Chocolate Chip Cookie Murder Part 5

Hannah searched the crowd, but she didn't see Andrea. She decided she'd look for her sister later and headed off toward the refreshment table, which was set up on the side of the room. She was shirking her duties and Lisa would probably be eager to get home to her father.

"Hi, Hannah. "Lisa smiled as Hannah came up to the table. "Everyone loves your cookies. Mrs. Beeseman's been back four times."

"That figures. She loves anything with chocolate. You've done a wonderful job, Lisa. If you want to leave now, I can take over."

"I don't have to leave, Hannah. My neighbor said he'd sit with Dad until I got home. Besides, I'm really having fun."

Hannah had trouble believing what she'd heard. "You think serving coffee and cookies at a political fundraiser is fun fun?

"It's great. Everybody's coming over to talk to me and they're really friendly. Go ahead and circulate, Hannah. You might be able to drum up some new business."

"Okay, but consider yourself on overtime." Hannah gave her a long, level look. If this was Lisa's idea of fun, she really needed to get out more. "I have to talk to Bill. Have you seen him?"

"Not yet. Your sister said he'd be late. I guess there was a whole lot of paperwork for him to do. Do you want me to tell him you're looking for him when he gets here?"

"Yes, thanks." Hannah needed to tell Bill about Danielle Watson, but in the meantime, she might be able to find out why Danielle was with Ron when he stocked the school's cooler. "How about Coach Watson's wife? Is she here?"

"They were both here a couple of minutes ago. Coach Watson said that he just got back from a basketball clinic. He was gone for three days."

Hannah's mind was spinning as she set off to find Andrea. Coach Watson had been gone and Danielle had been with Ron, early this morning. Hannah didn't want to believe that Ron was the type to have an affair with another man's wife, but that was the obvious conclusion.

Andrea was talking to Mrs. Rhodes, but she excused herself when she saw Hannah. "What happened to you? You look fantastic!"

"Thanks, Andrea. Do you have a minute?"

"Of course I do." Andrea led the way over to a less populated corner of the room. "Why are you wearing makeup?"

"Luanne Hanks gave me a makeover and I didn't have time to wash it off. That's why I needed to talk to you. When I was out at Luanne's, I noticed that her daughter doesn't have many things. I was just wondering if you had any of Tracey's old furniture and toys that you could give her."

"Of course I do. I saved every single thing she outgrew. I'd give it all to Luanne in a heartbeat, but I know how she is about taking charity."

"No problem. I told her that you were hauling some of Tracey's things to the dump and I asked her if she'd mind if you dropped them off her at house instead."

"And she agreed?"

"Only after I said that you didn't have time to go through the boxes and it was a real shame that all that nice stuff would be rotting out at the dump. She's going to pull out what she can use and take the rest to the thrift shop."

"Good job, Hannah!" Andrea reached out to pat her on the back. "I didn't think you had a devious bone in your body, but I guess you must have learned something something from Mother." from Mother."

Hannah spotted Danielle Watson from across the room. She was a part of a group that contained her husband, Marge Beeseman, Father Coultas, Bonnie Surma and Al Percy. Danielle was wearing an ice blue dress, and her light blond hair was arranged in a fashionable twist at the nape of her neck. Several feathery curls hung down near her cheeks to make her hairstyle less severe and her lips were colored with the lipstick that Hannah now recognized as Pretty Girl's Pink Pa.s.sion.

Hannah moved forward and joined the fringes of the group. The topic of conversation was Ron LaSalle and that didn't surprise her. Ron's murder was the biggest news to hit Lake Eden since little Tommy Bensen had released the brake on his mother's Ford Escort and crashed through the plate gla.s.s window of the First Mercantile Bank.

"My Herbie says he was shot clean through the heart," Mrs. Beeseman offered her tidbit of gossip. "Now Max is going to have to reupholster the truck because there was blood all over the place."

Coach Watson looked sad. "It's a terrible loss for The Gulls. Ron came to every practice and he was a real inspiration."

"Do you suppose it was some kind of sports vendetta?" Al Percy asked, his dark bushy eyebrows almost meeting in a frown. "After all, Ron was The Gull's star player for three years in a row."

Father Coultas shook his head. "That doesn't make sense, Al. Everybody liked Ron, even the boys on the opposing teams."

"You're right, Father." Coach Watson was quick to agree. "Ron was popular because he played fair."

Al continued to frown and Hannah could see that he wasn't ready to give up his sports vendetta theory quite yet. "Maybe it didn't have anything to do with high school sports. From what I heard, it was an execution-style killing and that sure smacks of bent-nose types to me."

"Bent-nose?" Bonnie Surma bristled and Hannah remembered that her maiden name had been Pennelli. "Are you talking about the Mafia?"

