They had come to a stop, and David got out slowly, staring at the fiery red windows. The happy feeling he had watching the mountains and the woods was gone, just like that, and dark, worried thoughts worked their way around in his head. He imagined Jessie wandering off into the woods, the cold working at her, calling for her daddy and nobody would come—

Hank slid across the seat and jumped down beside him. “Worried about the little one? All you got to do is scare ‘em a bit, then they won’t go into those woods.

Me, I tell my kids about the bogeyman, how he lives out there in the dark, waitin’ for them to wander out alone. It’s a bit hard on ‘em, but sometimes you gotta do things you don’t like. My boy won’t leave the front yard for weeks, works every time. Every time.”

“I don’t know, Hank,” David said. He had started walking slowly forward, drawn by the red in the windows, by the dark wood and white snow. His skin tightened and he felt a chill. The house stared back at him, silent in the swiftly deepening twilight. Almost as if it has eyes.

“It’s the only place close by,” Hank said. He was standing right behind David, his voice startlingly loud in the stillness. “The plant is about three miles through the woods as the crow flies. Nice house, decent price. We can discuss it.”

“It’s not the money.” David turned and looked at Hank. “What happened to the girl?”

“Didn’t I tell you? Nobody knows for sure. Most people figure she wandered off, it got late, you know. Gets mighty cold during the nights.” Deadly cold. David turned back towards the house. He couldn’t explain it, couldn’t discuss this feeling he got when he looked at it, like it was watching, waiting for something to happen.

“You want to look ‘round a bit, I s’pose.”

David didn’t answer for a moment, then shook it off. It was only a house. Stupid to have come all this way…“Sure. Go ahead and open it up.”

Hank walked up the front steps and slipped the key into the lock. “You’ll want to see this.” He waited patiently at the door until David joined him, then fumbled around in the dark until the lights snapped on.

The inside of the house was beautiful. The living room opened up all the way to the ceiling. Railings ran along two sides of the second floor, and in the center of the house between the living room and kitchen sat a large, black woodstove on a square of bricks.

“You see what I mean about being open. Feel it too, come nighttime with a fire goin’. Heat really gets circulating, up to the ceiling and through them open rooms on the second floor.

“Come on upstairs, I’ll show you the bedrooms.”