Fudge Cupcake Murder

Chapter Thirty

The darkness folded around her like a welcoming blanket as Hannah raced across the uneven ground, heading straight toward her cookie truck. The advantage of surprise worked in her favor and she made it all the way there before she realized that she'd grabbed the bag of cupcakes, but she'd left her keys on the counter.

Her cookie truck sat adjacent to an area filled with disabled vehicles. Hannah whirled and ran with the wind at her back, across the dirt road that divided the salvage yard in half and straight into the darker area where the disabled vehicles were parked. Since there weren't as many lights in this area, there was less chance that Ted would spot her. Hannah ducked down and zigzagged past the hulking wrecks, heading toward the car at the very end, an old Cadillac with peeling paint and a cracked windshield. The door was a bit rusted, but Hannah's frantic jerk on the handle did the trick. In a flash, Hannah was inside the back seat, huddled on the floorboards, with the door shut tightly behind her.

For long moments Hannah didn't breathe, but all she could hear was the howling wind outside the car and the thudding of her own panicked heart. If Ted hadn't spotted her, she might be safe. He'd have to search every vehicle on his lot if he wanted to find her and while he was searching, she'd take a clandestine hike down the access road in the dark and catch a ride back to town.

Cautiously, Hannah took a peek out the back window, but she didn't see Ted. Should she attempt to run for freedom now? Or was he out there somewhere, his eyes scanning the rows of junked cars, hoping that was what she'd do? If only she had a cell phone! Her former objections seemed petty compared to the advantages in a situation like hers! They ought to issue them like pillows on an overseas flight. Anyone who jumped on-board a murder investigation would get one.

Even though the suspense was killing her and her muscles were screaming for action, Hannah decided to wait and listen. Since the cars were parked on gravel, she'd hear Ted's footsteps long before he arrived at her hiding place. She hunkered down on the floorboards, barely daring to breathe, listening for Ted over the sound of the wind and the occasional far-away honk of a car on the highway.

Was Ted still out there looking for her? Or was this an exercise in futility? Perhaps he had realized that it would take hours to find her and given it up as a bad job. His first priority would be to avoid arrest. It was possible that he was miles away by now, fleeing Winnetka County and the State of Minnesota in the fastest car he had on his lot.

Hannah reached for the door handle, but she pulled her hand back before she touched it. It was smart to be cautious. She'd count to a thousand and if she hadn't heard anything by then, she'd inch open the door and make a run for it.

Counting in the dark, her face pressed to a dusty floor mat, was a trial of the patience Hannah didn't possess. She got to a hundred quite easily, and to two hundred with a bit more effort. Three hundred was a struggle and four hundred a real battle. Five hundred was iffy, but she made it. And six hundred was even iffier. Seven hundred was achieved through sheer force of will, the eight hundred mark bespoke endurance she'd only dreamed of in the past, and nine hundred was a milestone of both determination and fortitude. Hannah had reached nine hundred and thirty-two and she was beginning to think she'd make it all the way to the goal that had seemed so unreachable only minutes ago, when she heard a loud roar. And then something hit the Cadillac so hard, her whole body bounced up from the floorboards and smacked down again.

Hannah curled up in a ball, dizzy and disorientated. She didn't seem to be injured, but it had felt exactly as if another car had smacked into the Cadillac at highway speeds. When she recovered her equilibrium, she realized that something else was wrong. The Cadillac was rocking back and forth. When at least thirty seconds had passed and the rocking had failed to stop, Hannah risked a quick peek out the back window.

"Ohhh!" Hannah moaned, her mouth dropping open in total shock. The Cadillac was no longer sitting on terra firma!

Her mind refused to accept what her eyes were seeing. Hannah blinked but the ground was still dropping down below the Cadillac's tires. It took a moment for Hannah to make sense out of what was happening. The ground wasn't dropping; the Cadillac was rising. Ted was lifting it with the claw, a giant crane he used to move disabled cars and trucks.

Hannah glanced down again and wished she hadn't. The car was swaying sickeningly and the ground was receding fast. She shut her eyes and moaned softly in fear. She was terrified. It wasn't the height that frightened her. She could climb a ladder or an open staircase. She could even descend a fire escape, as she'd had to do in college. But when it came to swaying high in the air with nothing beneath her, she would much rather take a pass. It was the reason she'd never ridden in a hot air balloon, and why she'd refused to take Tracey on the Ferris wheel at the Winnetka County Fair last summer. Call it crazy, or phobic, or whatever, she really couldn't cope.

