“That’s right. That’s not to say it happened that way, but it could have happened that way.”

“I’ll go online first thing in the morning and see if I can identify that school seal. Do you think it’s a high school ring? Or could it be a college ring?”

“What does it look like?” Hannah asked, trying to recall her high school seal. She’d never bothered to buy a college ring, and she’d opted to use the money her parents would have spent for her high school ring on college expenses.

“It has a pine tree, a tall narrow building, and waves. It doesn’t have the name of the high school or college, though. Lonnie and I looked at it under a magnifying glass.”

“How about initials engraved inside the band?” Michelle shook her head. “There aren’t any. We looked for that, too.”

“Maybe it’s not a high school or college ring.”

“Then what is it? It’s got some kind of a seal on it.”

“It could be an organization. Or maybe a branch of some government agency. I’ll ask Mike if he can find out. He has access to all sorts of things ordinary people don’t have.”

“Not anymore. He’s suspended, remember?”

Hannah sighed. “For a moment there, I forgot.”

“I can ask Lonnie. Mike can tell him how to do it and he can use the computer at work and run a search.”

“No, Michelle. I don’t want you to ask Lonnie to do that.”

“Why not?”

“Lonnie could get into trouble accessing a law enforcement computer for personal use. It’s bad enough that Mike is suspended.”

“That’s true, I guess.”

“It would be different if he had Bill’s permission, but I doubt Bill would let Lonnie spend his time on something like that.” The phone rang and Hannah reached out to answer it.

“Hi, Carly,” she said when the caller identified herself. She listened for a moment and then she said, “Sure thing. She’s right here.”

Michelle took the phone that Hannah handed her and held it up to her ear. “What’s up, Carly?” she asked.

Hannah got up to give Michelle some privacy to talk to her friend. She was just flicking the lights on in the kitchen when Michelle called out to her.

“Hannah? Is it okay if Carly comes over for a while? She says she’s been driving around for hours, wrestling with a problem, and she needs to talk to someone about it.”

“Of course Carly can come. I’m going to turn in soon, anyway. You two can sit up and talk for as long as you want to talk.”

“I hate to ask you this. I know it’s been a really long day for you, but Carly wants to talk to you, too. She said something’s really bothering her about her sister and she needs your opinion.”