Chocolate Chip Cookie Murder (Hannah Swensen #1)(84)

Hannah doubted that Benton’s habits had changed in the years since he’d been gone. She was sure that he was still buying friendship with his money. What if all the cash that he used to impress people suddenly started to dry up? Would that be a strong enough motive to kill the person who’d threatened Benton’s whole way of life?

There was a slow truck ahead and Hannah pulled out to whiz past him. Yes, Benton could be the killer. He was smart enough to have arranged the whole thing, and people had murdered for a lot less. And Benton didn’t really have an alibi for the times of the murders. Unless he could come up with a plane ticket that proved he hadn’t landed at the airport until after Max and Ron had been murdered, Benton Woodley was the number one suspect on Hannah’s list.

Actually, Benton was her only suspect. Hannah sighed deeply and tromped even harder on the accelerator. She had to find Bill at the open house and tell him her new theory. Bill didn’t know that Del Woodley had put up his ring for sale and he’d never guess that Del had borrowed money from Max. She couldn’t expect him to solve the case unless he had all the facts.

Hannah’s foot lifted from the gas pedal again as another thought occurred to her. Exactly how would she manage to get Bill alone? Mike Kingston would be there and he was Bill’s new supervisor. And Bill had warned her not to let on that she was helping with the investigation. It was true that Mike didn’t start until Monday, but he’d be there at the open house. She couldn’t just barge in and announce to Bill and Mike that she’d solved the case.

The truck had turned off and now there was no one behind her. Hannah hit the brakes and peeled another U-turn. Going out to the sheriff’s station had been a bad idea. She’d have to wait until Bill got home tonight before she could tell him that she knew who the killer was. But what should she do now? It was only three-thirty and the rest of the afternoon stretched out ahead of her.

The moment she thought of it, Hannah began to smile. She’d go out to DelRay Manufacturing to talk to Benton. She’d make polite conversation and ask him about his flight. She could always say that a friend of hers, a fictional friend who lived on the East Coast, was planning to come out for a visit. That would be a perfect excuse to ask him which airline he’d used, how long his flight had taken, and whether he’d had to wait long at the airport for the shuttle. Thanks to Andrea, she had the advantage of knowing that Benton always flicked his fingernail with his thumb when he was lying. She’d watch Benton carefully to weed out the truth from the lies….

No, she couldn’t talk to Benton. It wouldn’t look good if she interrogated a murder suspect without Bill. Hannah eased up on the accelerator again, preparing for another U-turn. Her last instinct had been right. She’d drive straight out to the sheriff’s station and give some excuse for needing to see Bill alone. It could be a family emergency, something to do with Delores. Then Mike would leave them alone and she could…

She was running in circles and she had to stop it. Hannah pulled over to the shoulder of the road and shut off her engine. Three consecutive U-turns was quite enough and she’d been about to make the fourth. What was wrong with her today? Why couldn’t she think logically? It felt as if she’d been trying to assemble a complicated jigsaw puzzle with a blindfold on, and someone kept slipping in a piece from a totally different puzzle to confuse her.

“Think,” Hannah muttered to herself. “Just sit here and think. You’re smart. You can figure out what to do.”

She’d already eliminated a ton of suspects until all she had left was Benton. Hannah was sure that he was the killer, but how could she help Bill to prove it? She had to take a giant step back and think about what had led her to suspect Benton in the first place. And that took her back to the Compacts Unlimited folder in Del Woodley’s den. She had to prove that Benton had rented the black compact car that Mr. Harris had seen speeding out of the driveway at the dairy. Hannah supposed she could wait for the list of customers that the manager had promised to send to Bill, but it meant that a whole day, perhaps two, would be wasted. There was another way for her to find out, a way that should have occurred to her immediately if she’d just taken the time to think about it.

Hannah smiled as she started her engine and pulled back out on the road. She was going to drop in for a nice neighborly visit at the Woodley Mansion. She’d bring Judith Woodley some cookies as a thank-you for the lovely party, and then she’d ask her a few polite questions about Benton. She’d mention that her mother had left her handkerchief in the den when they’d used it as a setting for the photos, and Judith would give her permission to search for it. If Hannah could just get a second look at that folder from Compacts Unlimited, she’d be able to confirm that Benton had rented the car.



“Good afternoon, Hannah.” Hannah could tell that Judith was surprised to see her, but good breeding didn’t allow her to turn a gift-bearing visitor away. “Del and Benton are still at work, but you’re welcome to come in and take tea with me.”

“Thank you. I’d love to have tea with you,” Hannah said quickly and she gave a triumphant smile as Judith led the way down the hall. Judith had sounded very reluctant. A truly polite guest would have made some excuse to decline. But Hannah was only masquerading as a guest and she figured that a halfhearted invitation to stay for tea was better than no invitation at all.