Strawberry Shortcake Murder (9 page)

“It smells bad in here,” Andrea spoke in a hushed voice.

“I know.” Hannah wondered if anyone had ever done a study of which smells made sick patients sicker. She’d be willing to bet that cauliflower would be right up near the top of the list.

“I think it’s the food,” Andrea commented, as they neared a food cart and she spotted a lunch tray. “You brought Danielle some cookies, didn’t you? Nobody should have to eat food like that.”

“Of course I did.” Hannah held up the bag she was carrying, filled to the brim with Cocoa Snaps, Pecan Crisps, and Chocolate Chip Crunches.

“This food is all white.” Andrea made a face. “I knew it would be bad, but not this bad.”

Hannah stared down at the tray. Andrea was right. The food had no color. There was a glop of vanilla pudding in a little plastic cup, an entrée of poached fish with some sort of white cream sauce on top, a scoop of mashed potatoes, a compartment filled with limp-looking steamed cauliflower, and a piece of white bread with a pat of butter. Hannah would have passed on lunch even if she’d been hungry. And from the look of the barely touched trays, so had most of the patients at Lake Eden Memorial.

“That must be Danielle’s room.” Andrea pointed toward the far end of the hallway. “There’s Rick.”

Hannah recognized the tall, lanky figure of Cyril Murphy’s oldest son. “How long do you think you can keep him talking?”

“As long as you need. All I have to do is ask about his new baby. It’s their first.”

Hannah stepped forward with her cookies, a smile pasted on her face. Rick reported directly to Mike, and if he suspected that this was any more than a friendly visit, he’d mention it. Hannah didn’t even want to think of what Mike would say if he realized that the Swensen sisters were on a mission to prove him wrong and catch Boyd’s real killer in the bargain.

APRICOT BREAD PUDDING

Do not preheat oven yet. The bread pudding must settle for 30 minutes before baking.

8 slices of white bread (either homemade or “store bought”)

1/2 cup melted butter (1 stick, 1/4 pound)

1/3 cup white sugar

1/2 cup chopped dried apricots (not too fine, you want some chunks)

3 beaten eggs (just whip them up with a fork)

2 1/4 cups top milk
*
(you can use light cream or Half ‘n Half)

Heavy cream, sweetened whipped cream, or vanilla ice cream for a topping.

Generously butter a 2-quart casserole. Remove the crusts from the bread and cut each slice into 4 triangles. (Just make an “X” with your knife.) Melt the butter in a large microwave-safe bowl and put in the bread triangles, tossing them lightly with a spoon until they’re coated with butter.

Arrange approximately a third of the triangles in the bottom of the casserole. Sprinkle on a third of the sugar and half of the chopped apricots.

Put down half of the remaining bread triangles, sprinkle on half of the remaining sugar, and add ALL of the remaining apricots.

Cover with the rest of the bread triangles. Scrape the bowl to get out any butter that remains in the bottom of the bowl and put that on top. Sprinkle with the last of the sugar and set aside.

Whip up the eggs in the butter bowl and whisk in the light cream. Pour this over the top of the casserole and let it stand at room temperature for thirty minutes. (This gives the bread time to absorb the egg and cream mixture.)

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F., rack in the middle position. Bake the bread pudding uncovered, for 45 to 55 minutes, until the pudding is set and the top is golden brown.

Let it cool slightly (five minutes or so) and serve in dessert dishes with heavy cream, sweetened whipped cream, or a scoop of vanilla ice cream on the top.

You can make this with any dried fruit, including currants or raisins. Andrea likes apricots, Mother prefers dates, and Michelle thought it was “yummy” with dried pears. We didn’t try it with prunes. Carrie Rhodes is the only person I know who likes prunes (And I’m not going to comment on that!)

“Oh, Hannah! You came!”

“Of course I did. I said I would.” Hannah tried for a cheerful smile, but it was difficult. Danielle was sitting up in bed, there were traces of recent tears on her cheeks, and she was wearing the expression that Hannah thought of as the “whipped puppy look.”

“I didn’t think they were going to let me have any visitors.” Danielle’s voice quavered slightly.

