“Are we going to be there at night?” Delores asked Mike, and Hannah could tell that she was worried.

“No. You’ll be out of there long before nightfall. Stella wants you to come to her office at three. I’ll give you directions. She’s going to send an undercover vice unit with you, but they’ll lay low and stay in their car. They’ll just be there if you need them. She said the girls go out about four o’clock, so that they can meet up with the guys who get off work at the insecticide factory a couple of blocks down the street.”

“Lovely,” Delores said. “Is there a restaurant around there? Or shouldn’t I ask?”

“You’ll have to ask Stella when you see her. That area changes frequently. There’s a soup kitchen, or there used to be one, and every other month or so some local church group opens a storefront coffee shop that makes it for a few weeks and then goes under for lack of funds. There’s a bar, of course. There’s always a bar close to a factory. Little Dingo’s has been there forever. And in this neighborhood, two years counts as forever.”

Hannah glanced at Andrea, who was staring at Mike open-mouthed. It was the only time in Hannah’s life when she hadn’t seen her middle sister confident that she could handle everything and still look like she stepped off the cover of a fashion magazine.

“Andrea?” Hannah reached out to touch her arm.

“Yes?” Andrea’s voice was a bit shaky, even uttering that one-syllable word.

“You’re out, Andrea,” Hannah said, hoping she sounded both firm and loving.

“But . . . why? I’m perfectly willing to go with you.”

Hannah thought fast. “It’s your sheriff’s wife persona. You’ve been paired with Bill in the press one too many times. If only one of these girls reads the papers, or if anyone working the same area has seen your photo with Bill’s in the paper, word will get out and they’ll know you’re the wife of the Winnetka County Sheriff.”

“Oh,” Andrea said. “I didn’t even think about that.”

Hannah sat back and hoped that someone else would pick up on her cue. She’d laid the groundwork and that was all she could do.

“Hannah’s right, dear,” Delores chimed in so quickly that Hannah was amazed. “If you’re with us, you could blow our cover. And then not only would we fail to get the information we needed, we might be in danger.”

“Oh, dear!” Andrea looked horrified. “I never thought of that. But I don’t think Bill and I were ever photographed together in any of the . . .”

“Yes, you were,” Hannah interrupted her. “How about that election night photo?”