Blackberry Pie Murder Read Online Free Page B

dead body, but actually causing his death. “I’m sorry, Mother,” she said.
    “Sorry for what?”
    “I promised you I wouldn’t find another dead body.”
    “Don’t be silly, dear. I was talking about murder victims.
    I’m just so glad you’re both all right!”
    “So am I, but I feel terrible about hitting that man. I was trying to avoid a branch in the road and I didn’t see him.”
    Delores rushed over to give Hannah a hug in spite of her daughter’s drenched clothes and wet hair. “Just remember that it was an accident. You certainly didn’t mean to hit that man. When Doc called me he said it was raining so hard and visibility was so bad, he almost hit your truck.”
    “I should have pulled over and stopped,” Hannah said, stating the obvious.
    “But you couldn’t,” Lisa reminded her. “You were trying to get around the bend and under the trees so that we wouldn’t be struck by lightning.”
    “This is not the time to lay blame,” Delores said, and Hannah recognized the no-nonsense, mother-knows-best tone of voice. “Hannah?” She pointed to the tiny bathroom off the kitchen. “You get straight into that shower and get warm. Then put on dry clothes and come out here.”
    “But Lisa should . . .”
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    Joanne Fluke
    “I turned on the oven for Lisa. You know how much heat that puts out. All she has to do is stand in front of it while you shower and dress and then she can do the same.”
    Doc walked over to give Delores a hug. “No wedding talk today, Lori. The girls are too upset.”
    “I know that. We won’t even mention it.”
    “Good. I’ll need you at the hospital later if you’re free. A couple of board members are coming in from Minneapolis and I always behave better if you’re there.”
    Hannah was on her way to the tiny bathroom off the kitchen, but she turned in time to see her mother smile. It was a beautiful smile, an appreciative smile that came from the heart. Just seeing the expression on her mother’s face assured her that they’d have a loving marriage.
    It didn’t take long for Hannah to shower and dress. She turned the bathroom over to Lisa, who didn’t take more than ten minutes, either, and then they sat down at the workstation with Delores to have a bracing cup of coffee.
    “Michelle and I baked something for you while you were gone,” Delores told them.
    “ You baked?” Hannah felt her eyebrows shoot up in surprise. Delores hadn’t baked when they were growing up and, as far as she knew, her mother hadn’t baked since.
    “Well . . . I didn’t actually do the baking, but I measured the ingredients.”
    “And I’ll bet you did a wonderful job,” Lisa said diplo-matically.
    “That’s what Michelle said. Of course she had to explain that a stick and a half of butter equaled three-quarters of a cup, but there’s no way I could have known that without softening it up and measuring it.”
    “Absolutely right,” Hannah told her, feeling absurdly pleased that her mother had measured ingredients to help Michelle bake for them. “What did you bake?”
    “Tio Tito’s Sublime Lime Bars.”
    “Who’s Tio Tito?” Lisa asked her.
    BLACKBERRY PIE MURDER
    21
    “He’s the man who makes the vodka that we put in the cookie bars. Tito is his nickname and tio means uncle in Spanish.”
    “How did you come up with the name?” Lisa asked her.
    “Michelle named them. She took a summer school class in Spanish and she thought it sounded cute.”
    “We can’t sell those to minors, Mother,” Hannah reminded her, “not with alcohol in them.”
    “Oh, they’re not for sale. They’re for you and Lisa. When Doc called, he told me to run across to the Municipal Liquor Store and buy a bottle of brandy to put in your coffee. But Hank had so many different kinds of brandy, I couldn’t decide. Then I noticed that one bottle had a copper top and it was different from all the rest so I bought that. I didn’t realize that it was vodka and not brandy until I got back