Fudge Cupcake Murder by Joanne Fluke Page B

Really, Hannah!"
    "Sorry. I couldn't resist." Hannah took a deep breath. This wasn't a venue that invited confidences, but no one was paying any attention to them and she had to broach the subject of the bear chair with Luanne.
    Luanne seemed to catch Hannah's mood, because she began to frown. "What is it, Hannah? You look upset."
    "I am. I need to know why Nettie Grant bought that bear chair for Suzie last Christmas."
    "Oh!" Luanne was so startled, her hands flew up to her face. Unfortunately, the paddle was still in her right hand and Chuck interpreted that as a bid and announced it. Both Luanne and Hannah listened with frowns on their faces as Chuck trolled the room for other bids, but no one else seemed to be buying. After several more minutes of patter, Chuck pointed to Luanne and announced that she'd won.
    "I'm sorry, Luanne," Hannah said, the soul of contrition. She hadn't meant to make Luanne bid on something she didn't want.
    "That's okay. It was only ten dollars over the minimum bid."
    "How much is that?" Hannah asked, already planning to reimburse Luanne for her loss.
    "Forty dollars. The moose head is worth three times that and we can get ten dollars or more apiece for the decoys."
    "So you came out all right?" Luanne nodded and Hannah breathed a big sigh of relief. "Okay. Let's get out of here before I make you bid on something else."
    After a chorus of pardon me's, Hannah and Luanne finally exited the pole barn and picked their way down the rutted road to the house. It was deserted, but Hannah made her way unerringly toward the kitchen.
    "No chairs?" she asked, gazing around at the empty room.
    "They sold them with the kitchen table." Luanne said, taking up a position to the right of the kitchen sink. "I know. I bought them."
    "Well… there's always the counters," Hannah said, hoisting herself up on a kitchen counter and waiting until Luanne had done the same on the other side of the sink.
    "Nettie bought Suzie that chair because she's her grandmother," Luanne blurted out, her eyes meeting Hannah's in an unwavering gaze. "Jamie Grant was Suzie's father."
    "I didn't know."
    "No one knew, not even my mother." Luanne gave a deep sigh. "She doesn't know to this day. But now that you've tracked it down this far, I guess there's no point in keeping secrets."
    Hannah winced, feeling as guilty as sin. "I'm sorry, Luanne. I know it's your private business, but…"
    "You have to know," Luanne finished the sentence for her. "It's okay, Hannah. I'm sure you won't tell anyone you don't have to tell. Besides… the reason I couldn't tell anyone before is… uh… there's no polite way to way this, but… my reason is dead."
    "Sheriff Grant?"
    "Yes. He threatened to cause all sorts of trouble if I told."
    Hannah listened as Luanne filled in the blanks. The summer before she started her senior year at Jordan High, Luanne went with her mother to clean the sheriff's station. That's where she met Jamie, who was home from college. As Hannah nodded sympathetically, Luanne told her about the hot summer evenings when she'd walk out to meet Jamie at the end of Old Bailey Road. If they felt like going somewhere, they'd take in a movie at the mall, or go out to Eden Lake for a late night swim. Other times, when they wanted to be alone, Jamie would bring along a six-pack and they'd park on the old logging road that overlooked the lake. Luanne was thrilled to be dating a college guy and she saw Jamie almost every night for the two weeks before he left to go back to college.
    "I know I was foolish," Luanne admitted with a sigh.
    "A lot of girls are at sixteen," Hannah said, remembering how thrilled her high school friends had been when a Jordan High graduate who was now a "college man" had come home for vacation and asked one of them out on a date. "When did you discover that you were pregnant?"
    "Not until Jamie was gone. I wrote him a letter to tell him and I said I wanted to keep the baby. I really believe he cared about me and he would