“Forget what I said about the discount. I’ll give it to you at my cost. Just promise that you won’t tell anyone what you paid.”

“Okay,” Hannah promised. “How much is it?”

“It retails for one-eighty, but you can have it for ninety.”

Hannah didn’t hesitate. A dress like this came along only once in a lifetime. “Sold. I’ll never have a chance to wear it and it’ll probably hang in my closet for the rest of my life, but you’re right. I’ve got to have it.”

“Good girl!” Claire looked very pleased. “But what do you mean, you won’t have a chance to wear it? The Woodleys’ annual party is tomorrow night.”

Hannah blinked. She’d stuck her invitation in a drawer and forgotten all about it. “Do you think that I should wear this dress?”

“I’ll tell everyone that your cookies are lousy if you don’t,” Claire threatened. “You’re going to knock them dead tomorrow night, Hannah. And on Saturday morning, your phone’s going to be ringing off the hook.”

Hannah laughed. Perhaps Claire was psychic and her phone would ring off the hook. But ninety-nine percent of those calls would be from Delores, trying to find out which man she’d been trying to impress.

Hannah stashed the dress box in her Suburban and walked back into the bakery with a bemused expression on her face. She’d certainly spent a lot of money helping Bill investigate Ron’s murder. She’d dropped fifty dollars with Luanne for the cosmetics and she’d spent ninety with Claire for the dress.

As she passed the work island, the phone on the wall started to ring. Hannah called out to tell Lisa that she’d get it and picked up the receiver. “The Cookie Jar. This is Hannah.”

“Hi, Hannah.” It was Bill and he sounded discouraged. “I’m just checking in with you. I’m out here at the dairy doing interviews.”

“Did you learn anything new?”

“Not a thing. Everyone else came in at seven-thirty and Ron had already loaded up and left by then.”

“How about Max Turner? Did you speak to him yet?”

“No. Hold on a second, Hannah.” There was a lengthy pause and then Bill came back on the line. “Betty still expects him to call in today. I told her to get a number and I’d call him back to tell him about Ron. How about you? Do you have anything for me?”

“Yes, and it could be important. I talked to Claire Rodgers and she remembered that she saw a homeless man in the alley about seven forty-five. He was huddled in the thrift shop doorway and she gave me a description.”

“Let me get out my notebook.” There was another pause and then Bill spoke again. “Okay. Give it to me.”

“He was wearing baggy clothes and he had bright red hair sticking up in spikes. Claire said she’d seen him around town before.”

“Good work, Hannah.” Bill sounded pleased. “I’ll run over to the soup kitchen at the Bible Church and see if they know who he is. And I’ll check with the thrift shop. They might have let him in. Anything else?”