Part 8 (1/2)
Hannah smiled. ”I'm really glad they went over so well. Lisa worked a long time on the recipe.”
”They're Lisa's?” Andrea looked surprised. ”That's funny. She didn't say a word about it to me.”
”She wouldn't. Lisa's still a little shy about her baking.”
”Well, she doesn't have to be. These are winners.” Andrea reached for another cookie.
”What brings you in, Andrea?” Hannah mentally prepared herself for another sibling crisis. ”I just got off the phone with Bill and he sounded fine. Tracey's okay, isn't she?”
”Tracey's fine. Everything's fine. I don't have another showing until three and I just dropped in to say h.e.l.lo.”
Hannah raised her eyebrows. Andrea never just dropped in. just dropped in. ”I'm busy tonight, but I can be home by eight-thirty. Is that too late to drop Tracey off?” ”I'm busy tonight, but I can be home by eight-thirty. Is that too late to drop Tracey off?”
”Why would I want to drop Tracey off?” Andrea looked confused. ”What are you talking about, Hannah?”
”You don't need a sitter tonight?”
”No.” A dull flush rose to Andrea's cheeks. ”I've really been taking advantage of you, haven't I?”
”Of course not.” Hannah shook her head. ”I enjoy spending time with Tracey. She's a great kid.”
”I know, but when I came in, you just a.s.sumed that I needed something. I'm not a very good sister, Hannah. I take and I take, but I never give back.”
Hannah was uncomfortable. This was getting altogether too serious to suit her. ”Oh yeah? You urged me to open The Cookie Jar. I'd call that giving back in spades.”
”You're right. I did did suggest it.” Andrea looked pleased for a moment. ”But I really should do more for you, Hannah. You help me out all the time and I never know how to return the favor. If you'd just ask me for something, I'd do it.” suggest it.” Andrea looked pleased for a moment. ”But I really should do more for you, Hannah. You help me out all the time and I never know how to return the favor. If you'd just ask me for something, I'd do it.”
Suddenly Hannah had a brilliant thought. ”That's about to change. If you really want to do something for me, you can come along with me to the dentist. My appointment's at one.”
”Of course I'll come, but I didn't know you were afraid to go to the dentist.”
”Believe me, I am,” Hannah said with a grin, ”especially when the dentist is Norman Rhodes.”
Andrea's mouth dropped open. ”But Mother said she tried to set you up with him! Why are you letting him work on your teeth?”
”I'm not. Right before Ron was killed, he had an appointment with Norman. I called him this morning and he confirmed that he'd seen Ron, but he refused to discuss it on the phone. He said he'd tell me all about it if I met him for lunch at his office.”
Andrea lifted her eyebrows. ”Very sneaky. And you're afraid that he's using this opportunity to put the moves on you?”
”No, that's not it. He seemed genuinely nice on the phone, but I don't really want to be alone with him.”
”Why not? Unless...” Andrea stopped speaking and her eyes widened. ”Do you think Norman's a suspect suspect?”
Hannah shrugged. ”No, but I can't entirely rule that out. Norman was one of the last people to see Ron alive, and I won't know if he's got an alibi until I ask him.”
”I'll go with you,” Andrea agreed quickly. ”He can't try anything with both of us there. And while you're having lunch and grilling him about Ron, I'll snoop around to see if I can find any evidence.”
”Uh...maybe that's not such a good idea, Andrea.”
”Why? I'm a great snooper, Hannah. I used to snoop through Mother's things all the time and she never knew I did it. Besides, I'll be helping Bill, and a wife's supposed to help her husband.”
”It could be risky, Andrea.”
”Not if we work out a time schedule and stick to it. How long do you think you can keep him occupied?”
Hannah considered it seriously. ”No more than twenty minutes.”
”I've got to have longer than that. How about thirty?”
”Twenty-five and not a second more,” Hannah said firmly. ”I'll tell him I want to eat lunch in his office and your time starts the instant that I close the door.”
”Okay. We'll synchronize our watches before we go in and I promise I won't get caught.”
”I hope not. I think it's illegal.” Hannah was already beginning to regret asking Andrea to go along.
”How can just looking through somebody's things be illegal? It's not like I'm going to steal anything, Hannah. If I find any evidence, I'll leave it right where it is and we can tell Bill.”
”I'm still not sure this is such a good idea.”
”Maybe it isn't, but we've got to do something to help Bill solve Ron's murder. He won't mind, not when I explain it to him. Is it a go?”
Hannah agreed reluctantly. If Bill ever found out that she'd allowed Andrea to snoop through Norman's office, he'd do more than mind. He'd kill her first and ask questions later.
Chapter Ten.
Hannah speared a piece of romaine lettuce with her fork and managed to glance at her watch. Only five minutes had pa.s.sed since she'd closed the door of Norman's private office and he'd already told her all about his appointment with Ron.
Norman's account hadn't held any surprises. Ron had come in complaining of pain and Norman had given him a shot of Xylocaine. Ron hadn't wanted to take the time to repair the tooth right then, but he'd promised to come back to Norman's office right after he'd finished his deliveries. Of course he hadn't come back. Ron had been killed before the shot had even begun to wear off.
”Did Ron seem nervous about anything?” Hannah asked another question from the mental list she'd prepared.
Norman chewed and swallowed. ”Not really. He was anxious about getting back to work, but that was all.”
”Did he tell you how he cracked his tooth?”
”He said he'd been in a fight, but I didn't press him for the details. Now I wish I had.”
”That's okay, Norman.” Hannah gave him her friendliest smile. ”You didn't have any way of knowing that Ron was going to leave here and get himself shot.”
”I guess not. I wish I'd paid more attention, though. I could have asked him more questions about it when I examined him. He was in the chair for at least twenty minutes.”
”I don't think that would have done much good. With his mouth propped open and that little rubber sheet covering his tongue, he couldn't have told you very much.”
”It's called a rubber dam,” Norman corrected her, and there was a gleam of humor in his eyes. ”You've got a point, Hannah. They taught us about conversing with patients in Dental Procedures 101. Never ask a question that can't be answered by Gghhh, Gghhh, or or Gghhh-Gghhh.” Gghhh-Gghhh.”
Hannah laughed. Norman's sense of humor was a pleasant surprise. Perhaps he wasn't so bad, after all. And he'd certainly spruced up his father's clinic. The inst.i.tutional green walls in the waiting room had been freshly painted with a coat of suns.h.i.+ne yellow, the dusty and faded venetian blinds had been replaced with tieback curtains in a sunflower print, and the old gray couch and hard-backed chairs had given way to a new set of matched furniture that would have looked good in any Lake Eden living room. The only things that hadn't changed were the copies of outdated magazines that were stacked in the new wooden magazine holder on the wall.