Part 14 (1/2)
”I asked, but your father wouldn't tell me. Uncle Ed wouldn't say, either.”
”So n.o.body knows?”
”n.o.body knew except your father and Uncle Ed. And they're both gone now.” Delores stopped and blinked hard, several times. ”Of course Jack Herman knows, but...”
”But he might not be able to remember,” Hannah finished her mother's thought.
”That's right. Poor Jack. Your father said he got the worst of it, and they dropped him off at Doc Knight's clinic to get st.i.tched up. That was before the hospital was built. They didn't want to take Jack home that way and scare Emmy half to death. Iris was just a toddler, and Emmy was expecting Tim any day.”
Hannah made a mental note to talk to Doc Knight about the night he'd treated Gus. Perhaps Lisa's father had said something about the fight.
”Is there anything else, dear?” Delores asked, glancing at the clock on the wall. ”I need to pick up Carrie and go out to the mall. We want to find a little something for Jack's birthday party.”
”There's just one more thing. Do you think there's anyone in town who had a grudge against Gus? Maybe somebody who might have wanted to see him dead?”
Delores's eyes widened. If she'd been depicted as a cartoon character, the little balloon over her head would have contained a drawing of a lightbulb. ”Yes, I do! I don't know why I didn't think of it right away! Remember when I told you about Mary Sue Erickson?” She waited for Hannah to nod, and then she went on. ”Well, that didn't last long. Gus only went out with her twice. But right after that, he dated Bert Kuehn's older sister.”
Hannah was puzzled. ”I've never heard of Bert Kuehn's older sister. Does she live in town?”
”She doesn't live anywhere, dear. Bert's sister is dead. She died the night of the senior prom in a terrible car accident.”
”You told me Gus was a drinker. Was he driving drunk?”
”Not according to the accident report. It said that Bert's sister was at the wheel and her blood alcohol level was normal.”
Hannah picked up on her mother's phrasing. ”But there was some question about whether Bert's sister was actually driving?”
”Yes, there was. No one could prove otherwise, but the first person on the scene was the Jordan High baseball coach. He pulled both of them from the car before Doc Knight got there. Everyone in town wondered whether Gus had been driving and the coach had covered it up for him.”
”Why would he do something like that?”
”To save Gus's career and his reputation as a coach. It was a feather in his cap to have one of his ballplayers drafted. As a matter of fact, he left Jordan High the next year and got a job in college baseball as an a.s.sistant coach. I seem to remember it was somewhere in Michigan, but I'm not sure exactly which college.”
Hannah flipped open her stenographer's notebook, the one she'd designated as her murder book, to jot down the names. Bert Kuehn certainly had a reason to hate Uncle Gus, and both Bert and Ellie had been at the dance the night Gus was killed. They'd even brought six of their house specials from Bertanelli's Pizza for the potluck dinner. ”What was the baseball coach's name, Mother?” she asked.
”Toby Hutchins. But I really don't know where he went when he left Lake Eden. All I can remember is that his new team was the wolves, or something like that.”
”Wolverines?”
”That's it, dear. Do they play in Michigan?”
”Ann Arbor. The Wolverines is the team name for the University of Michigan athletic program.”
”Really!” Delores looked impressed. ”How do you know that?”
”It just stuck in my mind,” Hannah said, settling for a half-truth. She wasn't about to tell her mother that she'd worked to memorize the team names from all the big colleges to impress a boy she'd hoped to date in high school.
”I really don't think you could track him down at this late date,” Delores told her. ”That was years ago, and I doubt he's still coaching baseball.”
”If he's still alive, I'll find him,” Hannah said, more confidently than she felt. ”Is there anyone else who might have wanted Gus dead?”
”I'm not sure. Perhaps one of the girls he stopped dating in high school carried a grudge.”
”Who would that be?” Hannah asked, mentally adding her mother's name to the list. Of course the way Delores told it, she'd dumped Gus when she'd caught him kissing another girl. That made her the dumper and Gus the dumpee, not the other way around.
”Oh, dear. I can't really remember all the girls that Gus dated. He was the love-them-and-leave-them type.”
”Could you get together with Marge and Patsy when you get out to the reunion, and see if they remember any names?”
”Of course. You know I want to help, dear. I'll just take these yearbooks with me and see if they remember anybody. And I'll see whether I can find any of his old cla.s.smates to talk to. Lottie Borge is here. She married a Herman cousin. And she was only a year behind Gus in high school.”
Just then Luanne Hanks stuck her head in the door. ”Lisa just called and she said to tell you that Iris tasted a cookie. She said she thinks they're perfect.”
”Great!” Hannah exchanged a high five with her mother.
”And Mike Kingston's here and he says he wants to talk to you. Should I send him back?”
When Hannah nodded, Delores picked up her stack of yearbooks and headed for the door. ”What does he want?” she asked as she pulled it open.
”He wants to pick my brain.” Hannah gave a little laugh and waved goodbye to her mother. ”And since I want to pick his, it amounts to a draw.”
”Hi, Mike,” Hannah said when he came through the swinging, restaurant-style door that separated the coffee shop from the kitchen. ”I'm a little short on time. Do you mind if I mix up a batch of cookies while we talk?”
”I don't mind, especially if you feed me.” Mike flashed her his famous grin.
Hannah glanced over at the trays of cookies ready to be packed up and taken out to the birthday party. ”I've got Raisin Drops, Mola.s.ses Crackles, Red Velvet Cookies, and Party Cookies.”
”What are Party Cookies?”
”These.” Hannah held up one of the pretty four-color pastel cookies she'd made earlier this morning. ”They're for Jack Herman's birthday party tonight, but I've got plenty.”
”I'll take one of those and one of the Red Velvet Cookies. I've never had either one of them before.”
”You got it!” Hannah said, grabbing the cookies and delivering them, along with a mug of black coffee.
”Thanks, Hannah. I expect you've been asking questions.”
”Some.”
”Did you find out anything?”
”Not much.” Hannah started to melt chocolate for the Red Velvet Cookies to give her a few seconds to think. She didn't want to tell Mike too much, but she had to tell him something. ”Marge and Patsy talked to me right before dinner last night,” she said.
”And?”
”They had some doubt that the victim, the man who claimed to be Gus Klein, really was their brother.”
”Really?
Mike's eyes widened slightly, and Hannah knew she'd handed him a nugget he hadn't panned. ”I guess Marge and Patsy didn't tell you that.”