Carrot Cake Murder (13 page)

The moths beat themselves silly against the screens as Hannah finished loading one dishwasher and poured in the heavy-duty detergent. Only one more to load and she could go home.

Hannah yawned again as she rinsed out the crock of a slow cooker and found a place for it on the bottom rack of the second dishwasher. She was short on sleep and long on worries. For one thing, she was still having trouble banishing the thought of that ice pick. It didn’t make a whole lot of sense, since she’d found victims who’d suffered more violent and much gorier deaths in the past. But there was something about the fact that the killer might have used one of her grandfather’s Christmas gifts to his customers as a murder weapon that really disturbed her. Perhaps it was because she had an ice pick just like it at home.

There was another reason Hannah was worried, and it had to do with Moishe. Would she arrive home to find that the cat she’d adopted had shredded every pillow and piece of stuffed furniture in her condo?

“Hannah?” a voice called out, accompanied by a knock on the wooden frame of the screen door. “I need to talk to you, Hannah.”

Hannah recognized the voice. It was Ava from the Eden Lake Store. “Come on in, Ava. It’s not locked.”

“Do you need some help?” Ava walked over to the sink and stared down at a saucepan that was waiting to be scoured.

“Not really. I’m almost done. What’s on your mind?”

“There’s something I have to tell you. It’s about Gus.”

Hannah turned to look at her. Ava appeared extremely upset, and Hannah hoped she wasn’t about to hear a confession! “What is it?” she asked.

“The Beesemans from Red Wing were in, and she mentioned that they weren’t sure the body they found was really Gus.”

“That’s right. Marge had some doubts, and so did Patsy.”

“And this Mrs. Beeseman…Betsy, I think her name was…said there wasn’t any way to tell, since Gus hadn’t had any distinguishing marks or scars on him when he left Lake Eden.”

“That’s right.”

“Well…he did.”

“He did what?”

“He did have a distinguishing mark on him.”

“A scar?”

“No, a tattoo. It was two crossed bats and a ball, almost like that major league baseball logo they show on TV before every game.”

“Are you sure?”

“I’m sure.”

“But why didn’t anyone else mention it?”

“I don’t think anybody else knew.”

“Not Marge? Or Patsy?”

“Neither one of them. It was a tattoo in…well…a kind of a private place.”

Hannah didn’t really want to ask, but she knew she should. “What kind of private place are we talking about here?”

“Backside private. On the left.”

“You mean…?” Hannah used her own anatomy to pat the area in question.

“That’s it. That’s exactly where it was.”

“And this isn’t just hearsay. I mean, you’re sure this tattoo was…there?”

“It was there. I saw it with my own two eyes way back in high school.” Ava stopped and looked highly embarrassed. “But it’s not what you’re thinking,” she added quickly.

“I wasn’t thinking. I was trying really hard not to think.”

“Good. It’s just that I went over to visit Marge and Patsy one day, and Mrs. Klein told me I could wait up in their room and read some of their movie magazines. So I went up there, and on the way I passed by Gus’s bedroom. The door was open, and he was inside getting dressed. And his backside was to me.”

“And you saw it?”

“Yes. That was when I saw it. He didn’t see me standing there, so I hurried on down the hall as quiet as I could be. And I went straight into Marge and Patsy’s room. I’m absolutely positive he didn’t know I was there, and that’s all there was to it.”

Ava finished her account in a rush, as if she’d rehearsed it several times before delivering it to Hannah. That made Hannah doubt that Ava was being entirely truthful, but she couldn’t prove otherwise and it really didn’t matter in the long run.

“Thanks for telling me, Ava,” Hannah said. “And if Marge and Patsy knew, they’d thank you, too. It’s one sure way to tell if the victim really was Gus.”

Ava looked worried. “I’m not going to have to testify, or anything like that, am I?”

“I wouldn’t think so. It really doesn’t have anything to do with the murder. It’s just a question of whether he was who he said he was…or not.”

“Good! I was worried about that, but I thought I should tell you anyway.” Ava headed for the door, but she turned back before she got there. “Thanks a lot, Hannah.”

“That’s okay. I’m really glad you told me.”

“So am I, but that’s not it.”

“Not what?”

“That’s not what I’m thanking you for. You see, Bill dropped by and paid Gus’s bill out of the money they found in his wallet. So now I’ve got the money, and I don’t have to be worried about that anymore.”

