Hannah appropriated someone’s fairly clean napkin, turned it wrong side out so she didn’t have to write around the garlands of holly, and grabbed the pen she’d stuck behind her ear. “Did Brandi say where?”

“No, but she remembered the Quick Stop when it was still a bar and she said she wished the Tri-County Mall had been built when she was living here.”

“Anything else?”

“Yes. Brandi’s real name is Mary.”

“Mary what?”

”She didn’t say. All she told me was that she ran away from home when she was sixteen, hitched a ride to Vegas with a trucker who was driving straight through, and ended up living with an older guy who ran a tattoo parlor until she landed her job dancing.”

“Anything else?” Hannah asked. It seemed that Michelle had inherited the family trait of being able to get information from a stone.

“She told me a lot. Do you want to know what Brandi’s first roommate talked her into piercing?”

“I don’t think so,” Hannah answered quickly. “I think I could live a very long time without that particular information.”

“That’s probably best. But Brandi was very forthcoming — even showed me her tattoos — probably because I complimented her on her dress.”

“That was smart,” Hannah said, giving her sister a smile.

“It was just that she seemed to want to talk and I was non-threatening. She said she’d forgotten what small towns were like, how boring it was because there wasn’t anything to do at night, and how everybody knew everybody’ else’s business.”

“That’s all true. What else did she say?”

“She was upset because she had a fight with Martin on the way to the community center.”

Hannah readied her pen. This could be pay dirt. “Do you know what the fight was about?”

“Yes. Brandi wanted to wear her engagement ring tonight to show it off, and Martin said she shouldn’t.”

Hannah thought back to when she’d joined Brandi and Martin at the table. Try as she could, she couldn’t remember anything about Brandi’s engagement ring. “Did you see the ring?”

“You bet, and it was beautiful!”

“Could you be a little more descriptive?” Hannah asked, her pen hovering over the napkin.

Michelle sighed, shrugging slightly. “I’m sorry, Hannah. I really don’t know that much about gemstones.”

“Just describe it the best you can.”

“There was a big green stone in the center and it had what looked to me like diamonds around it.” Michelle looked up, meeting Hannah’s eyes. “Do you want to know why Martin didn’t want Brandi to wear it?”

“Of course I do.”

“Well … Martin was afraid that people would think she was showing off it they saw Brandi in her fur coat and an expensive engagement ring.”

Hannah thought about that for a moment and then she refolded the napkin, stuck it in her sweater pocket, and perched the pen behind her ear. “Okay. I think you ought to go upstairs and tell Mike what you learned from Brandi.”