The moon cast a cold, blue light over the surface of the snow. There were icicles with their sharp, lethal points hanging from the stark black branches of the trees. Hannah shuddered. She’d always felt menaced whenever she had to pass under icicles, but the trees with their glittering daggers dotted the sides of the ditch. There was no other path she could take to get to the second object she’d seen.

As she neared the bottom of the ditch, her heart was racing and Hannah was breathing in painful gasps. This wasn’t from the exertion of wading through deep snow. It was fear of something she had yet to discover.

Her boot hit something beneath the snow, and Hannah barely managed to maintain her balance. She reached down to uncover the object that had tripped her, and her gloved fingers drew it out of the snow. She stood there staring for a moment, puzzled by the sight of one of the reusable lunch bags that Lisa had given to Herb for Christmas. Each lunch bag was a different color, and they all had Herb’s name embroidered on the side in bold black letters.

There was something inside the bag, and Hannah made sure the contents didn’t fall out as she flipped it over so that she could see the other side. A chill ran through her. The lunch bag was definitely Herb’s. She could read his name quite clearly in the cold, blue moonlight. But why was Herb’s lunch bag buried in the snow near the bottom of the ditch?

A possible explanation occurred to Hannah. Herb could have disliked the lunch that Lisa had packed for him and, quite literally, ditched it before he’d gone inside to eat lunch. This was possible, but very unlikely. Herb told everyone who would listen about the wonderful lunches his wife made for him and how much he enjoyed them. And even if he hadn’t felt like eating this particular day’s lunch and had thrown it out, Herb would have kept the lunch bag to take home to Lisa.

Her curiosity aroused, Hannah opened the lunch bag and peeked inside. There was no sandwich, or fruit, or cookies. The only thing left in the bag was homemade candy wrapped in waxed paper. Lisa’s caramels. And Herb had told Lisa that he loved them. Why had he eaten part of his lunch and then thrown away his personalized lunch bag containing Lisa’s caramels?