Double Fudge Brownie Murder (Hannah Swensen series Book 18) (30 page)

The emergency bell began to ring loudly, pushing all other thoughts from her mind. Had anyone received her cry for help? Was there anyone coming who would hear it?

There was another sound, a high-pitched wail that she heard over the noise of the clanging emergency bell. A police siren!

Hannah looked down at her phone and saw a text message appear on the screen.

 

The return cell phone number was Mike’s.

She realized that her knees were trembling and would no longer hold her upright. She sank to the floor of the elevator and relieved tears filled her eyes. She was still there when the clanging bell ceased and Big Ben chimed with another text message from Mike.

 

Somehow she managed to get to her feet and push in the emergency button. The elevator descended, the door opened, and she went straight into Ross’s arms.

 

I
t was late Sunday morning and Hannah and Ross were standing in front of the security checkpoint at the Minneapolis airport. Their arms were around each other and Hannah couldn’t decide if she was sad or happy. The employment director at KCOW had offered Ross the job and Ross had accepted. He would become the head of original programming at KCOW Television next Monday. That meant he had only a week to pack up his things in California and arrange for a moving company to bring them to Lake Eden.

Ross was holding her like he never wanted to let her go, but at last he released her. “I almost forgot to tell you that some of your detective skills must have rubbed off on me.”

“What do you mean?”

“I solved the mystery of the cat burglar.”

Hannah was shocked. “You discovered how Moishe was getting out?”

“Not exactly. I discovered how Moishe was getting
in
. He’s not going out anywhere, not really. I put it all together this morning when I was sitting at your kitchen table and you went back to your room to get your jacket. I saw Moishe jump down to the top of the refrigerator.”

“Down? Don’t you mean he jumped
up
to the top of the refrigerator?”

Ross shook his head. “No, he jumped
down
. There’s a hole in your ceiling, and I think it goes into the attic.”

“That’s exactly where it goes! They had to cut a hole when they installed my refrigerator. It was too big for the space and there was no other way to vent it. But there’s a grate over the hole.”

“Not anymore. The cat burglar managed to claw it loose and it’s laying there on the top of your refrigerator. I used your stepstool to look. Do you know that the attic covers the entire length and width of the building? The people with upstairs units in your building use it for storage.”

“I know that, but I don’t have that many things and I’ve never needed to use it. The access is through the master bedroom closet, but Moishe obviously found another way. I may have to rename him Houdini! He escaped and none of us knew how he did it . . . except for you. Please don’t tell anybody about it. It has to be our secret for now.”

“Why?”

“Because Lisa, Aunt Nancy, and Grandma Knudson are so excited about holding the yard sale that isn’t really a yard sale on Saturday at The Cookie Jar. There’s no way I want to spoil their fun and if I let the cat burglar get into the attic for another week, we’ll have even more stolen items to display.”

Ross laughed and pulled her into his arms again for another hug. “That’s one of the things I love about you, Hannah.”

“I let my cat steal things?”

“No, you think of other people’s feelings first. And speaking of others’ feelings, please tell Doc and your mother that I’m sorry I can’t come to their party tonight.”

“I’ll tell them,” Hannah promised.

“And tell Mike thanks for letting me tackle that . . .”

Hannah didn’t let him finish. She just pulled him down for a kiss. “I will,” she promised.

“And tell Norman I’ll invite him out to the station as soon as I get settled in. He was really interested in post-production.”

“I’ll tell him.”

“And tell Hannah Swensen that I’ll miss her very much.”

“I think she already knows that.”

“And does she also know how much I love her?”

“She knows.”

Ross pulled her into his arms again and after a minute or two, Hannah was aware of someone clearing his throat. She looked over at the TSA agent who was manning the first podium, and saw him beckoning to Ross. “You’d better go,” she told Ross. “It’s almost time for your plane to board.”

“Right.”

