Hannah set the speech aside and opened one of the files. There were legal papers inside and it looked like a loan agreement. Her eyes widened as she read the name. “I found the loan papers that Norman’s parents signed. They’re stamped ‘Paid In Full’ and Max initialed it. Hold on a second and let me look through some of these files. I want to see if there’s anyone else we know.”

“Here’s one for Frank Birchum.” Hannah glanced at the contents of another folder. “And his papers are stamped ‘Foreclosed.’ The Birchums moved away about six years ago, didn’t they?”

Andrea didn’t answer and Hannah frowned. “Andrea? You knew the Birchums, didn’t you? They lived right next to the fire station, and Frank used to own the lumberyard before the Hedins took it over. Do you remember when they left town?”

There was no answer and Hannah turned to see what her sister was doing. Andrea was standing near the door and she seemed rooted to the spot. There was a glazed look in her eyes and she was staring off into the far corner of the room.

“Andrea?” Hannah walked over to take her sister’s arm. She gave it a gentle shake, but Andrea didn’t seem to notice. “You’re scaring me, Andrea. Talk to me!”

But Andrea didn’t say a word. She just shuddered and stared off into the far corner with an expression of horror on her face. Hannah swiveled around and looked in the direction of her sister’s fixated gaze. No wonder Andrea was speechless. There was a pair of feet sticking out from behind one of the shelves of file boxes!

“Stay right here.” Hannah realized how unnecessary that warning was, but she couldn’t think of anything else to say. “I’ll go over and check it out.”

Even though Hannah expected the worst, the sight that greeted her was still a shock. It was Max, and he was on his back. There was a hole, very similar to the one she’d seen in Ron’s Cozy Cow Dairy shirt, in the center of Max’s chest. And his eyes were wide-open and staring up at nothing, just as Ron’s had been.

Max was dead. Hannah didn’t need a doctor to tell her that. The blood on his shirt had dried thoroughly, and Hannah assumed that he’d been dead for quite a while, probably since shortly after his meeting on Wednesday morning.

Hannah walked back to her sister and took her arm. There wasn’t any pleasant way to tell her. “It’s Max and he’s dead. Let’s go and find Bill.”

“Bill.” Andrea managed to choke out his name.

“Right. Come on, Andrea. I’ll drive out to the accident scene and we’ll find him. How about Tracey? Do you need to get home to her?”

Andrea shook her head. It was a jerky, almost automatic kind of motion, but Hannah was relieved. At least she was responding. “With Lucy. Overnight. At the farm.”

“Good.” Hannah understood what Andrea was trying to say. Lucy Dunwright was Andrea’s friend, and her daughter, Karen, was Tracey’s age. Tracey was spending the night with Karen at the family farm.