“Really?” Hannah was amazed. If she’d only known that her mother would make decisions about the wedding the minute her eldest daughter was behind bars, she would have figured out a way to get locked up much earlier and saved them all the aggravation. “What did you decide on for an entrée, Mother?”

“Individual Beef Wellington. Sally told me she could make it for a crowd using small filets wrapped in puff pastry.”

“What a good idea!”

“That’s what Mother ordered tonight and she said it was just delicious,” Andrea explained.

“Did she send one for me?” Hannah asked, hoping that Sally had given her a sample.

“No, dear. Sally said it wouldn’t travel well. You have Fettuccini Porcini. It’s a pasta dish Sally’s cousin had when she was in Australia.”

“It’s really good. That’s what I had tonight after you left,” Andrea said. “I told Sally that there was a microwave in the break room here at the station and she told me that we could warm it up if it got too cold.”

“It feels hot enough to me,” Hannah said, pulling the pasta dish out of the hotbox and feeling the bottom. “How about dessert?”

“You have two desserts,” Delores said. “Sally sent a slice of that Buttermilk Pie you tasted, and there’s a slice of Rummy Tum Tum Cake.”

The dessert box had a see-through plastic lid and Hannah’s stomach growled as she gazed at the pie and the cake. “They both look absolutely wonderful.”

“I had the cake for dessert,” Andrea told her. “I was really upset and Mother thought I needed chocolate. It’s delicious, but the slice you have is special.”

Hannah picked up the fork that Sally had sent and pried the lid from the box. “I’ll have a bite of the cake first.”

“Careful!” Andrea warned her, getting up to move right up against the bars. “I said yours was special, Hannah. Don’t eat it yet!”

“Why not? There’s nothing wrong with having a bite of dessert before I start my entrée.”

“Stop!” Delores hissed out the word, jumping up to join Andrea at the cell bars. “We said it was special.”

“That’s why I wanted to taste it.”

“Not special that way,” Andrea tried to explain. “Special because . . .” she lowered her voice to a whisper. “It’s special because it’s got something in it.”

“Of course it has something in it. All cakes have ingredients in them. Why are you whispering, Andrea?”

Andrea pressed right up against the bars. “This cake is special because we put a file in it,” she whispered.

Hannah stared at her sister in amazement. “You’re trying to help me break out of jail?”

“Yes!” Delores whispered. “It was my idea. I asked Sally if she had a file and she didn’t, but Andrea had one in her purse.”

“Andrea had a file in her purse?”

“Shhh!” Delores hissed. “It’s right near the bottom and it’s wrapped in foil. All you have to do is pull it out.”