“Some time, yes, but not much. We only have two teams of detectives, Hannah. There’s Lonnie and me and there’s Rick and the new guy. Rick’s been working with the new guy, but he’s not quite up to speed yet.”
“Do you think you might be able to work on this case if Lonnie takes over the lead like he did for you tonight?”
Mike thought about that for a long moment. “Maybe. I’m not completely sure, Hannah, but maybe.”
“Then that’s what you should do for now,” Hannah said, trying to sound more positive than she felt. “I can tell that you’re tired, Mike. Get some sleep and maybe you’ll feel better in the morning.”
*
“I thought you’d never get back here,” Andrea said as Hannah came into their room. “Were you with Lily all this time?”
“No. I’m sorry if I worried you, Andrea, but I didn’t have time to call you on your cell.”
“It’s okay. I wasn’t worried. I was just . . .” Andrea stopped speaking and gave a little laugh. “I was just a little jealous that I was left out of the action.”
Hannah laughed. “There wasn’t that much action. It was just that when I got ready to leave the kitchen, somebody else came in.”
“Who came in?”
“Mike. He was hungry and he needed something to eat, so I fed him. I started out with cookies and I had some soup left.”
“So you baked cookies?” Andrea looked surprised. “I thought we were doing that tomorrow morn . . .” She stopped speaking as she glanced at the clock. “I mean, this morning.”
Hannah shook her head. “We don’t have to get up early this morning, Andrea. I needed to decompress, so I finished baking everything we mixed up. The cookies are all done and the only thing that’s left for tomorrow is to make the caramel sauce for the Caramel Pecan Rolls and bake them.”
“You baked my Chocolate Peanut Butter Whippersnappers?” Andrea asked, and Hannah realized that she sounded a bit territorial.
“Just the one batch and they’re all gone. I gave Lily a dozen and I gave Mike some to take with him. I know it’s extra work for you, but you can mix up a couple more batches in the morning, after all?”
“Of course I can! What did Lily and Mike think of them?”
“Lily went absolutely crazy over them! She told me that chocolate and peanut butter were her two favorite things and she scarfed down a whole bunch before Sally came to take her to her room.”
“Sally was there?”
“Yes. I packed up another dozen for Lily, and Sally asked if she could take another dozen for Dick and for her. Before I knew it, they were all gone!”
Andrea’s expression changed to one of pleasure. “So did they like them too?”
“I don’t know about Dick, but Lily loved them and so did Mike and Sally. They’re a huge hit, Andrea.”
“Oh, good! So they passed the taste test?”
“They passed three taste tests . . . actually four if you count the five or six that I ate while I was baking the rest of the cookies and cakes.”
“So what time do we have to go down to work tomorrow?” Andrea asked, glancing at the clock again.
“The breakfast buffet is at eight, so six should be just fine. Almost everything’s done, Andrea.”
“And you did it all yourself.” Andrea looked slightly disappointed. “You should have called me, Hannah. I’ve been up here for over an hour and I could have come down to help you.”
“I figured you might need a little more rest than usual,” Hannah said, choosing the first excuse she could think of. “After all, you delivered cocktails to the tables all night at the bar, plus you kept your eyes and ears open for any clues you might pick up. That’s hard work, Andrea.”
“It wasn’t that difficult,” Andrea said, waving off Hannah’s compliment. “I had a good time talking to people and listening to what they were saying.”
“Did you pick up anything interesting?” Hannah asked, pulling her pajamas out from under her pillow.
“Yes, but I’ll wait to tell you until you get ready for bed. How about you? You said that Mike came into the kitchen. Did he tell you anything interesting?”
Hannah knew she was treading on thin ice. She didn’t want to lie to her sister, but what Mike had told her about his personal problems was confidential. “I didn’t learn anything worth relating,” she said, fudging as best she could. “I think he just needed to talk to someone, and I was handy.”
“Personal stuff?” Andrea asked, looking interested.
“Yes, but nothing that’s relevant to catching the killer.”
“So Mike just needed to talk?”
“I think so, at least until he tasted your newest Whippersnapper cookie. Then he just needed more cookies.”
Andrea laughed and went over to the dresser to pour herself a glass of water from the tray that Rosa had put there. “Go ahead and get ready for bed,” Andrea said, waving Hannah off toward the bathroom. “I’m going to put this on my side of the bed table and then I can tell you what I learned tonight.”
Hannah took a quick shower so she wouldn’t have to shower early in the morning. She knew she’d be tired and she wasn’t sure she could sleep. The personal crisis that Mike was having and the things that he’d told her were buzzing around in her mind. In a way, she hoped that Andrea didn’t want to talk any longer. She was very tired and she wasn’t sure she could talk about Mike, or Lily, or Sonny’s murder for much longer tonight.
It seemed to take forever to dry off from her shower and get into her night clothes. Hannah’s feet were dragging as she walked to the bathroom door and opened it. The bedside lamp was on, and she glanced over at Andrea’s bed. Luck was with her tonight. Andrea was curled up in a ball, fast asleep.
Chapter Fourteen
When Hannah opened her eyes in the morning, their breakfast tray was sitting on the dresser and Andrea was not in her bed. Hannah sat up, blinked a couple of times, and took a look around the room. It was a nice double room, but there weren’t any alcoves or places to hide. Then she heard the shower running and she gave a little smile. Andrea was in the bathroom, getting ready for the day ahead.
Even though she felt like turning over and going back to sleep, Hannah made herself sit up on the side of the bed. The urge for morning coffee was stronger than the lure of the blankets, and soft pillows couldn’t compete with the inviting scent of breakfast coffee. She got to her feet, slipped into her robe, and padded across the room to the breakfast tray on the dresser. She had just taken her first sip of the aromatic brew when Andrea emerged from the bathroom.
“Oh, good, you’re up,” Andrea said, coming over to pour a cup for herself. “I figured that if I took the lid off the pot, you’d have to wake up and have some.”
“You figured right,” Hannah said, smiling at her sister. “The scent of hot coffee is what woke me up. I didn’t realize it at the time, but I sat up, saw the tray, and knew I had to get up and get a cup.”
“I thought if I tried to wake you up, you’d get mad at me the way you used to do when we were kids. I didn’t want that, so I decided to try another way.”