“I’m embarrassed to say that I don’t know. We have a tenant who farms the place. When my husband was alive, he knew everything that happened here, but I only ride and relax.”

“Sam loved the farm,” Noah said. “It was in his family for three generations.”

As they left the stable behind, Deidre talked about how she and her late husband had torn down the old farmhouse to build the new one. She spoke of Sam matter-of-factly. Deidre Joss was a woman who held her emotions close to her chest.

Noah fell in step next to Piper, and she did some not-so-subtle probing. “It has to be hard for Deidre. Losing her husband at such a young age. Snowmobile accident, right?”

“Driving too fast.”

“What was he like?”

“Sam? Easygoing, fun to be around. A little irresponsible. Everybody liked him. Hard not to. They were only married five years.”

“A good marriage?”

She expected Noah to freeze her out, but he didn’t. “They were crazy about each other, but she was the one who had to do the heavy lifting.”

They’d reached the house, and Deidre announced cocktails in an hour on the patio. “Coop, let me show you your room.”

Which wouldn’t be anyplace near Piper’s.

She washed her face and put on a little makeup but didn’t change from the slacks and sweater she’d worn to the Stars Complex. As she reached for her messenger bag to check her phone, she remembered she’d left it in her car and went downstairs to get it.

A light breeze ruffled the tree branches near the house. The smell of fall was hard in the air, a smell she loved. It was nearly dark, and the floodlights mounted on the corner of the barn shone on her Sonata, Coop’s Tesla, and the Lexus. As she walked toward the cars, she noted the Lexus’s license plate. ararat.

Overhead, an owl hooted and swooped toward a stand of trees beyond the barn. A wisp of memory tantalized her but wouldn’t take shape. She reclaimed her bag and texted Jen to find out if she’d returned Eric’s call. Then she made her way to the back of the house.

The three of them were seated around a blazing, stone fire pit. The patio had an outdoor kitchen with a built-in grill, a sink, and a tiled countertop. Garden torches illuminated the perimeter and cast a faint light over a swimming pool covered for the season. Noah was cross-examining Coop. “...and you’ve also gotten too much bad publicity. Forgive me for being blunt, but that’s a sign of bad management.”

“It’s a sign of bad luck,” Coop countered.