Hannah and Ross watched as the news rolled smoothly along. There had been a robbery on a quiet residential street in Grey Eagle, a fire in a tire store in Browerville, a band concert in Little Falls to benefit a local charity, a near drowning on the banks of the Mississippi when someone’s bicycle slid off a path and crashed through the thin ice on the river, and a yard sale in Royalton, where several items, stolen the previous summer, had surfaced. The Skatin’ Place in St. Cloud had changed its hours, the Long Prairie Volunteer Fire Department was holding a raffle, and the little town of Sobieski was planning a high school reunion.

The camera pushed in to feature Dee-Dee’s perfect face. “Stay tuned for our own P. K. with The Movie Moment,” she said. “Tonight P. K. will be interviewing a television personality we all know and love at The Cookie Jar in Lake Eden.”

“Nice plug,” Ross said, patting Hannah on the back.

“It was all his idea. I never would have thought to ask.”

Hannah found herself holding her breath as she waited through a slew of commercials for new cars hardly anyone could afford, carpet stores that could install practically overnight, and companies that could give you credit, check your credit, or clean up your credit report. It seemed like forever, but at last Chuck and Dee-Dee were back.

“So tell us who you ran into at The Cookie Jar,” Chuck prompted, and the camera moved to the side, where P. K. was sitting a bit removed from the important co-anchors.

“Burke Anson,” P. K. said, leaning close as if he were confiding a big secret. “He’s the male lead on a new feature that’s filming in Lake Eden. It’s called Crisis in Cherrywood.”

The camera moved to Dee-Dee Hughes. “For the few viewers who don’t know who Burke Anson is, why don’t you refresh our memory?”

“He’s the suntanned Adonis in the Surf ’n Turf commercials,” P. K. said. “But for those of you who remember Burke with his surfboard, I’ve got to warn you that in my interview with him, he’s fully dressed.”

The camera caught Dee-Dee giving P. K. a petulant look and then the tape of the interview began to run. Hannah smiled as she saw a wide shot with Lisa and the display jars of cookies behind the counter. Their shop looked good, right down to the pictures Norman had taken of their best cookies for the walls. She really ought to have him take more pictures. The Cherry Bomb Cookies would look fantastic, and so would the Mock Turtles. She was just thinking about other cookies she could ask Norman to photograph, when she realized that she wasn’t paying any attention to the interview, and she focused on the television again.