Ross gave her one last hug and went up to the podium. He showed his identification and boarding pass and he was waved on. Hannah watched with tears in her eyes as he put his carry-on and shoes in a bin and placed them on the conveyor belt that led to the X-ray machine. Then he turned to wave as he went through the screening device.

He stopped to talk to an agent on the other side as he waited for his bins to come off the belt, and Hannah saw the agent grin and nod. Ross slipped on his shoes, not bothering to tie them, picked up his carry-on, and then he was gone.

Hannah turned away. She’d never felt so alone. She knew he was coming back in a week, but that didn’t really help right now. Ross was gone and she felt desolate.

“Excuse me, miss.” One of the TSA agents, the one Ross had talked to while he was waiting for his shoes and carry-on, approached her. “Please come with me.”

“Come with you . . . where?”

“To the scanner.”

“But . . . I’m not flying anywhere. I just came here to see someone . . .” Hannah paused as she spotted Ross on the other side of the scanner. “There he is, the man I brought to the airport. What’s happening?”

“It’ll be fine,” the agent said, smiling at her. “Just follow me, please.”

Ross was beckoning to her. If he wanted her to follow the TSA agent, she would.

The agent led her to the scanner and he motioned for Ross to come through. “You’d better ask her in a hurry,” he said to Ross. “Your flight leaves in ten minutes.”

Ross hurried through the scanner and folded his arms around Hannah. “I couldn’t leave without asking you.”

“Without asking me what?”

Ross took both of her hands in his and dropped to one knee. “Hannah Louise Swensen . . . will you marry me?”

“Oh!” Hannah gasped. Suddenly, her knees began to shake and then she was kneeling by him on the floor. His arms closed around her, his lips met hers, and she knew she’d never felt so happy in her whole life.

The kiss seemed to last for eons, but then they heard the sound of applause. They looked up to see a circle of TSA agents surrounding them and clapping.

“You’d better go, sir.” One of the agents helped Ross to his feet and another extended a hand to Hannah. “We called, but we can’t hold the plane for more than five more minutes.”

“I’ll call you after the party tonight,” Ross said, turning quickly and heading back through the scanner. He ran toward the corridor that led to the gate, stopped to blow her a kiss, and then he was gone.

“Ma’am?” The TSA agent took Hannah’s arm. “You’d better go now. I wasn’t supposed to let you in this far without a boarding pass, but . . . well . . . my wife would have killed me if I hadn’t. She still believes in love. And that’s after thirty years of marriage to me.”

“She’s right to keep believing,” Hannah said. “Please tell her thank you for me.”

Hannah turned. And then she floated all the way down the corridor, out of the airport, and into her cookie truck for the drive back to Lake Eden.

It’s been a great party so far,
Hannah thought.

Doc looked happy and proud, and her mother looked radiant as they accepted the congratulations of their friends. Dinner had been superb, everything was beautifully decorated, and Sally had outdone herself with the Butterscotch Champagne Cocktail she’d made for the toast to the newlyweds.

“Hi, Hannah.” Norman came up to her with a smile on his face. “I didn’t get a chance to ask you at the courthouse last night. How many responses did you get to your text?”

“Sixty-seven,” Hannah said. “I had to send out another broadcast telling everyone that I was okay.”

“You have sixty-seven people on your contact list?”

“I do now. Tracey went a little overboard. She put in the ten numbers I had on my list and then she transferred fifty-seven of her own. I really had no idea what I was doing when I sent out that emergency text. I even sent it to Tracey’s classmate, Calvin Janowski!”

Norman laughed. “I saw the Janowskis at the courthouse. There were a whole lot of people who drove out there to help you.”

“I know. I was really embarrassed, but it’s great to know that I have that many friends.”

“Especially Calvin Janowski?”

“Especially Calvin,” Hannah said with a smile.

“This is a great party, Hannah. Doc and Delores are having a wonderful time and the band is really good. Let’s get out there and cut a rug.”

“What?”

“Cut a rug. You know . . . dance.”

“Sure, Norman. I’d love to dance with you. Where did you get that phrase?”

