Page 101 of Half Baked

“I might be able to dismiss it as faulty memory or an active imagination, only she’s nowhere close to being senile. Also, a woman who joined the women’s club months before Andrea’s murder, Gina Moore, was allegedly the bookkeeper at Mad Hatter’s. Another member of the club, Connie Smelton, said that Andrea had invited her. I guess Gina got kicked out of the women’s club by the new president shortly after Andrea’s murder.”

“Did you talk to Gina Moore?”

“We tried late yesterday afternoon, but her receptionist was playing gatekeeper.”

He drummed a finger on the table. “Did she know you were a cop?”

“Not at first, but the lady seemed extra protective of her boss once she found out that piece of information.”

He gave me a smirk. “Not an official investigation, huh?”

I grimaced. “I may have played that card a time or two. I left my business card and told her that Maddie and I needed to talk to Gina as soon as possible.”

“I take it she hasn’t made that call yet?”

“No.”

The chief sat back. “So the question is which person you interviewed raised the alarm? Then, did they murder Bergan themselves or get someone else to do it?”

“Annemarie’s husband has a record, but most arrests were over a decade old,” I said. “Still, she didn’t seem like she had anything to hide. And, as far as I could tell, her husband didn’t have anything to do with Andrea. Annemarie started dating him toward the end of their friendship, and it sounds like Andrea was already involved with Gordy. I don’t get the sense there was bad blood.”

He laced his fingers over his gut. “My guess is it was the guy in Galena who was storing the evidence or this Gina Moore.”

“But we visited the guy in Galena several days ago. Seems like he or the person he told would have acted sooner.”

“He could have stewed on it for a bit,” the chief said, “then decided to cover his tracks.”

“Maybe,” I admitted, but it didn’t feel right.

“What about this Gina Moore?” Lance asked. “She’s being evasive.”

The chief nodded. “We need to find out more about her past. The Mad Hatter’s connection is suspicious.”

It was, particularly since no one seemed to know about it. We were so damn close I could smell it.

But I didn’t like leaving Maddie alone.

ChapterTwenty-Six

Maddie

Aunt Deidre woke up about twenty minutes after Noah’s call, and her confusion was worse than usual. She had no idea who I was and insisted I leave her house immediately, threatening to call the police. I was practically in tears by the time I fed her breakfast and got her settled in the living room with a game show on TV.

Noah kept sending check-in texts, and I lied and told him things were going great. He had enough to worry about.

Shortly before lunch, my phone rang with a number I didn’t recognize, and I answered with a hesitant, “Hello?”

“Maddie Baker?” a woman asked.

“Yes.”

“You’re stirring up a lot of shit I really don’t need,” she said through angry tears.

“Gina?” I asked, taking a guess.

“Why can’t you leave the past in the past?”

“I just want to know the truth about my mother. I didn’t mean to upset you. I only want to ask you some questions, and that’s it.”

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