Chocolate Chip Cookie Murder (Hannah Swensen #1)(22)

“Deal,” Hannah agreed. “But if you know anything about Ron’s murder, I’ll have to give the information to Bill.”

“It doesn’t have anything to do with Ron’s murder! At least, I don’t think it does. I lied to you, Hannah…Ron and I were more than just friends. He was my GA sponsor.”

“GA?”

“Gamblers Anonymous. We meet every Tuesday night at the community college.”

That confession threw Hannah for a loop. “You’re a recovering gambler?”

“Yes, but Boyd doesn’t know.” Danielle reached out and steadied herself against the wall. “Could we sit down, Hannah? I don’t feel very good.”

Hannah led her over to the couch and chairs that were arranged in a corner of the ladies’ room. When Danielle had taken a seat on the couch, Hannah pulled up one of the chairs. “You said that Boyd doesn’t know about your addiction?”

“No. He’s not an easy man, Hannah. He wants perfection from a wife. I think he’d divorce me if he ever found out the truth.”

Hannah suspected that Danielle was right. Coach Watson demanded perfection from everyone around him. He was hard on his team when they made errors on the playing field or the court, and he’d be even harder on Danielle. Danielle might be exaggerating when she said that her husband would divorce her, but Hannah was willing to bet that he’d be plenty upset. “You said you go to GA meetings every Tuesday night. Doesn’t Boyd ask you where you’re going?”

“I told him I was taking an art class at the college. I had to lie to him, Hannah.”

It was time to cut Danielle a little slack and Hannah knew it. “I can understand that. I’d probably do the same thing in your place. Were you at the GA meeting last night?”

“Yes, I was there.”

“How about Ron?”

“Ron was there, too. He never missed a meeting.”

Hannah zeroed in on the crux of the matter. “Did you go home from the meeting with him?”

“Of course not. I thought that Boyd would be back by then and we were going to drive out to The Hub to have a late supper together. Boyd really likes their steaks. He says an athlete doesn’t get enough protein from chicken and fish, and he always makes his boys eat plenty of red meat when they’re in training.”

Hannah had seen the boys from Coach Watson’s teams wolfing down hamburgers at Hal and Rose’s Cafe and she didn’t think there was much danger they’d be protein-deficient. But Danielle was digressing and Hannah needed to get her back on track. “Your husband didn’t come home last night, did he?”

“No. When I walked in, there was a message from Boyd on the answering machine. He said he’d decided to stay over at his mother’s house and he’d be home by noon today. He doesn’t see her that often and I should have just taken it in stride, but I expected him to come home and…and it just threw me off.”

Hannah gave her an encouraging smile. “Of course it did. What happened next?”

“I opened the mail and I found a check from my mother. We bought some stocks together and we made a good profit when we sold them. If that check hadn’t come, I think I would have been all right. But just looking at that money made me want to gamble.”

“That’s understandable. What did you do?”

“I called Ron. We’re supposed to call our sponsor right away when we think we’re in trouble. But Ron wasn’t home and—” Danielle swallowed hard. “I’m not proud of what I did next, Hannah.”

Hannah figured she knew what Danielle had done, but she asked anyway. “You went out to gamble?”

“Yes.” A tear rolled down Danielle’s cheek and she wiped it away with her soggy tissue. “I used the ATM to deposit the check and take out some cash. And then I drove out to the Indian casino. That’s where I ran into Ron.”

“Ron was gambling at Twin Pines?”

“No.” Danielle shook her head quickly. “Ron was a tower of strength, Hannah. He’d completely beaten his addiction. He told me once that he didn’t even have the urge to gamble anymore.”

“Then what was he doing there?”

“He was passing out brochures in the parking lot. One look at me and he knew I was in trouble, and he got his car and followed me back to my house. I was really glad he did. Boyd’s Grand Cherokee wasn’t running very well and I was afraid it would break down on the way back.”

“Do you know what time that was?”

“Eleven o’clock,” Danielle answered promptly. “The grandfather clock in the hallway was striking when I walked in the door.”

“And Ron stayed there with you?”

“No, he waited around the corner for me. I was in pretty bad shape, Hannah. I almost scraped the side of my Lincoln when I pulled into the garage.”

Hannah nodded and waited for her to go on. She could sympathize with Danielle, but this wasn’t the time. She still needed more information from her.

“I went inside to check the answering machine again, and then I walked down the alley to meet Ron. He drove me to his apartment and we stayed up all night, drinking coffee. That’s exactly what happened, Hannah. I swear it!”

“Why did you go to work with him?”