The waitress reached into her pocket and pulled out an electronic device. “Your food’s up,” she told them once she’d glanced at the display. “I’ll go get it, and then you can eat something besides pickles.”

* * *

“I’m positively stuffed!” Lisa remarked, as they got into their parkas and put on gloves and hats.

“Me, too. Maybe we shouldn’t have had that Chocolate Coffee Cake for dessert.”

“Or maybe we shouldn’t have split that second order of French fries,” Lisa added.

For once, the wind wasn’t blowing as they went out the door, and the night was clear and icy cold. Both Hannah and Lisa shivered as they walked into the parking lot.

“Where did you park, Hannah?”

“I’m way in the back of the lot by the ditch.”

“I’m back there, too. Let’s walk over on the side, where there’s fresh snow. It’s not as slippery there.”

The walking was easier once they’d moved to the side of the lot and they could avoid the deep ruts that the cars had made driving in and out. Hannah and Lisa had arrived at the back row when Hannah spotted something at the edge of the ditch.

“Wait up a second, Lisa,” Hannah said. “Someone dropped something red in the snow and I want to see what it is.”

“I see it. It looks like cloth.”

“It’s probably nothing but a mitten or a scarf, but whoever lost it might want it back.”

“I can go with you.”

“Better not. It’s outside the plowed area and the snow’s deep out there. It could go right over your ankle boots.”

Hannah waded into the area that hadn’t been plowed, heading straight toward the red object. As she got closer, she could see that Lisa had been right. It was something made of red cloth.

“It’s a Santa hat!” Hannah called out to Lisa. “And there’s something else here, too. Hold on and I’ll see what it is.”

As she waded even farther into the ditch, Hannah began to feel increasingly anxious. The anxious, uneasy feeling had nothing to do with the cold or the snow. There was something wrong, very wrong.

Hannah’s first instinct was to turn around and retrace her steps up the side of the ditch and into the bright lights and safe haven of the parking lot. But she couldn’t seem to turn around without knowing what had given her that anxious, uneasy feeling, and her need to know pulled her even deeper into the ditch.