Key Lime Pie Murder. Joanne Fluke

sound Moishe gave was more growl than comment. As Hannah watched, his eyes narrowed to slits, his hair puffed up to make him look larger to an opponent, and his tail switched back and forth. Mentioning her mother’s name always had this effect. Moishe hated Delores. Hannah figured it had started when they’d first met and Delores had tried to pick him up despite Hannah’s warning that he was still skittish around people. It had been a case of stubborn cat versus determined human, and stubborn cat had won. Delores had finally stopped trying to pick up Moishe, but it had taken a half-dozen pairs of shredded pantyhose to dissuade her.

      “Sorry,” Hannah said, reaching up to smooth the hair on his back. “We won’t talk about her now.”

      Moishe gave a sigh that convinced Hannah he understood and settled back down to stare out the window. As she ate her sandwich, Hannah divided her time between watching the news and watching her neighbors’ window, but she still didn’t see anything moving in Clara and Marguerite’s apartment. Was it possible that something was wrong and Moishe could sense it?

      Hannah imagined a dire scenario. Clara hadn’t felt well this morning, so she’d sent Marguerite on to the hospital alone. And as the hours passed without her sister, Clara had become very ill, so ill that she couldn’t even get to the phone. Was she calling for help in a voice so weak only Moishe could hear it?

      Just to make sure, Hannah picked up the phone and called the hospital. Yvonne Blair, Doc Knight’s secretary, answered.

      “Hi, Yvonne,” Hannah greeted her. “I just wondered if the Hollenbeck sisters were there today.”

      “They were, but they just left. I can probably catch up with them in the parking lot if you need me to.”

      “No, that’s okay,” Hannah said quickly. “It wasn’t that important. I’ll catch up with them at home.”

      “Okay. You’re going to the Miss Tri-County contest tonight, aren’t you?”

      “Of course. Michelle’s one of the contestants.”

      “I know. She was out here this morning with flowers for Edna Ferguson. Of course you probably know that since your name was on the card.”

      “Right,” Hannah said, making a mental note to reimburse and thank her baby sister for something she should have done herself. “Is Edna on any kind of restricted diet? Or can I bring out some cookies?”

      “Hold on and let me check the computer.”

      While she waited for Yvonne to check, Hannah glanced over at the unopened computer boxes that sat on the floor under her desk. She’d been forced to buy it when she lost a bet last month and Norman had helped her pick it out. He’d offered to give her a crash course in computer technology right after the Tri-County Fair was over, and Hannah had accepted gratefully. She knew the basics, but she hadn’t used a computer since her college days and things had changed a lot since then. The computer industry was continually evolving. Her computer was aging right there in its box, and by the time she learned to use it, it would probably be several generations away from a state-of-the-art model.

      “Doc’s marked her down for a normal diet,” Yvonne said, coming back on the line. “No restrictions at all. Feel free to bring cookies, Hannah. And if Doc’s directions change and Edna can’t have them, I’m sure they’ll find a good home.”

      After promising to drop by with goodies, Hannah hung up the phone and turned to Moishe. He was still staring fixedly at the window next door. “There’s nobody home. I just checked.”

      But that didn’t seem to make any difference to Moishe. He just kept staring as if the most fascinating thing was happening behind the curtains. Hannah stared, too, doing her best not to blink. For a minute or two that seemed like hours, absolutely nothing happened. And then Hannah gave a little gasp as she saw the curtain wiggle slightly.

      “I saw it!” she told Moishe. “Was that what you were waiting for?”

      Moishe gave her his Sphinx look, the one that said, I am the font of all knowledge, and I am inscrutable to a mere human person like you, and Hannah gave up. She wasn’t even sure she’d seen the curtain move, but if she had, there was probably a perfectly reasonable explanation. Marguerite and Clara had an attic air conditioner that had been installed when their unit was built. Clara suffered from chronic allergies, and Doc Knight had suggested it as a means of filtering out some of the pollens and allergens that turned her nose red, made her eyes water, and stuffed up her sinuses.

      “See you later, Moishe,” Hannah said, after she’d carried their plates to the kitchen and scraped his uneaten food into his bowl. “You can watch their curtains wiggle while I go out to the fairgrounds to cheer on Michelle.”

       Chapter Four

      Hannah was so proud of her sister she was glad she hadn’t worn anything with buttons to pop. Michelle had looked truly gorgeous in the dazzling white satin, Grecian-style evening gown that Claire Rodgers, The Cookie Jar’s Main Street neighbor, had chosen for her to wear. According to the full-page acknowledgment in tonight’s program, Claire’s shop, Beau Monde Fashions, was selling the gowns that had been seen in tonight’s contest on a silent auction basis. If the contestants wanted the gown they’d worn, they could buy it at a fifty percent discount. But if a contestant didn’t want it, it went in Claire’s window to be auctioned off to the highest bidder.

      “Genius,” Hannah said, catching Claire by the arm and pointing to the page in the program.

      “I think so, too.” Claire, a gorgeous blonde in her thirties with a svelte figure that Hannah would have done anything except diet to replicate, gave a little a laugh. “It was Bob’s idea.”

      Hannah knew the Bob in question was Reverend Robert Knudson, Holy Redeemer Lutheran’s bachelor minister. Claire and Reverend Knudson wanted to get married, but there were complications. Most Lake Edenites, or whatever they wanted to call their collective noun, suspected that Claire had spent several years as their mayor’s mistress. No one could prove it, but that didn’t stop the tongues from wagging.

      “Your mother already called me and said she wanted to buy Michelle’s dress,” Claire said. “It was gorgeous, wasn’t it?”

      Hannah nodded. She was almost positive that Claire’s expertise was one of the reasons her sister had come in first in the evening gown competition. “It was absolutely wonderful. You couldn’t have chosen anything more perfect.”

      “I thought so, too.” Claire gave Hannah a smile. “So do you think Michelle is going to win the Miss Tri-County crown?”

      Hannah shrugged. “I don’t know. That’s almost as much of an unanswered question as yours.”

      “Mine?”

      “That’s right. When are you going to let Reverend Knudson announce your engagement?”

      Claire gave a little sigh. “I think we might do it in the spring. Maybe people will have forgotten by then.”

      “You’re kidding!” Hannah stared at her in total disbelief. “Lake Eden’s a small town. People in small towns are like elephants.”

      “You mean they never forget?”

      “Not unless it’s their last promise to their wife,” Hannah said. And then she wished she hadn’t. This wasn’t the time for joking. “I think Reverend Knudson should announce it this summer, Claire.”

      “Why this summer?”

      “Because summer is the most popular time for weddings, and people have love on their minds. They’re so busy with weddings in their own families, they won’t have time to think about yours.”

      “You’re sure?” Claire looked doubtful.

      “No,