“She wouldn’t come with me—insisted on drivin’ herself. Creepiest thing I ever saw, Gus; I’m layin’ on the horn and three big dogs come walkin’ up to the gate. Biggest mutts I ever saw—they just stood there and looked me over—I swear I thought they were black bears at first. Then the woman comes walkin’ up nice and slow, wearin’ a long white robe with her black hair hangin’ all around. And there’s another dog walkin’ beside her—a mangy old gray mongrel—and the thing’s only got three legs. Three legs! What about the husband—has he said anything more?”

“Nothing. He took the boy, no doubt about it—but he’s not about to tell us where he put him.”

“Just to spite his ex-wife?”

“He’s got a knife in her heart and he’s just gonna twist it—a woman he used to be married to. We’ve tried all we can—threatened him with everything from hell to high water, but he’s not talking. The fool’s willing to let his own boy die just to cause the woman pain. You know, people can be mean as snakes sometimes. You say she wouldn’t come with you—but she is coming, right?”

“She’s already here. Get this, Gus: She walks right up to the gate and looks at me with one eye—then she snaps her fingers like this and all four dogs sit down at the same time. Never said a word to ’em— it’s like the dogs could read her mind. I don’t mind tellin’ you, it made my skin crawl.”

The sheriff shook his head. “She’s as weird as her old man was.”

“I don’t mind ‘weird’—hey, I’m weird—but this is somethin’ else. Know what she said to me? ‘Who dares to invade my privacy?’ I’m tellin’ you, Gus, it’s true what people say about her: The woman is a witch.”

“I don’t care if she’s the Ghost of Christmas Past, as long as she can help us find that boy. Where is she now?”

“Right over there—you can’t miss her.”

The sheriff looked; standing on a small berm at the far edge of the property was a woman in her midtwenties dressed in a flowing white gown. Her hair was long and straight, and she kept her head down so that the hair hung in front of her face. Beside her was a dog: mottled gray, lean and angular—and it had only three legs. Standing atop the berm, the two of them were almost silhouetted against the new moon—and the sheriff had to admit, the image was definitely eerie.

He walked over to her. She did not look up as he approached.

“Are you Alena Savard?” he asked.