'She didn't,' Hannah said, not relishing the task of telling someone else that Connie Mac was dead.
'But why? She needs Janie. No one else can put up with her. She went through twelve assistants the year before Janie carne on board.'
'I'm sure she would have called Janie,' Andrea said, taking over, 'but that was impossible. Connie Mac died last night.'
Alex's eyes widened. 'She's dead? Why didn't anyone tell me? I thought her face was awfully red when she left yesterday afternoon, but I figured she was just angry. Was it her heart?'
Hannah clamped her lips shut to keep from saying, Of course not. Connie Mac didn't have a heart. Andrea had barged in and now she could deal with telling Alex how Connie Mac had died.
'Well. . . actually. . .' Andrea shot her sister a pleading glance, but Hannah pretended not to notice. "It was a little more serious than that. Connie Mac was. . . uh . . . killed.'
'You mean murdered?' Alex gasped and her face turned pale.
Hannah looked over at Andrea. She still had that pleading look on her face. Andrea, the smooth talker who could handle any situation, needed to be bailed out.
'The police think it's murder, but it could be an accident,' Hannah explained. 'That's why we need to find Janie. She was with Connie Mac last night and we want to ask her what happened.'
'Do the police think that Janie killed Connie Mac and ran away?' Alex looked sick at the thought.
Hannah took over. 'They think it's possible. That's why we want to find her before they do. We want to help her.'
Alex sat there quietly for a moment, and Hannah noticed that her hands were trembling. 'I'd help you if I could, but I really don't know where Janie's gone.'
'If she calls you, will you tell us?' Hannah asked.
'Yes, I will.'
Andrea pulled out one of her cards and handed it to Alex. 'Here's my cell phone number. Call me anytime, day or night.'
'I will.' Alex took the card and slipped it into her apron pocket. Then she blinked, and Hannah could see that she was fighting tears. 'Just find her, please. And tell me the minute you do. Poor Janie must be so frightened, out there all alone.'
There was nothing else to say, and Hannah motioned to Andrea. They had other people to see. It wasn't until they had left the kitchen that she asked the question that had been hovering in her mind ever since they'd concluded their interview. 'Don't you think that Alex's reaction was a little strange?'
'What reaction?'
'When we told her that Janie was missing, her hands started to tremble. And when she asked us to hurry and find her, she was blinking back tears.'
'That's not so strange,' Andrea objected. 'She was concerned.'
'I realize that, but don't you think it was a little out of proportion?'
'Not really. I feel exactly the same way. Every time I think about how lonely and scared Janie must be, I get tears in my eyes.'
'So do I, but we've known Janie all our lives. Alex only met her five days ago.'
'Oh.' Andrea was silent for a long moment. 'You're right. What does it mean?'
'I'm not sure, but I think we'd better find out. Let's go to the lobby and plan our strategy.'
-11- Hannah led Andrea into the lobby and they took two overstuffed chairs next to the massive granite fireplace. It was as far from the desk as they could get, and they had the huge room all to themselves.
"Sally told me the granite slabs for the fireplace came from Cold Spring," Andrea informed her. "F. E. Laughlin used local granite and he had it carved with his own designs. Isn't it beautiful?"
"It's certainly impressive," Hannah said, deciding not to risk further comment. With murder foremost on her mind, the three-dimensional angels that appeared to be emerging from the gray-veined surface reminded her of headstones in a graveyard.
Andrea inched a little closer to the blaze that was burning in the grate and then unzipped her leather-bound organizer. "What do you want me to do first?"
"Go talk to Francine." Hannah found the page of notes she'd taken when they talked to Sally. "Find out what she knows about the fight that Connie Mac had with Kurt Howe. Then ask her opinion of the reporter who wrote the story about the ghost."
Andrea jotted it down with her gold Cross pen. "Do you really think he might have murdered Connie Mac to add excitement to his ghost story?"
"Not really, but it's something we have to rule out. And don't forget to ask if Francine knows Janie."
"You want me to ask everyone about Janie, don't you?"
"Absolutely."
"I'm writing down a series of questions," Andrea said, her pen flying swiftly across the page. "I want to know the last time they saw her, any friends she talked about, and whether she ever mentioned a particular place she liked to go, like a hotel or a resort."
"That's a very good idea." Hannah was impressed, Andrea seemed to have the questions about Janie covered.
"Then I'll ask them to put themselves in Janie's place and tell me where they think she might. . ." Andrea stopped speaking and stood up. "My phone's ringing."
"I didn't hear anything."
"I switched it to vibrate so it wouldn't disturb us. Maybe it's Alex. We asked her to phone if Janie called."
Hannah thought that was a little too much to hope for, but she was on full alert as Andrea retrieved her cell phone and answered the call.
"Hello?" There was a pause and then Andrea smiled. "Hi, honey."
It had to be Bill, and Hannah settled back in her chair. Tracey was the only other person Andrea would call "honey."
"Of course Hannah's with me. We're out here at the inn. Sally said she could bake out here. Do you want to talk to her?"
Hannah reached out for the phone, but Andrea shook her head. She listened for another few moments and then she started to smile. "That's just great, honey. I'll see you in about half an hour."
"That was Bill," Andrea said, pressing a button and dropping the phone back into her coat pocket.
"I gathered that."
"They're on their way out here and they're bringing all your cookie dough."
Hannah gave a huge sigh of relief: Once she had her cookie dough, today's baking would be a snap. "Let's get our things together and go talk to Earl Flensburg about the man Connie Mac fired. I saw him drive in, and he should be finishing his first cup of coffee about now."
"Too bad Ray didn't wait a day to tell her what happened." Earl picked up the remainder of his glazed doughnut and stared at it thoughtfully. He was a bear of a man, and his quilted orange parka with the Winnetka County Towing Service insignia on the right front breast pocket made him look even larger than he was.
Hannah guessed what was on his mind. "Because then she wouldn't have had the chance to fire him?"
"Yeah. I should call him to tell him what happened, but I never got his number. Didn't get his last name either, come to think about it. We just need the owner's name for the form."
"Sally told us the accident wasn't his fault," Hannah prompted.
"That's right. A semi spun out in front of him and he took the ditch to avoid it. The van was fine, if you don't count the sissy color. Not a scratch on it."
"So the only thing damaged was Connie Mac's cake?" Andrea asked.
"That's about the size of it. Ray was fine, too, but he was shook up bad I told him to sit in the rig while I hooked up. His face was as white as that snowbank he hit."
"Were you there when he called Connie Mac?" Hannah asked, even though Sally had already told her. It was always better to get things firsthand.
"You betcha. I let him make the call from my rig. He had the phone up to his ear real tight, but I could still hear her yelling at him."
"Connie Mac wasn't exactly known for her sweet disposition." Hannah ventured a small grin. "Didn't Ray tell her that he couldn't avoid the accident?"
" 'Course he did, but it didn't count for a hill of beans with her. Guess I should say I'm sorry she's dead, but I'm not. She was real nasty to Ray."