Bradford Ramsey had been the assistant professor in Hannah’s poetry seminar, and the first time he’d given a lecture, she’d been spellbound. It hadn’t been his manner of speaking or the way he’d read stanzas from Byron and Keats. It had been his marvelous, soul-searching dark blue eyes.

Social meetings after class with the professor had been frowned upon by the administration unless several students were in attendance, but Brad had found ways around the rules. Hannah had gone to his office for several student-professor conferences. After he’d told her that he thought he was in love with her, she’d wound up at his apartment, sneaking through the lobby at eleven at night with the hood of her parka obscuring her face. That night, and the nights that followed, had been memorable. Hannah had discovered that sex was a lot more fun than she’d thought it would be. But the last night she’d spent with her handsome professor had been memorable in a way she’d never anticipated. His fiancée had driven in for a surprise visit, Brad had panicked, and Hannah had been forced to vacate his bed by way of an icy fire escape.

Hannah had broken it off and told herself that she was wiser for the experience, but that hadn’t made it any easier. Seeing her former lover stride across campus with a gaggle of young, impressionable girls in his wake had been almost too painful to bear. It had come as a relief when Andrea had asked her to leave college and come back to Lake Eden to help settle her father’s affairs. That didn’t mean that Hannah had given up on men. She was just taking a breather, waiting for one she could love and trust to come along. In the meantime, she had her family, her work and her loyal cat. And if her bed was lonely and she sometimes wished that she had someone without furry paws to cuddle, she could deal with it.

The phone rang and Hannah reached out to answer it. “Hi, Bill. It’s about time.”

“How did you know it was me?”

“Who else could it be? Mother never calls me this late and Andrea told me she was going to bed an hour ago. Did you find out anything new about Ron?”

“Not a thing.” Bill sounded depressed. “Ron had no known enemies, he didn’t owe any large amounts of money, and there were no deposits to his bank account that couldn’t be explained. I’ve got zilch.”

Hannah was quick to commiserate, “Me, too. I talked to the manager at the casino and I think we have to eliminate the bouncer as a suspect. His name is Alfred Redbird and you should check with the hospital. His wife had a baby that morning. If he was with her the whole time, he couldn’t have shot Ron.”

“Okay.” Bill sounded even more discouraged. “I’m fresh out of leads, Hannah. If we had a motive, we’d have something to go on, but we don’t even have that.”