Plum Pudding Murder Read Online Free PDF Page A

you. I’m redecorating my office here on campus and I was wondering if you could find me an old-fashioned glass-door bookcase.”
    “This is your lucky day!” Delores said with a laugh. “My assistant, Luanne, just came back from an estate sale at the home of a prominent lawyer in St. Paul. She bought a pair of gorgeous bookcases in walnut with leaded glass doors on each shelf.”
    “The type of doors that pull up and then slide in?”
    “That’s right. Would you like to drop by to see them?”
    “I would. They sound perfect. How about tomorrow around noon? I have to run out to the station at ten to do some voiceovers, but I should be through in a couple of hours.”
    “I’ll have the coffee pot on for you,” Delores said, turning to go. “Black with two sugars?”
    “Perfect.” Dr. Love turned to Hannah. “It was good to see you again, Hannah.”
    “Nice to see you, too,” Hannah said, and then she followed her mother down the hall to the exit.
    Once they stepped out of the building, the cold hit them so hard it took their breath away. While they were in class, an icy wind had begun to blow from the north. Both Hannah and her mother held their gloved hands over their mouths and noses as they walked directly into the wind and made their way to the parking lot. Most of the students had left immediately after class and Delores’s car was the only one still plugged to the wall. Hannah was about to unplug it when she heard a voice call her name.
    “Norman!” Hannah recognized him immediately, despite the bulky parka and fur hat he wore. She smiled at him and hoped her teeth wouldn’t freeze in the bitterly cold wind. “What are you doing here?”
    “I thought I’d save your mother a trip. This way she can go straight home and she won’t have to swing by your place.”
    “That’s sweet of you Norman, but I don’t mind,” Delores jumped into the conversation and Hannah knew she was thinking about her lost opportunity to find out more about Bradford Ramsey.
    “Oh, but I have an ulterior motive,” Norman said, unplugging Delores’s car, wrapping the cord around her bumper, and opening the driver’s door for her. “If I drive Hannah home, we’ll get a little more time to talk.”
    Delores hesitated for a moment and then she slid in under the wheel. In the war between her curiosity about her daughter’s old romance, and her concern about her best friend, Carrie had won.
    “I’ll see you tomorrow, dear,” Delores said as she started her car and flicked on the lights. “I’ll stop by for coffee before I open the shop.”
    A minute later, Hannah was in Norman’s warm and toasty car. She unzipped her parka, took off her hat and her gloves, and reveled in the fact that she no longer had to fear frostbite.
    “Did you eat?” Norman asked, pulling out onto the highway.
    “Not yet. I had time to feed Moishe and that was about it.”
    “So Moishe comes first?” Norman’s voice was warm and Hannah could see his smile in the lights of the dashboard. Norman loved her cat and the feeling was mutual.
    “Moishe comes first,” she confirmed it. “How about you? Did you eat?”
    “No. I thought we’d stop for a bite if you wanted to go out.”
    Hannah thought about their favorite places, Bertanelli’s Pizza, the Lake Eden Inn, and The Corner Tavern. It would be nice to go out to dinner, but what she really wanted to do was curl up on the couch with Norman and Moishe, and watch mindless television.
    “Bertanelli’s? The Corner Tavern? Sally’s at the Inn?” Norman named the places Hannah had already thought of and dismissed.
    “I’d rather go home and make something there,” Hannah said, “if that’s all right with you, that is.”
    “That’s fine with me, but I don’t want you to work. You’ve had a full day.”
    “It’s okay. I’ve got some meatloaf I can heat up and I’ll pop in a batch of Easy Cheesy Biscuits.”
    “Easy Cheesy Biscuits? I don’t think I’ve tasted