not to offer that. And then she suggested that we ply Stephanie with . . .” Lynne stopped in mid-sentence and glanced at Norman.
“It’s okay, Lynne,” Norman reassured her. “Hannah told me about the type of tea that Delores serves when Stephanie Bascomb comes for a visit.”
“Oh, good!” Lynne said, sounding very relieved. “I didn’t want to give any secrets away.” She turned to Hannah. “I’ll run over to Granny’s Attic to meet your mother, then. There might be something I can do to help her in the store before lunch.”
“I’ll walk you out,” Noman offered, standing up so that he could help her into her parka and open the back door for her. When he came back, he sat down again and smiled at Hannah. “I told Lynne that if Stephanie wouldn’t let her move in early, she was welcome to stay at my place. That’s all right with you, isn’t it?”
“It’s fine with me.”
“I thought so, but I really should have asked you first. My apologies, Hannah.”
“No need for . . .” Hannah stopped speaking when she heard another knock on the back kitchen door.
“Mike?” Norman asked her.
“Yes, I’d recognize his knock anywhere.”
Norman laughed. “Me too, now that you taught me to listen for it. Mike still does the Let me in or I’ll break the door down! type of knock. If you get coffee for him, I’ll go let him in.”
“Deal,” Hannah said, heading for the kitchen coffeepot as Norman went in the opposite direction.
“Hi, Mike,” Hannah heard Norman say as she poured a mug of coffee. When she turned around to carry the coffee back to the work station, Mike had already hung up his parka and was sitting on a stool.
“Hello, Mike,” she greeted him. “Would you like to taste my new cookies? They’re called Snowflake and Ice Cookies.”
“Sure,” Mike agreed immediately. “I’m always up for tasting new cookies.”
Hannah went to the bakers rack, filled a plate with Snowflake and Ice Cookies, and brought them back to Mike. “Here you go,” she said.
Mike grabbed a cookie and tasted it. “Good!” he said, swallowing hastily. Then he finished his first cookie, took a second, and asked, “Did you find out who disabled Darcy’s car?”
Hannah came close to laughing. She should have known that Mike would ask her about her trip to DelRay this morning. “Yes, but they have alibis for Darcy’s murder,” she answered.
“Too bad,” Mike said with a sigh. “Did you learn anything else?”
“Yes, Darcy flirted with Benton. She used to pass him notes when he came by to check the line.”
“You’re going to check into that, aren’t you?” Mike asked.
“Of course I am, right after I go out to rent a storage locker for the things Michelle and Lonnie packed up from my bedroom.”
“When are you going to do that?”
“At noon,” Norman told him.
“Okay. I’ll help you unload, it’ll go faster that way.” Mike plucked another cookie from the tray and took a bite. “I’m meeting someone out at the Corner Tavern for lunch today, but that isn’t until one-thirty. That’s pretty late for me. I’m practically starving.”
Hannah knew she didn’t dare glance at Norman or she’d burst into laughter. Mike had just eaten four cookies and he was starving?
“I’m eating too much,” Mike said, looking slightly guilty. “I think it’s because I’m so frustrated with this situation with Lonnie. It’s practically killing me that I can’t help him. But if I start to investigate, it’ll taint the whole murder case and nothing I discover can be used.”
“I know,” Hannah said, reaching out to pat Mike’s hand.
Mike sighed and turned to Norman. “That’s what happened when my wife was murdered. I was working for the Minneapolis Police Department at the time and I just couldn’t leave it alone.”
“I can understand that,” Norman said. “You wanted to do something to help.”
“Yeah, and I messed it up.” Mike swallowed hard and took a deep breath. “Water over the dam, but it still gets to me. If I’d stayed hands off, we could have locked that little . . .” Mike stopped talking and blinked several times. “He was scum of the earth,” he concluded.
All three of them were silent for a moment. Neither Hannah nor Norman knew exactly what to say to comfort Mike, and it was apparent to both of them that he was still grieving over his wife.
“All we can do is do our best,” Norman said, reaching deeply into his bag of platitudes and squeezing Mike’s shoulder. “I know that’s what you thought