A slow smile broke out over Norman’s face. “Well!” he said, as pleased as Hannah had ever seen him. “That’s good. Now can we get down to business? Mike gave me a list of things he wanted to tell you.”

“Hold on. Why isn’t Mike here, telling me all this himself?”

“Bill made him swear he wouldn’t have anything to do with the official investigation. He can’t even call his detectives to see how they’re doing. And right after Mike agreed to that, Bill made him promise that he wouldn’t speak to you about anything concerning the case. Mike’s getting around that by talking to me and having me tell you what he said.”

“Like a reverse Cyrano?” Hannah couldn’t help asking, since they’d watched the old black-and-white movie just last week.

“I guess it’s a bit like that, but it’s not about love. It’s about murder. You are going to try to find out who killed her, aren’t you?”

“Of course I am. The killer ruined at least a dozen of my mini cream puffs.”

“Good. I’ll tell Mike you’re in, then. He’s going to tell me what to do to work the case, and I’ll tell you what he says.”

“Solving murder by proxy?” Hannah began to frown. “I don’t think I can do that. Mike and I solve murders in different ways. He has a lot more resources than I do.”

“Not this time.”

Hannah thought about that for a minute. “I guess that’s true if he can’t contact anyone at the department. But I don’t want Mike to tell me what to do. I need to do things my own way.”

“He said you’d say that. And he said to tell you that you could still do things your own way if you do them his way, too. That way you’ll have two different procedures, and you should solve the case twice as fast.”

Hannah gave a little laugh. “His logic is faulty, but it would be interesting to see how Mike would manage the case. He didn’t mention that running parallel investigations would be double the work for me, did he?”

“Not to me. But I can help you, Hannah.”

“How about your dental patients?”

“That’s not a problem. Doc Bennett’s been asking if I need him to fill in. I think he’s trying to earn a little extra for Christmas. I’m pretty sure he wants to go on a cruise to the Caribbean.”

“Really?”

“A whole stack of travel brochures can’t be wrong. He left them on my desk the last time he filled in for me.”

“Cruises are expensive.”