“I’m glad,” Hannah said, figuring that Bill had pulled some strings to do that. Everyone knew that Ava was on a tight budget and couldn’t afford to absorb many losses.

“I’m getting a new Popsicle flavor in next week. Drop in and have one on me.”

“Thanks, Ava. I’ll do that.” Hannah gave her a wave as she went out the door, and then she turned back to her dishwashing chores. At least now she knew how to tell if the body she’d found was really Gus Klein…if he hadn’t had his tattoo removed after he’d left Lake Eden. She’d just finished adding several soup ladles, a bean pot, and two slow cooker crocks to the bottom rack when there was another knock, a very timid knock, on the frame of the screen door.

“Who is it?” Hannah called out.

“Barbara Donnelly. I need to talk to you, Hannah.”

“Come in. It’s open.” Hannah made quick work of stashing a metal spatula on the top rack of the dishwater. She had no idea why Bill’s secretary wanted to talk to her, but perhaps she could pump Barbara for information. “I thought you were at the slide show.”

“I was, but Norman told me that my pictures of Marge and Patsy at Girl Scout Camp won’t come for another half hour. And I wanted to see you, so I came right over.” Barbara walked to the sink and picked up a scouring pad. “Do you need some help?”

“Not really, I’m almost through,” Hannah said, experiencing a flash of déjà vu. “Why did you want to see me, Barbara? You look a little upset.”

“It’s what Marge said about Gus at the family meeting.”

“And that was…?” Hannah asked to encourage her.

“That they didn’t have any way of telling whether Gus was really their brother. She said a lot of time had passed and they really couldn’t tell by just looking at him. And then she mentioned that Gus didn’t have any distinguishing marks.”

“Right,” Hannah said, that sense of déjà vu growing stronger.

“Well, he did except Marge didn’t know about it. Patsy didn’t either. Nobody did unless they happened to…” Barbara stopped and cleared her throat. “Maybe I’d better start again.”

Hannah gave her an encouraging nod. “Go ahead.”

“It was the summer right before my senior year at Jordan High. A bunch of us went out to the lake to swim, and we needed a place to change into our suits. You’ve seen the changing rooms, haven’t you?”

“Yes.” Hannah had used those same changing rooms when she’d taken swimming lessons as a child. They consisted of a concrete slab enclosed by an eight-foot high block wall on three sides. The fourth wall did not complete the enclosure. Instead it ran parallel to the first wall making a passageway about four feet wide. It also stopped about four feet short of joining the second wall so that a swimmer could walk inside the hallway that was formed, turn the corner into the large part of the enclosure, and have privacy from anyone outside.

“You know how the changing rooms don’t have a roof, and they’re open on top?”

“I know.”

“The Lion’s Club had them built that way so they wouldn’t get all moldy inside. My dad explained it to me. But the girls’ changing room had a low spot on the floor right by the door. If it rained, there was a big puddle full of all sorts of nasty leaves and things and it didn’t dry up for a couple of days.”

“I understand,” Hannah said because Barbara seemed to be waiting for her to say something.

“Well, we didn’t want to walk through the leaves and yuck, so we decided we’d use the boys’ changing room if nobody was in it. The only problem was that somebody had to check to see. I was the only one that could scale the wall, so I did and I peeked inside. And there was Gus Klein just ready to step into his swim trunks.”

Hannah thought she knew what was coming next, but there was only one way to make sure. She clamped her lips shut and waited for Barbara to go on with her story.

“His back was to me, and I saw his tattoo. It was two crossed bats with a baseball in between. And it was on his left side, just about where his back pocket would have come if he’d been wearing pants. I jumped down in a hurry so he wouldn’t know I’d seen him. And then we ran back to the car and held up the blanket my dad always kept in the trunk, and took turns changing in the backseat.”

“Did you mention what you’d seen to anyone else?”

“Good heavens, no!” Barbara looked shocked. “I didn’t want Gus to know I’d seen him and one of the girls would have told. Anyway, that’s it, Hannah. I just thought I should tell you right away. I didn’t want to mention it to Bill for the obvious reason.”

“What obvious reason is that?” Hannah was curious.

“He’d think I was a snoop, or maybe worse. I did date Gus for a while, you know.”

