Free Cherry Cheesecake Murder by Joanne Fluke

go.”
    “I’ll go with you. I haven’t said hello to Tracey yet.”
    The two sisters got up and walked toward the table where their mother and Carrie were sitting across from each other. Tracey was nowhere in sight.
    “Where’s Tracey?” Andrea asked, pulling out a chair and sitting down next to her mother.
    “With Mr. Barton. He asked if he could take her over to his table and introduce her to the actress playing the lead.”
    “Oh boy!” Andrea breathed, and then she turned toward Hannah, who’d just taken the chair next to Carrie. “That’s got to be good, doesn’t it?”
    “It couldn’t be bad. I don’t think he’d introduce her to a member of the cast unless he was interested.”
    “Interested in what?” Delores asked.
    “Using Tracey in the movie.” Andrea beamed from ear to ear. “We ran into Mr. Barton on the way in, and he invited us to the auditions this afternoon.”
    “Do you have a copy of the script?” Carrie asked, leaning closer to Andrea, even though no one else at the table was paying the least bit of attention to them.
    “No. Do you have one?”
    “Of course we do,” Delores opened her tote bag so that they could see the script inside. “Mr. Barton sent it to us right after we agreed to collect all the props his man couldn’t find and check everything for authenticity. Take the whole tote, dear. There’s a copy machine in the library. You can get the key from Marge and run upstairs to make a copy.”
    Andrea took the tote with a smile. “What a great idea! Then Tracey can rehearse before we go to the audition. Thanks, Mother. You and Carrie are the best!”
    Once Andrea had rushed off to find Marge and get the key to the library, Hannah stood up to go. “I guess I’d better see if Edna…”
    “Aunt Hannah!” a small voice interrupted her and Hannah turned to see Tracey and Ross heading their way. “Hi, Honey.”
    “Hi!” Both Tracey and Ross spoke at once and then they turned to each other and laughed.
    Hannah laughed right along with them. “Not you, Ross. I was talking to my niece.”
    “And here I thought you were really warming up to me.” Ross gave her a slightly crooked grin.
    Tracey glanced from her aunt to Ross, and then back again. “You’re probably going to tell me it’s none of my business, but are you two flirting?”
    “No,” Hannah said, overlapping Ross’s reply of “Yes.”
    “I see,” Tracey said, giggling. “Just let me know when I should stop calling you Mr. Barton and switch to Uncle Ross , okay? I’m going up to the buffet table to get some dessert.”
    Ross waited until Tracey had left and then he mopped his brow with his handkerchief. “Whew! She’s a real pistol. I bet you were just like her at that age.”
    “Not at all. I was a shy, retiring child.”
    Hannah’s smile belied her words and Ross laughed. “Right. I just can’t get over how bright Tracey is. When I introduced her to the head of the makeup department, she asked about the differences between stage makeup, movie makeup, and street makeup.”
    “That’s Tracey,” Hannah replied, proud that her niece could phrase intelligent questions. “Did Lynne like her?”
    “Lynne was crazy about her. They talked for a couple of minutes and then Lynne said if she ever had a daughter, she’d want her to be just like Tracey.”
    “What did they talk about?”
    “Lynne’s career. Tracey said she’d seen her in one of her TV dramas and she wanted to know if Lynne was really crying in one scene. Lynne said no, she was acting, and Tracey could hardly believe it. She said it looked so real to her that she started to sniffle.”
    Smart move , Hannah thought, but she didn’t say it. Actors always loved to hear their work praised.
    “Then she asked Lynne to please not mention it to her mother, because the program was on after her bedtime and she sneaked downstairs to watch it.”
    “And Lynne promised?”
    “Of course.”
    Hannah just shook her head, remembering a