It was better if she didn't watch. The sight of the world swaying beneath her was enough to paralyze her mind. Hannah sank down with a groan and hugged the floorboards again. She had the sickening feeling that she knew what Ted was doing and it didn't bode well for her. Beatrice had told her about the new car crusher and how Ted used the crane to hoist the cars he wanted to crush and drop them inside. Beatrice had also mentioned that their efficient new piece of heavy machinery could reduce a luxury car into something approaching the size of a breadbox. Hannah wasn't sure exactly how big a breadbox was since no one had used them in years, but it was certainly smaller than she was and that brought up something she didn't really want to think about.

Cringing on the floorboards of the Cadillac wouldn't save her. Hannah took a deep breath and forced herself to look out the back window again. She was up really high, almost as high as the top of the trees, but she wouldn't think about that either. She took another deep breath and held it as she looked down at the ground.

Help had arrived! Mike was here in his squad car and he was talking to Ted!

Hannah stuck her head out the window and shouted, but her loudest yell was no match for the roar of the heavy machinery and the howling of the wind. The Cadillac was swaying right over Mike's head, but he didn't hear her. It was too far to jump, even if she were a daredevil, but there might be a way she could get Mike's attention.

Hannah scooted up between the front bucket seats. She grabbed the steering wheel and leaned on the horn. That should do it. But nothing happened and Hannah realized that there was no battery in the Cadillac. Ted must have removed it to sell it for parts before he scheduled this car for the crusher.

Not to be defeated by the absence of an easy way to get Mike's attention, Hannah stuck her head out of the hole where the passenger window used to be. Mike had gotten out of his cruiser and he was standing right below her. It was a case of so near and yet so far. Hannah knew she had to get his attention before he finished talking to Ted and left.

Quickly, Hannah wiggled out of her bomber jacket. She'd drop it right on Mike. Then, when he looked up to find out where it had come from, he'd see her leaning out the window. Hannah poked the jacket through the window, gave a little prayer for gravity to do its thing, and dropped it. It was perfect. It was going to fall right… uh-oh!

The wind gusted at the critical moment and the jacket sailed behind Mike, where he didn't notice. What else did she have to drop? Hannah glanced down at the bag of cupcakes. They'd have to do. She held one out the window and dropped it, but it fell short of the mark. She corrected her drop with the next one and she came a lot closer. One more and she should have it.

Hannah let out a whoop as the cupcake bonked Mike on the top of his head and bounced away. Ted said something and Hannah could see Mike smile and nod. Even though she was too far away to hear, Hannah could imagine the conversation. Ted had said, Really windy tonight, huh? And Mike had replied, That's a fact. For a second there, I thought someone was throwing things at me.

There was one thing Hannah knew for sure. If Mike left without looking up, her goose was cooked… or rather, pressed. She dropped the final cupcake and it hit Mike hard. Then she yelled for all she was worth and Mike looked up. But just as he figured it out, Ted jumped him.

Hannah's anguished cry reached no one's ears except her own. The man who was trying to save her was now in trouble. But what could she do to help him from a car that was suspended in the air?

Hannah thought fast. The Cadillac was stripped. There was nothing loose inside that she could throw. But she still had her boots and they might do some damage if she dropped them from this height. Hannah quickly removed them and dangled one out the window. Then she looked down to aim.

Ted was on top of Mike, fighting for the upper hand, when Hannah dropped her boot. It landed on Ted's shoulder and he shrugged it off, but that minor distraction gave Mike just enough time to gain the advantage and roll over on top. Hannah was watching with her heart in her throat when she caught movement out of the corner of her eye. Bill and Norman were here and they were rushing to Mike's aid.

Hannah gave a huge sigh of relief. That had been close. As Bill helped Mike subdue Ted and cuff him, Hannah raised both hands and clasped them in a victory salute. And then the Cadillac began to lower, inch by inch, foot by foot, with a squeal of steel cables. Since Bill and Mike were still busy taking Ted into custody, Hannah knew that Norman had found the proper lever to lower the car.

