Джоанна Флюк: Triple Chocolate Cheesecake Murder

Terry looked very apologetic. “I know. Bruce is a real menace on the road when he gets a snootful. I told the mayor that, but he never listens to reason when it comes to his brother’s kid. He still thinks that Bill should have figured out a way to let Bruce go.”

“But didn’t the state trooper test Bruce for alcohol?”

“Yes, and Bruce’s blood alcohol was twice as high as it should have been.”

“I don’t want to hear it, Andrea!” The mayor’s angry voice interrupted their conversation. “My mind’s made up, and your husband is history. He won’t even get a job as a dogcatcher as long as I’m the mayor of Lake Eden!”

Both Hannah and Terry listened, but they couldn’t hear Andrea’s response. This made Hannah proud of her younger sister. So far, Andrea hadn’t yelled back. The fact that they couldn’t hear her meant that Andrea was still using a perfectly reasonable tone of voice, but Hannah knew that couldn’t last forever. Eventually, Andrea would lose control and she’d give the mayor a piece of her mind!

“I’m impressed,” Terry said admiringly. “Andrea’s really keeping her cool.”

“Yes, she is . . . so far. But she’s always been very protective of her family. If Mayor Bascomb keeps this up, she’ll snap.”

“I almost wish she would. Nobody else has the nerve to tell him when he’s being a you-know-what. Did Andrea tell you that Bill came in to talk to the mayor yesterday?”

“Yes, and she said the mayor refused to see Bill. That’s one of the reasons Andrea came over here today. She promised me she’d be calm and reasonable, but she also said that she’d kick down his office door if he refused to see her.”

“Do you think she actually would have done it?”

Hannah laughed. “Oh, yes. Maybe she wouldn’t have succeeded. It looks like a pretty heavy door to me. But I know that Andrea would have given it her best shot. She’s in mother-lion-protecting-her-cub mode.”

“Enough!” Mayor Bascomb’s voice was even louder than it had been before. “I’ve listened to your pathetic whining and sniveling for long enough. You’re every bit as stupid as your husband!”

“Let me tell you something, Mayor Bascomb . . .” Andrea’s voice was louder.

Hannah picked up her purse and Andrea’s parka. “I think that’ll do it,” she said.

“You mean Andrea’s going to . . .”

“You bet,” Hannah interrupted. “I know my sister and she can’t take much more.”

“You’re the one who’s pathetic!” Andrea’s voice was almost as loud as Mayor Bascomb’s had been. “You’re nothing but a bully, and it’s long past time that somebody stood up to you!”

“And you think that you can stand up to me, little lady?”

“I know I can! Bill’s too much of a gentleman to take you on, but not me! Somebody’s got to give you exactly what you deserve, you . . . you pig!”

Hannah jumped up from the chair. “Grab your coat, Terry! When Andrea charges in here, it’s time for us all to get out of Dodge!”

“Right!” Terry grabbed her coat and purse and was pulling on her boots when they heard a sharp, stinging sound that was followed by a loud crash. “She slapped him?”

“That’s what it sounded like to me. I think she slapped him right out of his chair!” Hannah hurried across the room and opened the door to the hallway. “Go out first, Terry. And stand out of the way. Andrea’s so mad, she’s going to explode out the door!”

Terry grabbed the plate of cookies that Hannah had brought, and ran to the door. She had just stepped out into the hallway when Andrea came storming out of Mayor Bascomb’s office. “Whoa!” Terry gasped, sheltering against the wall as Andrea raced past her. “Wait for us, Andrea!”

But Andrea didn’t wait. She practically flew down the staircase and out into the street. By the time Hannah and Terry had managed to catch up with her, she was leaning against the old-fashioned designer lamppost in front of the building, gasping for breath.

“Here, Andrea,” Hannah, who had been holding her sister’s parka, draped it around Andrea’s shoulders. “Deep, calming breaths. It’s okay. You’re out of there now.”

“I . . . I . . . I . . .”

“We heard,” Hannah told her.

“I . . . slapped . . .”

“We know,” Terry said.

“I . . . knocked . . . him . . .”

“You knocked him over in his chair,” Hannah finished the sentence for her. “Put your arms in your sleeves, Andrea. It’s cold out here and you’re overheated.”

“Nasty . . . bully,” Andrea managed to say. “I . . . I should have killed him!”

“A lot of people feel that way,” Terry said.

“But . . . all I did was . . . was slap him!”

“Nobody else has ever done that before,” Terry told her. “They might have felt like it, but they never had the courage to actually do it.”

Once Andrea had calmed down enough to zip up her parka, they walked to their respective cars. “That was a really loud crash,” Terry said as she unlocked her car door and slid into the driver’s seat. “I wonder if you broke his chair.”

“Maybe.” Andrea gave a weak little smile. “I hope I did, but after the things he said about Bill, I should have broken his neck !”

Chapter Two

“Are you sure you’re all right, Andrea?” Hannah asked as they parked in their mother’s garage. Her sister’s hands were shaking even though Andrea held them tightly in her lap and her face was very pale.

“I’m okay, but I still wish I’d slapped him harder!”

“It sounded pretty hard to us. Terry and I figured he was seeing stars.”

“Really!” Andrea said. “I guess you must be right because I knocked him right out of his chair.”

“We know that, too,” Hannah said, and she couldn’t help chuckling. “I hope he fell hard.”

Andrea didn’t laugh, but she gave Hannah a ghost of a smile. That made Hannah hope that her sister was calming down and regaining her sense of humor. “Are you still okay enough to help me with dinner?”

“Yes, it might help if you’ve got something easy for me to do, like put cheese on a plate or toss a salad or something like that.”

“How about opening a bottle of champagne?” Hannah asked, knowing full well that her sister prided herself on opening champagne without having the cork explode like a rocket.

“I can do that,” Andrea agreed quickly, but Hannah noticed that her sister’s hands were still shaking.

“I can make some kind of excuse to Mother if you don’t want to go out to the penthouse garden right away.”

Andrea thought about that as she got out of the car and walked to the elevator with Hannah. “I think I’m okay now. Or at least I will be okay when we get up to Mother’s penthouse. Are Moishe and Cuddles there?”

“Not yet.” Hannah glanced at her watch as she pushed the button for the elevator. “Norman’s coming in twenty minutes or so and he’s bringing them both in their cat carriers.”

“Good. I haven’t seen Moishe in a while.” Andrea gave a little sigh. “When do you think you can go back home, Hannah? I miss the dinners we used to have at the condo.”

“I’m not sure,” Hannah admitted truthfully. “Norman and I tried it last week, but Moishe shook so hard when Norman started to carry him up the stairs that both of us were worried he’d have a heart attack or something awful like that.”

“But you’re okay going there?” Andrea stepped into the elevator with Hannah.

“I’m okay if other people are there, but I’m not so sure about staying there alone. It’s just . . .” Hannah stopped and swallowed hard. “It’s just that I keep seeing . . . it’s memories, you know?”