“From my dance teacher. You remember that I took those dance lessons, don’t you?”

“I
do
remember,” Hannah said, wishing she could thank Norman’s dance teacher in person. Before he had taken dance lessons, he’d stepped on everyone’s toes.

“My teacher is in her late eighties and she was a professional dancer. She used to always tell me to ask the ladies if they wanted to
cut a rug
.”

“I see.” Hannah managed not to laugh. As far as she knew, they hadn’t even used that phrase in her mother’s day. Of course Delores wasn’t eighty. Delores wouldn’t even admit to sixty-five.

Norman took Hannah’s arm, led her onto the dance floor, and they began to dance. After a few moments of holding her close, he cleared his throat. “You know I love you, don’t you, Hannah?”

Hannah’s sensors went on high alert, but she quieted them quickly. “I know you do,” she said.

“I just wanted you to know that my proposal still stands. I’ve always wanted to marry you and I still do.”

There was only one thing to say and Hannah said it. “Thank you, Norman. That means a lot to me.”

“I know that you love me,” Norman continued. “I can feel it in my heart. You
do
love me, don’t you?”

“Yes,” Hannah said. “I
do
love you, Norman.”

“And you
do
know that we could be happy together?”

Hannah drew a deep breath and answered quite honestly. “I know that, too.”

“All right then. That’s good enough for me. I just wanted to let you know that my feelings for you haven’t changed.”

Hannah smiled. She felt warm all over. Norman loved her and that was a wonderful thing. “I know,” she said and went back into his arms.

 

She was sitting at a table with Michelle and Andrea when Mike walked up. “Want to dance, Hannah?” he asked her.

“Sure.” Hannah got up from her chair and let Mike lead her to the dance floor. The band was playing their last number, “Good Night Ladies.” It was a signal that the party was about to end and very soon it would be time to go home.

They danced for a minute or two before the band went into the final stanza and the song ended.

“Uh-oh,” Mike said. “No more music. Do you know any songs, Hannah?”

“I know ‘Love Me Tender.’ They played it at Mother’s wedding. Believe it or not, she asked for it.”

“ ‘
Love Me Tender’
? That’s Elvis, isn’t it?”

“Right.”

“Okay, that’ll do.”

“Do you know it?”

“Good enough to get by. My mother was crazy about Elvis. And I don’t want to stop dancing now.”

Hannah laughed and started to sing the chorus of “Love Me Tender.” It didn’t really matter that she was off-key because when Mike joined in, he was off-key, too.

They danced their way into the hallway and out of the dining room, singing loudly all the way. Both of them were laughing and Hannah would have assumed she’d had one too many glasses of champagne if she’d had any at all, which she hadn’t. Mike was fun. There was no doubt about that. Despite the fact that Ross was gone, she was having a wonderful time.

“Through here, Hannah,” Mike said, opening the door and dancing her into the kitchen. They danced past the dishwashers, the cooks, and the sous-chefs, and into the back hallway.

“. . . Love me tender, love me true,” they sang as Mike danced Hannah through another door.

“We’re in the janitor’s closet!” Hannah exclaimed, almost tripping over a mop and pail.

“I know. We’re here at last. I’ve been waiting for this all night.”

“Waiting for what?”

“For this.” Mike pulled her into his arms and kissed her.

“What was that for?” Hannah asked when he released her.

“For fun. And for I’m really glad you’re all right. You had no idea how scared I was when I got your text.”

“I was scared, too.”

“I’ll bet you were! But you’re all right now and I just wanted you to know that I still want to marry you. I’ll always want to marry you. Maybe I won’t be a perfect husband, but I promise you that I’ll try really hard. I love you, Hannah. Do you believe me?”

“I believe you, Mike,” Hannah said.

 

Her mind was overloaded. That must be it, because she hadn’t eaten a morsel or had anything at all to drink. Hannah stood in the hallway outside the janitor’s closet and stared up at the sprinkler on the ceiling. Three proposals in one day. That had to be some sort of a record.