Key Lime Pie Murder. Joanne Fluke

make you sad to see me using your father’s office?”

      “A little,” Hannah admitted.

      “That’s what I thought. You spent a lot of time in here with him.”

      “You got a new desk chair.”

      “Yes. I tried using his, but it just wasn’t right for me. So I ordered a new one, and then I kept thinking of what he’d say if he saw me replacing his desk chair. I was going to give it to charity. It’s really too big for this small room. But…I couldn’t just throw it away. He spent so much time in here, sitting in that chair. Sometimes when I’m working late, I’ll turn, and for just a second I think I can see him there. Is that crazy?”

      “No, that’s love. And memories.”

      Delores blinked several times, and then she gave a little smile. “You’re right. But I really do need to put a file cabinet in here, and there won’t be room with that chair. Would you like to have it?”

      Hannah was tempted. She’d always associated that leather desk chair with her father. Then she thought of her condo and how it was already full to the brim with other things that Delores had given her. “I don’t think so, Mother. I’d like it, but I don’t have anywhere to put it.”

      “That’s what I thought. I’ll ask Andrea and Michelle, but I don’t think they’ll want it, either. And I really hate to just…toss it.”

      “I don’t want you to just toss it, either. Do you think it’d help if we found it a good home?”

      Delores thought about that for a moment. “I think it would. Do you have any prospects in mind?”

      “Not really, but I’ll think about it and…Norman!”

      “Norman?”

      “He might want it. His new house has an office, and as far as I know, he doesn’t have any furniture.”

      “Oh, that would be perfect!” Delores looked delighted. “I’d like to give it to Norman.”

      “Even if I don’t end up marrying him?” Hannah couldn’t help asking.

      “Even if you don’t. When can you ask him if he wants it?”

      “I’ll ask him tonight. He’s waiting for me at my condo. I’m going to help him pick out a dishwasher.”

      “That’s wonderful, dear.”

      Delores gave another smile that rang alarm bells in Hannah’s mind. Her mother seemed much too pleased about the fact that she was helping Norman pick out kitchen appliances. “It’s just a dishwasher, Mother. It’s not any more than that.”

      “That’s all right, dear. Good marriages aren’t made overnight. Your father and I dated for several years before we married.”

      Hannah bit her tongue. Sometimes it was better not to say anything.

      “Is that for me, dear?” Delores asked, glancing at the foil-wrapped package Hannah still held in her arms.

      “Yes. It’s the chocolate cherry coffeecake that took third place at the baked goods competition tonight.”

      “It sounds marvelous! I’ll have some when I take my next break. And that reminds me…you don’t have anyone staying in your guest room, do you?”

      “No.” Hannah readied herself for a major imposition. Her mother had mentioned something about a cousin three times removed who’d wanted to visit Lake Eden.

      “Oh, good. Would you mind terribly if Michelle stayed with you?”

      “You mean…our Michelle?”

      “Yes. It’s just that I’m so busy right now. I really don’t have much time to spend with her, and poor Michelle must be lonely with only the television for company. I thought it might be more fun for her if she…”

      “That’s fine, Mother,” Hannah agreed, before Delores could continue. “I’d love to have Michelle stay with me.”

      “Wonderful! Go out there right now and have her pack up her things. Tell her she can use my car for the week. Then she’ll have her own transportation, and you won’t have to drive her around.”

      “But won’t you need your car?”

      “No. The only place I’m going is out to the fair, and I can ride with Carrie. We signed up for the same hours at the booth.”

      “All right, Mother.”

      “Tell her to come in and say goodbye before she leaves. I’d come out, but I still have several more pages to write before I’m through, and then I need to get some sleep. I’m burning the candle at both ends to get everything done.”

      “Okay. I’ll tell her.” Hannah stood up, but before she could take a step, her mother stopped her.

      “It’s not that I don’t want her, dear. Make that clear, will you? It’s just that with working at Granny’s Attic and supervising the booth at the fair, I don’t have time to get things done around here. And that reminds me…you are going to be at the Historical Society booth from eight to closing on Saturday night, aren’t you?”

      Hannah took a deep breath and stifled the complaints she wanted to make. She’d agreed to help out in the Lake Eden Historical Society booth when her mother had asked, assuming she’d be passing out literature and taking contributions. But Delores had tricked her. What Hannah had really agreed to do was sit on a stool in a frilly dress while contributors threw balls at a target that would open a trapdoor and dunk her into a vat of cold water.

      “Hannah?” Delores prodded.

      “Yes, Mother. I said I would and I’ll be there.”

      “Thank you, dear. And thank you for the coffeecake. I’ll have a piece when I take my next break. Chocolate and cherries are my favorite combination.”

      “I know,” Hannah said. And then she headed out the door to tell Michelle that she was being transplanted from her mother’s guest room to Hannah’s guest room in the condo, and she didn’t have the slightest idea what their mother was writing.

       Chapter Six

      Hannah woke up with a cat on her head. Moishe had climbed up in an attempt to wake her so she’d shut off the alarm. When she didn’t sit up quickly enough, he batted at several unruly curls that were sticking out over her ear. And when that didn’t work, he gave an ear-splitting yowl that made his wishes abundantly clear.

      “Okay, okay,” Hannah groaned, reaching out with one sleep-leaden arm to depress the alarm button on the clock. But the clock wasn’t where it was supposed to be, on the table right next to her bed. The bedside lamp wasn’t there either, and Hannah encountered a perfectly smooth surface. What was going on?

      Moishe yowled again, and Hannah realized that what she’d heard wasn’t her alarm clock at all. It was coming from the television, and the clock belonged to a starlet whose face she didn’t recognize. Hannah watched for a moment through partially closed eyes. She’d fallen asleep on the couch last night during Casablanca. Since this wasn’t a young Ingrid Bergman, Hannah figured she was at least one, probably two features past her bedtime.

      The starlet reached out to turn off the alarm clock and climbed out of bed with the sheet wrapped around her like a toga. As she walked across the bedroom set and disappeared through a door, Hannah wondered if anyone had ever pulled the sheet off the bed for modesty’s sake while they were alone in their bedroom. It seemed silly. You’d just have to re-make the bed from scratch.

      After one glance at the time, which was subtly displayed at the lower right-hand corner of the screen, Hannah clicked off the television