Cherry Cheesecake Murder Read Online Free PDF

for me today,” he instructed Hannah as she headed for the table with his mug of coffee. “Steffie says I put on a couple of inches around the middle and I’m trying to cut down.”
    Hannah didn’t say anything as the mayor reached for a cookie. She watched it disappear in two gulps, followed by a second and then a third. If that was cutting down, she wanted to go on Mayor Bascomb’s diet!
    “So what’s this breaking news?” Hannah asked, hoping that she could look appropriately surprised when the mayor told them what they already knew.
    “I just got a call from a guy named Barton. He heads up some movie company in Minneapolis. They want to shoot part of a movie right here on Main Street.”
    “That’s wonderful!” Hannah said, hoping she sounded surprised enough not to raise suspicion. “But won’t it interfere with business?”
    “Yes, and the movie company is prepared to pay for that. I want every business owner to check revenues for the second week in March. That’s when they’re coming. I had to do some fancy talking, but they’re going to pay us last year’s gross profits for the week plus ten percent for the inconvenience.”
    “You drive a hard bargain, Mr. Mayor,” Hannah complimented him, hiding a grin as he cited the exact figure Michelle had said the Indy Prod usually paid.
    “Well, I’d better go,” the mayor stood up and pushed back his stool. “I’ve got to talk to all the other business owners and give them the good news.”
    Lisa rushed to put the rest of the PBJ Cookies in a takeout bag for the mayor while Hannah walked him to the back door. Then Hannah collected the mugs they’d used and put them in the dishwasher while Lisa wiped down the work counter.
    “He must have forgotten something,” Hannah said, reacting to a loud knock at the door. “I’ll get it.”
    Hannah pulled open the door to find her niece, Tracey, holding an empty baby carrier in one hand while her mother brought up the rear. Andrea was juggling the baby, Bethany, in one arm and speaking on her cell phone.
    “I said I understand,” Andrea’s voice quavered a bit and it was clear that she was upset, “but that doesn’t mean I have to like it!”
    Hannah watched as her sister clicked off the phone with one perfectly manicured nail and stepped into the warmth of the kitchen. She gave a long sigh that Hannah might very well have labeled as theatrical if she hadn’t heard the quaver in her sister’s voice, and handed the baby to Hannah.
    “You take her,” she said, passing the baby over like a football. “Coffee! I need coffee!”
    “I’ll get it,” Lisa responded, heading for the kitchen pot.
    “She’s stressed,” Tracey explained, setting the baby carrier on the work island. Hannah’s oldest niece could have posed for a cover photo on a children’s fashion magazine with her baby blue winter coat, dainty white boots, and white cap with a pom-pom on top. The only thing that stopped her from being absolutely adorable was the frown that furrowed her forehead. “Just put Beth in her carrier, Aunt Hannah. I’ll rock her if she wakes up.”
    Hannah put the baby in the carrier without incident. Her pretty new niece was sleeping so soundly, not even her mother’s frantic call for coffee had awakened her.
    Tracey sat down on a stool and pushed the mug of coffee that Lisa brought in front of her mother. “Have some coffee. And eat one of those cookies. They’re chocolate and the endorphins will help. Right, Aunt Hannah?”
    “Absolutely,” Hannah said. She would have been amused at the way her oldest niece had picked up on one of her favorite culinary remedies, but this situation sounded serious.
    “Do it, Mom.” Tracey nudged her mother. “And then tell Aunt Hannah.”
    “Tell me what?” Hannah prompted, once Andrea had taken a big sip of her coffee to chase down a bite of a Lisa’s great-grandmother’s-by-marriage creation.
    “Bill’s leaving us!”
    “What?”
    “What part of leaving