“Good girl!” Hannah said, breathing a bit easier. She hadn’t asked Lisa to lie for them before they’d left and that omission had been deliberate. There was no way she’d put her young partner in that position. Lisa might agree to bend the truth a bit if it was crucial, but she hated to lie. And even more important, to Hannah’s way of thinking, was the fact that Lisa was an extremely unaccomplished liar. No one would ever accuse Herb Beeseman’s new bride of having a poker face. Lisa’s countenance told the whole story. If she was angry, her eyes blazed and her color was high. If she was nervous, her hands shook and she licked her lips anxiously. If she was sad, her eyes welled up with tears and she sniffled without realizing it. If Hannah had asked her to lie for them, Lisa might very well have done it, but her voice would have trembled and she wouldn’t have been able to meet Mike’s eyes. Perhaps those two signs of a less than truthful statement might have escaped someone else’s notice, but Mike was a master interrogator and there was no way he would have missed it.

“So what do we say when we get back?” Michelle asked.

“We say

” Hannah mind whirled into high gear. She thought for a moment and then she started to grin. “We tell the truth. That’s bound to throw him off the track.”

“What!” Andrea gasped.

Michelle didn’t say anything. She was too shocked to do more than stare at her older sister.

“That’s right,” Hannah said, visibly warming to her idea. “We tell Mike the truth. We say we were over here talking about Dean’s murder and speculating on who might have done it. And then, when Mike wants to know if we questioned any of his witnesses, we tell him the truth and say no. We also add that it’s one of the reasons we came over here to talk about the murder.”

“Why?” Andrea looked confused.

“Because we knew he wouldn’t want any of the witnesses to overhear us talking about Dean. And there were so many people in The Cookie Jar, there wasn’t any place for a private conversation.”

“Brilliant!” Michelle complimented her.

“It certainly is.” Andrea gave a little smile. “And we’re not even lying. The only thing we’ve done is talk about it, and there’s no crime in that

is there?”

“I don’t think so,” Michelle said, turning to look at Hannah for the final word.

“I hope not.” Hannah handed the thermos to Michelle, took the notebook Andrea handed her, and stuffed it into her saddlebag-style shoulder purse. “So far, all we’ve done is gossip and if that’s a crime, Mike will have to lock up half the people in Lake Eden!”

DOUBLE FLAKE COOKIES