The Cinderella Murder

75

Alex knew there was no stopping Laurie once her mind was on a mission. So when she asked him to call Madison about the identity of the love interest who turned down her invitation the night of Susan’s murder, he did, even though he did not understand the significance.

“Madison,” Alex said once he had her on the phone, “you sent a note to someone inviting him to see you the night Susan was killed. We’d like to know who that was, if you don’t mind.”

Alex was shocked when she responded, “Professor Hathaway. We’d had some flirtatious interactions already, so I thought we might spend a Saturday night together. But he was a complete and total no-show. No phone call, no nada. It’s the kind of slight I take seriously-I blew him off after that and never spoke to him again. Until two days ago.”

“Thanks, Madison,” Alex said. “That’s helpful.”

Alex could see now the theory Laurie had been mulling over. From what they’d heard about Hathaway, he wasn’t the type to have ignored a beautiful young woman’s overture.

Then Alex realized why Laurie had mentioned the necklace. Susan had been searching for her lucky necklace during the argument with Nicole. From there, she might have gone to Hathaway’s lab to look for it.

He found himself fiddling anxiously as he waited for Laurie to pull the car around so they could connect all the dots.

“Mom just turned the wrong way,” Timmy said.

They were standing just inside the double doors of the hospital exit.

“You saw your mother?” Grace asked.

“She’s over there,” he said while pointing to an SUV heading to the hospital exit. “Is that Grandpa in the car with her?”

Alex pulled up Leo’s number on his phone and hit ENTER. “Leo, it’s Alex. Are you with Laurie?”

“No, I’m just pulling into the police station to catch up with Detective Reilly. Is everything okay?”

“I have a horrible feeling,” Alex said. “Laurie figured out who killed Susan. And now he has her. Richard Hathaway has our Laurie.”