“And did you sleep?” Mike asked her.
“I think I must have slept for a while,” Lily told them. “It was just such a . . . a disappointment! It’s not like this hasn’t happened before. It has. Sonny’s a handsome man, and women throw themselves at him. Unfortunately, he doesn’t seem to be able to resist them. He swears he loves me, but he can’t resist playing the game with other women.”
“You must have been furious,” Mike said.
Lily said, “It wasn’t the sort of night that I wanted, but it wasn’t unexpected, either.”
“Some men like to flirt and that’s as far as it goes,” Mike said. “Other men like to flirt and they don’t know when they should stop. I think Sonny was one of the latter group.”
Hannah watched as Lily’s face paled. “Was?” she repeated. “You said Sonny was and that’s past tense! I heard you!”
Mike sighed. “You’re right, Lily. I didn’t mean to blurt it out like that, but I have to tell you that Sonny’s dead.”
“When?” Lily choked the word out, and Hannah immediately reached out to put an arm around her shoulder. She wasn’t sure why Mike had chosen to tell Lily this way, but perhaps it had just slipped out.
“Lily and I have to leave now,” Hannah announced, tightening her arm around Lily’s shoulders and helping her to her feet. “We’ll be in the kitchen, and I’m going to get her something to eat. Come there if you have to ask her more questions.”
“Good. Thank you, Hannah,” Mike said, looking very grateful. Then he turned to Lily. “I’m sorry, Lily. I didn’t mean to tell you in quite that way. It just slipped out.”
Lily gave a little nod. “It’s okay. I know what I told you made me a suspect. I can’t blame you for that. I’ll answer any other questions you and your partner have, if you’ll just give me a little time to . . . to digest all this and . . . and grieve.”
Mike threw Hannah a sympathetic look. “Of course we will. I’m sorry, Lily. I apologize again for springing all this on you this way. If I could take it back, I would.”
“Apology accepted,” Lily said, reaching out to touch Mike’s shoulder. “I’ll be with Hannah if you need me.”
Hannah stopped at their table and leaned down to talk to Michelle privately. “Tell Andrea that I’m going to be busy for a while,” she said. “I’ll meet her later, back at our room.” Then she turned to Lily. “Come on, Lily. I’ll take you back to the kitchen now.”
Hannah glanced behind her as they exited the bar. No one was looking at them curiously. That was good. She just hoped that she could get Lily calmed down before Mike and Lonnie decided to come to the kitchen to question her further.
“Do you think I’ll have to answer more questions?” Lily asked, as they walked down the long hallway that led to the kitchen.
“I don’t know,” Hannah answered truthfully. “In a way, I hope not. You look like you’re on your last legs.”
Lily smiled. “I am tired. And you were right, I’m hungry.”
“What sounds good?” Hannah asked her, leading her into the kitchen and pulling out a chair at the table.
“I don’t know. Anything, I guess.”
Hannah stepped inside the walk-in cooler and made a quick survey of the contents. “I can always fix you a sandwich. There’s plenty of cold cuts and cheese. And there’s always soup. That’ll only take a few minutes to heat. I can even bake you something if you know what you’d like.”
“I . . . I don’t,” Lily admitted. “One minute, I’m practically starved and the next minute, I’m not sure I could eat anything.”
“You’re probably in shock,” Hannah told her. “Sugar might help. I mixed up some cookie dough for tomorrow and . . .” She stopped and turned to face Lily. “Do you like chocolate?”
“I love chocolate! It’s my favorite thing!”
“How about peanut butter?”
Lily gave a little laugh. “That’s my other favorite thing. They used to make jars of peanut butter with swirls of chocolate fudge sauce inside. That was my favorite sandwich when I went to college.”
“I remember that. There was another one with peanut butter and swirls of grape jelly. Do you remember that?”
“Yes, I do. It was good, but the one with chocolate was my hands-down favorite.”
“How about some Chocolate Peanut Butter Whippersnapper Cookies?” Hannah asked.
“That sounds perfect! What are Whippersnapper Cookies? I’ve never heard of them.”
“They’re cookies with Cool Whip in them and they’re really simple to make. My sister, Andrea, makes dozens of different kinds.”
“Andrea?” Lily looked slightly puzzled. “Didn’t you say your sister’s name was Michelle?”
“It is. Michelle was sitting at the table with me, when you walked in. Andrea is the sister who delivered my wine and is relieving some of Dick’s barmaids when they go on break.” Hannah picked up the bowl of Chocolate Peanut Butter Whippersnapper Cookie dough that she had mixed up early and brought it to the work table. “This won’t take long,” she said, walking over to the industrial oven to set it to the proper temperature. “I might as well make the whole batch while I’m at it. That way, you can take some up to your room too.”
“Good!” Lily said quickly with a smile.
“I am sorry that you had to learn about everything so . . . so suddenly.”
“So am I, but it doesn’t change what happened. I don’t blame Mike. He seems like a very nice man and so does his partner. It’s just that . . . that it was such a shock!”
“Of course it was. Try to lean back and relax now. You’ve been through a lot today.” Hannah sniffed the air and gave a little smile. “Can you smell the cookies baking?”
“I can! They smell wonderful, Hannah! How many minutes do they have left to go?”
Hannah glanced at the clock. “Not long now, but they’ll have to cool for about five minutes. If you try to eat them right after they come out of the oven, you’ll burn your mouth.”
“I know. I did that once with chocolate chip cookies. I didn’t realize that the chocolate would stay hot for longer than the rest of the cookie does.”
“Just close your eyes and think about how good they’re going to taste,” Hannah told her, noticing that Lily had relaxed a bit. “Shut your eyes and concentrate on the wonderful scent of cookies baking. Perfume will never be able to compete with the scent of chocolate cookies in the oven.”
“That’s really true,” Lily said, and Hannah noticed that her eyes were closed. “It’s the best scent in the world. It reminds me of when I was little and my mother baked every morning. I really miss those days. I used to wake up to the most wonderful scents in the world!”
CHOCOLATE PEANUT BUTTER WHIPPERSNAPPER COOKIES
DO NOT preheat oven—this cookie dough must chill before baking.
Ingredients:
1 large egg, beaten (just whip it up in a glass with a fork)
2 cups Cool Whip, thawed (measure this—Andrea said her tub of Cool Whip contained a little over 3 cups)
1 cup mini chocolate chips (Andrea used a 6-ounce package of Nestlé Mini Morsels)