“I’m sorry Bonnie’s sick,” Hannah said, hoping to keep the conversation going.

“So am I. Bonnie told me that it’s just a cold, but I think it might be something more serious than that.”

“Why do you think that?”

“Because doctors don’t usually prescribe antibiotics for a common cold, and Bonnie told me that Doc Knight put her on antibiotics. My guess is that Bonnie got run down worrying about Phyllis and her immune system couldn’t fight off the bug she got. Now she’s not only sick, she’s also grieving for Phyllis because she never got the opportunity to talk to her and try to help her.”

Or did she get that opportunity? Hannah’s mind asked the question, but this wasn’t the time to say it out loud. She’d consider it later, after she was alone and could think clearly.

“Thanks for telling me, Danielle,” Hannah said, getting to her feet. “I’ll drop in on Bonnie later to bring her some soup or something. Do you know if she’s home?”

“I don’t know for sure, but I think she probably is. She sounded awful when she called me this morning, and I really doubt that she left the house. When you see her, please give her my best and tell her I said to get well in a hurry.”

* * *

Hannah was thoughtful as she walked down the long staircase. Her mind was churning with unanswered questions. When she got down to the outside door, she stopped and drew her murder book out of her purse. She turned to the suspects page and was about to write down Bonnie Surma’s name when she remembered that she had done the very same thing before.

“Not now,” Hannah said out loud. She wouldn’t think about her father, and the dreams she’d had, and anything else right now. She jotted down Bonnie’s name, thrust her murder book back in her purse, and pulled open the outside door.

Hannah thought about Bonnie and Phyllis all the way back to The Cookie Jar. When she got there, she was glad to see that the kitchen was deserted and everyone was out in front, waiting on customers. She needed time to think. And she needed time to devise a way to get Bonnie to tell her what she knew.

Even though Hannah didn’t think that Bonnie had murdered her former protégé, she couldn’t dismiss that possibility. The Ghost of Christmas Present had shown her an image of what she’d written in her murder book. She had been unable to read it, but she was fast becoming convinced that it had been Bonnie’s name.