"Don't just stand there. Come in and shut the door," Mayor Bascomb ordered, swiveling slightly in the recliner he'd placed on a raised dais at the edge of the flooring. "I'm going to need some help here. I hooked a real lunker and I can't pull him in by myself."
"But isn't that against the rules?" Andrea asked, stepping in and shutting the door.
"Forget the contest. I'll disqualify myself. This is the biggest fish I've ever hooked and I want to bring him in."
"We're coming," Hannah told him, motioning for Andrea. "What do you want us to do?"
"You two steady the line and I'll operate the winch."
"You have a winch?" Hannah was amazed. She'd never heard of anyone who'd used a winch for ice-fishing before.
"It's bolted to the studs in the wall." The mayor pointed to the hand winch. "My wife bought it for me last Christmas."
"Your wife gave you a winch for Christmas?" Andrea asked, sounding amused.
"I know it's crazy, but somebody down at the hardware store convinced her that it was a good idea. I had to put it up, but I never thought I'd actually have a use for it."
"How about your line?" Hannah walked over to glance at the mayor's fishing pole. "Is it strong enough?"
"I hope so. I rigged it for one of those twenty-pound northerns and they can put up a fight. Whatever I've got here is a lot heavier than that. I just about popped a blood vessel getting him in this far. He's got to run twenty, maybe even thirty pounds."
With Andrea helping, Hannah let out enough extra line for Mayor Bascomb to tie it to the winch cable. When that was secured, they were ready to haul the fish up.
"Stay right there, one of you on either side of the hole." Mayor Bascomb looked more nervous than Hannah had ever seen him as he gave them instructions. "I'll crank him up slow, and you steady the line. Make sure it doesn't rub against the sides of the hole. This is going to be a trophy fish and I don't want to lose him."
"He's not fighting much," Andrea commented, glancing at the bobber that was just sitting on the surface of the water.
"I know. I figure he's trying to lull me into a false sense of security and he'll put up a real fight when he breaks the water. Shout out when he gets close. I want to wrestle him in myself."
The mayor cranked, and the line began to wind around the drum. It seemed to take forever, but at last Hannah could see something red rising toward the surface of the water. "He's red. I didn't know there were any red fish in this lake."
"Neither did I," Mayor Bascomb sounded puzzled. "What the heck is he?"
"Search me," Hannah said, watching as the patch of red came up another inch. Then she gasped and hollered out to the mayor. "That's enough! Stop cranking!"
Mayor Bascomb locked the winch. "Are you ready for me to bring him in?"
"Not yet." Hannah turned to Andrea. "Do you have your cell phone with you?"
"Of course. I never know when a client might need me."
"Go sit down over there." Hannah moved to block Andrea's view of the hole and gave her sister a nudge toward 'I the loveseat. "I need you to make' a call for me. It's important."
Andrea looked as if she might object, but one glance at Hannah's serious expression convinced her to head for the loveseat. When she got there, she pulled out her cell phone and sat down. "Who do you want me to call?"
"Bill. Tell him to get right out here with Mike."
"Okay, but why do we need them?" Andrea asked.
"Just do it, Andrea."
"All right, I'm doing it." Andrea punched in the number, and then the light dawned. Her eyes widened and the color blanched from her face. "You mean. . . it's not a fish?"
Hannah shook her head. "Not unless the well-dressed fish is wearing a gold watch this season."
-24-
Hannah paced along the strip of ice in front of the hole, waiting for Bill and Mike to arrive. She'd asked Mayor Bascomb to take Andrea back to the inn to warm up, and now she was alone with the mayor's "fish." Just when she thought her feet couldn't get any colder, Hannah heard a car pull up outside. A moment later, Bill and Mike came in the door.
"You found another body?" Mike asked, sounding incredulous.
"Yup."
"And the mayor hooked it with his fishing line?"
"Yup."
Bill began to frown. "Is that all you can say?"
"Yup," Hannah answered him. "My teeth are chattering too hard to talk."
"Go stand in front of the space heater," Mike ordered, pointing to the area in front of the loveseat. "Don't you know that heat leaves your body faster if you're standing on the ice?"
"I know. I just didn't want to leave him, or her, or whatever it is. I was afraid the line might break."
Mike grabbed her arm and helped her over to the loveseat. "What were you going to do if it did break?"
"I don't know. I was too cold to figure that out."
Mike turned to Bill. "I'll stay here. You drive Hannah to the inn and come right back."
"No." Hannah shook her head. "I want to stay."
"We're going to have to bring up that body, and it won't be pretty," Mike warned her.
"That's okay." Hannah's curiosity was stronger than the tide of revulsion that rippled through her stomach. "This won't be the first dead body I've seen."
Mike stared at her for a moment. "Okay. Let's get started, Bill."
With both Mike and Bill tugging, they managed to get the body out of the water. By the time they finished, the corpse was facedown on the ice, and both men were panting. Bill rolled him over and Hannah took a step closer so that she could see the dead man's face. "It's Alan Carpenter!"
"How do you know that?" Mike asked, giving her a hard look.
"I met him at the Winter Carnival banquet. He was just leaving for a press conference."
"Did you ask him any questions?"
"Of course not." Hannah assumed a look of righteous indignation. "You made me promise to stay away from the Connie Mac people while I was out at the inn."
Mike wasn't buying it. His eyes bored through her. "Hannah?"
"Well. . . maybe a few," Hannah admitted, "but I told you before. He was just leaving. I don't think I exchanged more than a dozen words with him, and Andrea was with me the entire time."
Mike turned to Bill. "Will you call Doc Knight and tell him we need him out here?"
"Sure. How about the forensics team?"
"Them, too. I don't think they'll get much, but you never know. This ice-fishing house was out here last night, wasn't it?"
"I saw the mayor hauling it out here yesterday," Bill said. "How about Sheriff Grant? Do you want me to give him a verbal report, or do you want to do it?"
"You can handle it. Just tell him what we know so far, and say that we'll keep him apprised of any new developments. Be politic. He's not going to be happy about this."
Hannah felt a rush of warmth for Mike. With each case they handled, he was giving Bill more responsibility.
"Anything else?"
"If you think of something I missed, take care of it. We're partners. You don't have to check everything out with me. And while you're doing that, I'll take Hannah's statement."
"What statement?" Hannah was puzzled as Mike joined her on the loveseat. "I've already told you everything I know."
"Not quite. Tell me about your conversation with Alan Carpenter. It could be important."
"Let me think," Hannah said, doing her best to recall every word of their conversation. "We were introduced and. . ."
"What time?" Mike interrupted her.
"Right before Edna's girls served dessert. It was around eight-thirty, I think."
"Go on."
"Alan said it was a pleasure to meet us. And then he said he had to leave with Kurt Howe and he offered us their chairs. I asked him if it was something I said, and he laughed. And then he said that if they didn't leave right away, they'd be late for the press conference he'd scheduled at his office."