“They weren’t, but I did some fast talking.” Danielle had “victim” written all over her, and Hannah knew she had to do something or they’d be defeated before they even started. Danielle needed a shot of courage and the belief that she controlled her own fate.

“Have a Cocoa Snap.” Hannah reached into the bag and handed her a cookie. Then she placed the bag within easy reach on Danielle’s bed stand. “The chocolate will cheer you up and give you some energy.”

Danielle bit into the cookie and the ghost of a smile crossed her lips. “Thanks, Hannah. These are good. I couldn’t eat my lunch. You should have seen…”

“I did. I wouldn’t have eaten it, either.” Hannah interrupted her. A discussion of hospital food would only waste time. “I’ve got Andrea outside, running interference with Rick Murphy. I didn’t want to give him the chance to overhear us. We need to talk, Danielle.”

Danielle brightened up considerably. “Then you’re going to help me?”

“Of course I am, but I need to ask you some questions about Boyd. Can you forget how lousy you feel for a minute and concentrate?”

“I feel a whole lot better now that you’re here.” A little color came back to Danielle’s cheeks, and she patted the side of her bed. “Sit down, Hannah, and I’ll tell you everything I know. It’s not much. Everything happened just like I said it did last night.”

“You may know something without knowing you know it.” Hannah realized that what she’d just said was confusing and she tried another tact. “I’ll ask the questions and you answer, okay?”

“Okay, but just tell me one thing first. Are they going to arrest me?”

“Not if I have anything to say about it. The last I heard, they were going to keep you in the hospital for at least five days.”

“That’s better than going to jail,” Danielle said, but she didn’t look convinced. “I didn’t kill him, Hannah. You believe me, don’t you?”

Hannah reached out and patted her hand. “I believe you. That’s why Andrea and I are going to try to catch the real killer. Now think about this carefully, Danielle. It could be very important. Did you notice any change in Boyd’s behavior lately? Say in the last week or so? Anything that made him unusually angry or upset?”

“Well….” Danielle hesitated, and Hannah knew she was thinking it over. “He was really mad about The Gulls. They missed nine free throws in their last game. But that wasn’t unusual. He’s always angry if they lose.”

“How about his classes?”

“They were all okay. He was really proud of his fourth-period history class. They took some kind of an achievement test, and they all did really well.”

“Was he having a problem with any of the faculty?”

“No.” Danielle shook her head. “Everything was fine. The only thing I could think of that really upset him was that phone call he got on Tuesday.”

Hannah felt a prickling of interest. Danielle hadn’t mentioned a phone call before. “What phone call was that?”

“The one he got right after he came home for lunch. I was making him tomato soup in the microwave. He likes… liked that.”

Danielle’s lip started to quiver as she changed the verb to past tense, and Hannah knew she’d better distract her. “Let’s get back to Boyd’s phone call. Who called him?”

“I don’t know. He didn’t tell me.”

“But you knew he got a phone call?”

“Yes. Boyd was in the living room, waiting for me to bring him his lunch, and I answered the phone in the kitchen. It was a woman, and she asked for Boyd, so I called out for him to pick up the extension.”

“You didn’t recognize her voice?”

“No. it wasn’t anyone I ever talked to before. I’m sure of that. But I know it was a local call.”

“How do you know that?” Hannah asked.

“It was noon, and I heard the town clock strike one.”

“You heard the clock strike one?”

“Boyd was complaining about it the other day. It’s still set for daylight saving’s time because Freddy Sawyer was sick with the flue when it was time to turn it back. You know spring forward, fall back?”

“I know.”

“Well, nobody else wanted to climb up there on the ladder, and it was a week before Freddy got back to work. Nobody seemed to notice the clock was off, and they hadn’t had any complaints, so they just decided to leave it until next spring.”

“That figures.” Hannah was amused. There were times when things were very laid-back in Lake Eden. “Let’s get back to the phone call. Could you tell how old the woman was from her voice?”

Danielle thought about it for a moment. “She didn’t sound as young as one of Boyd’s students, but she wasn’t old.”

“Do you remember anything distinctive about her voice?”

“Well… she sort of slurred her words.”

Hannah’s ears perked up. “Did she sound drunk?”

