“I know. And to think I’ve been pining over Martin for two years! I was so wrong, but it took meeting Drew to make me realize it.”

“Well … I’m really glad you did!” Hannah said, glancing up at the stage. The jazz ensemble was breaking up, some students heading toward the kitchen and whatever food was left, and others heading for the coolers of soft drinks that sat on a table next to the punchbowls. “Please tell Drew I’m delighted for both of you. I’d love to stay and tell him myself, but I’ve got to talk to Kirby before he takes his break.”

Hannah headed off toward the makeshift stage, mentally crossing Laura off her list. There was no way Laura was jealous enough to kill Brandi, not when she was head over heels with Drew.

“Kirby?” Hannah called out, catching the bandleader in the act of stepping off the riser. “We need to talk.”

“Couldn’t it wait … .”

“Now,” Hannah interrupted him, climbing up to grab his arm. “Why didn’t you tell me you knew Brandi when you were in high school and she was Mary Kay Hinklemeyer?”

“I … she didn’t want me to say anything. And I only knew her when we were kids, before she ran away from home.”

“What was she like?”

“Um …kind of wild, but she was a fantastic dancer and we used to enter dance contests as a couple. We always won when we danced together and we … uh … we dated occasionally.”

“Does dated mean what I think it means?”

Kirby turned a dull shade of red. “Yeah.”

“So did you tell Martin that you already knew Brandi when Martin introduced her to you?”

“No. I was about to say something about going to high school with her, but Mary Kay gave me a warning look. I’m pretty sure that Martin didn’t know she was from right around here.”

Hannah got down to business. “Did you get a chance to talk to Brandi privately before she was killed?”

“Um … well …actually …” Kirby turned a little pale. “I did. She stopped by the stage and asked me to meet her in the cloakroom.”

“And you did?”

“It was nothing out of the way, or anything like that. We just talked about old times and what happened to the other kids we’d gone to school with.”

Something about this conversation was bothering her, and it took Hannah a moment to figure out what it was. There was something Kirby wasn’t telling her. It was in the way he failed to meet her eyes, and his stance, which was as defensive as that of a cornered ‘possum. It was time to probe for the truth.

“So what did you think about Brandi’s marriage to Martin?” Hannah asked, watching closely for Kirby’s reaction.