“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.”

He followed Hank up to the second floor, down the hall and past two small bedrooms until they reached a large open space that looked out over the living room. It was about a fifteen-foot drop. A Christmas tree in that living room could be a full two stories tall. You could stand up here and put the star on the top. The master bedroom was a bit more private than the previous rooms. It was also done in deep brown wood, and through a generous skylight he could see the bright dots of the stars overhead.

“Pretty view at night,” Hank remarked with a grin. “Gets the little lady in a romantic mood. I had one put in down at my place; haven’t got any sleep since. There’s another room downstairs. Could be a guest bedroom, I guess. Kinda smallish. All the furniture’s sold as is, by the way. Figure you’ll need it.”

David followed Hank out of the bedroom and back downstairs. The kitchen was a nice size, divided in half with one side near the windows serving as the dining room.