For Hannah, who was beat to the bone, the rest of the afternoon seemed to drag on forever. As the witnesses were released they left the coffee shop one by one, but it was seven o’clock by the time the coffee shop was empty and Hannah waved Lisa out the front door.

Moishe was waiting, tethered to her favorite round table by the window and Hannah pulled out a chair to sit down. She petted her feline almost automatically as she gazed out the window and waited for Mike to finish his last interview in the kitchen.

Night had fallen and there wasn’t any traffic on Main Street. Everyone had gone home and now that six o’clock supper was only a memory, most folks were sitting in their living rooms or their family rooms, watching the latest sitcom. Another group of people, the ones who lived alone, were banded together at the Lake Eden Municipal Liquor Store, where the television set above the bar would be tuned to the Timberwolves as they took on the Miami Heat.

Hannah put her head down on the table and cradled it with her folded arms. She was just thinking about how nice it would be if she could be magically transported to the couch in her own living room when Mike came out of the kitchen followed by the subject of his last interview, Ross.

“Hannah?”

“Huh?”

“Hannah

wake up!”

“I’m awake.” Hannah looked up at Mike and blinked. “Can I go home now?”

Ross reached down to pat her shoulder. “Come out to the inn for dinner first. I just checked with Sally and she’s serving coq au vin until nine.”

Hannah glanced at Moishe, who looked every bit as tired as she felt and made a unilateral decision. “No thanks, Ross. Moishe and I are heading straight home. I don’t know when I’ve been so tired.”

“That’s my fault,” Mike said, reaching out to pat her other shoulder. “I should’ve taken those last couple of witnesses out to the station so you could go home.”

“S’okay,” Hannah said, slurring her words just a bit. The hard work she’d done and the sleepless nights she’d experienced had taken their toll. She was seriously considering turning out the lights and sleeping right there in the coffee shop rather than driving all the way home.

Hannah was barely awake enough to notice as Ross and Mike stepped back from the table. She heard their voices, but they must have moved away toward the back of the shop because she couldn’t make out what they were saying. They were probably talking about her, but she was simply too tired to care. She shut her eyes, nestled close to her purring cat, and drifted back off to sleep.