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A large sapphire surrounded with diamonds graced her right hand and she wore a matching set of necklace and earrings.
    â€œHannah! And Lisa!” Mrs. Bascomb greeted them with the same surprised tone she might have used if she were traveling and happened to run into them at a Buddhist monastery in Sri Lanka.
    Hannah exchanged puzzled glances with Lisa. Where else would they be during the hours The Cookie Jar was open for business?
    â€œGood to see you, Mayor,” Hannah said, and then she turned to the woman who spared no expense buying herself a stunning new outfit every time she found out about one of her husband’s dalliances. The mayor’s last peccadillo must have been particularly flagrant to warrant a suit, hat, gloves, shoes, and a fortune in gemstones. “You’re a vision in blue, Stephanie.”
    â€œDo you like it?” Stephanie asked, twirling around so that Hannah could see the flared skirt below the impeccably tailored jacket.
    â€œI just love that color,” Hannah answered truthfully, neglecting to mention that it was indeed possible to get too much of a good thing. Stephanie was living proof that the concept of overkill could be applied to fashion.
    Stephanie turned to Lisa. “How about you, Lisa? Do you like my new outfit?”
    Hannah waited breathlessly for Lisa’s answer. Her partner, well known for hating to hurt anyone’s feelings, would have to think fast on this one.
    â€œIt’s stunning,” Lisa said, and Hannah mentally congratulated her young partner for choosing a word with several shades of meaning. “Wherever did you get it?” Lisa continued breathlessly. “Unless, of course, you’re keeping that secret to yourself.”
    â€œWell …” Stephanie considered it for a moment. “It’s a new, very exclusive shop at the mall. You have to know someone to get in. Everything they have is incredibly expensive …” Stephanie turned to her husband. “But I do think it’s worth it, don’t you, Richard?”
    â€œYes, definitely worth it,” the mayor pronounced, smilingat his wife. “Aren’t you going to tell them the secret about your charity gala, my sweetness?”
    My sweetness
! Hannah stared hard at their town’s most indiscreet Romeo. Although she didn’t usually place much credence in gossip, she might have to ask her mother about the mayor’s most recent transgression. De-lores was the founding member of what Hannah called
The Lake Eden Gossip Hotline
, and in a town the size of Lake Eden, everyone knew everything about everybody. It was possible to keep a three-way secret, but only if two of the three people were permanently billeted at Spring Brook Cemetery.
    â€œI might just tell them,” Stephanie answered playfully, “but only if we can have some of their fabulous cookies and coffee.”
    Hannah poured the coffee while Lisa took cookie orders from Lake Eden’s first couple. When they’d seated themselves at a table near the back of the coffee shop, Hannah opened the discussion with a question. “What’s all this about your gala, Stephanie?”
    â€œI’ll tell you, but only if you promise to keep the details a secret.” She turned to Lisa and Hannah. “Girls?”
    Although Hannah hadn’t been called a girl in a month of Sundays, perhaps even much longer, she nodded. It was what Stephanie expected. Lisa did the same. and both the mayor and his wife gave them smiles of approval.
    â€œI’m sure you’ve heard that I agreed to chair the Lake Eden Combined Charities Drive this year,” Stephanie said.
    â€œWe knew that,” Hannah told her. “It was in the
Lake Eden Journal
last week.”
    â€œBut here’s something that wasn’t in the papers.” Stephanie leaned across the table. “I managed to book Samantha Summerfield as the guest speaker at the opening luncheon.”
    â€œThe