Hannah shivered slightly. She wished Lisa hadn’t put it quite that way. She could still see the blood and the bruises in her mind.

“I’ve got an idea,” Charlotte said. “Do you have any pictures of the ring or the tooth with the diamond?”

“I’ve got both of them,” Lisa said. “Norman took a really good picture of the tooth, and Lonnie took a really good one of the ring.”

“That’s perfect,” Charlotte told her. “We can put the photo of the man’s face on the top half and the photo of the ring and the tooth side-by-side on the bottom half. Somebody’s bound to recognize one of them.”

There was a knock on the back kitchen door and Hannah hurried to answer it. She opened the door to see her mother standing there.

“Shhh! Lisa’s telling her story in the coffee shop.”

“Okay,” Delores said, reaching out to hug her daughter. “I’m so sorry about that confusion with the check, dear. I had no idea they wouldn’t accept my check. It was a good thing Norman was there.”

“Yes, it was.”

“Where did you go when you left the courthouse? I looked all over for you.”

“I went to Norman’s house.”

“Of course you did. I forgot that Moishe was there and it never occurred to me that you’d gone out there with Norman to pick him up. Did you take him home?”

“No, he was having too much fun playing with Cuddles,” Hannah said, and then she didn’t say another word. She just motioned to a stool at the work island and went to the kitchen coffee pot to fill mugs for both of them.

“I’m just glad that’s over!” Delores said, plucking a cookie from the plate of Orange Crisps that Hannah had carried to the table. Then she noticed the mixing bowl. “What are you making now, dear?”

“Chocolate Orange Crisps. It’s the same recipe, but I decided to put miniature chocolate chips in them this time.”

“These are good, but I think I’d like those even better,” Delores said, finishing one cookie and taking another. “You could put miniature white chocolate chips in them and make another version.”

“That’s true. The only problem is that Florence doesn’t carry miniature white chocolate chips at the Red Owl. She says they don’t make them.”

“That’s what she always says when she doesn’t carry something, dear. Everybody knows that. Why don’t you just dump a package of regular white chocolate chips in the food processor and make smaller pieces?”

“Good idea. I’ll do that with the next batch. Which one do you think you’d like best?”

“The ones with the miniature regular chocolate chips, dear.”

“Of course you would,” Hannah said, smiling at her mother. Although it had been a futile attempt, Delores had intended to bail her out and Hannah was sure that her mother would have been perfectly willing to put her house up for collateral. “You’re a confirmed chocoholic, Mother,” she said with a smile.