Hannah held in a chuckle. Like a king with an official food taster, Mike wasn’t about to sip the coffee until they’d tried theirs. She figured he’d wait at least a minute to make sure Winnie hadn’t put anything lethal into the brew. What he didn’t know was that Winnie’s brew was lethal all by itself. It was strong Norwegian coffee made the old-fashioned way. Winnie washed the pot on Saturday night and made it fresh on Sunday morning. Then it sat warming on the old wood stove until the whole pot had been consumed. When there were only used grounds in the bottom, Winnie added more water and several tablespoons of new ground coffee, and brewed another pot. By the time Saturday night rolled around and it was time to wash the pot, it was at least half-filled with spent coffee grounds, some of them pressed into service at least a dozen times.

Hannah took another sip of her coffee. Thank goodness it was only Friday! She’d once had Winnie’s coffee on Saturday afternoon and it was strong enough to knock out a mule!

At last Mike raised his cup and took a sip. Hannah watched closely and she gave him points for not choking. His eyes watered a bit, but that was to be expected from a first-timer tasting Winnie’s coffee. Then he did something Hannah hadn’t expected from someone not born and raised in Lake Eden. He cleared his throat, gave Winnie a smile, and said, “This coffee’ll peel the paint right off the walls!”

Winnie gave a little smile and Hannah could tell she felt slightly better. Everybody in town said that Winnie’s coffee could peel the paint off the walls, and that was a compliment. Hannah held her breath, waiting for Mike to put down his cup and start asking questions. He’d once told her that he had two favorite techniques he used to interrogate suspects. One technique was intimidation, and the other was to use a sympathetic approach.

“Why don’t you tell me about those human bones and maybe we can work something out,” Mike said, and Hannah gave him a grateful look. She was glad he’d decided to be sympathetic rather than intimidating.

“Guess I’d better do that,” Winnie said, taking the chair across from Mike. From the way she was sitting, stiff and poised on the edge of the wooden seat, Hannah knew the story they were about to hear would be painful for her to tell. She took a sip of her own coffee and then she sighed.