Cinnamon Roll Murder

Chapter Twenty-Six

“I hate pantyhose!”

Michelle looked over at Hannah and laughed. “They’re a necessary evil. And they do keep your legs warm in the winter.”

“So do long woolen socks,” Hannah grumbled, but she was smiling as she got out of her cookie truck in the parking lot of the Lake Eden Inn. They were being treated to Sally’s brunch and that, by itself, was a reason to embrace the whole dress-up-and-wear-pantyhose thing.

“How about a ride, ladies?” Sally’s husband, Dick, asked them as he pulled up behind Hannah’s cookie truck.

“Thanks, Dick. We’ll take it,” Hannah said, glancing down at Michelle’s dress flats. “I forgot to drop her off at the door and she’ll never make it up the hill in those.”

“But you’d make it up the hill,” Michelle said, eyeing Hannah’s moose-hide boots. “We should drop by the mall this afternoon and get you a pair of dress shoes.”

“No way! I never wear anything I can’t run in. And I can’t run in dress shoes. Unless I’m locked in my condo, it’s boots, tennis shoes, and moccasins for me.”

Dick laughed. “Knowing you, you’d probably wear boots or tennis shoes to your own wedding.”

Hannah had an uncomfortable feeling as she got into his tram. The dream she’d had early this morning was still with her, but she knew she had to make light of it in front of Dick. He was a kind man and he’d never knowingly hurt her feelings. “Boots to my own wedding? Really Dick! I’d never do that!”

“Well, that’s a surprise.” Dick looked down at her scuffed, secondhand moose-hide boots and smiled as he climbed into the driver’s seat.

“But tennis shoes to my own wedding? I might do that. They’d be a lot more comfortable than satin shoes. And most wedding gowns are so long, nobody can see the bride’s feet anyway.”

Luckily, Sally was mixing up a pitcher of mimosas at the bar. “Would you like a mimosa?” she asked.

“No thanks. I’m drinking plain orange juice today. Do you have a minute, Sally?”

“Sure.” Sally motioned for one of the waitresses to pick up the pitcher, and then she came out from behind the bar to slide onto the stool next to Hannah’s. “What gives?”

“I’ve got another mystery on my hands. The night you and Dick booked Cinnamon Roll Six at Club Nineteen, Buddy Neiman was seen arguing with a dark-haired woman.”

“And she figures into his murder somehow?”

“I don’t know. She could figure in, and that means I have to find out who she was. Did you or Dick happen to see a dark-haired woman with Buddy that night?”

Sally shut her eyes for a moment, and then she shook her head. “Not that I recall. Can you describe her?”

“Red sweater, black skirt, high-heeled boots, and a lot of makeup. She was sitting near the stage. I have a picture, but it’s not very good.”

“That’s the understatement of the year!” Sally said as she glanced down at the photo Hannah placed on the bar. “Her own mother couldn’t recognize her. But I did see the woman you described. She was sitting near the stage watching the show. I thought she was ... never mind.” Sally looked down at the picture again. “What is this glitter on her wrist?”

“It’s a bracelet with silver snowflakes. It was sold at ...”

“That’s where I saw her before!” Sally interrupted. “When Norman brought her out here to dinner the first time, I knew I’d seen her somewhere. But she was dressed so differently then, and I didn’t realize it was her until now.” Sally tapped the photo with her finger. “That’s Doctor Bev!”

There it was! The confirmation of all her suspicions! Hannah drew a deep breath and asked, “Are you sure?”

“Yes, I’m sure. I know because I recognized her bracelet. She wore it out here the first time they came to dinner with Carrie and Earl.”

“Doctor Bev was the woman you saw at Club Nineteen?” Hannah asked again, just to be sure.

“Yes, she was. Of course she looked a lot different then, and that’s probably why I didn’t put it all together until you showed me that photo. It’s like Doctor Jekyll and Mr. Hyde. Here in Lake Eden she’s Miss Goody Two Shoes. But that night at Club Nineteen, she was the Woman in Red.”

“Is it possible that you could be mistaken?”

Sally thought about it for a moment and then she shook her head. “No. It was Doctor Bev. I’m ninety-nine point nine percent positive of that!”

Michelle was eating an omelet from the special order breakfast bar when Hannah got back to their table. To Hannah’s way of thinking, ordering an omelet at one of Sally’s breakfast buffets was a waste. Not that they weren’t good. They were. It was just that anybody could make an omelet for breakfast, but it was unlikely that you’d make Swedish pancakes, blintzes, maple sugar glazed ham, and crullers with three different glazes for your own breakfast at home.

Hannah was having a little of all of the above except the omelet. The old adage, Her eyes were bigger than her stomach always came into play when she attended a buffet. She wanted to taste everything, and her plate became loaded with so many different types of food, that it ended up being a crowded palette of foods that failed to retain their individual identity.

“Vonnie?” Delores spoke to Doc Knight’s secretary. “Tell Hannah what you told me about the night of the accident.”

“It’s probably nothing, but I thought it was a little unusual,” Vonnie began, putting down her fork. “When Buddy Neiman came up with his paperwork, I checked through it to make sure that nothing was missing. He’d filled out everything, but I noticed that he had the zip code for Minneapolis wrong. I asked him about it and he looked a little embarrassed. He said he should have written five-five-four-oh-three, but he kept forgetting the zip code. I crossed it out when he gave me the correct one.”

