Part 8 (2/2)
”You've done a lot with this place, Norman.” Hannah glanced around Norman's office appreciatively. He'd kept his father's old desk, but it had been refinished with a light oak stain and there was a fresh coat of pale blue paint on the walls. She looked down at the darker blue wall-to-wall carpeting and asked a question that had nothing to do with Ron's murder. ”Did you install this same carpeting in the examining rooms?”
Norman shook his head. ”I couldn't. The floors in there have to be washable. I replaced the linoleum and painted the walls, but that's about it.”
”How about the windows?”
”I ordered some fabric vertical blinds, but they haven't come in yet. And I'm looking for new artwork for the walls.”
”That's good. That old Rockwell print of the boy in the dentist's waiting room used to scare me half to death when I was a kid.”
”It scared me, too,” Norman admitted with a grin. ”He looked so miserable with that big white napkin tied around his jaw. I told Dad I didn't think it was a very good advertis.e.m.e.nt for painless dentistry, but he seemed to think that it was funny. Dental humor, I guess.”
”Like, I got my tongue wrapped around my eyetooth and I couldn't see what I was saying?”
”That was one of Dad's favorites,” Norman laughed and took another Pecan Chew from the bag that Hannah had brought. ”These cookies are really good, Hannah.”
”Thanks. Next time I'll leave on the sh.e.l.ls and you'll get lots of new patients.”
”I've already got that covered, Hannah. I'm going to send out tins of taffy for the holidays with my office number printed on the lids.”
Hannah laughed, but she reminded herself to get back on track with her questions. Norman seemed a lot different here in his office, and she was actually enjoying their visit. ”Did you notice anything unusual about Ron when he came in? Anything at all?”
”No. I told you everything I could think of. I wish I could help you more, but Ron seemed like just an ordinary dental emergency to me.”
”Will you call me right away if you remember anything else?”
”Sure,” Norman agreed. ”I know you're helping your brother-in-law solve the case, but I just don't have any more information to give you.”
”Hold on, Norman. I haven't told anybody that I'm helping Bill. How did you guess?”
”n.o.body's that that nosy about a twenty-minute dental appointment,” Norman pointed out. ”And when your mother told me that your sister's husband was working on the case, I just put two and two together.” nosy about a twenty-minute dental appointment,” Norman pointed out. ”And when your mother told me that your sister's husband was working on the case, I just put two and two together.”
”Please don't tell anyone, Norman.”
”Relax, Hannah. I won't give you away. Do you have any other questions for me? Or can I ask you my question?”
”There's one more.” Hannah took a deep breath. She had to find out if Norman had an alibi for the time of Ron's death. ”Did any other patients come in right after you treated Ron?”
”Just one. It was another fissured molar, but it was part of a bridge, so it was simple to repair. She was in and out in less than thirty minutes.”
Hannah felt strangely relieved that Norman had an alibi. She was really beginning to like him. All she had to do was check with Norman's second patient of the morning and he'd be in the clear. ”I need to know her name, Norman.”
”You don't know?”
”How could I? Look, Norman, I know your patient list is confidential, but all I need is her name. I have to ask her if she saw Ron when she came in.”
Norman began to grin. ”I guess you haven't called your mother back yet.”
”I called her. She wasn't home and I got her machine. What does my mother have to do with it?”
Norman's grin grew wider. ”I thought she would have told you by now. Your mother was my second appointment.”
”That's just great!” Hannah gave a deep sigh. ”Mother left me a dozen messages saying that she had something important to tell me, but she's always always got something important to tell me. Did she talk to you about seeing Ron?” got something important to tell me. Did she talk to you about seeing Ron?”
”Yes, but she didn't actually see him. And she didn't realize it was important until she got home from the mayor's fund-raiser. She saw Ron's truck driving away when she parked in front of the office.”
Hannah decided she would check with her mother at the Regency Romance Club meeting, but it seemed as if Norman had an ironclad alibi. If Delores had been with him, he couldn't have followed Ron and killed him. That made Hannah wish that there were some way to stop Andrea in midsnoop.
”Now, Hannah?”
”Now what?” Hannah looked up at him, startled.
”Are you ready to listen to my question now?”
”Of course I am. What is it, Norman?”
”I was in dental school when my parents moved here and I only came to vist a couple of times. I really don't know much about Lake Eden.”
”There's not much to know.” Hannah grinned.
”But I'm invited to the Woodleys' party and my mother says it's the social event of the year. She's never had the chance to go. Mom and Dad always took their vacation the last week in October and they were out of town. She says that I should go and try to promote new business for the clinic.”
”Your mother's right. All the important people in Lake Eden are invited and it's a great party. I think you should go, Norman. You need to meet all the local families if you want your practice to be a success.”
”Then I'll go. Tell me about the Woodleys. I've never met them.”
Hannah sneaked a peek at her watch again and she was surprised to see that twenty minutes had already pa.s.sed. ”Delano Raymond Woodley is one of the richest men in Lake Eden. He owns DelRay Manufacturing and the company employs over two hundred local workers.”
”Delano?” Norman picked up on the name. ”Is the Woodley family related to the Roosevelts?”
”No, but they'd like to be. From what I hear, Del's mother and father were strictly middle-cla.s.s. His mother just wanted to give him a famous name. It must have worked because Del married a Boston socialite. Her name is Judith and her family's in the social register.”
”Judith, not Judy?”
Hannah laughed. ”I called her Judy once and she nearly took my head off. She comes from 'old money,' but one of Mother's friends did some research and found out that Judith's father squandered it all away. All Judith has left is her social standing, and that's more important to her than anything.”
”So he's a rich social climber and she's a dest.i.tute blue blood who married him for his money?”
”You got it. I couldn't have put it any better myself.”
”You're going to their party, aren't you?”
Hannah thought of her new dress and smiled. ”Of course I am. I do all right, but I'm still on a jug-wine and jelly-gla.s.s budget. This is my one chance to sip Dom Perignon out of fine crystal.”
”Do you have a date?”
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