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pie competition. You all wouldn’t do something like that, would you?”
     One eyebrow hitched.
    “She came to my house for supplies, and we just asked her a few questions. Nothing
     illegal about that,” Sheila said.
    “No, but if you threatened her . . .”
    “Detective, nobody threatened anybody,” Annie said with a flat “I mean business” tone.
    “Let’s keep it that way,” he said, then stood and leaned back on the table. “Stay
     out of trouble, ladies.”
    He turned and walked back to the bar. Sheila watched as he walked away. “DeeAnn is
     right. She said the man looks good from behind.”
    “Looks good from every angle, if you ask me,” Paige said under her breath, and they
     all giggled—all except Annie, who studied her fingernails.
    “We scared Macy?” Vera said after they quieted down.
    “Maybe she is hiding something. Why else would she be scared?” Sheila surmised.
    “No, c’mon,” Annie said. “I think this is getting a little out of hand.”
    “I’m sorry she was scared. But we thought she might have messed with DeeAnn’s pie,
     which is a nasty thing to do,” Vera said.
    “Evidently, she didn’t. And then she went to the cops?” Paige said.
    “Her husband hangs out with Bryant sometimes. It probably wasn’t an official complaint,”
     Sheila said.
    “What did happen to DeeAnn’s pie?” Ruth said as she came to the table next with Paige’s
     hamburger.
    A stunned silence. Finally, Annie cleared her throat.
    “We were hoping that you could tell us something.”
    “Me?” She looked wide-eyed. “I don’t know anything about pies or baking. Why me?”
    “We just came from the Mennonite church, and Rachel said you took the pies from the
     church to the fire hall.”
    “That’s right,” she said.
    “Something happened to it between when DeeAnn baked it and when it got to the fire
     hall,” Paige said. “Any ideas?”
    Ruth laughed. “No, I’m sorry, I can’t help. I took the pies and delivered them straight
     into the hands of the judges. Must have been something else that happened.”
    “One of the judges?” Sheila asked.
    Ruth laughed harder. “You ladies are talking pie espionage. Crazy. I’ve got to get
     going to the other tables. Let me know if there is anything I can do to help.”
    “Well, that was easier than I expected,” Sheila said.
    “But it didn’t give us any answers,” Paige said and then bit into her burger. “Mmm.
     Damn good burger.”
    “It did give us answers,” Annie said. “Just not what we were looking for. We’ve eliminated
     all the possibilities, except for two. The judges messed with it or DeeAnn made an
     error.”
    “I can’t really see either one of those things happening,” Sheila said. “Those judges
     are tough cookies.”
    Paige took another bite of her burger, and they sat listening to Elvis Presley singing
     “Hound Dog” on the jukebox.
    “Now what?” Paige said.
    “Well, of course, neither Rachel nor Macy was going to admit it, even if they did
     it,” Sheila said.
    “Of course not,” Vera said. “I was hoping to gauge something from their reactions.
     That’s all.”
    “Maybe it’s time to try another tack,” Annie said. “We need to go back to the source.”
    “DeeAnn?” Paige said.
    Annie nodded. “Remember when we took Vera step-by-step through her day when Emily
     was killed, the way she remembered things she hadn’t thought about?”
    “Yes, but I was hypnotized,” Vera said.
    “It also works when you’re awake. Believe me,” Annie said.
    “So you’re saying we should take DeeAnn through her morning the day of the contest?”
     Vera asked.
    “Yes. She may have forgotten about giving the pie to someone or leaving it somewhere
     momentarily. You never know.”
    “Well, it’s worth a shot,” Vera said.
    After they were finished with their food and drinks, the group walked to DeeAnn’s
     house.
    DeeAnn was sitting on her front porch when she saw her friends walking down the