Once Hannah had escorted Babs, Martin, and Shirley to the room that Mike was using for interviews, she raced back to the lobby to meet her sisters and Norman and tell them what had happened.

“You ignored your own advice?” Norman asked, looking more amused than angry.

“That’s right.”

Andrea’s eyes narrowed. “But you would have been madder than a wet hen if we’d ignored your advice.”

“That’s right, too.”

“Come on, everybody,” Norman said, playing the role of a peacekeeper. “let’s go see if there’s any chocolate left. I’m beginning to droop a little, and we can’t go home until the storm lets up.”

As they trooped toward the stairs leading down to the banquet rooms, Hannah glanced out the large window by the front door. Norman was right. The storm was still raging. The wind was every bit as fierce as it had been before, and it was still dangerous to drive. As she stared out the glass at some of the worst weather a Minnesota winter had to offer, a snow-covered figure materialized at the end of the sidewalk leading up to the front door.

“There’s somebody out there,” Hannah said, squinting through the driving snow. “I think it’s Bill!”

“Where?” Andrea asked, rushing back to join Hannah.

“Out there at the curb. I’d better tell Lonnie to go out and help him in. You catch Michelle and ask her to go get him a hot cup of coffee.”

Lonnie wasted no time fetching Bill. Once Bill got inside, Andrea helped him out of his parka and Hannah hung it up on the coat tree by the front door. Bill looked half-frozen, and he took the coffee gratefully when Michelle brought it up to him. “It’s cold out there. My heater went out halfway to town.”

“Oh, honey,” Andrea said, snuggling up to him in an effort to warm him up. “You shouldn’t have tried to make it all the way here. It’s all over now.”

“What’s over?”

“The case,” Michelle told him. “We solved it about fifteen minutes ago. Sip some coffee and warm up a little. Then we’ll take you to the room Mike’s using for interviews.”

“What case? What interviews? What’s going on?”

“Didn’t the dispatcher tell you?” Hannah asked, frowning a bit. “I know Mike tried to reach you right after I found the body.”

“What body?” Bill’s head swiveled from Andrea, to Hannah, to Michelle, and then back again.

“Martin’s new wife, Brandi Wyen Dubinski. She ended up dead in the parking lot. We’ll tell you all about it right after we thaw you out,” Andrea promised. “All we really need to know right away is how soon Mike can release Mother’s antique cake knife. We need to get it back to her before she finds out.”

“Before she finds out what?”

“That it was used as a murder weapon …except it really wasn’t,” Hannah explained, getting up to see if Norman had managed to find any chocolate. It was obvious that Bill really needed some because they were explaining things perfectly, and it was taking him forever to catch on.