Remi shed her winter layers at the front door and followed her nose toward the coffee. The kitchen was outdated but spotless. The appliances were white, yet they looked as though they’d never been used. That was due to Lois’s obsessive cleaning routine. The woman vacuumed the carpet in the living room and hallway every single day.

It was a miracle she and Ben had stayed married for fifty years considering the man trended more toward slob. Remi noted the coffee mugs already neatly set out on the counter, the little dessert plates, and the neatly cut pieces of coffee cake.

Lois rushed back into the room, her face ashen.

“Ben’s not in bed,” she said, bringing trembling fingers to her mouth.

It was a small house. If Lois hadn’t passed him from living room to bedroom, Ben wasn’t inside.

“Okay,” Remi said, putting the cookies on the counter. “Where does he keep his coat?”

Lois pointed toward the door off the kitchen. “Mud room.”

Together, they made a beeline through the door. There were two winter jackets, one bright blue and one orange, hanging on hooks. But there was only one pair of boots on the drying tray beneath them.

“Oh my God. If he went out there without a coat…”

She didn’t have to finish the sentence. It was a warm day by Mackinac standards, but for a man without proper gear who might be wandering in confusion…Well, Remi didn’t want to dwell on the possibilities.

She opened the back door and stared at the fresh tracks in the snow that led up the hill toward the woods in a meandering path.

Lois made a move for her coat. “I have to get out there and find him.” Her voice shook.

The woman was unflappable. Permanently prepared for whatever chaos life had thrown at her. But Remi could only imagine the toll that watching her life partner slowly disappear behind the fog of disease had taken.

“How long was he napping, Lois?”

“I don’t know. An hour, I guess?”

“Were you inside the whole time?”

She pushed a hand through her hair. “I went out to shovel the walk. Maybe a half hour ago? I didn’t want to start too early in case the snow started again.”

“Do you still have your old snowmobile?” Remi asked.

“Yeah. It’s next to the lean-to in the back,” Lois said. “I need to get out there and start looking.”

“You need to stay here and call the police,” Remi insisted.

“I can’t just leave him out there. We walk in the woods every morning together. What if he went there and wandered off the trail?”

Remi took both of Lois’s hands in hers. “You’re going to call the station and tell them everything you just told me. In the meantime, I’m going to go look for him.” When Lois started to argue, she held up a hand. “You have to stay here in case he comes back. My mom will want to get all the details from you. You need to be here.”