Al nodded. "It's not impossible, Bonnie. Everybody knows that they run the sports books and they could have recruited Ron to pick up bets with his milk orders. If Ron's take came up short, they might have put out a hit on him."

"You're crazy, Al." Marge Beeseman obviously didn't believe in mincing words. "Ron was one of ours and he never would have done something like that. Besides, my Herbie says that Mafia hit men always shoot their victims in the back of the head. Or they use that wire thing to choke them like they did in The G.o.dfather." The G.o.dfather."

As Hannah watched, Danielle's naturally pale face turned a shade of sickly gray. The polite smile on her face crumpled and she looked as if she were struggling not to burst into tears. She turned to her husband, whispered a few words, and then she left the group. Hannah watched her as she pushed her way through the crowded room and headed out into the hallway that led to the ladies' room.

This was her chance and Hannah wasn't about to waste it. She set off after Danielle as fast as she could. Once she'd gained the hallway, Hannah headed straight for the ladies' room with only one purpose in mind. She had to find out exactly what Danielle knew about Ron's murder.

Chapter Seven.

As Hannah approached the door to the ladies' room, she heard the sound of m.u.f.fled sobbing. Maybe it wasn't fair of her to take advantage of Danielle in her grief, but playing fair wasn't as important as helping Bill solve Ron's murder.

Hannah pushed open the door and found Danielle standing in front of the long mirror above the sinks. She was dabbing at her eyes with a soggy tissue and she looked helpless and frightened. As Hannah stepped into the pink-tiled room, she felt like Simon Legree confronting Little Eliza.

"Danielle?" Hannah remembered the old flies-and-honey maxim and she put every ounce of sympathy she could muster into her voice. "What's wrong?"

Danielle whirled around, looking terribly guilty. "Nothing. I just...uh...I got something in my eye, that's all."

"Both eyes?" Hannah spoke without thinking and instantly regretted it. She wouldn't get anywhere by alienating Danielle before she'd asked her first question. "It's probably dust. It's been really windy today. Do you want me to take a look?"

"No! Uh...thanks anyway, Hannah. I think I got it."

"Good." Hannah gave her the best of her friendly smiles. She knew that the excuse Danielle had given her was a bald-faced lie, but she was willing to ignore it, providing Danielle told her what she wanted to know. "Isn't it awful the way everybody's talking about Ron?"

Danielle's face blanched again. "Yes, it is."

"Did you see Ron in the past couple of days?" Hannah held her breath. If Danielle admitted she'd ridden along to the school with Ron, she'd be one step closer to gathering the facts that Bill needed.

"No. We don't take home delivery and I really didn't run into him all that much. I've got to go now, Hannah."

"You just got here." Hannah moved to the side to block Danielle. "Stay for a minute, Danielle. If I were you, I'd fix my makeup. Your mascara's starting to run."

"No, it's not. I just checked it. I've really got to go. Boyd's waiting for me and he doesn't like me to be gone for long."

"Why not?" Hannah could feel Danielle's panic and it didn't make sense.

"He...uh...he worries about me when I'm not with him."

Danielle was standing right under the overhead light fixture and Hannah noticed that the makeup on one side of her face was much thicker than it was on the other. Was it covering the skin problem that Luanne had told her about?

"We can talk later, Hannah. Boyd won't be happy if I don't get right back out there."

"Not quite yet." Hannah reached out to take Danielle's arm as she tried to brush past her. The flies-and-honey tactic hadn't worked and it was time to play hardball. "I know you were with Ron this morning and I need to know why."

Danielle's eyes widened in an attempt to look innocent, but a telltale blush rose to her cheeks. "Ron? You're mistaken, Hannah. I told you I haven't seen him for weeks."

"That's a lie and you know it. Why were you at the school with Ron when he stocked the cooler?"

"Who says I was?" Danielle turned to face her directly and there was a definite challenge in her eyes. It was clear she wasn't willing to give up the information without a fight.

"n.o.body says it, but I know you were. Your coffee cup was sitting on the counter and you left a smear of lipstick on it. You're the only one in Lake Eden who wears that color, Danielle. Were you having an affair with Ron?"

"An affair?" Danielle seemed genuinely shocked. "That's ridiculous, Hannah! It's true I was with Ron, but we were just friends. He...uh...he helped me through some rough times."

Danielle's face had the very same expression Hannah had once seen on a trapped rabbit. She'd freed the rabbit, but Hannah wasn't about to let Danielle escape before she'd given her some truthful answers. "Let me see if I've got this straight, Danielle. Your husband was out of town, you spent the night with an attractive man who's just a friend, and your friend just happened to get murdered this morning only minutes after you had coffee together?"

"I know it sounds bad." Danielle sighed and all the bravado seemed to go out of her. "You've got to believe me, Hannah. That's exactly what happened."

