“I never investigate,” Hannah corrected him. “I leave that sort of thing to the trained professionals. But I can’t really help it if people tell me things, and I put two and two together, can I?”

“Of course you can’t. So let’s get back to my original question. Who do you think killed Dean?”

“I don’t know. Almost everybody who knew him seems to have a motive.”

Connor gave a short laugh. “You’re right. And if you haven’t done so already, you’d better add me to your list of suspects.”

“Why?” Hannah asked, wondering if Connor’s reason would match the one they’d already thought of.

“Because Dean fired me right after I talked to you on Wednesday morning. I told him you were going to talk to Winnie after the cocktail party scene at Granny’s Attic, but that didn’t make any difference to him. He made me turn in my keys. Then he told me to clear out of my room at the inn and go home.”

“But you didn’t leave,” Hannah pointed out.

“That’s right. I was hoping that after you convinced Winnie to let him use the park, he’d hire me back. It’s not like he hasn’t done this sort of thing before. Dean is

” Connor stopped and swallowed hard. “Dean was a little hotheaded. He’d fly off the handle over something minor and apologize for it the next day. I learned to stick around after he fired me, because he always hired me back when he cooled off.”

It was time to play hardball and Hannah was no stranger to that sport. “And Dean had you over the barrel. He knew that without references, it wouldn’t be easy for you to get another job. And he knew about your background, too. That meant he could be as abusive as he wanted and you had to stand there and take it.”

“True,” Connor said, “except for one thing. I already had another job lined up this time around.”

“You did?” Hannah’s tone clearly indicated her surprise. “What job?”

“Mrs. Henderson’s stockbroker.”

Hannah’s jaw dropped open and she attempted to conceal the sudden descent of her chin by making a comment. “I didn’t know Winnie had investments!”

“She doesn’t, at least not as far as I know. I’m talking about stockbroker in the original sense of the term. Each year Mrs. Henderson auctions off her prizewinning cattle. And each year she gets far less than she should for such magnificent animals. I told her I’d handle the cattle auctions for her and my salary would come from the extra profit we’d make.”