Eddie dropped deeper into sleep and was snoring when I quietly let myself out of the houseboat and started my walk across downtown and up to the library. The morning was chilly, and I was watching the high clouds scoot from north to south, thinking about the cold weather a north wind tended to bring, when I heard my name.

“Minnie, do you have a minute?”

Deputy Ash Wolverson was half in and half out of the sheriff’s office front entry.

I looked up the street to check the time on the giant Victorian-style four-faced clock. Oodles of time to get to the library ahead of Kelsey. “Sure. What’s up?” I asked cheerfully. But as I got closer, the expression on his face had me ask another and completely different question. “Ash, what’s wrong?”

*   *   *

As soon as I got back to the houseboat that evening, dodging fat raindrops all the way, I called Tabitha to give her Ash’s news.

“Remember a few days ago, some hikers found a woman’s body in the state forest? Well, they’ve identified her. Her name was Emily Acosta. She’s from downstate, and moved north this summer after she retired.”

“The poor soul,” Tabitha murmured. “Do they know what happened?”

I sighed a sad breath. “Yes. She was murdered.”

There was nothing on the other end of the phone for a long minute. Finally, Tabitha asked, “What else did Ash tell you that my husband could have told me but has chosen not to?”

Uh-oh. “They just heard this morning,” I said. “Maybe he’s going to tell you tonight.”

“Minnie, it’s sweet that you’re defending him, but Hal has never once talked to me about his work and I don’t see him starting now, just because I happen to be tangentially involved. So. Tell me everything.”

An odd sliding noise went from one side of my bedroom floor to the other. Still talking to Tabitha, I walked to the top of the stairs and looked down to see my cat batting around his new toy. A nickel. Where he’d found it, I had no idea, but I was pleased he’d found it during the day and not at three in the morning, which was when he most typically found new toys.

I pocketed the coin, earning myself a dirty cat look, and relayed the rest of Ash’s information. “The cause of death was strangulation.” I shivered and went on. “Her husband still lives downstate; he has a couple of years to go until retirement. He was on a hunting trip out west with his brothers and hadn’t expected to hear from her until he got back, which was why no one reported her missing.” I sighed, thinking about the years together that Emily and her husband would never have.