“I didn’t know, but thanks for telling me.” Hannah gave her a warm smile. “And don’t worry. I won’t mention what you said to anybody.”

After Barbara left, Hannah turned back to the work at hand. She scoured two frying pans, a pasta pot, and a scoop encrusted with something that looked like scrambled eggs but probably wasn’t. She stashed them in the dishwasher, poured in the heavy-duty detergent, and gave a final look around the kitchen to make sure everything was spotless. Then she turned both dishwashers on, gave a final wipe to the kitchen counters, switched off the lights, and headed for the door. She was just stepping out when she ran smack into Rose McDermott.

“Hi, Rose,” Hannah said, wondering if she was going to get the tattoo story for the third time that evening.

“I was looking for you, Hannah. Hal’s still at the slide show, and I wanted to talk to you alone.”

“Sure, Rose.” Hannah sat down in the old porch swing that graced the porch of the Thompson cottage, and pointed to a wicker chair. “Sit down and be comfy.”

“Thanks. Your guy is sure doing a great job with that slide show.”

Which guy is that? Hannah wanted to ask, but she didn’t. She knew perfectly well that Rose was referring to Norman.

“Anyway…Marge called a family meeting this afternoon. Hal’s her third cousin twice removed, you know, so we went. And she told us she wasn’t sure that Gus was really her brother Gus, but since he didn’t have any scars, or marks, or anything like that when he left Lake Eden, they had to wait for DNA testing to find out for sure.”

“Right.”

“Anyway…he did.”

“Did?” Hannah prompted, even though she was sure she knew what was coming.

“Did have a mark. Gus had a tattoo. He had it when he was a senior in high school.”

“And you know this for a fact?”

“I saw it!” Rose said, and Hannah knew she was nodding for emphasis, even though it was dark and all she could see was Rose’s slightly darker shape in the chair. “Actually, I saw it twice. But I wouldn’t admit it to anybody but you, Hannah. Hal would just die if he ever found out what Gus did.”

Uh-oh! Hannah had all she could do not to groan out loud. She really didn’t want to know the details of how Rose had seen Gus’s tattoo. Twice. Tacked on top of her natural reticence to hearing something embarrassingly personal was the fact that Rose was at least ten years older than Gus, maybe more.

“Just describe the tattoo,” she told Rose. “I don’t need to know anything else.”

“It’s okay. I want to tell you. I’ve kept the secret all these years, and I know you won’t say anything to anybody. It was right after Hal and I were married and he was running the café by himself. I was still working as head secretary at the school.”

“I didn’t know you worked at the school.”

“I was there for four years. I started right after I graduated high school, when Mr. Garrison’s secretary moved away. He was the principal before Mr. Purvis.”

Hannah wasn’t sure what being the principal’s secretary had to do with Gus and seeing his tattoo, but asking wouldn’t do any good. Rose liked to tell things her way.

“Gus was no stranger to the principal’s office. He was always getting into trouble. Nothing big, but since the other guys looked up to him so much for being such a fine athlete, he was supposed to set a good example.”

“And he didn’t?” Hannah guessed.

“Not hardly!” Rose gave a little laugh. “Gus was a hellion, pure and simple. He was always getting into trouble. It was nothing big, just pranks and stuff, but there wasn’t a week that didn’t go by without Gus being sent to Mr. Garrison’s office. And Mr. Garrison was an old Army man. He believed in corporal punishment if the occasion warranted.”

“Go on,” Hannah said, beginning to get a glimmer of things to come.

“Anyway…Gus did something particularly bad the week that school started. I don’t remember exactly what it was after all this time, but it had something to do with the drama teacher and three dead frogs.”

Hannah’s imagination took off like a rocket, and she had all she could do to keep it in check. “And Gus got caught for what he’d done?” she prompted.

“That’s right. Anyway…I was about to take some reports to the superintendent’s office when Gus came in. I knocked on Mr. Garrison’s door, showed Gus in, and then I went to deliver those reports. When I got back, Mr. Garrison’s door was closed and all I could hear was a loud whacking noise.”

“Corporal punishment?” Hannah guessed.

“And how! The first thing I noticed was that the Board of Education was gone. It was a paddle that hung on the wall right outside Mr. Garrison’s office. It said Board of Education on it, and the Board part was in red because it was supposed to be a joke.”

“I get it.”