"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 she felt. She wasn't going to play at being a detective. She was going to be a detective and solve Connie Mac's murder before he did.
Mike reached out to give her a hug. "I've got to get back to work. Just promise me that you'll be careful around Norman."
"Norman didn't kill Connie Mac."
"I know you don't believe that he could do it, but I understand Norman a lot better than you do."
"Really?" Hannah worked hard to keep the sarcasm out of her voice. As far as she knew, Mike hadn't spent more than a few casual moments with Norman.
"That's right. Men understand each other better than a woman ever could. I can appreciate your loyalty to Norman, and I'm not asking you to believe that he's the killer. I just want you to stay away from him until we find out, one way or the other."
Hannah stared after him as he walked out the door. In just one morning, Mike had managed to close down her business, tie her down with a promise not to interfere with his investigation, accuse a man she was dating of murder, and claim that a woman couldn't possibly understand a man's motives. This whole thing with Mike was enough to make her pick up the phone and make an appointment with the nearest shrink. For the life of her, she couldn't understand how such an obstinate, boneheaded chauvinist could make her pulse race and turn her insides to jelly.
-12- Hannah had just finished stashing the last bowl of cookie dough in Sally's walk-in cooler when Andrea came into the kitchen. There was a smile on her face and she looked excited.
"Hi, Hannah. Sally said I'd find you in here. I got tons of information from Bill and I wrote it all down." Andrea patted her leather organizer. "And I've got something else, too."
Hannah watched as Andrea opened her large leather purse and pulled out a bulky packet. "My recipe file?"
"That's right. Bill snitched it when Mike's back was turned. He told me this kind of surface couldn't be dusted for fingerprints anyway, but you know what kind of a stickler Mike is when it comes to procedure. He wasn't even going to let you take your purse this morning until Bill got after him."
"Thank Bill for me. This saves me a whole lot of time." Hannah gave a big sigh of relief as she took the packet. She'd been planning to drive back to her condo to pick up copies of her recipes, and Bill had saved her the trip.
"Before I forget, I'm supposed to tell you that Lisa's on her way. Bill spotted them at one of the venues and he told her that you were all setup to bake out here." Andrea took the stool next to Hannah's and stared at her sister for a moment. "Okay. What's wrong? Did you have a fight with Mike?"
"Not exactly."
"But Mike did something, right?"
"You could say that."
"Just give me the highlights," Andrea coaxed. "I need to know what Mike said, so 1 can compare it to what Bill told me. That's the only way we'll know if they're holding out on us.'
Hannah hesitated. She didn't really want to talk about her conversation with Mike, but she had learned some things about the official investigation. "Okay. Mike said they haven't found Janie, Doc Knight put Connie Mac's time of death between ten and midnight, the murder weapon was a heavy, rounded object, and Paul's alibi is Alan Carpenter. Both of them claimed they were together at the boutique last night and they didn't get back here until after midnight. Unless it's a conspiracy, they're both in the clear."
"Bill told me all that. What else?"
"What makes you think there's anything else?"
"I can read it on your face."
Hannah caved in. Andrea had always been able to tell when she was upset. "Mike told me that Norman's a suspect."
"Our Norman?" Andrea's mouth dropped open when Hannah nodded. "But. . . why?"
"Bill didn't tell you?" Hannah answered her sister's question with one of her own.
"Bill didn't say a word about Norman. Why does Mike think he's a suspect?"
"Mother."
"Our mother?"
"One and the same. She told Mike that Connie Mac was nasty to Norman and now Mike thinks that Norman went back to The Cookie Jar last night to get even with her."
"That's crazy! Bill was with Mike when they talked to Mother, and he didn't say anything about Norman being a suspect."
"Maybe he didn't want to tell you."
Andrea shook her head. "Bill would have told me. He tells me everything. And that means Bill doesn't think that Norman did it, but Mike must have some reason to . . ." Andrea stopped in mid-sentence, and a huge grin spread over her face. "Of course. I get it."
"What do you get? And why are you grinning like that?"
"Because it's so obvious. Mike's the only one who thinks Norman is a suspect. And that's because he wants Norman to be guilty. Don't you get it, Hannah?"
Hannah thought about it for a moment and then she shrugged. "Not really. It can't be personal. Mike's always said he liked Norman."
"Naturally. He can't admit that he's jealous. That would make him look bad. So what does Mike do? He accuses his rival of murder. I bet he even told you to stay away from Norman. He did, didn't he?"
Hannah nodded. "Yes, but. . ."
"I knew it. I'm right! And you didn't even see it!"