The phone rang and Hannah reached out to answer it. “The Cookie Jar. This is Hannah.”

“Hannah. I’m glad I caught you. This is Norman.”

“Hi, Norman.” Hannah frowned slightly. She didn’t want to get involved in another lengthy phone conversation when this might be her only chance to talk to Bill all day. “What’s up?”

“I developed the film of the party. I can bring in the prints at noon if you’ll be there.”

“I work here. Where else would I be?” The moment the words had left her mouth, Hannah realized that she’d been too abrupt. Norman was only trying to be nice. And if Norman came in at noon, she’d be able to give him his mother’s loan papers. “Sorry, Norman. I’m really in a rush here. I’ll see you at noon and I’ll save a couple of my best cookies for you.”

When Hannah hung up, she noticed that Bill was grinning. “What?”

“Did Norman just ask you out on another date?”

“No, he just wants to show me the pictures from the party.” Hannah decided to change the subject fast. Bill’s expression was a lot like her mother’s when she played matchmaker. “Norman’s just a friend, so get that idea right out of your head. Tell me more about this new detective from Minneapolis. I don’t even know his name.”

“Mike Kingston. I talked to his former partner and he says that Mike’s a great cop and a really nice guy.”

“You haven’t met him yet?”

Bill shook his head. “No, but I saw his picture in the personnel file. He looks like a nice guy. I told you about his wife, didn’t I?”

“You said she died and that’s why he wanted to move here.”

“Well, I found out more. She was a nurse and she was shot on her way home from Hennepin County General. Two rival gangs mixed it up and she got caught in the crossfire. But that’s not the worst of it. She was four months pregnant with their first baby.”

“That’s awful!” Hannah shivered. “Did they catch the shooter?”

“Of course they did. They had the whole squad working on it. But the first time they tried him, he got off on a technicality. Somebody messed up with a search warrant, and the judge threw the case out of court.”

“They tried him a second time?” Hannah didn’t understand what Bill was saying. Wasn’t that double jeopardy?

“They nailed him on a different murder. Mike and his partner worked the case themselves. They made sure that everything was done by the book and they got a conviction. The guy’s doing a life sentence with no parole.”

“That’s good. But I bet this Mike Kingston is going to be a real stickler for police procedure.”

“Sounds like it. He’s going to be my new supervisor and I’m really going to have to watch it around him. Andrea’s going to help me go over all my reports tonight to make sure they’re perfect.”