friends. Hannah figured that Vera must have gotten the furniture at a massive discount. No sane person would pay retail for that color.
Vera smiled at Hannah, took the cookies, and waved her down to one of the bilious-colored cushions. “That’s what I mean, Andrea. Even with all the hours Lucy’s been putting in at the paper, she still remembered my cookies. Sometimes I have to complain about the mess in her apartment, but other than that, she’s a real sweet girl. I figure she’ll learn to be neater if I just keep reminding her.”
“I’m sure she will,” Andrea gave Vera her sweetest smile, “especially since she has you to teach her. She was really concerned that we bring you your cookies before you went to bed. When did you ask for them?”
“Yesterday morning. I have a sweet tooth, you know. I expected her to bring them last night, but she must have gotten home late.”
“You didn’t hear her come home last night?”
“No. She told me she had to take some pictures out at the inn, and the party must have lasted a long time. I didn’t go to bed until eleven-thirty, and I know she wasn’t home yet.”
Hannah couldn’t keep silent. It was just too important. “You didn’t see her this morning?”
“No, she was already gone when I went up with her breakfast. I made waffles, and they’re her favorites.”
Hannah avoided Andrea’s eyes. Both of them knew that Vera hadn’t knocked on Lucy’s door with a plate of waffles. Hot Stuff had climbed the inside staircase to the attic to answer the e-mail she got from Silver Wolf.
“That girl works too hard.” Vera sighed. “And she never gets enough sleep. Rod depends on her for everything, you know. She writes all the big stories, and she’s out taking pictures for the paper at all hours of the day and night.”
Hannah bit the inside of her cheek to keep silent. The pictures that Lucy had taken certainly weren’t for Rod at the paper!
Andrea shot Hannah a sharp glance, one that said, Keep it zipped! Then she turned to Vera again. “Lucy asked us to pick up some film for her. Is it all right if we go up to her apartment to get it?”
“Go ahead. Use the inside staircase. Then you won’t have to go out in the cold again. She gave you her key, didn’t she?”
Andrea turned to Hannah. “You have it, Hannah?”
“No, I don’t.” Hannah played it with a perfectly straight face. “I thought you had it.”
“Never mind. You can use mine.” Vera reached out, picked up a key chain from the coffee table, and handed it to Hannah. “Go upstairs and open the door at the end of the hallway. There’s another set of stairs that leads up to the attic and the light’s on a switch just inside the door.”
Andrea thanked her and Hannah followed her up the stairs. Neither one of them said a word until they’d climbed up to the second floor and shut the hallway door behind them.
“That was brilliant.” Hannah patted her sister on the shoulder as they started up the second, much narrower staircase.
“Thanks.” Andrea turned to smile at Hannah over her should. “But you get to wing it if Lucy’s there. I’ve already done my part.”
Lucy didn’t answer their knock, and Hannah used Vera’s key. She opened the door, flicked on the light, and both sisters halted, as if they’d run into an invisible wall. Someone had been in Lucy’s apartment since they’d left it this morning.
“What happened?” Andrea gasped, staring at the mess in Lucy’s main room.
“Somebody was searching for something,” Hannah stated the obvious, “and they didn’t straighten up after they were through.”
The room looked as if a tornado had ripped through it the bedding had been stripped from Lucy’s bed and lay in a heap on the floor. All the drawers in Lucy’s rolltop desk had been pulled out and dumped, and film canisters with strips of ruined film protruding like long, curled tongues were scattered on the rug. Lucy’s computer was on and a message was flashing on the screen. It read, ALL FILES ON YOUR C: DRIVE HAVE BEEN DELETED.
“Did Lucy do this?” Andrea asked, shivering slightly.
“Not Lucy.”
“How do you know?”
Hannah bent down to examine one of the gutted film canisters “Lucy would never do something like this. It would ruin all her photos.”
“The killer!” Andrea shivered, then shuddered. “He must have been searching for the pictures that Lucy took of him. And since he couldn’t tell which film canister Lucy used, he destroyed them all.”
“You’re quick, Andrea. And you could be right. But how did the killer know that Lucy had taken the pictures?”
“Lucy must have told him. She must have tried to blackmail him, Hannah.”
“That fits with what Herb told us. Lucy said that she was working on something important, and if it worked out, she’d have enough money to buy her leased car. She must have figures that Boyd’s killer would cough up big bucks for those negatives.”
“Lucy should have known better. I really didn’t think she’d be so foolish.”
“Not foolish, stupid,” Hannah corrected her. “Really stupid.”
“Do you think that the killer…?” Andrea stopped speaking and steadied herself against the wall. She seemed unable to voice that possibility. It didn’t matter. Hannah knew exactly what she meant.
“That’s one theory, Andrea, but it’s just a theory. We don’t even know, for sure, that Lucy talked to Boyd’s killer.” Hannah’s mind went into overdrive, attempting to come up with an alternate scenario. Her gut told her that Boyd’s killer had been the one who’d broken into Lucy’s apartment, but Andrea wouldn’t be much help if she panicked. “All this could have been done by one of Lucy’s other blackmail victims.”
A little color began to come back to Andrea’s cheeks as she thought about that. “Do you really think so?”
“It’s possible. They’d have a lot to gain, too. It could have been Mayor Bascomb, or Claire, or Mr. Avery.”
“Mr. Avery?”
“Why not? Lucy had his money. He could have been trying to get it back.”
“You’re right.” Andrea looked very relieved. “At least we know it wasn’t Danielle. She doesn’t even know about the blackmail, and she’s still in the hospital. And Norman didn’t do it. You gave him his letter, and he wouldn’t have any reason to break into Lucy’s place.”
“Very good.” Hannah was pleased. Andrea was starting to think straight.
“But what about Lucy’s film?” Andrea asked. “Why would Mayor Bascomb, or Claire, or Mr. Avery bother to destroy it? If Lucy was blackmailing them, she had already showed them the prints. They would have been after the negatives.”
Hannah sighed. Perhaps Andrea was thinking a little too straight. But it was a legitimate question, and she had to come up with an answer. “It could have been a new blackmail victim. Lucy might have taken some incriminating pictures last night. The new victim would figure she hadn’t had time to develop her film yet.”
“That makes sense. But what about Lucy?” Andrea looked nervous again. “Why is she missing?”
“You already came up with a theory about that,” Hannah interrupted her, wishing that she didn’t have to walk a tightrope between Andrea’s hysteria on one hand and her logical questions on the other.
“You’re right. I forgot about that. I said that if Lucy discovered that her evidence was missing she’d think the police were after her and might skip town.”
“That’s right. And the theory still fits. If Lucy flew the coop before her apartment was vandalized, she doesn’t even know about it. Let’s concentrate on thinking about where she might have gone.”
Andrea sighed. “That’s going to be hard, Hannah. I don’t even know where Lucy comes from. And I don’t think she has any friends in town. Nobody seems to like her much.”
“Only because she’s rude, nosy, conceited, and she blackmails people. Otherwise, she’s all right.”
Andrea laughed, actually laughed, and Hannah knew that her sister was back on track. Now all she had to do was keep her there.
“Where shall we start, Hannah? You must have some ideas.”
“Of course I do,” Hannah declared, searching her mind for something that Andrea could do. “Why don’t you
