“That’s right.”
“Fantastic! At least you’ll be a lot nicer than Tori was. She could be really nasty if she didn’t like your reading of a line.”
Michelle laughed. “I’ve heard that . . . and I promise I won’t be nasty. Critical, yes. Nasty, never. Can you get everyone to come to a rehearsal tomorrow?”
“You bet I can! But it has to be at one in the afternoon. Everybody in the play rearranged their work schedule so they had from one to three free.”
“That sounds fine with me,” Michelle said, turning to Hannah for confirmation. “You won’t need me at The Cookie Jar during that time, will you?”
Hannah shook her head. “That’s not a problem, Michelle. I’ve got Lisa, Marge, Jack, and Aunt Nancy. You don’t need to work at The Cookie Jar at all if you don’t want to.”
“I want to. It’s fun. But I know it’s generally slow between the lunch rush and the afternoon coffee break rush.”
“The timing couldn’t be better,” Hannah agreed, “but it really doesn’t matter what time you schedule rehearsals. We can get along whenever you choose. The play is very important to the community. It’s practically a tradition to go to a performance during the Thanksgiving holidays.” She turned to Tricia. “Now that we have that settled, will you tell me about the last time you saw Tori?”
“Sure thing. I feel a little guilty, you know? I was so mad at her for cutting my lesson short. And now . . .” she took a sip of her water, “. . . and now I realize that I was probably saying awful things to my mother about Tori when she was being murdered!”
“You had no way of knowing that was going to happen,” Hannah said quickly. “And I don’t blame you for being angry. Do you know why Tori did that?”
“I . . . um . . .” Tricia stopped speaking and glanced around to make sure she wasn’t being overheard. Since there was no one except Hannah and Michelle within earshot, she continued in a slightly lower voice. “I do know why, but I haven’t told anybody except Mom.”
“You can tell us,” Michelle reassured her.
“OK, but please don’t tell anyone else. He could really hurt me in this town, you know?”
“Start from the beginning, Tricia,” Hannah advised. “And no, Michelle and I won’t tell anyone what you’re going to tell us.”
“Not even Mike?”
“If it pertains to the investigation and if I think that Mike has to know, I’ll have to . . . but I won’t tell him you told me.”
Tricia thought about that for a moment. “Okay. That’s fair enough.”
Hannah reached out to pat Tricia’s hand. “I want you to start by telling me who you think could hurt you.”
“It’s . . .” Tricia stopped to glance around again. When she turned back to face them, there was real fear in her eyes. “It’s Mayor Bascomb. He could hurt me!”
“Why?”
“Because I know he was going up to Tori’s condo. And I know that Tori was really mad at him.”
“Okay, Tricia,” Hannah said, “Tell me how you know all this.”
Tricia took another swallow of water and drew a deep breath. “I got to Tori’s condo at exactly six o’clock. I know because I had my cell phone with me and I looked at the time before I knocked on her door. Tori didn’t like it if I was early and she hated it if I was late so I always made sure that I was exactly on time for my lessons. Anyway, I knocked and she came right to the door. She told me to come in and we were just walking through the living room on our way to her studio when the telephone rang.”
“What did she do then?” Michelle asked.
“She answered it and then she started to frown. ‘Hold on!’ Tori said in that voice she used to order everyone around. She covered the mouthpiece of the phone, turned to me, and said that she had to take the call.”
“But you didn’t know who Tori was talking to at that point?” Hannah asked her.
“No, not then. Tori told me to go into the studio and rehearse my lines while she took the call.”
“Is that what you did?” Michelle asked her.
“Well . . .” Tricia stopped and looked slightly guilty. “Not exactly. I did go in the studio and I even opened my play book to the right page, but then I heard her voice.”
“You could hear her voice from the living room while you were in the studio?” Hannah questioned.
“Yes, because I’d left the door open a little. Maybe I shouldn’t have, but she didn’t tell me to close it. And that’s when I realized that she was very angry with whoever was calling her.”
“How close is the studio to the living room?” Hannah asked.
“It’s just a couple of steps down the hall. I mean, it’s not directly across the hallway, but close enough.”
“Close enough for you to hear what Tori was saying?”
“Yes. You see, I probably shouldn’t have, but she sounded so mad that I moved all the way to the door and listened. I didn’t go out in the hall or anything, but I was right by the open door.”
“And what did you hear?” Hannah queried.
“I heard Tori tell her caller to get lost, that she wasn’t going to bail him out again. She said that she’d done it too many times before, and this time he could grow up and handle things on his own.”
“And you knew who it was then?” Michelle asked her.
“I didn’t know, but I guessed. Everybody in town knows that Mayor Bascomb goes to his sister for help when his wife catches him with another woman.”
“What else did you hear?” Hannah asked, being very careful not to censor Tricia in any way for eavesdropping on a private conversation.
“Mayor Bascomb must have argued with her, because Tori blew up. I mean, she really let him have it. I don’t even want to repeat some of the things she said to him, but the upshot of it was . . . um . . .”
“He ought to have more self-control?” Hannah provided the polite phrase.
“Yeah. That was it. She didn’t put it quite that way, but that’s what she meant.”