was just doing my job.'
'Some job!' Hannah muttered, but she had to admit he had a point. Perhaps it was time to lighten up a little and see what information she could weasel out of him.
'I don't like it when you're mad at me. How long am I going to be in the doghouse, anyway?'
The note in Mike's voice made Hannah fight back a grin. He sounded like a petulant little boy who'd just been told he couldn't have dessert until he finished his vegetables.
'Was that a smile?'
'It was the ghost of a smile,' Hannah admitted. 'And speaking of ghosts. . .'
'I heard all about it from Sheriff Grant. He said he got a call from someone who thought we should put Ezekiel's ghost on our suspect list.'
'Sheriff Grant didn't take that seriously, did he?'
'No, not at first. Then I pointed out that the killer could have started the ghost story as a diversion to throw us off the track.'
Hannah was impressed. She hadn't thought of that angle. 'Then you're going to investigate the ghost?'
'It sounds a little crazy when you put it like that, but yes. If we find the person who started the ghost story, it could lead us to the killer.'
Hannah bit back the urge to tell Mike who'd written the ghost story and why, but he'd told her not to interfere with his investigation, so he could figure it out by himself. 'Any news about Janie?'
'No. You're not trying to find her, are you?'
'No,' Hannah said, and it was the truth. They hadn't even started their search for Janie yet. 'Did Doc Knight tell you when Connie Mac was killed?'
'Why do you want to know?'
Mike looked suspicious, and Hannah knew she had to give him a reason that had nothing to do with her investigation. 'I have a vested interest. She was killed in my pantry, and something like that doesn't happen every day.'
'I guess it can't hurt to tell you. Doc said the murder weapon was a heavy, rounded object, and she was killed between ten and midnight.'
'From ten to midnight,' Hannah repeated, and then she began to frown. 'I just thought of something. Connie Mac must have been in the habit of staying out all night.'
Mike looked surprised at her comment. 'What makes you think that?'
'Because her husband didn't report her missing when she didn't come back to their room last night.'
'You're barking up the wrong tree, Hannah. Mr. MacIntyre got in late, and they have a suite with connecting bedrooms. When he didn't hear any sounds coming from her room, he assumed that she'd already gone to sleep. He didn't know that she wasn't there until we called him this morning.'
Hannah didn't say what was running through her mind After the nasty mood Connie Mac had been in that afternoon, she couldn't blame Paul for not wanting to wake her. 'Where was Paul MacIntyre last night?'
'Out at the Tri-County Mall, doing a walk-through of the kitchen boutique with the mall manager. After that, they went over all the paperwork to make sure everything was in order. Alan Carpenter was with him, and they both said they didn't get back here until after midnight.'
'Then they're both in the clear, right?'
'They will be if their story checks out.' Mike reached out and took Hannah's arm. 'Did you know that Norman was at the Ezekiel Jordan House last night?'
'He told me. He also told me that he didn't notice anything wrong at The Cookie Jar when he left at nine.'
'And you believed him?'
'Of course I did.' Hannah pulled back slightly. She didn't like the turn their conversation was taking. 'What are you getting at, Mike?'
'Something came up when we did interviews in the area this morning. We found out that Norman had a compelling reason to be angry with Mrs. MacIntyre.'
Hannah took a giant step back and stared at Mike in shock. 'You think Norman killed Connie Mac?'
'It's possible. I spoke to your mother and she said Mrs. MacIntyre was a royal pain when Norman photographed her. She didn't like any of the old-fashioned costumes, and it took all of your mother's tact to persuade her to wear one of them.'
'My mother's tact? My mother doesn't have any tact! She's even worse than I am.'
'Maybe, but she said Mrs. MacIntyre made Norman move all his equipment at least six times, and she was very condescending to him. Your mother thought Norman showed remarkable restraint, but she could tell that he was steaming. The way I see it, Norman's the type that suffers in silence. And then, long after the situation is over, he dwells on how ineffectual he was. It preys on his mind, you know. He thinks, I should have done this, I should have done that, but I just stood there and took it like a wimp. He gets more and more frustrated at his own inability to act until. . . wham! The whole thing explodes in an act of violence.'
Hannah's mouth dropped open. Mike was spouting pop psychology like a talk-show host. She wanted to tell him to stuff it, but that would do Norman more harm than good. 'But it doesn't track, Mike. You said that Connie Mac was killed between ten and midnight, and Norman left the Ezekiel Jordan house at nine.'
'That's what he says, but no one saw him leave. He could have left at ten. Or eleven.'
'Norman was home at eleven. I called him after I got home last night.'
'Why did you call him?'
'Just to talk,' Hannah said, not wanting to get into the real reason she'd called Norman. 'He sounded perfectly normal to me.'
'That doesn't prove anything. If he killed her at ten, he had a whole hour to calm down. Look, Hannah . . . I know it's not something you want to believe about Norman, but you've got to admit it's possible it happened the way I just said.'
Hannah closed her eyes. If she stared at Mike's earnest face looming over hers, she'd probably hit him right in the beak. And that would bear out his theory! She took a deep breath, collected her wits, and looked up at him again.
'Well, isn't it possible?' Mike prodded her for an answer.
Obviously, the man didn't know when to quit. Hannah sighed and gathered herself to speak in her calmest, most rational voice. 'No, Mike. It isn't possible. Norman told me about all the trouble he had with Connie Mac right after we left The Cookie Jar last night. He was over being miffed with her. As a matter of fact, he was even joking about it.'
'Of course he was. Norman wouldn't let you know how angry he was, not if he was planning to kill Mrs. MacIntyre later.'
'He wasn't planning on killing her,' Hannah argued, even though she knew it wouldn't do any good. She took a deep breath, calmed her jangled nerves, and addressed exactly what he had said about Norman's motivation. 'Listen to me, Mike. The situation with Connie Mac didn't prey on Norman's mind, he didn't explode in an act of violence, and he didn't kill Connie Mac.'
Mike didn't look at all convinced. 'Why not?'
'Because Norman's not a killer. Besides, if every person Connie Mac ordered around had taken offense and clubbed her, she would have looked like a piece of Swiss steak!'
'How do you know that? Have you been running around out here asking questions?'
Hannah sighed. She'd already promised herself that she wouldn't lie to him. Mislead perhaps, but not lie.
'Have you?' Mike prodded her for an answer.
'You have my word, Mike.' Hannah looked him straight in the eye. 'I haven't seen or spoken to any of the Connie Mac people.'
'Then how did you know that Mrs. Macintyre ordered people around?'
'It's simple. You're forgetting that Andrea and I took her on a tour of Lake Eden. It was impossible not to notice something like that.'
'Oh,' Mike said, appearing to accept that at face value. 'For a minute there, I thought you were playing detective again.'
'There's no way I'll ever play detective again,' Hannah declared, pushing down the little niggle of guilt that
