Free Death of a Bacon Heiress by Lee Hollis

and yet still couldn’t resist them.
    It was a sentimental and sweet story, and there was an aching in Hayley’s heart as she wrote it because she still missed her father’s mother, who had died way back in 1997. She knew Olivia wanted to approve the story before it was posted on the site because she had sent Hayley an e-mail around dinnertime the night before requesting she get it by morning so it could be up on the site by noon eastern time.
    So Hayley had e-mailed the blog entry to her at six-thirty in the morning after polishing it one last time. Now it was after eight and she was trying to stay awake to make it through the day.
    When she hadn’t heard anything by lunchtime, Hayley sent Olivia another e-mail to confirm she had received her original e-mail with the attachment.
    She didn’t hear anything back.
    By three o’clock, she checked the Redmond Meats Web site.
    No sign of her tasty Bacon Strip Pancakes recipe.
    There was a brief bit about Hayley joining the Redmond Meats family with a small, amazingly flattering photo of her off to the right, but that was it.
    Hayley picked up the phone and called the Redmond Estate.
    No one picked up.
    Not even the maid.
    She just got a voice mail message asking to leave her name and number.
    By five, it was quitting time. It had been an unusually quiet day. No fires or arrests or car accidents on Route 3.
    Sal had spent most of the day in his office on the phone following up on a corruption tip surrounding a state senator.
    Bruce had been out all day presumably following leads in the missing Jackson Lab scientist story.
    The rest of the staff was out as well, including the sales reps hustling business and the reporters and staff photographers covering local stories and snapping pictures at the girls’ softball team’s home game.
    So no one was around when Hayley cleared out her in-box, shut down her computer, grabbed her purse, and fled out the door to her car.
    Remarkably, the engine roared to life on the first turn of the key, which was rare these days, and she drove out of town to the Redmond Estate.
    When she pulled up in front of the main house, she spotted the young maid with whom she had tussled earlier. The girl was locking the front door with a key. She turned in time to see Hayley jump out of her car.
    â€œHi . . . Excuse me, I forgot your name,” Hayley said, trying to be as pleasant as possible since the maid wasn’t exactly a fan.
    Sure enough, she grimaced and said flatly, “Caroline.”
    â€œYes, Caroline. How could I forget?”
    â€œBecause you never asked before and I never told you.”
    Hayley let that one slide by because the girl was right.
    â€œCould you tell me if Olivia is inside? I know I didn’t call first, but I’ve been trying to reach her all day and it’s kind of important.”
    Caroline shrugged. “I don’t know. She was in her office this morning—I heard her on the phone when I was dusting—but then I think she took Pork Chop out for a walk. I didn’t hear her come back, so I just assumed they went into town and haven’t returned yet.”
    Hayley scanned the grounds, settling on a detached garage opposite the main house. The garage doors were open, revealing a silver Rolls Royce parked inside. “Isn’t that her car right over there?”
    Caroline glanced over at the Rolls and she suddenly looked slightly unsettled. “Yes.”
    â€œSo she probably didn’t drive into town.”
    â€œShe could’ve gotten a ride with one of the groundskeepers. They usually quit around three and sometimes she’ll have one take her to the market so she doesn’t have to go to the trouble of taking the Rolls out and finding the right parking spot. She’s very particular about where she parks her Rolls because she’s afraid of someone parking too close to it and scratching the side.”
    â€œI see. That’s probably