Cherry Cheesecake Murder (32 page)

Andrea looked shocked. “But that would be dangerous! I wonder if anybody was ever electrocuted.”

“I don’t know. That was way before my time.”

“I can ask Mother about it,” Michelle offered.

“I wouldn’t if I were you,” Andrea warned.

Hannah nodded her agreement. “That was way before her time, too. And you know Mother doesn’t like to be reminded of her age.”

“I know that. I just thought I could ask her if she ever came in here when she was a little girl and if she ever saw anyone actually using…” Michelle stopped and sighed. “You’re right. Better not.”

“Let’s get down to business,” Andrea suggested. “I have to take Tracey over to wardrobe when Honey’s done with her makeup.”

Michelle turned to Hannah. “I found out about Jared.”

“What’s all this about Jared?” Andrea asked, grabbing the steno pad Hannah had placed on the table and flipping to the suspects page. “He’s not even on here.”

Hannah handed her a pen. “We were waiting for you to write him down. Michelle and I watched the tape from the dress rehearsal and Jared was one of the people who had the opportunity to switch the revolvers.”

“What’s his motive?” Andrea asked, jotting down Jared’s name.

“He doesn’t have one,” Michelle answered quickly. “And he didn’t do it, either.”

“How do you know that?” Hannah asked her.

“Because once Jared finished straightening the flowers on the desk, he walked over and took the chair next to Honey. He sat there with her until the gun went off, and he was still with her when they were all ushered out by the deputies and searched.”

“So he never had the opportunity to get rid of the prop gun?” Hannah asked, catching on immediately.

“That’s right. I checked it out with Honey and she substantiates everything Jared told me.”

“Well, that lets Jared out,” Andrea said, crossing his name off the list. “Is there anybody else I don’t know about”

“There’s Lloyd,” Michelle said.

“Lloyd,” Andrea repeated, her pen poised over the suspect column. “Shall I write him down? Or will I just have to cross him out again right away?”

“Write him down,” Michelle said.

And at the very same time, Hannah said, “Don’t bother to write down his name. Lloyd’s in the clear.”

“You cleared him?” Andrea wanted to know.

“No, Mike did. He told me about it this morning. Lloyd didn’t have any time to get rid of the gun. Mike watched him go over to the desk and check the drawer, and then he came right back to where Mike was standing so they could finish their discussion about guns.”

“Opportunity to switch, but no opportunity to hide the prop gun,” Andrea summarized. “Okay, who else did we eliminate?”

“Connor,” Hannah told her.

“How did we do that?”

“He didn’t have the opportunity. Frances wrote down the names of everyone who came in the door at Granny’s Attic for the dress rehearsal, and Connor wasn’t on her list.”

“Oh, good!” Andrea said with a smile. “I like Connor. Besides, I’ve talked to him a lot and I’m a pretty good judge of character. He’s just not the type to do anything violent.”

Michelle and Hannah exchanged glances, but they remained mum. Let Andrea have her illusions. The secret of Connor’s past wasn’t theirs to tell.

“We’re down to practically nobody,” Andrea told them, glancing at the list. “And I guess I should cross off Winnie’s name since we didn’t find the prop gun in her barn.”

Hannah reached out to still her sister’s hand. “Not quite yet. We only searched in one place and that gun could have been anywhere on her property. She could even have thrown it in the lake on the way home.”

“You mean…you think Winnie did it?”

“No, but she certainly had the motive. Everyone in town knew she couldn’t stand Dean, and she was bound and determined to stop him from filming at the park because he was going to move her brother’s statue.”

“Wait a second,” Andrea said, looking confused. “I thought she agreed to let Ross move the statue.”

“No, all they’re going to do is lift it with a crane and shoot the scene under it. Then they’ll lower it right back down again in exactly the same spot. That was the whole point. Dean wanted to put the statue in another location while he shot the scene, and move it back again when he was through. Winnie didn’t want it moved twice.”

“I guess that makes sense.” Andrea said. “That statue’s been sitting there for years, and she was probably afraid it wouldn’t hold up if they had to move it twice.”

Michelle looked a little sad. “If Dean had been satisfied with just lifting it up and shooting under it the way Lynne is going to do, Winnie might have signed the release form right away. But Dean had to have everything exactly his way. He was just as stubborn as Winnie. The only way two people that stubborn can reach a compromise is for one of them to back down.”

