“ ‘Course,” Edna said, slipping Mike’s plate into the microwave and gesturing toward the stool that held her parka.

“Another murder in the pantry?” Mike asked, as Hannah opened the pantry door.

“No.”

“Good! For a second there, I thought history was repeating itself. So there’s no dead body this time?”

“I didn’t say that.” Hannah opened the delivery door and grabbed Mike’s arm. “There’s a dead body, but this time it’s in the parking lot.”

Things moved fast once Mike took charge of the crime scene. He used Hannah as an errand girl, sending her in for Doc Knight, who was just finishing a double helping of Esther’s Meatloaf.

Doc took his time examining the body, and then he looked up at Mike. “Okay. I’m through for now.”

“Time of death?” Mike asked, flipping open this notebook.

“I’d say no longer than thirty minutes ago, give or take ten.”

“Is it murder?” Hannah asked, moving slightly closer. She’d been standing as far away as she could while Doc examined Brandi’s body.

Doc looked over at her and raised his eyebrows. “Well, it’s certainly not a suicide.”

“Why’s that?”

“A woman who intends to kill herself doesn’t usually choose to do it with an antique cake knife on the coldest night of the year in a parking lot.”

“Too bad it’s snowing,” Mike said, staring down at the drift that was beginning to pile up around Brandi’s body. “Any tracks the killer left are long gone by now. At least we know one thing for certain.”

“What’s that?” Doc Knight asked.

“The killer went back inside after he stabbed Brandi.”

Hannah’s jaw dropped open for a second and then she closed it with an audible clack. “How do you know that?”

“There’s no way anybody drove over that snowdrift at the exit. It’s just too deep. And if they’d tried to walk over it, they would have sunk down to their eyeballs. I’m almost positive that nobody has come or gone from this lot since I got back.”

“But how do you know for certain that Brandi was alive when you got back here?” Hannah posed the important question.

“I was looking around for you and I noticed her.”

Hannah wasn’t sure whether she should be flattered, or angry. Mike had just admitted he’d been looking for her, but he’d noticed Brandi. Was that a plus or a minus in the grand scheme of things?

“Uh-oh,” Doc Knight said, reaching for the cell phone in his pocket. “They weren’t supposed to call me unless it was an emergency.”

Hannah and Mike stood there trying to pretend they weren’t listening as Doc Knight took the call. Of course they couldn’t help but hear what he said. Other than the occasional whoosh as the wind picked up and blew snow against the parked cars, nothing else was happening out here in the parking lot.

“Appendectomy,” Doc said, returning his phone to his pocket. “I’ve got to go. Do you want me to send my paramedics for the body?”