Hannah wrote a note and propped it up on the counter where Lisa and Michelle would be sure to see it there. Then she grabbed the bag with the pie plate and was about to go out the door when she thought of something. “Hold on,” she told Mike. “I need to get something.”

The photo they’d used for the flyers was in a folder on the counter. Hannah grabbed it, folder and all. It wouldn’t hurt to ask Winnie, Connor, and the ranch hands if any of them had seen the dead man hanging around on the morning Winnie’s pie had been stolen.

Once Hannah was settled in the passenger seat of Mike’s Hummer, she leaned back and enjoyed the ride. Winnie’s ranch was out in the country surrounding the town of Lake Eden and it took a full twenty minutes to get there. The farm next to it belonged to Carly’s mother, Loretta, and Hannah peered out the window to see if she could catch a glimpse of Carly’s sister, Jennifer. Someone was out in the yard and Hannah assumed that it was Jennifer since she looked just like an older version of Carly.

“What’s so interesting?” Mike asked, noticing that she was peering out of the window.

For one brief moment, Hannah thought about telling him what Carly had confided last night. Perhaps Mike could help her with her promise to find out if Jennifer was really Carly’s long-lost sister. But she quickly squelched that impulse. Carly had told them her suspicions in confidence. It wouldn’t be right to tell Mike without asking Carly if that was all right with her.

“Hannah?” Mike asked again, and Hannah knew she had to say something. The best way to reply would be to tell him the truth, or at least part of it. “I think I just saw Carly’s sister out in the yard. I’m almost sure that it was her. She looks just like an older version of Carly.”

“Is Carly okay with her sister coming home after all this time?” Mike asked.

“I’m not sure,” Hannah said, not wanting to lie, but shading the truth just a bit. “Michelle said that Carly likes Jennifer a lot.”

“That’s all to the good then.” Mike made a sharp left and pulled onto the private road that led to Winnie’s ranch house. They bounced along the gravel road for another few minutes and then Mike pulled up and parked in front of the house. “Here we are,” he said. “I just hope she’s home.”

Hannah glanced at her watch. “I’m sure she is. It’s almost noon and she’s probably fixing lunch for Connor and the ranch hands.”