“Not really. It was more like some kind of speech impediment. My grandmother used to call it a ‘mouthful of mush.’ Do you think that’s important, Hannah?”

“It could be. Tell me everything she said. Repeat it word for word.”

“Okay. The first thing she said was, Is Boyd there? Except it came out iszh instead of is. And when I said he was, she said, Get him on the phone. She slurred that, too, except I can’t do it.”

“Get him on the phone? Isn’t that kind of rude?”

“I thought so. I mean, she didn’t call me by name or say please, or anything like that. She sounded like she was in a big hurry. And I know that Boyd was really angry after he’d talked to her.”

“How do you know that?”

“Right after he talked to her, he came storming into the kitchen and his face was all red and kind of splotchy. It’s always that way when he’s mad. The first thing he did was accuse me of listening in on his private conversation, but I didn’t, Hannah. I swear it.”

“I believe you.” Hannah thought she knew what had happened next. “Do you remember what he said?”

“Yes. He said his call was none of my business, and I deserved to be punished for eavesdropping. I swore I’d hung up right after he got on the line, but… but he said he couldn’t trust me, and that’s when he did this.”

Danielle reached up to touch her black eye, and Hannah swallowed hard. Boyd Watson had been a real bully, but it wouldn’t serve any purpose to point that out now. “You said you put down the phone right after Boyd picked up the extension. Did you hear either of them say anything before you hung up?”

“I heard Boyd say hello. I had to stay on the line until he picked up, or I would have cut off the call. And I heard the first thing the woman said to him. It was, Boyd, we have to talk.”

“And that’s all you heard?”

“That’s all. By that time I’d hung up. I even banged the phone down a little, so Boyd would know that I was off the line.”

“So Boyd heard you hang up, but he still accused you of eavesdropping?”

“That’s right. I know it sounds awful to say it now that Boyd is… is dead, but I think he was all riled up because of the phone call and was looking for a fight. You know how people get when they’re frustrated. They have to take it out on somebody and I was…I was there.”

That was good enough for Hannah. It was clear that the phone call was important. “What did Boyd do after he hit you?”

“He said he was sorry, and he hugged me.” Danielle’s lip started to tremble again. “He got me some ice for my eye, then he called Dr. Holland right away.”

Hannah already knew that Dr. Holland was Boyd’s therapist. Danielle had told her that before. “How long did Boyd talk to Dr. Holland?”

“Just long enough to make an emergency appointment. Then he called the school to get a substitute for his afternoon classes and drove to St. Paul to see Dr. Holland at the clinic.”

Hannah made a mental note to check to make sure that Boyd had kept his appointment. That wouldn’t be easy. Dr. Holland was a psychiatrist, and psychiatrists didn’t like to give out any information about their patients. “What time did Boyd get back home?”

“It was a little after six. I know because I put the chili on at five-thirty and it said on the package that it had to cook for thirty minutes. It was all ready when Boyd got home, and he really liked it. He told me it was the best chili I ever made. And he was really sweet to me right up until the time he… he died.”

Hannah couldn’t think of anything to say. The wife beater had been sweet to his wife after he’d beaten her. It was faint praise in her book.

“This is a pretty room, isn’t it, Hannah?” Danielle changed the subject, and Hannah let her. She was still sick and had been interrogated enough for one day. “I miss being at home, but this isn’t so bad.”

As Hannah glanced around, she realized that the chocolate she’d pressed on Danielle had done its work. The hospital room was perfectly ordinary and resembled a room in an unusually clean, low-budget motel.

“They told me the Lutheran Ladies made these quilts.” Danielle reached out to stroke the patchwork quilt on the bed. “And some of the other church ladies donated the pictures. I really like that one next to the window. Boyd and I were always going to take a trip to see the ocean.”

Hannah got up to look at the seascape that Danielle had mentioned. Then another picture caught her eye, the one that was hanging inside the open bathroom door. It was a cross-stitch sampler with hands folded in prayer, and it bore the legend, “Offer up your pain as a tribute to the Lord.”

Hannah did a slow burn as she stared at the sampler. If the Lord was as merciful as all three local clergymen insisted, He certainly wouldn’t want anyone to suffer. And the idea that pain could be a tribute was barbaric!