When the wheels of the Cadillac touched the ground, Hannah didn't waste any time climbing out of the car. Her knees were shaking, she was missing a boot, and her jacket was long gone. Her hands were smeared with chocolate, but when she saw Ted sitting in the back of the cruiser, a huge smile spread over her face. The good guys had won again.

Once her boot was back on her foot and Norman had found her jacket, Hannah was full of questions for Mike. "How did you know I was out here?"

"You'll answer my questions first," Mike ordered, grabbing her by the arm. "Did you know that car was headed for the crusher?"

Hannah was about to say something nasty about his highhanded attitude when she realized that his hand was shaking. Mike had been so terrified for her that he was still trembling. That fact that Mike was shaking made her start to tremble a bit, too. "I knew it where it was headed," she admitted in a small voice, "and I would have ended up there if you hadn't shown up."

"Attempted murder?" Mike asked, still hanging onto her arm as if he never wanted to let her go.

"That's right."

"Because you figured out that Ted killed Sheriff Grant?"

Hannah hesitated. This was her chance to let Mike save face. "*I wasn't really sure he'd done it until he took off after me."

"And that was when you put the pieces together?"

Hannah nodded. In a way it was true. She hadn't known, for certain, until Ted had started whacking that tire iron against his palm. "My turn. Why did you come out here?"

"Lonnie called to tell me about the stolen car report and I came out here to ask Ted some questions about the cars he used for salvage. I had no idea that you were here or that you were in danger."

Hannah turned to Norman, who was standing next to Bill. "Why are you here?"

"I drove out to the sheriff's station to get some dental claim forms. I was just talking to Bill when Andrea called to ask if you were there and to say that you were late to pick up Tracey."

Hannah gave Norman a warm smile for catching on and not mentioning their investigation, and then she turned to Bill. "And Andrea told you she'd sent me out here to pick up the taillight for you?"

"That's right. When I couldn't get Ted on the phone, Norman and I drove out here."

"Good thing you did," Hannah said, glancing over at Mike. "Right, Mike?"

"That's right. I would have gotten him cuffed by myself eventually, but it was a lot easier this way. What evidence do you have for me, Hannah?"

"There's a tire iron on the counter in the office. It might be the murder weapon and you'll probably want to test it for traces of blood. And you'd better call Clara and Marguerite Hollenbeck right away and tell them not to remove that stain on Krista's party dress. It could be Sheriff Grant's blood."

"Anything else?" Mike fought to keep the pleasant expression on his face and Hannah knew he hated to ask her for advice.

"Just one thing. I think Ted was running a stolen car ring and a chop shop, but I wasn't able to find anything to confirm that."

"We'll find it," Mike said. He looked less aggravated and Hannah knew she'd scored some points. Of course she could tell him exactly where to find the parts list for the man in Minneapolis and the bill of lading for the stolen cars, but she'd let him do it on his own. As Mike was so fond of saying, he was the law enforcement specialist, not her.

"It's after eight," Norman said after a quick glance at his watch. "If Mike and Bill don't need us, let's go get Tracey and take her to the Haunted Basement."

"I'll call Andrea and tell her you're on the way," Bill said, and then he turned to glance at Mike. "That's okay, isn't it?"

Mike nodded. He was obviously in the mood to be magnanimous, now that Sheriff Grant's killer was in custody. "Sure. Go ahead and do the Halloween thing with the kids. You can drop by the station when you're through and give us your statements."

"Your car, or mine?" Norman asked, walking with Hannah toward the office.

"Both. You go pick up Tracey and Karen and take them to the Haunted Basement. I'll run home to feed Moishe and join you there with the Corn Cookies for the party."

"Okay," Norman said, stepping forward to open the door of Hannah's truck. "Too bad I didn't bring a costume."

Hannah climbed in the driver's seat and reached in the back for her minimal costume. "I've got one you can use. I'll pick up another old sheet at the condo and come as a ghost."

"Cornflakes?" Norman looked puzzled as he accepted the box, but he started to laugh the moment she handed him the plastic knife. "This is just great, Hannah."

Hannah's eyes widened. If Norman had caught on to her visual pun, he'd be the first person in Lake Eden who had. And then Hannah remembered what Beatrice had said about Doctor Love and how romantic partners should share similar senses of humor. "Do you know what it is?"

"Sure," Norman said, grinning at her. "It's just brilliant, Hannah. I've worn a lot of Halloween costumes over the years, but I've never been a cereal killer before."