Blueberry Muffin Murder. Joanne Fluke

amused than angry. “Give Aunt Hannah a kiss and then go back to the car. We need to talk about some grownup things.”

      “I never get to listen when you talk about the good stuff,” Tracey said with a sigh. “Grownups get to have all the fun.”

      Norman turned to Tracey. “I know something you can do for fun. If your Mom says it’s okay, I’ll take you next door to see the house your grandma made.”

      “Can I, Mommy?” Tracey asked, starting to smile again.

      Andrea nodded. “That’s fine if Norman doesn’t mind taking you.”

      “Oh, good.” Tracey slipped her hand in Norman’s. “Let’s go, Uncle Norman.”

      “Uncle Norman?” Hannah asked when Tracey and Norman were out of earshot.

      “Tracey wanted to know what she should call him, and I couldn’t think of anything else.” Andrea looked a bit embarrassed. “‘Doctor Rhodes’ was just too formal, you know? Tell me what happened, Hannah. You know how Bill is when he calls me from the field. He never tells me any details.”

      Hannah had just begun to tell the story again when the back door opened and Mike came out. He strode across the snow, greeted Andrea, and then he turned to Hannah. “More bad news, I’m afraid.”

      “What now?” Hannah snapped. She was in no mood to be charitable to the man who’d just closed down her business.

      “You said that Janie Burkholtz was here with Connie Mac last night?”

      “That’s right. They were baking when Norman and I left.”

      “Well, she’s disappeared. I just called the inn, and no one’s seen her since she left with Connie Mac yesterday afternoon. I sent one of the maids up to check her room, and all her luggage is gone.”

      “Oh, no!” Andrea’s face turned pale and she reached out to grab Hannah’s arm. “Connie Mac’s killer must have kidnapped Janie!”

      “Calm down, Andrea. A killer wouldn’t stop at the inn on his way out of town to let Janie collect her belongings.”

      Andrea thought about it for a second, and then she looked a bit sheepish. “You’re right. I didn’t think about that. But…what happened to Janie?”

      “We’ll find her,” Mike promised. “Our CIO pulled her picture from the DMV file and we put out an APB.”

      Hannah swallowed hard. She’d been around Mike long enough to know that when he started to speak in initials, it was serious business. Connie Mac was dead, she’d been an impossibly nasty boss, and now Janie was missing. Hannah didn’t think for a moment that Janie had killed Connie Mac and fled town, but she couldn’t blame Mike for being suspicious. “Is Janie a suspect?”

      “I’m afraid so.”

      Andrea’s face was still pale, but her eyes were blazing. “Janie didn’t kill Connie Mac. That’s impossible.”

      “You could be right,” Mike backed off when he saw how upset Andrea was. “Miss Burkholtz could have a perfectly innocent reason for leaving town, but we won’t know what it is until we ask her.”

      Andrea didn’t look entirely pacified, and Hannah decided to change the subject. “Come on, Andrea. I have to go out to the inn. You and Tracey can come along.”

      “Hold it.” Mike reached out to grab her arm. “Why are you going out there?”

      “I have to find another place to bake and Sally’s got a whole bank of commercial ovens in her kitchen.”

      “You’re not going out there for any other reason?”

      “I have to bake somewhere,” Hannah said, putting on the most innocent expression she could muster. “You’re not going to tell me I can’t use Sally’s ovens, are you?”

      “No. As much as I’d like to, I can’t legally keep you away from the inn. Just stay away from Mrs. MacIntyre’s employees and don’t talk to anyone connected with the case. That’s a direct order, Hannah. If you interfere with our ongoing investigation, I’ll charge you with obstruction.”

      Several retorts occurred to Hannah, but she was wise enough to voice none of them. She simply turned to her sister and said, “Come on, Andrea. We’ve taken up enough of Mike’s time.”

      Five minutes later, they were zipping through town in Hannah’s cookie truck, heading for the house that Lisa shared with her father. It was a slight detour, but Hannah wanted to tell her partner what had happened before she heard it from someone else.

      “Hannah?” Andrea asked, glancing in the back to make sure that Tracey was engrossed in one of the books she’d brought along for the ride.

      “Hmm?”

      “Are Sally’s ovens the only reason we’re going out to the inn?”

      “That’s what I said.”

      Andrea looked disappointed. “You mean you’re just going to let Mike tell you what to do?”

      “He’s an officer of the law, Andrea. He has the right to tell me what to do.”

      “But you’re not going to listen, are you?”

      “Let’s see…one of our oldest friends has been accused of murder, I’ll have to scrub for hours to get the bloodstains out of my pantry floor, Mother’s still mad at me for finding another body, and Mike just shut down my business. What do you think?”

      Andrea gave a big smile of approval. “That’s just what I thought. I’ll help.”