Hannah nodded. So far there wasn’t anything interesting in what Vonnie had told her.

“Well, I got to thinking about his admission form, so I pulled it today to take another look at it. The incorrect zip code Buddy put on his form wasn’t anywhere near Minneapolis. I looked it up and it was a zip code from Seattle.”

Seattle again. Hannah gave a little shake of her head. Seattle just kept cropping up in her investigation.

“That’s not really that unusual,” Doc said, before Hannah could respond. “He was probably in shock due to his injury and the trauma of the accident, and an old zip code popped into his head.”

Delores gave a little laugh. “I did something similar to that once. I was filling out the insurance forms after your dad died, and I put the phone number I had when I was in high school.”

“Lori.” Doc reached out to cover her hand with his. “That was shock, too. You’d just lost your husband, and you wanted to go back to happier times.”

Delores gave him a poignant smile. “You’re right. You always understand.”

“I’m just trying to get onto your good side. I hate to travel alone and I want you to ride down to the lab with me when I take in those DNA samples.”

Delores laughed and the poignant moment dissipated. “Why didn’t you just come out and ask me? I’d love to go with you.”

“I’m going to get another potato pancake,” Vonnie announced, standing up.

“I’ll go with you,” Andrea said, pushing back her chair. “I want more eggs Benedict. That’s something I never get unless I’m out somewhere for breakfast.”

They ate in silence for another couple of minutes, and then Hannah pushed back her chair. She’d tasted everything on her plate, and now it was time for dessert. “I’m going to get one of Sally’s fresh crullers.”

“Wait up, Hannah.” Marlene stood up. “I’ll go with you. I want to get another waffle.”

Hannah glanced over at Marlene’s plate. There was a half-finished waffle on it, but she didn’t point that out. Perhaps Marlene wanted to tell her something in private that she didn’t want the rest of the group to hear.

There was a line at the buffet table. The people ahead of them were deep in their own conversation and there was no one behind them. Hannah turned to Marlene. “What is it?” she asked.

“What is what?”

“You still had half a waffle on your plate. I figured you just wanted the chance to talk to me alone.”

“That must be why you’re such a good detective,” Marlene said, smiling at Hannah. “I don’t know if this is important, but something’s bothering me about Ben.”

“What’s that?”

“I know he got that plum internship in Los Angeles and everything, and I can’t fault him for leaving. Facial reconstructions is his specialty, you know. But before you got here, Doc said he was glad that Ben would be able to spend some time with his family. And Ben told me he didn’t have any family. We stopped for a pizza after work one night, and we got a pitcher of beer to go with our pizza. I don’t like beer very much, so Ben drank most of it. And that was when he told me that his parents died a couple of years ago, and now that his older brother was dead, he didn’t have any family.”

“But Doc said Ben told him he’d get a chance to see his family while he was in California?”

“I know. Maybe Ben was talking about an uncle, or cousins, or something like that. Or maybe he felt he had to give Doc an excuse for leaving so suddenly. There’s also the possibility that Doc got it wrong. It might have been Ben’s friends he was talking about, not his family. It just struck me as inconsistent, that’s all. And things that are inconsistent bother me.”

“Did you mention this to Ben?”

“No, and I won’t. He probably doesn’t even remember he told me that he didn’t have any family. He was pretty buzzed that night. And maybe he just fed me a line to get my sympathy and make me feel closer to him. If that was his intention, it worked.”

“Oh,” Hannah said, catching the implication and settling for a comment that was perfectly noncommittal.

“It was just one of those things that seemed right at the time. And then later, I found myself wishing it had never happened. Do you know what I mean?”

“Yes, I do.”

“I don’t know why I felt I should tell you all this. It probably doesn’t mean anything at all. But your mother said we should tell you anything out of the ordinary that we noticed at the hospital, and this seemed to fit into that category.”

“What’s next?” Michelle asked, as they got out of the tram next to Hannah’s cookie truck and Andrea’s Volvo.

“Doctor Bev,” Hannah said, taking her keys out of her saddlebag purse.

Andrea and Michelle turned to look at Hannah in shock. “Did you just say what I thought you said?” Andrea asked.

“Yes. I have to question Doctor Bev and I know she’ll be at Claire’s dress shop at three o’clock. Norman said she was driving back from the Cities for a wedding dress fitting.”

Andrea put her hands over her eyes and gave a little moan. “So you’re going to question Doctor Bev in her wedding dress?”

“Yes, as long as Claire agrees.” Hannah opened the door to her cookie truck and climbed up into the driver’s seat. “You’re going with me, aren’t you, Michelle?”

“I think I’d better be there. Claire might need help to break up the fight.”

“What fight?”

“The fight you’re bound to have if you see Doctor Bev in her wedding dress.”

“There won’t be any fight. We’re just going to have a nice, civilized question and answer session,” Hannah gave a little smile that belied her words. “Or perhaps I should say I’m planning to grill her within an inch of her life! Would you like to come along, Andrea?”

“No way!” Andrea said emphatically. And then she gave a little sigh. “I’m going to make a quick stop at the mall, and then I’m going home to wait for you to call me. I’ll be a wreck for the rest of the day if I’m not the first to know what happened!”