know the name of Tori’s business manager. She called Ricky-Ticky to ask him, and he didn’t know, either.”
Hannah felt her spirits fall. “So the only person who knows is Stan Kramer and he won’t be back until Monday.”
“I’m afraid that’s right, dear. I even called Nina Reinke to get Alma’s number.”
Hannah knew that Alma Reinke had been the former director of the Lake Eden Players and Tori had worked with her for several months before Alma had moved out of state.
“First, I had to track Nina down. She got married last summer and she lives in Brainerd now. She gave me Alma’s number so that I could call her.”
“Alma’s in Chicago now, isn’t she?” Hannah was amazed at her mother’s determination.
“Yes, dear.”
“Did Mrs. Reinke know anything?” Michelle asked.
“She knew quite a few things. Alma’s neighbor is having an affair with a repairman and he parks his truck in their driveway from noon to one on Mondays and Wednesdays. She’s trying the latest low-everything diet and she still hasn’t lost an ounce, her sister had a gall bladder attack last Thursday, and her television set is broken. She must have been terribly bored, because she kept me on the phone for a solid fifteen minutes. And I still had to get dressed for dinner.”
“So you didn’t learn anything helpful from her at all,” Michelle said sympathetically.
“Nothing,” Delores said with a sigh, “but it was worth a shot. Alma and Tori used to spend a lot of time together, and I thought Tori might have mentioned her business manager. I’m sorry, girls. I’m afraid we’ve reached a dead end until Stan comes back to town.”
“Unless we can learn the name of Tori’s business manager from another source,” Hannah corrected her.
Delores nodded in agreement. “You’re right, Hannah. But how can we do that?”
“Do you still have the key that Tori gave you?”
“No. Mike asked me to give it to him when he interviewed me on the night she was murdered. And of course I did. I believe in complying with law enforcement.”
“You gave him the original key, is that right?”
“That’s correct, dear.”
Michelle laughed and Hannah knew she’d caught on immediately. “You always told us to make a copy of important keys right after we got them.”
“Yes, indeed. It’s good policy, dear.”
“So you made a copy right after Tori gave you her key, but you didn’t give the copy to Mike. That’s right, isn’t it, Mother?” Hannah exchanged smiles with Michelle.
“That’s right, dear. I complied with everything Mike asked of me, but Mike didn’t ask me if I had more than one key, and it never occurred to me to tell him.”
Michelle laughed. “You would have made an amazing trial lawyer, Mother. You’re very sneaky.”