Esther placed the photograph face-down in her lap. ‘I was angry. Bitter. This woman stole our future. The surgery should have been a new beginning for Ira, and instead, it was the end. I admit, I didn’t deal with it well. I said things – I wrote things – that were inappropriate. By July, I’d calmed down. Now I let my lawyer do my talking for me.’

‘You’re suing Dr. Snow?’ Stride asked.

‘Of course. It’s not a question of money. I don’t need money. It’s about justice. It’s about making sure that no one else suffers the way Ira and I did.’ Esther stared at the lake, and then she turned back to Stride. ‘Believe me, I feel bad for Dr. Snow and what happened to her husband. No one should lose a spouse like that. Are you married, Lieutenant?’

‘I am.’

‘And is she the light of your life?’

Stride smiled. ‘She is.’

‘That’s as it should be. Ira and I were very much in love and had been for decades. Long before we had a dime to call our own. Of course, if you believe what you read in the newspaper, Dr. Snow and her husband had a much more troubled relationship. That’s a shame.’

‘Did Dr. Snow talk to you about her marriage?’ Stride asked.

Esther shook her head firmly. ‘Oh, no. Our relationship wasn’t personal. It was strictly professional. To be very candid with you, both Ira and I felt that Dr. Snow was an unusually cold woman. She had no bedside manner. If our goal had been to find someone who had a caring way about them, we certainly would have gone elsewhere. However, we choose surgeons for their hands, not their warm, fuzzy side, don’t we? We believed that she was the best.’

‘When did the surgery take place?’ Stride asked.

‘Last May. I’ve been coming to terms with it ever since. I only recently made the decision to sell this place.’

‘And how did you hear about the death of Dr. Snow’s husband?’

‘The morning news, like everyone else.’

‘Were you in Duluth?’ Stride asked.

Esther allowed herself a small smile. ‘You know, Lieutenant, you don’t need to be coy. You could come right out and ask me if I shot him. But really, do I look like a woman who would be traipsing through the streets of Duluth at night with a gun?’

‘No.’

‘No, and I wasn’t. I wasn’t in Duluth at all. I was in Minneapolis at the Guthrie seeing Lear with three friends. They’ll be happy to confirm it. We even have pictures of us together. I learned of the murder on WCCO the next day.’

‘I’ll need the names of your friends,’ Stride said.

‘Yes, of course. Does that resolve your concerns?’

‘Well, you’re obviously a wealthy woman, Mrs. Rose.’

‘True,’ she acknowledged. ‘Is that relevant?’