“I came early so I could go over some notes Mike gave me,” Norman explained, slipping a small notebook into his jacket pocket.

“More instructions on how to proceed?”

“Right. He’s going stir-crazy, Hannah. He even gave me a stack of books for you.”

“Let me guess…Five Easy Steps to Running a Tight Investigation? The Detective’s Guide to Solving Crimes? Collecting Clues and Closing Cases?”

Norman laughed. “Something like that. I had to promise Mike I’d give them to you and tell you how important he thought they were. I didn’t have to promise that you’d read them.”

“Good, because I’ll be so busy trying to figure out who killed Ronni that I won’t have time to read them. Is there anything else Mike said to tell me?”

“Yes, but I’ll wait to tell you when we discuss the case after dinner. The mothers want to be in on the kill this time.”

“The kill?”

“Metaphorically speaking, they’ve helped with the hunt before, but they’ve never been in on it when you’ve closed in on the murderer.”

“Mother was there once. She’s the reason I’m still here.”

“I pointed that out to her, but she says it doesn’t count, that it was just a happy coincidence.”

“Happy?! That’s not exactly the way she felt at the time!” Hannah stopped and thought over what Norman had told her. “Okay. I think I understand what the mothers are trying to say. They’re tired of doing phone work, and they’d like to do something more exciting. Does that sound about right to you?”

“I’m almost sure that’s what they mean.”

“What sort of exciting homicide case assignment can we give to two post–middle-aged women who love antiques and can’t run very fast?”

“I’m not sure. All I know is I wouldn’t want to get them into any trouble.”

“Maybe we could ask them to read the books Mike gave you?”

Norman laughed. “Nice try, but somehow I don’t think that’s the type of thing they had in mind.”

“I suppose not.” Hannah sat there for a moment trying to come up with something, and then she shook her head. “I can’t think of a thing. Maybe I’m just too tired.”

“You need brain food.”

“That would be fish, right?”

“That’s what they say. I saw Sally when I came in, and she told me about her new appetizer. It’s tuna sashimi.”

“Isn’t sashimi like sushi without the rice?”

“That’s one difference between them. When Sally serves her tuna sashimi appetizer, she arranges very thin strips of tuna over a bed of mixed greens. She sauces everything lightly with soy and ginger, and decorates the plate with rosettes of pickled ginger.”