It was possible Mike had left. He could be in another part of the community center, checking up on a lead. Perhaps she should open the door. If Mike wasn’t there, she’d leave him a note telling him she had urgent information for him.

Hannah turned the knob and eased open the door. Mike was there, and he was in the middle of an interview. If the scowl on his face was any indication, he wasn’t at all happy about being interrupted.

“I’m busy here, Hannah,” Mike said, waving her away.

“I can see that. I’m really sorry to interrupt, but I have to talk to you right away. So if you could just step outside in the hall, it’ll only take a second or two.”

“No.”

“No, it’ll take longer than a second or two? Or no, you won’t come out in the hall?”

“No to both. I’m in the middle of an interview here. I’ll talk to you, later, Hannah.”

“But you don’t understand. I came here to help you. This is really important, Mike!”

“I said later, Hannah. Please don’t interfere. I’m trying to run an official investigation, and I don’t have time to talk to you now. Just shut the door and let me get on with my job, okay?”

Hannah shut the door, perhaps just a wee bit harder than was necessary. She’d given Mike his chance, and she thought she’d been extremely polite about it. And now she didn’t have to feel the least bit guilty when she caught Brandi’s killer and did his job for him.

<18>

Hannah was still fuming as she went down the stairs. As always in times of great stress, she headed straight for the kitchen. Not only would it make her feel better to be in the room at the community center she liked best, but she could check out the ladies who were helping in the kitchen at the same time.

Edna’s after-dinner helpers were working to clean up the kitchen, wash the serving bowls, and store the leftover food until it could be taken to Reverend Strandberg’s soup kitchen in the basement of the Bible Church and the Lake Eden Convalescent Home. All it took was one glance to see that no one was wearing black.

The dance floor was next. Hannah found a table near the edge of the area that had been set aside for dancing and sat there watching the couples as they danced. The light was fairly dim and she had a few anxious moments when she spotted Cheryl Coombs in what she thought was a black skirt, but before she could even begin to wonder what possible motive Cheryl could have for killing Martin’s new wife, Cheryl’s partner danced her closer and Hannah realized that her skirt was dark green.

The cloakroom was next. Hannah went into the long, narrow room and flicked on the overhead light. There was a startled gasp and she turned to see the high school couple she’d interrupted. The girl blushed as she smoothed her hair and the boy gulped. “Sorry, Miss Swensen. We were just … uh … “