“Or wind up dead,” Hannah pointed out, turning to Andrea. “And that’s why you shouldn’t cross out Winnie’s name. Logically, she’s still a suspect…however illogical that seems.”

Hannah smiled as someone knocked on the back door of The Cookie Jar. It was probably Norman. He’d called this morning and asked if he could take her to watch Tracey’s big skating scene.

“Are you ready to go?” Norman asked, stepping inside when Hannah opened the door.

“Just let me get my coat. Mother and Carrie left about ten minutes ago and they said they’d save us a seat.” Hannah grabbed her parka coat from the hook by the door, and Norman held it as she put her arms into the sleeves. “Thanks,” she said, turning around to face Norman. Being this close to him was nice, a little like warming herself in front of a blazing fireplace on a cold winter’s afternoon, or snuggling up in a warm afghan with a good book.

“What?” Norman said, noticing her bemused expression.

“I was just thinking how much I missed you.”

“But I’ve been right here.”

“That’s true, but I haven’t been.” Hannah put her arms around his neck and gave him a hug and a kiss.

“That was nice,” Norman said, leading her out the door to his waiting sedan. “Maybe you should not be here more often.”

The Lake Eden Municipal Park looked like the circus had come to town. Since the skating scene was supposed to take place at a Winter Carnival–type affair, warming tents were set up around the outer perimeter of the park. The tents were heated and between takes, the extras could crowd into them to warm up. It was a bit colder than it had been the preceding two days, but this afternoon it had warmed up to a balmy forty degrees. That was rather pleasant for March, but standing for hours in the snow or on the frozen ground could drain body heat even from a hardy Minnesotan who was wearing insulated boots.

As they made their way through the crowd of people, Hannah spotted Eleanor and Otis Cox, each holding a leash attached to one of their huskies. Next to them were the first couple of Lake Eden, Mayor and Mrs. Bascomb, and Hannah began to like Stephanie Bascomb much better when she saw her bending down to pet the dogs. “What a crowd! It looks like everyone in town is here!”

“They put out a call for more extras this morning on KCOW radio. I heard it when I was driving out to the new house.”

“Why did you go out there?” Hannah asked.

“I wanted to make sure they installed the countertops when they said they would. You wanted black granite, didn’t you?”

“Right,” Hannah said. The moment the word left her lips she thought better of it, but it was too late. “I thought the black would look nice with the light oak cabinets. But really, Norman…you should have ordered what you wanted.”

“I want what you want,” Norman said, putting an end to that discussion. And then he slipped his arm around her shoulder and gave her a little hug as they walked over to join the mothers.

“You have no idea how difficult it was to save these chairs!” Delores said, greeting them with a complaint. “I put down my purse to show it was taken, but people kept asking me to move it.”

“Thank you so much for saving them, Mother.” Hannah knew it was time for compliments. Her mother always complained in an effort to gain her gratitude. “I’ve been on my feet all morning and I don’t think I could have stayed on them for another minute. By the way, these are for you and Carrie.”

Delores smiled as she took the bag. “Cookies? How sweet of you, dear! What kind are they?”

“They’re called Mock Turtles and you’d better eat them right now. It’s like a refrigerator out here and these cookies have caramel in the center. You could break a tooth if they got too chilled.”

“More business for me,” Norman said, causing the three of them to laugh. But Hannah noticed that her mother and Carrie each took a cookie immediately.

“Excuse me for just a minute,” Hannah said, getting up from her chair. “I see Frances over there and I need to ask her a question.”

“About the murder?’ Delores wanted to know.

“In a way, but only indirectly. I’ll be right back.”

Frances was standing in front of the statue, obviously guarding it from curious onlookers. She was a substantial woman with curves that were apparent even under her bulky parka, and she had curly brown hair and wire-framed glasses. Despite her jeans and boots, Frances looked like she should be passing out signup forms at a P.T.A meeting and she reminded Hannah of a painting she’d once seen, titled, Everyone’s Mom.

“Hi Frances,” Hannah said, coming up to stand beside her. Winnie’s brother’s granite likeness of Ezekiel Jordan, the first mayor of Lake Eden, had been wrapped in furniture pads and tied with twine. It resembled a badly wrapped package on Christmas morn, something a child might have done all by himself. “You got stuck guarding Ezekiel?”

“Ross told me to stand here and make sure no one touches the statue. He promised Mrs. Henderson he wouldn’t let anyone lay a hand on it until after the crane picked it up and put it back in place. What’s the deal with her anyway? Is she crazy?”

