Christmas Caramel Murder (15 page)

“Run, Hannah!” he shouted at her. “Run for help!”

Gil's words served to release her and Hannah didn't waste any time. She ran out of the den and into the hallway, headlong toward the front door. She didn't stop to grab her coat, she just fled as fast as she could. She pulled the heavy inner door open, expecting to run to her truck, but she found herself engulfed in the arms of someone wearing a sheriff's department uniform. It was Mike and she'd never been so glad to see anyone in her whole life!

“Hannah!” Mike exclaimed. “Where's Bonnie?”

“The den!” Hannah managed to gasp out.

“Michelle's in the cruiser. Take her and get out of here. Now!”

“Bonnie's got a gun. Gil grabbed her arm, and . . .”

The sound of a gunshot drowned out any further explanation Hannah could give him. Mike drew his gun, motioned to Lonnie, who was standing behind him, and both men raced for the den.

Hannah knew she should go, but she couldn't, not without finding out what had happened. She drew a deep, shaking breath and turned around to follow Mike and Lonnie to the den. She arrived at the doorway just in time to see the gun on the floor next to the rocker, and Gil cradling his wife's body in his arms.

“I shot her,” he said to Mike and Lonnie. “She was going to kill Hannah. You have to arrest me. I killed my darling wife.”

H
annah stared out of the passenger window at scenery she didn't see. The image of Gil holding Bonnie's body in his arms was too fresh in her mind.

“Are you all right, Hannah?” Michelle asked, as she pulled the cookie truck into Hannah's parking space at the condo.

“I don't know,” Hannah answered truthfully. “It's like . . . too much for my mind to process. I can't take it all in. It's not right, Michelle. It never should have happened this way. Nothing's right!”

“Mike said that you were in shock and you have to rest. You haven't gotten a good night's sleep since this whole thing started. You're overloaded, overtired, and completely stressed. You need to stretch out on your bed and nap with Moishe until Mike gets here.”

“But I should call . . .”

“No one,” Michelle interrupted her. “You should call no one. You're in no shape to talk right now. You've always taken care of me, and now it's my turn to take care of you.”

“I . . . I'm not sure . . .” Hannah's voice trailed off. Michelle was right. She was so terribly, terribly tired.

“Come on, Hannah,” Michelle walked around the back of the cookie truck and pulled open Hannah's door. “Let's go upstairs and see Moishe. That'll make you feel better.”

“Not if I have to catch him,” Hannah said, eliciting a laugh from Michelle.

“I'll catch him,” Michelle promised, leading the way up the covered outside staircase. “And I'll unlock the door, too. I want you to go in, walk straight to the bedroom, and take a nap. If you do, I guarantee you'll feel better by the time Mike comes to take your statement.”

“Yes,” Hannah said, and then she gave her sister a hug. “Thank you, Michelle.”

* * *

She could see him at the foot of her bed. Hannah stared at him for a moment and then she sat up. “Dad?”

“Yes, Honey-bear. It's me. I'm back and I'm here to be the Ghost of Christmas Future.”

“There is no future for Bonnie.”

“I know. That's unfortunate. But there is a future for you, Hannah. It's a happy future, and I need to show it to you. And I need to show you something from Lisa's future, too. Don't tell her. It's going to be a Christmas surprise.”

As Hannah watched, the movie screen materialized and images began to appear. The first image was of Lisa's house as a sporty red car drove up to park in the driveway. It was an older model but beautifully restored with fresh paint and new tires. As she watched, Herb placed a huge red and green bow on top of the car, and Hannah knew that it must be a Christmas present. Then Herb walked to the front door of the house and went inside.

A moment later, Lisa followed Herb outside. She saw the car and blinked and stared, as if she couldn't believe her eyes. And then, when Herb handed Lisa the keys, Lisa threw her arms around him and kissed him.

The scene changed. The whole family was sitting around a beautifully decorated Christmas tree in her mother's living room. They were exchanging presents on Christmas Day, and Delores handed Hannah a long, flat package in gold paper with little candy canes printed all over it. There was a tag on the front that read,
From Dad and Uncle Ed
. Hannah took off the ribbon and bow very carefully and handed them to her mother. Delores saved things like that. Then she took off the paper and stared down at the beautifully restored and refinished board inside. Someone had carved two names into the wood in childish block letters. One name was Ed and the other was Lars.

