“Half a pot in the kitchen,” Sue told him. “Get a cup and come join us, honey. Hannah came down to ask us about DelRay.”

Phil poured a cup of coffee and came back to sit in the chair across from the couch. He tried a cookie, pronounced it the best he’d ever tasted, and then he asked, “What do you want to know about DelRay?”

“I just hoped there wouldn’t be any big changes, now that Benton’s come back,” Hannah went into the opening of the speech she’d planned on her way down the stairs.

“I don’t think Benton will last for long.” Phil took another cookie and shrugged. “From what I hear, he was living it up on the East Coast and he just came home to make sure that the money wouldn’t run out.”

“Will it?” Hannah asked the obvious question.

“I don’t think there’s any danger of that. Sue’s sister works in the accounting office and she told me that Del just landed a fat new contract on Thursday.”

Hannah nodded, but it didn’t really matter. Thursday was the day after Max had been killed. “How about before that? Was DelRay in trouble?”

“There was a problem about four years ago. It was right before Sue and I got married and I was already starting to look for a new job.”

“Things were that bad at DelRay?”

Phil raised his eyebrows. “Bad? It was gruesome. We lost five big contracts, and the front office cut the workforce in half. They did it on seniority and I’d only been there for a year. I was just lucky I survived the cut. The guy who was hired right after me got pink-slipped. But then Del got some new financing and ever since then we’ve been doing better.”

“New financing?” Hannah’s ears perked up. “You mean like a bank loan?”

Phil shook his head. “I don’t know where the money came from, but it wasn’t a bank loan. Sue’s sister told me that the bank turned Del down. Something about being overextended.”

“But there hasn’t been a problem since that loan or whatever it was?” Hannah took another sip of her coffee and waited for Phil’s answer.

“It wasn’t so fine on Wednesday morning,” Sue spoke up. “Tell her about that, Phil.”

“Sue’s right. I was a little worried when I came home from work on Wednesday morning.”

“A little worried?” Sue laughed. “You were ready to start sending out resumes again.”

“That’s true. When I was leaving the plant, I saw the old man and he looked pretty grim.”

“What time was that?” Hannah held her breath. The pieces were starting to fall in place.

“About six-fifteen, give or take a couple of minutes. I just got off shift and I was heading out to the parking lot when I saw him talking to the night shift supervisors.”

Hannah was confused. “I thought you were a night shift supervisor.”

“I am, but these guys are one level up from me. That’s why I thought there might be trouble. The old man never comes in before nine, unless there’s a real crisis.”