Lemon Meringue Pie Murder (Hannah Swensen Mysteries) by Joanne Fluke Read Free Book Online

understand. Why don’t you go in the shop and put on the coffee? I’ll finish up in here.”
    “Thanks, Lisa.” Hannah turned and walked toward the swinging door that led to the coffee shop. “I had the most awful urge to spoon down all that cookie dough. Raw.”
    Once temptation was behind her, Hannah felt much better. As she measured out the coffee grounds, she reminded herself that the waistband on her jeans had been looser this morning and this was not the time to falter in her resolve. If she could keep it up, she’d be thin and beautiful. Well…maybe not beautiful, but certainly thinner. She’d feel better, she’d have more energy, and she might even have the nerve to buy a new bathing suit before the swimming season was over for the year.
    Hannah had just plugged in the coffee when the phone rang. They weren’t open for business yet, but it could be someone calling with an advance order. She lifted the receiver and answered in her most professional voice. “This is The Cookie Jar. Hannah speaking.”
    “I’m glad I caught you, dear.”
    “Hello, Mother.” Hannah glanced up at the clock. It was ten to eight and that was much later than Delores usually called.
    “I hate to disturb you at work, but I need to ask for your help.”
    This was a new wrinkle! Delores never asked, she demanded. “What is it, Mother?”
    “Norman told Carrie that we can take any furnishings we want from the Voelker place. The only catch is, he found someone to start demolishing it on Saturday and we have to get the things out before then.”
    “And you want me to help you move them?” Hannah’s muscles began to cramp at the thought. The last time she’d helped her mother move antiques, she’d been stiff and sore for almost a week.
    “No, Luanne’s taking care of all that. She’s rented a truck and hired a couple of high school boys to do the heavy lifting. She’s absolutely wonderful, Hannah. Her talents were simply wasted at the café.”
    “I’m glad it’s working out so well,” Hannah said, smiling to herself. As far as she was concerned, Luanne Hanks was a story of success in the face of adversity. The Hanks family lived at the end of Old Bailey Road, right next to the town dump and a mile past Freddy Sawyer’s house. The youngest of six children, Luanne had dropped out of school in her senior year to have a baby, but she’d studied at home and passed her high school equivalency exam. Instead of taking the easier way out and giving her daughter up for adoption, Luanne had decided to raise Suzie as a single mom. For the first two years, she’d supported her widowed mother and her baby by working at Hal & Rose’s Café as a waitress and selling Pretty Girl Cosmetics door to door.
    Delores had come into contact with Luanne when she’d done the makeup for the old-fashioned portraits Norman had taken at the Lake Eden Winter Carnival. Impressed with Luanne’s eagerness to learn about antiques, Delores and Carrie had hired her as their assistant when they’d opened Granny’s Attic in May.
    “I’m going out to the Voelker place this afternoon to tag the things we want to take. I thought it would be fun if we went out there together.”
    Hannah searched her mind for an ulterior motive. Her mother always had an ulterior motive. Hannah knew very little about antiques, and Delores was an expert. There was no way her mother needed her help with that. As far as she knew, her mother’s car was running just fine and she was perfectly capable of driving out there by herself. Perhaps Delores just wanted to spend a few hours with her eldest daughter? No, that couldn’t be it.
    “Do you have time to go with me, Hannah? I’d really appreciate it.”
    “I guess,” Hannah said, a bit reluctantly. There was something afoot, but she couldn’t think of what it could be. “I’m catering coffee and dessert at the St. Jude Society prayer meeting, but I should be back here by one.”
    “That’s perfect, dear. Norman’s