next to Darcy’s dumpster in the place where Joe had told them he’d parked. He gave a little polite tap on his horn to tell Andrea that they were in position, and all three of them got out of Norman’s car to peer through the tree branches at Darcy’s garage and Grandma McCann’s light tan car that Andrea had parked here.
“It’s pinkish-orange,” Lynne said.
“It sure is!” Hannah reached out to pat Norman on the shoulder. “You were right about the color, Norman!”
All three of them hurried back to the car. Norman gave another polite beep of his horn, and they heard Andrea’s car start. In a few moments, she pulled out of Darcy’s driveway and took up a position next to them.
“Was it pinkish-orange from here?” she asked them.
“It was,” Norman answered her. “Thanks for checking it out, Andrea. And thank Grandma McCann for letting you borrow her car.”
Andrea waved and drove off, making a U-turn to go back to town. Norman put his car in gear and drove in the opposite direction.
“Did what we learned tonight help you in the investigation?” Lynne asked Hannah.
Hannah was silent for a moment, and then she nodded. “Yes, it eliminated several possibilities.”
They were all silent as Norman drove down the country road. Hannah leaned back in the seat and closed her eyes. It was good to have people like Norman, Lynne, and Andrea in her life.
* * *
She was swimming in a pool of warm caramel, practicing her stroke for the competition. She knew she had to hurry because the air outside was cold, the caramel would begin to solidify soon and she’d have to get out of the pool.
She swam to the end of the huge mixing bowl, pushed off from the rim with the wooden spoon that had belonged to her great-grandmother, and switched to the breast stroke. That required a flutter kick with her legs, and she hoped that she’d be able to do it fast enough to keep her afloat.
The caramel was growing thicker and more viscous. Soon it would be sticky and gluey. When that happened, she wouldn’t be able to move her legs, and she still had to do the backstroke.
Even though her body was losing the ability to move through the cooling caramel, she somehow managed to cross the mixing bowl. A push off the rim brought her to the final lap in her competition, but she knew her arms and legs would not carry her much longer. She would be stuck here in the caramel just like a fly on a spiral of sticky flypaper. There would be no way she’d be able to pull herself out of the mixing bowl, and she would die here, her fate the fate of the fly.
“Noooo!” she moaned, and she could feel the tears run down her cheeks. “I have to get out! I have to win! Help me!”
“Hannah?” a voice called her name. “Hannah, wake up!”
“Wake?” she mumbled, the word unfamiliar to her. “I have to finish. They’re depending on me!”
Strong arms wrapped around her and lifted her out of the caramel mixing bowl. Her eyes fluttered open and she blinked several times.
“Take it easy, Hannah. It was just a bad dream. You’re okay now.”
“Norman?” Her eyes focused on his face. “What . . . happened to my big mixing bowl?”
She felt his body shake with laughter and he reached out to stroke her hair. “Your mixing bowl?”
“I was swimming!” she tried to explain. “All I had to do was do one more lap. But I couldn’t because . . . because it was too sticky.”
“That must have been one heck of a nightmare!” Norman commented, pulling her a bit closer in his arms. He grabbed a tissue from the box on the bed table and wiped the tears from her eyes.
“Did you . . . hear me?” Hannah asked him, hoping she hadn’t made too much noise.
“No, Moishe came in to wake me up. He led me up here and you were crying.”
“Then Lynne’s still sleeping?”
“I think so. I didn’t hear her get up.”
“Oh, good. What time is it?”
“A little after five in the morning.”
Hannah sighed. She felt terrible for getting Norman up this early. “I’m sorry Moishe woke you,” she apologized.
“I’m not. It’s freezing in here, Hannah.” He looked over at the window. “Did you open the window?”
“Yes. I was really warm when I went to bed and I needed to cool off.”
“Well, I think you cooled off too much. It turned really cold around