“Your uncle Ed was lucky,” her father's voice said. “He only had to carve two letters. I had to carve four on the ladder we used to get up into our treehouse. I'm glad you kept our ladder, Honey-bear. And I'm glad your mother remembered what I told her about it.”

Hannah's mouth dropped open. So
that
was why Delores had wanted the old ladder that had almost caused Lisa to tumble to the floor. She'd removed the board where Hannah's Uncle Ed and father had carved their names as boys and restored it as a plaque for Hannah.

The screen went dark and Hannah sighed. She was sorry the glimpse into the future was over. But her father was still here and she concentrated on the form at the foot of her bed. It was beginning to undulate and fade, and she knew that he was about to leave her.

“Dad!” she called out to him. “Will you come back, Dad?”

“I'm always here, Honey-bear. I always will be. And I promise that I'll always give you a kiss on Christmas morning, just the way I used to do when I woke you up to tell you that Santa had come.”

Hannah opened her mouth to ask another question, but the amorphous form that had been her father changed into wisps of sparkling gold that floated up to the ceiling and then beyond.

“He's gone,” she said to Moishe. “Dad's gone, but he promised he'd kiss me on Christmas morning.”

Moishe began to purr and then he licked her hand. And Hannah gave him a scratch behind his ears, something he loved, and that made him purr even louder.

“Hannah?” a voice called her out of her half-awake state. “Mike's here. I'll give him some coffee and a couple of the Cherry Shortbread Bar Cookies I made. How do you feel?”

Michelle appeared in the doorway and Hannah smiled at her. “I feel good. You and Mike were right. Sleep was exactly what I needed.”

“H
annah?” Ross put down his empty coffee cup.

“Yes, Ross.”

“I have a couple of questions for you.”

“Okay.” Hannah mentally prepared herself for some tough questions like
Do you really believe that you saw your father?
or
Don't you think that your subconscious was staging all these dreams because
of
the play the Lake Eden Players were doing, and your mind was working to form inferences from all the information you'd received during the day?
“What would you like to know?” she asked him.

“I know that Lisa has a red car. Did Herb restore it and give it to her last Christmas?”

“Yes, he did. He told us that he worked late every night out at Cyril Murphy's garage to get it ready by Christmas.”

“And that's why Lisa thought he was going out on her?”

“Yes. And the reason Mike cleared Herb was because Cyril was helping Herb on the night that Phyllis was murdered. But Mike couldn't tell me that because Herb wanted it to be a secret so that Lisa would have a Christmas surprise.”

Ross smiled. “Was she surprised?”

“And how!” Hannah used one of her favorite Minnesota expressions. “Lisa nearly had a cow when she saw that gorgeous car!”

“How about your present, the one your mother gave you?”

“It was a board from Dad's old ladder with Dad and Uncle Ed's names on it.”

“And you pretended to be surprised?”

Hannah smiled. “I did.”

“Is that the same plaque that you have hanging in your hallway?”

“It is. I love that plaque. There's no way you can know your parents as children, and sometimes it's nice to be reminded that they were really kids, just like you.”

“A lot happened in Lake Eden last Christmas,” Ross said, and he looked thoughtful. “Maybe you'd better not make those chocolate caramels again . . . just in case, I mean.”

Hannah laughed. “We haven't made them since, but it's silly to think they're bad luck, isn't it?”

“Rationally, yes. Of course it is. And of course I want you to make them. I missed out last year. But you've got to promise me one thing.”

“What's that?”

“You've got to promise that you won't find another body right before Christmas this year.”

“But how can I promise something like that? Mike says I have slaydar. I don't go looking for murder victims, but I seem to find them more often than other people do.”

“That's true.” Ross gave a little sigh. “I know it's silly, Hannah. And I know it could happen whether you promise, or not. But . . . will you promise anyway?”

Hannah smiled at him. “If it'll make you feel better, I promise,” she said.