“Bill? I’ve got some information that…” Hannah stopped short as she realized she was talking to a recorded message. Bill wasn’t at his desk. When the beep sounded, she almost hung up in sheer frustration, but better sense prevailed. “Bill? It’s Hannah. I eliminated Coach Watson as a suspect. He’s got an alibi. But remember those pictures we took in Del Woodley’s den? Norman brought them over on his lunch break and one of them showed a Compacts Unlimited rental folder. I figure that Benton must have rented it. Judith wouldn’t be caught dead driving a compact and Del’s got his fancy Mercedes. The W in Max’s appointment book could stand for Woodley, but I don’t have a motive. I’m going to nose around to see what else I can find out about the Woodleys.”

Hannah sighed and hung up, picturing Bill in the sheriff station’s lobby, eating dozens of the cookies she’d baked for the open house and mingling with the people who’d driven out to see their new cruisers. He was probably having the time of his life while she was sitting here agonizing over clues that didn’t fit and suspects that disappeared like snowballs in the sun. She was supposed to be assisting Bill, not doing all of his legwork for him. Who was bucking for detective here, anyway?

Just then the phone rang, jolting Hannah out of her glum mood. She reached out to answer it, expecting Bill, but it was her mother.

“I’m so glad I caught you, Hannah. I have the most amazing news.”

“Yes, Mother?” Hannah held the phone an inch from her ear. Her mother could deafen the person on the other end of the line when she was excited.

“I’m here at the mall with Carrie. She needed a new battery for her watch. You’ll never guess what I just saw at the jeweler’s! What do you think it was?”

Hannah made a face at Moishe. She was almost thirty and her mother still wanted her to play guessing games. “I’ll never be able to guess, Mother. You’d better tell me.”

“It was Del Woodley’s ring!”

“His ring?” Hannah didn’t understand what was so startling about that. Everyone she knew took rings to the jeweler’s when they needed repair or resizing.

“It was for sale, Hannah. The jeweler had it displayed in a glass case and he wanted twenty thousand dollars for it.”

“Twenty thousand dollars?” Hannah gasped.

“That’s not unreasonable for a platinum setting and a diamond that size. Now why would Del Woodley’s ring be up for sale?”

“I don’t have the foggiest idea.” Hannah took a moment to ponder the question, but it really didn’t make any sense. “Are you sure it was Del Woodley’s ring?”

“I’m positive. I admired it at their party last year and I noticed this tiny little scratch on the band. The ring I just saw at the jeweler’s had the very same scratch. Do you want to know what I think?”

“Sure,” Hannah agreed. It wouldn’t do any good to say no. Delores would just tell her anyway.