“Maybe, if they’re having a good night tonight.” Hannah stopped talking and frowned.

“What is it?”

“It’s crazy. They’re grown women, but I’m a little worried about them. I called Sally and asked about The Moosehead. There’s a hotel next door, and they’ve got a shuttle to the airport. I was thinking there might be some out-of-town salesmen and executives that stay there.”

“And you’re worried about our mothers?”

Hannah thought about that for a minute. “It’s not like it’s unfounded. Mother was crazy about Winthrop.”

“True.” Norman reached out and gave her a little hug. “Do you want to take a run to The Moosehead and see what’s going on?”

“Hi, guys!” Michelle called out, stepping inside the den. “I’m done with my six hours.”

“Me, too.” Andrea was right behind her. “We don’t have to watch more, do we?”

Norman shook his head. “Not if you’re as bored as we are.”

“I’d rather watch my fingernails grow. It’s a lot more interesting.” Michelle walked over to one of the chairs next to the couch and plopped down. “I conferred with Andrea, and we agree that we have nothing, absolutely nothing, to report.”

Andrea nodded as she took the other chair. “If we’d gotten the tapes from Mike, I’d think this was a runaround. But we didn’t. There’s just nothing but empty exercise rooms on the tapes we watched.”

“Same thing with our tapes,” Hannah said, giving a little shrug. “The most exciting thing we saw was a spider making a web on the water cooler.”

“At least you had a spider,” Michelle said. “Maybe the other tapes are more interesting, but we just can’t watch any more.”

“Hannah was a little concerned about your mother,” Norman told them, ignoring the sharp look that Hannah gave him. “What do you think? Will she be okay in a bar with out-of-state salesmen and business executives?”

“I don’t know.” Andrea gave him a hard look. “Will Carrie be okay with out-of-state salesmen and business executives?”

“I’ll drive,” Norman said.

There was a moment of silence while the three sisters exchanged glances, and then Hannah spoke. “We’ll ride with you,” she said.

“Good,” Norman said, heading for the closet to get their coats. “I printed out directions this morning, just in case. Let’s go see how the mothers are doing.”

BONNIE BROWNIE COOKIE BARS

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F., rack in the middle position.

4 one-ounce squares semi-sweet chocolate (or 3/4 cup chocolate chips)

3/4 cup butter (one and a half sticks)

1½ cups white (granulated) sugar

3 beaten eggs (just whip them up in a glass with a fork)

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

1 cup flour (pack it down in the cup when you measure it)

1/2 cup chopped cashews

1/2 cup chopped butterscotch chips

1/2 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips (I used Ghirardelli)