“I know you don’t. It’s okay, Rick. You have to do your duty.”

“But that doesn’t mean I have to like it.” Rick walked her past the small cells they kept for prisoners who were serving short sentences or waiting for the next morning’s arraignment in court. “At least the holding cell is empty tonight. It’s a whole lot bigger than these cells and you’ll have room to walk around. Not only that, you can see the desk from there and that’s where I’ll be. You can just call out to me if you need anything.”

A few minutes later, Hannah was incarcerated in the holding cell. Rick had apologized again for having to lock Hannah up, and Hannah knew he felt awful about it. He said he wished he could leave the cell door open, but he didn’t dare do that because Bill might come back to check on him. Rick had clanged the cell door shut behind her, told her that he was going to make some phone calls to see if he could learn more about her situation, and left her alone in the holding cell with nothing but bars and concrete walls to look at.

The only thing she could do was pace across the floor, and that’s what Hannah did until Rick came back ten minutes later. He was carrying a chair and he placed it right outside the cell door. “I’ve got some news,” he said, sitting down to keep her company. And that was when Hannah learned that there was good news and there was bad news.

One piece of good news was that Howie Levine was on his way. Hannah’s lawyer had been at the Guthrie in Minneapolis attending a play with his wife when he’d gotten Mike’s phone call. Howie and Kitty had left the theater immediately and they were on their way back to Lake Eden. Howie told Rick that the traffic was horrible, but they should be back in town in less than an hour. Right after he dropped Kitty at home, Howie would come straight to the sheriff’s station.

The other good news was that Delores was going to bring her dinner from the Lake Eden Inn. Hannah wouldn’t go hungry tonight.

There was only one piece of bad news, but it was very bad. Since it was Friday night, Hannah would have to stay in the holding cell until she was arraigned on Monday morning. That meant she would spend three nights in jail. And even though the holding cell was large and there was room to move around, just knowing that she was locked in and couldn’t get out left her feeling claustrophobic.

Hannah glanced at the clock on the wall outside her cell and sighed deeply. She’d only been in jail for fifteen minutes and time was passing much too slowly to suit her. She wished she were home on her couch in the living room, watching a vintage movie on television, munching buttered popcorn with Moishe purring beside her. She wished she were in her condo kitchen with Michelle, baking treats and laughing. She wished she were back at the Lake Eden Inn, enjoying her coq au vin with Norman, Doc, and her mother. She wished she were anywhere but here in this cell with steel bars between her and freedom.