"Does Boyd know that you spent the night with Ron?"

"No!" Danielle looked sick. "Please don't tell him! Boyd would never understand!"

"I won't have to tell him if you start being honest with me. If you and Ron weren't having an affair, why were you with him?"

Danielle glanced at the door and then she looked down at her arm where Hannah's fingers gripped it. She shivered and then she nodded. "All right. I'll tell you, Hannah, but you've got to respect my privacy. I...I can't let Boyd know where I was last night."

"Deal," Hannah agreed. "But if you know anything about Ron's murder, I'll have to give the information to Bill."

"It doesn't have anything to do with Ron's murder! At least, I don't think think it does. I lied to you, Hannah...Ron and I were more than just friends. He was my GA sponsor." it does. I lied to you, Hannah...Ron and I were more than just friends. He was my GA sponsor."

"GA?".

"Gamblers Anonymous. We meet every Tuesday night at the community college."

That confession threw Hannah for a loop. "You're a recovering gambler?"

"Yes, but Boyd doesn't know." Danielle reached out and steadied herself against the wall. "Could we sit down, Hannah? I don't feel very good."

Hannah led her over to the couch and chairs that were arranged in a corner of the ladies' room. When Danielle had taken a seat on the couch, Hannah pulled up one of the chairs. "You said that Boyd doesn't know about your addiction?"

"No. He's not an easy man, Hannah. He wants perfection from a wife. I think he'd divorce me if he ever found out the truth."

Hannah suspected that Danielle was right. Coach Watson demanded perfection from everyone around him. He was hard on his team when they made errors on the playing field or the court, and he'd be even harder on Danielle. Danielle might be exaggerating when she said that her husband would divorce her, but Hannah was willing to bet that he'd be plenty upset. "You said you go to GA meetings every Tuesday night. Doesn't Boyd ask you where you're going?"

"I told him I was taking an art cla.s.s at the college. I had to lie to him, Hannah."

It was time to cut Danielle a little slack and Hannah knew it. "I can understand that. I'd probably do the same thing in your place. Were you at the GA meeting last night?"

"Yes, I was there."

"How about Ron?"

"Ron was there, too. He never missed a meeting."

Hannah zeroed in on the crux of the matter. "Did you go home from the meeting with him?"

"Of course not. I thought that Boyd would be back by then and we were going to drive out to The Hub to have a late supper together. Boyd really likes their steaks. He says an athlete doesn't get enough protein from chicken and fish, and he always makes his boys eat plenty of red meat when they're in training."

Hannah had seen the boys from Coach Watson's teams wolfing down hamburgers at Hal and Rose's Cafe and she didn't think there was much danger they'd be protein-deficient. But Danielle was digressing and Hannah needed to get her back on track. "Your husband didn't come home last night, did he?"

"No. When I walked in, there was a message from Boyd on the answering machine. He said he'd decided to stay over at his mother's house and he'd be home by noon today. He doesn't see her that often and I should have just taken it in stride, but I expected him to come home and...and it just threw me off."

Hannah gave her an encouraging smile. "Of course it did. What happened next?"

"I opened the mail and I found a check from my mother. We bought some stocks together and we made a good profit when we sold them. If that check hadn't come, I think I would have been all right. But just looking at that money made me want to gamble."

"That's understandable. What did you do?"

"I called Ron. We're supposed to call our sponsor right away when we think we're in trouble. But Ron wasn't home and-" Danielle swallowed hard. "I'm not proud of what I did next, Hannah."

Hannah figured she knew what Danielle had done, but she asked anyway. "You went out to gamble?"

"Yes." A tear rolled down Danielle's cheek and she wiped it away with her soggy tissue. "I used the ATM to deposit the check and take out some cash. And then I drove out to the Indian casino. That's where I ran into Ron."

"Ron was gambling at Twin Pines?"

"No." Danielle shook her head quickly. "Ron was a tower of strength, Hannah. He'd completely beaten his addiction. He told me once that he didn't even have the urge urge to gamble anymore." to gamble anymore."

"Then what was he doing there?"

"He was pa.s.sing out brochures in the parking lot. One look at me and he knew I was in trouble, and he got his car and followed me back to my house. I was really glad he did. Boyd's Grand Cherokee wasn't running very well and I was afraid it would break down on the way back."

"Do you know what time that was?"

"Eleven o'clock," Danielle answered promptly. "The grandfather clock in the hallway was striking when I walked in the door."

"And Ron stayed there with you?"

"No, he waited around the corner for me. I was in pretty bad shape, Hannah. I almost sc.r.a.ped the side of my Lincoln when I pulled into the garage."

Hannah nodded and waited for her to go on. She could sympathize with Danielle, but this wasn't the time. She still needed more information from her.