Joanne Fluke by FUDGE CUPCAKE MURDER

Author:FUDGE CUPCAKE MURDER [MURDER, FUDGE CUPCAKE]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Published: 2011-11-15T20:53:09+00:00

Chapter Seventeen

Hannah opened the street door at the side of the Red Owl Grocery and climbed the long stairway leading up to the second floor. The stairs had been newly carpeted and Hannah admired the way that Danielle had decorated the walls with dance diagrams, each set of footprints in a different color.

As she climbed, Hannah heard faint strains of music that became louder with each step she took. And when she opened the heavy door at the top of the stairs, the music rolled out to greet her, something upbeat and jazzy that she didn’t recognize.

Hannah stood there staring for a moment. Danielle’s dance studio was impressive. With the exception of a wall that sectioned off rooms at the rear and an area of red deep pile carpeting in front of it that contained padded theater seats, the rest of the space gleamed with a highly polished wooden floor and mirrored walls. The only wall that wasn’t mirrored was the one facing the street and it contained the high narrow windows that Danielle had loved when Andrea first showed her the loft.

Looking up, Hannah noticed tracks on the ceiling. She was puzzled for a moment. Then she spotted the red velvet curtains that were stored in alcoves in the walls and realized that the curtains could be pulled to cordon off a large area for the stage.

“Clever,” Hannah murmured, looking back up at the tracks again. She’d seen tracks like that on the ceilings of hospital rooms so that an individual patient in a double or triple room could have privacy.

Danielle rushed over the moment she noticed Hannah standing by the door. “How wonderful to see you, Hannah! Tracey’s doing very well in her dance class.”

“That’s good to hear,” Hannah said, giving her a warm smile. Danielle looked really good. The anxious, scared-rabbit expression she’d worn in the past had gone the way of the theatrical makeup she’d been forced to use to cover up the signs of her husband’s abuse. “How’s business, Danielle?”

“I’m doing better than I ever thought I would. And to think that Boyd pooh-poohed the idea of my opening a dance studio! He said it would never go in a town the size of Lake Eden.”

“Looks like Boyd was wrong,” Hannah said, adding an addendum to that sentence in her mind, about a lot of things!

“All my classes are filled and I’m looking for an assistant teacher in the evenings so I can offer more sessions. Do you know anyone?”

Hannah was sorely tempted to suggest Shawna Lee Quinn. If she worked two jobs, she’d be too busy to go out with Mike. But because Danielle was a friend and friends didn’t try to pull the wool over each other’s eyes, Hannah ditched that idea. “I’ll call you if I think of anyone,” she said.

“Great. I’d really like to start another ballroom dancing class. I have enough names on the waiting list.”

Hannah was surprised. “I wouldn’t think the kids would be interested in ballroom dancing.”

“Quite a few of them are, but I was talking about my seniors class.

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