not when Danielle needed her help. She had to think of some way to make Mike think she was going to follow his advice without actually promising that she would.
“Hannah?”
Hannah gave him what she hoped was a guileless smile. “You don’t have to worry, Mike. I’m not bucking for your job.”
“My job?” Mike began to grin. “Do you really think that you could handle it?”
“Of course not. I wouldn’t take it on a bet. Think about your dress uniform.”
Mike gave her a look that said he thought she was losing it. “What’s wrong with it? The maroon shirt with the tan pants looks sharp.”
“It does on you. But with my hair?”
Mike stared at her, then he started to chuckle. “You’ve got a point. A maroon shirt and red hair don’t mix.”
“That’s right. You can have your job, Mike. I’d much rather bake cookies. At least I don’t have to worry about finding murder victims in my ovens. And speaking of ovens, Boyd brought Maryann to the bake-off. Did you find out what time he took her home?”
“Yeah. We went over there to tell her about her brother. I think that’s the only part of the job I really hate.”
“It can’t be easy, telling people that someone they love is dead.”
“It isn’t. Bill warned me to ask about the time before I gave her the bad news. It’s a real good thing we did it that way.”
“Why?”
“She got hysterical, and we had to take her to the hospital.”
“Oh-oh.” Hannah groaned. Maryann and Danielle had never gotten along. The fact that they were both at Lake Eden Memorial was a lot like stuffing a mouse and a cat in the same gunnysack, especially if Maryann suspected that Danielle had killed Boyd. “Tell me they’re not in adjoining rooms.”
“They’re not. Doc Knight put them on opposite ends of the hall. And just to make sure there’s no trouble, I posted a deputy outside Danielle’s door.”
“For her own safety? Or because it’s police procedure?”
“A little of both,” Mike admitted.
“That’s what I thought. What time did Boyd leave Maryann’s apartment?”
“Eight-twenty. She offered him coffee, but he told her he had to be home by eight-thirty because Danielle wasn’t feeling well.”
“If Boyd left Maryann’s place at eight-twenty, he must have been killed between eight-thirty and ten.”
“That’s right. Doc Knight did a liver temp, but he couldn’t narrow it down any more than that.”
“How does eh do a liver…?” Hannah stopped in mid-question. “Don’t tell me. I don’t want to know. What happened with the neighbors? Did anyone see or hear anything?”
“Not a thing.”
“And you didn’t find anything in the alley?” Hannah asked.
“A lot of tire tracks, but all the neighbors use it. It’s impossible to tell which ones are fresh. And the only thing we found in the garage was the murder weapon and your cake carrier. You can have it back just as soon as the lab checks it for prints. Do you have any more of those pretzels? They’re really good.”
Hannah went to the kitchen to get the other bag and brought it back with a cold beer. “Here you go. These are garlic-flavored.”
“Great! I’m crazy about garlic.” Mike reached for the bag, but he didn’t open it. “You’re going to have some, aren’t you?”
“I guess so.” Hannah thought she knew which path his mind was taking, but she wanted to find out for sure. “Why?”
“Garlic’s strong, especially if the other person doesn’t eat any.”
“That only applies if you’re angling for an invitation to sleep with me.”
Mike threw back his head and laughed. “That’s what I like about you, Hannah. You always say exactly what you mean.”
Hannah wished that she could call back her words. She didn’t sleep around; she never had. Casual sex just didn’t work for her. She’d had one brief affair with a professor in college, and she’d loved him deeply. It had ended badly, and before she took that particular plunge again, she wanted to make sure that history wouldn’t repeat itself. “Why don’t we just chomp down those pretzels, have another drink, and get some sack time.”
“Sounds good to me.”
“In our own beds,” Hannah corrected his false assumption.
“Oh,” Mike said, frowning a bit. “Okay Hannah, if that’s the way you want it.”
Hannah curbed her impulse to say more. It wasn’t exactly what she wanted either, but that’s the way it was going to be. Sleeping with the opposition was a no-no, and right now, Mike was the opposition.
When Mike left, thirty minutes later, Hannah was pleased with herself. She hadn’t lied to him, but she hadn’t promised not to nose around and investigate Boyd’s murder either.
Chapter Four
When Hannah got up the next morning and padded into the kitchen to find her coffee brewed and ready, she gave thanks to Thomas Edison for her electric coffeemaker and timer. Coffee was essential for someone who’d gotten only four hours of sleep. She gulped down the first scalding cup and smiled. There was nothing like a caffeine jolt in the morning. She was just pouring her second cup when the phone rang.
“Wonderful. Just what I need,” Hannah muttered, shooting a baleful look at the phone. As she crossed the floor to answer it, she reminded herself that the telephone was a convenience, but that didn’t keep her from moving Alexander Graham Bell to the bottom of her favorite inventors list. It was probably Delores. Her mother was the only one who called this early. But it could also be some sort of emergency, and a ringing phone at six in the morning had to be answered.
“Hannah?”
“Yes, Mother.” Hannah made a face. She should have let the answering machine get it.
“I just heard the morning news on KCOW. Did you know that Boyd Watson is dead, and they suspect foul play?”
“Yes Mother.” Hannah stretched out the phone cord and walked over to the cupboard that held Moishe’s food. She unclipped the bungee cord that held the door closed and took out his box of kitty crunchies. The bungee cord was a necessity. Moishe had learned to open the cupboard door the day after she’d adopted him, and he wasn’t exactly tidy when it came to getting his own breakfast.
“I thought you didn’t listen to the radio in the morning.” Delores sounded surprised.
“I don’t. I knew about it last night.”
“Oh? Did Bill tell you?”
“No.” Hannah knew exactly how Delores would react when she found out that her oldest daughter had been at the scene of another murder, and she wasn’t ready to deal with it yet. “Hold on, Mother. I have to feed Moishe.”
“Can’t it wait?”
“Not if I want my ankle intact.” Hannah set the phone down and pushed Moishe aside with her foot. It was probably the result of being on the streets for so long, but he tended to be a bit overenthusiastic when it came to getting his food. Once she’d filled his bowl with kitty crunchies and given him fresh water, she retrieved the phone. “I’m back.”
“How did you know about it if Bill didn’t tell you? Was it Mike Kingston?”
Hannah sat down at the table and caved in to the inevitable. She’d stuck her big foot in her mouth by mentioning that she’d known about the murder, and now she’d have to pay the price. “Mike didn’t tell me either. Danielle called me last night.”
“Why did she call you?” Delores sounded surprised.
“Because I’m her friend, and she didn’t know what else to do.”
