Free Murder Follows Money by Lora Roberts Page A

and make Naomi be pleasant, that’s what you’ll get. Me.”
    “This is, quite simply, blackmail.” Hannah narrowed her eyes. “You didn’t tell her—”
    “I’ve said nothing to anyone, as per our agreement.” Judi was adamant. “But if no one else will work with you, and no other agency in town will touch you, you’ll be stuck with me. This time only. Next time, I won’t be able to help you out at the last minute. Your reputation as a horrible person to work for is going to make it difficult for you when Hannah Cooks for the New Millennium comes out.”
    “How did you—” Hannah pressed her hands to her face. “Listen, I have a demonstration to do. You’re purposely upsetting me before I have to go out and appear in front of an audience. And I might add that this is my third public appearance today. I would think you, of all people, would have some sympathy. I am not feeling well.”
    Judi studied her thoughtfully. “You’ll do a wonderful job. You always do. And it’s very simple, really. I only want reassurance that you will treat my employees with the utmost respect while they’re working with you. It wouldn’t hurt you to treat all your employees the same way, but that’s not my concern.”
    “Okay, okay.” Hannah smoothed her hair. “I’ll speak to Naomi. Not that she’ll listen,” she added, low-voiced. “She’s drinking, and that’s always a bad sign. But I’ll do my best to make Liz here feel happy.” She gave me a saccharine smile. “Is that good enough to avoid your tender ministrations?”
    “For the time being.” Judi stepped aside from the doorway, just as Naomi came lurching down the hall.
    “Where’s our little star?” Naomi said loudly. “Where’s that celebrity chef? Where’s little Hannah got to? Her audience is waiting.” She dragged out the last word.
    Hannah looked exasperated. “Naomi, how could you start drinking? You promised . . .”
    “Promises, promises.” Naomi was singing, though it took a minute for that to become apparent. “Promises are nothing,” she said with emphasis, coming right up to Hannah, who recoiled from the wine breath. “A dime a dozen.”
    “If you’re going to start this, you’ll have to go home.” Hannah stepped around Naomi to get to the doorway. “You know we talked about this.”
    “You talked, as usual.” Naomi began to look sullen. “You talk way too much, know that? But you don’t say what the people want to hear.”
    “And you know what the people want to hear?” The casual contempt in Hannah’s voice was somehow shocking.
    “They want to hear this! ‘Naomi Matthews invented this wonderful crepe maker.’ Not you! That was mine! You stole it, you bitch!”
    Swaying, Naomi started for Hannah, her slapping hand raised. But Hannah was quicker off the mark than I was. She pushed Naomi farther into the office, then joined us in the hallway, shutting the door in Naomi’s face and producing the key from her pocket. Dimly we could hear Naomi cursing, but it was a well-constructed door.
    “She can sleep it off until we leave,” Hannah said, putting the key back in her pocket. “She’ll quiet down once she sobers up a bit.”
    I exchanged glances with Judi. Perhaps Hannah didn’t realize that most doors could be unlocked from the inside.
    Perhaps Naomi didn’t realize it either. She banged on the door and hollered a little bit, then was silent.
    Judi and I trailed down the hall after Hannah. She strode ahead, ignoring us, and swept out into the demonstration room to great applause. The clock on the wall said 7:27. Two more hours until the end of a long and exhausting day, for all of us.
    “You don’t need to stick around if you don’t want to,” Judi said. “I’ll tuck them into the limo for the trip back to the hotel. Why don’t you get the driver to take you home? He can get to Palo Alto and back here before nine, and we won’t be ready to leave until after then.”
    “That’s very tempting.” My