“I think she’s just protecting a family treasure. Her brother sculpted the statue years ago and placed it here. Then he gave the land to the city for a park, but Winnie has control of it until her death. Her brother never married and now that he’s gone, the statue is his only legacy. Winnie feels an obligation to keep it safe from harm.”

“I guess that makes sense.” Frances glanced around her nervously and leaned a little closer to Hannah. “Do you think she killed him?”

“Who are you talking about?”

“Mrs. Henderson. Do you think she switched the guns and killed Dean?”

“I don’t think so. Winnie’s a pretty straightforward person. If she’d wanted to kill Dean to keep him from moving her brother’s statue, she would have taken a stand right here and shot him when he tried to do it.”

“That’s exactly what Michelle told me. I was just wondering, that’s all.”

“Who do you think switched the guns?”

“I don’t know. I didn’t think anyone hated Dean that much. I mean, he could be a real pill, but he never actually hurt anyone that I know of.”

“So you never found anything when you cleaned his office.”

“Like what?”

“Like hate mail, or evidence that someone was blackmailing him, or any compelling reason someone might have to want him dead?”

Frances shook her head. “No, nothing like that. I’ve gone over and over it in my mind, Hannah, and I don’t think anyone hated him enough to kill him. Everyone knew what he was and they accepted that, because he was such a genius. They made allowances. Live and let live, you know? And all those women he coached in his trailer? They didn’t expect to be his one and only.”

“How about his wife? Sharyn expected to be his one and only, didn’t she?”

“Of course she did. And not one single person in the company would have told her she wasn’t. We all liked Sharyn and we were loyal to Dean.”

“Everyone?”

“I think so. If anyone wasn’t, I don’t know about it.” Frances glanced around her again to make sure no one was near enough to overhear their conversation. Presumably she was getting ready to impact some tidbit of great secrecy. “It’s like this, Hannah. I don’t think Dean was the target. I really believe someone was trying to kill Burke.”

“Who?”

Frances shrugged. “I don’t know, but I’m almost sure it wasn’t anyone connected with the movie.”

Stalemate, deadlock, logjam, gridlock, Hannah’s mind gave her all the synonyms for the impasse she seemed to have encountered. Frances didn’t have any information she hadn’t heard before, but Hannah decided to ask a few more questions anyway and see what came up. “Tell me about Burke. Was he well liked?”

“Well enough. None of us knew him before he signed on, but he seemed nice enough. He had a big part, but he didn’t have his nose in the air, and he was really nice to the little people.”

“Little people?”

“People like grips, script girls, P. A.’s, and everybody who’s hourly and not salaried. A lot of actors don’t bother being polite to the people who can’t do them any good, but Burke was nice to everybody.

“So you liked him?”

“I did. That’s why I can’t imagine anyone trying to kill him. He was naive, and fun, and really grateful when you went out of your way to do something nice for him.”

“Do you think everybody in the crew feels the way you do about Burke?”

“I think so. It’s like this, Hannah…killing Burke would be like killing the Easter Bunny. And that would really be a crime!”

“Hannah? Wait a minute!” Hannah swiveled around as a hand grabbed hers and she came face to face with Winnie Henderson. “Hi, Winnie. Are you here to check on the statue?”

“Yes, and I like that gal that’s guarding it. She doesn’t look like she takes any prisoners.”

Hannah laughed. Frances must be the master of multiple looks, from Everybody’s Mom to Female Prison Guard. “I’m glad you’re relaxing about it. Did you see the crane Ross rented?”

“I already inspected it,” Winnie said, glancing back at the bright red piece of heavy equipment. “Never seen anything like it before. Says 50-Ton Hydraulic Boom Truck on the side. I don’t think Arnie’s statue weighs anything close to that much.”

“Probably not, but I’m sure Ross didn’t want to take any chances.” Hannah did her best to remember the phone conversation she’d heard Ross make. It was all about what kind of crane he needed to rent and he’d mentioned overhead cranes, bridge cranes, gantry cranes, jib cranes, and boom trucks. It must have been a guy thing, because Ross and the representative from Minnesota Crane and Hoist had agreed on something in less time than it took Hannah to mix up a batch of Orange Snaps, and the crane had arrived at noon. “I heard him talk to the crane rental place on the phone, and he said something about how it was better to overestimate than underestimate.”