Apple Turnover Murder

Chapter Eighteen

“So you knew him?” Norman asked, picking up his last French fry.

“He was an assistant professor when I was going for my masters,” Hannah said, hoping that would be enough of an explanation to satisfy Norman.

“That’s funny. He didn’t act as if he knew you on Christmas Eve.”

“It was pretty clear he didn’t remember me. And I wasn’t about to embarrass a guest by reminding him we’d known each other years ago.”

“Right.” Norman nodded. “What do you know about him?”

“I don’t know anything about his recent life, but there were rumors about him on campus. He had more than one girlfriend and it turned out that he was engaged at the time.”

“Then he’s got a wife or an ex-wife?”

“He’s got one ex-wife that Mike interviewed, and that’s not the same woman he married while I was on campus.”

“Two ex-wives then. How about now? Is he married again?”

Hannah shrugged. “I’m not sure. I don’t think we have to worry about the wives, though. Mike’s checking into those. He does seem to think it’s a crime of passion since the first stab wound was lethal and he was stabbed four more times.”

“Revenge?”

“That’s certainly possible. Revenge, jealousy, hatred…it could be any strong emotion, I guess.”

“He sounds like a guy that really played the field,” Norman said. “I wonder if any of that playing took place here in Lake Eden.”

“I’d be willing to bet it did. The only problem is identifying his playmates.”

“Delores?” Norman suggested. And at almost the same time Hannah said, “Mother?”

They looked at each other and laughed. “I’ll ask her,” Hannah promised. “It’s too bad your mother isn’t here. She’d enjoy helping.”

“I know. She loves to nose around for information. But what we really need is a spy on campus.”

“Michelle.” Both of them spoke at once again, and they even nodded in tandem.

“We did it again,” Hannah commented. “It’s like we’re twins or something. And that reminds me…You know the Connors twins, don’t you?”

“Sure. I whitened their teeth before their last big competition. I figured it was the least I could do for Lake Eden’s most famous couple.”

“Better not let Mayor Bascomb and Stephanie hear you say that!”

“You’re right. Now what about the twins?”

“They’re living on the campus now, and Sherri’s a secretary at the English department office. We could ask her if she’s heard the other secretaries talking about Bradford’s romances.”

“Good idea.” Norman waited until Hannah had jotted it down in the new steno pad she’d brought with her. “I wonder where Professor Ramsey lived.”

“Andrea could find out for us. If he lived on campus, there’ll be a vacancy and Lake Eden Realty handles all the college apartment leases. And if he lived off campus, there’ll be a house for rent and Lake Eden Realty will handle that, too.”

“We can talk to her tonight at the school. She’s going to Casino Night, isn’t she?”

“Yes. She called me this afternoon and said they’d be there. As sheriff, Bill’s expected to attend these big charity events.”

Norman glanced down at the steno pad and pointed to an entry Hannah had made earlier. “Who’s Tim Pearson?”

“Bradford’s research assistant. Tim wrote a paper for Bradford that gave him a rung up the academic ladder at Macalester. In payment, Bradford assured Tim that the assistant professor spot here at Lake Eden Community College would be his.”

“But those things are decided by committee, aren’t they?”

“Yes, they are. But Bradford knew everyone on the hiring committee, and he assured Tim that they’d take his recommendation.”

“I see. If Tim didn’t get that job, it’s a motive for murder. And that’s why you wrote down his name as a suspect?”

“Right.”

They both fell silent as Rose approached their booth with the coffee carafe. “More coffee?” she asked.

“Yes, thanks,” Hannah said, and Rose filled her cup.

“How about you, Dr. Rhodes?”

“I could use another cup,” Norman said.

“Now how about dessert?” Rose asked, once she’d cleared their table, rather efficiently Hannah thought, by moving their dirty dishes to another unoccupied booth. “I’ve got two pieces of Peachy Keen Cake left.”

Hannah sighed. There was no way she could resist Rose’s Peachy Keen Cake.

“Was that sigh a yes?” Rose asked her.

“Yes.” Hannah looked over at Norman. “Have you ever tried it?”

“No,” Norman said, looking interested.

“Well, then you’re in for a treat.” Hannah looked up at Rose with a smile. “We’ll each have a piece with a scoop of vanilla ice cream, please.”

Rose delivered their cake within a minute or two, and for almost a quarter-hour, there was no sound in Hannah and Norman’s booth any louder than the occasional soft moan of pleasure. But all good things must come to an end, and once they’d finished their cake and their dessert dishes had been cleared, Hannah turned back to her suspect list.

“Back to work,” Hannah said, staring down at the blank lines on the pad.

“How about students he flunked?” Norman suggested.

“Would that be a motive for murder?”

“It could be. Let’s say Professor Ramsey’s failing grade was the straw that broke the camel’s back. Because the student flunked his class, he flunked out of college. And because he flunked out of college, he…I don’t know. Lost his girlfriend? Got disowned by his family? Whatever. It’s got to be some dire consequence.”

“Or at least some consequence that the student thinks is dire.”

“Right.”

“It’s a great idea, Norman. But how can we get access to the community college grades?”

“I can probably find a way. Just write down failing student and leave the rest up to me.”

Hannah was more than happy to do that, and as she wrote it down, she thought of something else. “We should probably check into his finances to see if he was living above his means.”

“What will that prove?”

“College professors don’t make that much money, and he had two ex-wives. He might have had alimony and maybe even child support.”

“If he was strapped for money, he might have turned to some illegal way to get it?”

“Exactly.” Hannah gave him a smile. Norman always caught on fast. “There’s dealing drugs, blackmail, gambling, all sorts of things.”

“So we need to find out his salary. And then we need to find out what he was spending to see if he had any extra.”

Hannah glanced at her watch. “We’d better go. Casino Night starts in less than ten minutes.”

“Okay. I’m ready. I hope they have all the casino games. I feel lucky tonight.”

“So do I,” Hannah said, and it was perfectly true. Perhaps Mike had been right and Norman had been upset over Carrie’s marriage. Or perhaps he’d been exhausted from late nights with his dental school friends. It could even be that he envied their fancy new dental clinic and felt less successful practicing run-of-the-mill dentistry here in Lake Eden. It didn’t really matter what the problem had been, now that it appeared to be solved. She was just happy to have the old Norman, the comfortable sweet Norman she loved, back with her again.