“Oh.” Delores was silent for a moment. “Would it help if I changed shoes?”

Hannah glanced at her mother’s shoes. They were perfectly plain, but quite obviously expensive black flats. “No, but I would lose the watch and the bracelet.”

“But what shall I do with them?”

“Put them in your purse. We’re not going to take our purses anyway. We’ll give them to the officers in the van to watch.”

“But what if I need my credit card?”

“You can’t use it, anyway. We’re going by fake names, remember?”

“Of course. You’re right, dear. But what shall we do for money?”

“I’ve got cash in my pocket.”

Delores considered that for a moment. “That’s probably wisest, considering the neighborhood. It’s certainly not very . . . genteel.”

Hannah was about to laugh at what she thought was an attempt at humor on her mother’s part, but then she noticed that Delores was shivering slightly. The temperature inside the car was on the warm side since the air-conditioning wasn’t all that efficient. Why was Delores shivering if she wasn’t cold?

Reality dawned for Hannah and she came very close to gasping in surprise. Coming here was completely out of her mother’s sphere. Delores had lived in Lake Eden all her life and she’d always been surrounded by family and friends. She knew about the homeless, and drug dealers, and gangs. You couldn’t live in the world of today without hearing about the underbelly of society, but experiencing it firsthand was another matter entirely.

“Why don’t you stay with the officers, Mother?” Hannah said, doing her best to sound convincing. “I can take care of this interview myself.”

Delores squared her shoulders. “No, dear. I’m going with you. It’s just as I told you last night. I can help and I want to do it.”

“But you won’t be much help if you’re scared to death,” Hannah said. The words hung in the air just long enough to make Hannah wish she’d phrased her comment more tactfully. “What I mean is . . .” she started to say, but her mother interrupted her.

“I know what you mean,” Delores said, reaching out to pat Hannah’s arm. “You think that I’ll be more of a liability than an asset. But that won’t happen, Hannah. You’ll see. I have a plan and I’m determined to go with you. I refuse to argue about it, so let’s just drop the subject and concentrate on what we came here to do.”

There was steel in those carefully chosen words, and Hannah recognized it. Her mother was indeed determined and Hannah could do nothing to change her mind. “All right, Mother,” she said, giving in as gracefully as she could.

And then, before the situation could grow even more uncomfortable, the green van pulled up beside them and the passenger window lowered.