But I bet he could, Hannah thought. And maybe he does. And that could be why this is called the “special” booth.

“Of course we’ll order something,” Delores said, even though they were the only customers in the bar and it wasn’t like there was a waiting line for the special booth. “Does he have water in bottles?”

Starlet shook her head. “He doesn’t carry anything fancy like that. It’s just beer and wine in the bottles. He waters the hard stuff so don’t ask for that. Besides, then you got to drink it out of one of his glasses and you don’t want to do that.”

“How about Coke?” Hannah asked her.

“Coke?” Starlet repeated, and her eyes narrowed again.

“Coke, like regular Coke, or Diet Coke. Does he have that in plastic bottles or cans?”

Starlet look relieved at the answer and she smiled. “Sure, he does. And it comes in cans. He doesn’t have Diet Coke though. People around here don’t get enough to eat anyway, so they don’t have to go on diets. No offense, okay Anne?”

Hannah bristled slightly, but she took care not to let Starlet see that her comment had hit home. “No offense taken,” she said and handed Starlet two twenty-dollar bills. “How about if you go up to the bar and get all three of us something safe to drink. Spend it all and that should make Dingo happy.”

“Oh, it will. I’ll be back with the stuff. Don’t start without me, okay?”

Hannah waited until Starlet was well out of earshot and then she leaned close to Delores. “I bet she says that to all her customers,” she quipped, and then she wished she hadn’t said anything. Delores might not appreciate her slightly off-color comment at this juncture.

But Delores laughed. “I think you’re probably right. I’ll have to remember to tell Doc what you said. He’ll get a real kick out of it.”

Hannah was gratified. Even though her mother was still visibly nervous, Delores hadn’t lost her sense of humor. She was doing a really good job with Starlet, so far. The girl had bought the cover story Delores had given her and Hannah had no doubt that they would get the information they needed from her.

“Okay, we got all this,” Starlet said, coming back to the booth much faster than they had expected. “Just look.”

Hannah looked. Three cans of Coke and three packages of barbecued potato chips in bags sporting a brand Hannah had never heard of. Forty dollars was a lot to pay for three Cokes and three small bags of off-brand potato chips, but it would be worth it if Starlet kept cooperating with them.

“Nice,” Hannah said, picking up a can and popping the top.