Both Andrea and Hannah were dead silent for a moment, and then they exchanged glances. “Would that make a difference?” Hannah asked Rosa.
“Maybe. Look, girls . . .” Rosa sighed again and looked terribly uncomfortable. “I know I shouldn’t tell tales out of school, but . . . I put two and two together and I figure Mr. Sonny is dead. Am I right?”
“Oh, Lord!” Andrea said, not entirely under her breath.
“Of course you put two and two together,” Hannah said directly to Rosa. “And you’re right, Rosa, but please don’t tell anyone, especially Mike or Lonnie, that I said that. And yes, we are investigating.”
“Then it’s murder?” Rosa asked.
Hannah nodded. “That’s the conclusion that Mike, Lonnie, and Doc came to.”
“That doesn’t surprise me at all,” Rosa admitted. “He was bound to come to a bad end the way he was drinking and womanizing. And Lily is the sweetest thing! I sure hope she’s not the one who killed him, although I wouldn’t blame her a bit if she did!”
“Sit down, Rosa,” Hannah said, patting the side of her bed. “Tell us what you know, and maybe it’ll help Lily. You sound as if you think she’s a nice person.”
“I do, and I’m pretty sure she is. No woman should have to put up with the grief that man gave her! I would have been out of that relationship in two seconds flat if my man ever treated me that way!”
“Because he flirted with other women?” Andrea asked.
“Not just flirted!” Rosa exclaimed, looking irritated. “I don’t know how he could treat her like that when Lily got him the best job he’d ever had. Wally knew that Sonny didn’t know anything about fishing, but his daughter was so insistent, he told her he’d give Sonny a try. And Sonny was good on television,” Rosa concluded. “Wally’s daughter was right when she told him that the wives would watch the fishing shows because Sonny was so . . .” Rosa stopped and looked uncertain. “What is the word I want?”
“Handsome?” Andrea guessed.
“And sexy,” Hannah added. “Is that what you mean, Rosa?”
“Yes. There’s another word for it, but I don’t want to say it. It’s not . . . very nice.”
Andrea laughed. “That’s okay, Rosa. We know exactly what you mean.”
Hannah nodded, but her mind was going a million miles a minute, trying to fit pieces of information and theories about the murder together. “Dick told me something this morning in the bar,” she told Rosa. “He said that Lily was here last night.”
Rosa nodded. “She was. I went up to let Lily into Sonny’s suite. And now . . . I wish I hadn’t. It might have been better if Lily hadn’t seen Sonny last night.”
“Why?” Andrea asked.
“Because Sonny had . . . how you say . . . company.”
“You’re talking about female company?” Andrea asked, and it was a cross between a statement and a question.
“Yes. She was there in the bed with him.”
“The blonde?” Hannah guessed.
“Yes. I saw her there when I came in to turn down the lights. He was sleeping, but she wasn’t. She was not nice to me.”
“What did she do?” Andrea asked.
“She told me to get lost and she said she’d have me fired if I ever told anyone I’d seen her. So I haven’t . . . until now.”
“That’s okay,” Hannah reassured her. “It’s just an empty threat, Rosa. There’s nothing she could do to you.”
“That’s right,” Andrea agreed. “You work for Sally, and Sally knows how valuable you are.”
Rosa gave a big smile. “Thank you for telling me that. I love working here. Sally gave me my own room for the whole fishing tournament so I don’t have to drive back home. And I don’t have to pay for the room, or the food, or anything.”
“That’s wonderful, Rosa,” Andrea said. “And it proves how much Sally values you as her head of housekeeping.”
“That’s true,” Hannah agreed. “And Sally obviously trusts you to take care of any problems with the guests.”
“Was Lily very upset when she got here?” Andrea asked.
“Oh, yes! I was in the lobby when she came in and asked for the key to Sonny’s suite. The desk clerk wasn’t sure what he should do, so I told him to give her a key.”
“And he did?” Hannah asked.
“Yes, but I knew there’d be trouble so I went upstairs with her.”
“How did you know?” Hannah asked.
“I was in the hallway when that woman knocked on the door. And I saw how fast Sonny opened it and pulled her inside.”
Hannah and Andrea exchanged glances. What Rosa had told them gave Lily a plausible reason for murder.
“Did you go in with Lily?” Hannah asked the housekeeper.
“No, I just walked her to the door and waited to make sure that she could get in. And I was worried because I didn’t know if that woman was still there.”
“What time was this?” Andrea asked, and Hannah felt like applauding. Andrea was establishing a time line, something she’d forgotten to do.
“It was after midnight. I know because I stop working at midnight and go down to the kitchen to get the tray that Sally always leaves out for me. Then I go to my room, eat the snack that she leaves for me, and go to bed.”
“Is that what you did last night?” Andrea asked.
“No! I was too worried to leave. I was afraid there could be trouble!”
“What did you do?” Andrea asked.
“I stayed in the hallway behind the door to the housekeepers’ closet to keep my eye on things, just in case.” Rosa began to frown. “You don’t think I was wrong to stay there and watch, do you?”
“Absolutely not!” Hannah said quickly. “That sounds entirely reasonable.”
“I think so, too,” Andrea agreed.
Rosa gave a sigh of relief. “I was curious,” she admitted. “I wanted to know what would happen. I thought maybe I could help Lily in some way.”
“You like Lily?” Hannah drew the obvious conclusion.
“Yes. Very much.”
“I’m glad you stayed in the hallway, Rosa,” Andrea said.
Rosa looked grateful for Andrea’s words. “I wasn’t spying on them. It’s just that I was afraid that something bad was going to happen.”
“And did something bad happen?” Hannah asked.
Rosa nodded. “Oh, yes. It was very bad for that woman.”
Hannah exchanged a warning glance with Andrea. It was time to let Rosa tell them what had happened in her own way. “Please tell us, Rosa,” Hannah encouraged her.
“There is a clock in the housekeepers’ closet and I looked at the time when I opened the door. It was twenty past midnight.”
Hannah watched as Andrea pulled out the small notebook that her sister had begun to carry in the outside pocket of her purse. Andrea’s notebook had an attached pen, and Andrea held it at the ready.
“I didn’t want to stay in the closet all night watching the hallway, and I was just thinking about leaving when the door to Sonny’s suite opened and someone . . . someone without any clothes came out!”
“What?!” Hannah gasped.
“That’s right.” Rosa gave a little smile. “I didn’t ask, but I think Lily found that woman in Sonny’s bed and chased her right out of the suite without a stitch of clothes on!”
“Do you know what time that was?” Hannah asked.