Shaking off the odd interaction with Abigail, Laurel arrived at her office and slid into a parking spot, impacting the curb with her front tires. Sighing, she backed up so she wouldn’t block any part of the sidewalk. A large sign, partially covered with snow, read STAGGERS ICE CREAMERY across the front of the entire building. The ice cream shop took up the center of the first floor with the FBI office above it. Fish and Wildlife encompassed the two floors to the right, and a beauty school took residence to the left.

She jumped out of the Nissan and made her way to open a thick wooden door, which led to a small vestibule. To her right, a sign above the door to the Fish and Wildlife office said PARK AND WILDLIFE. It was handmade and rough, and she’d never asked about the mistake. Obviously sentimentality trumped fact.

Shrugging off snow, she stomped her boots across the rubber mat to clear the ice before pulling open a door that revealed stairs to the second floor. She climbed the steps, no longer noticing the wallpaper featuring half-naked dancers on the walls. At the top, she pushed her damp hair away from her face as she was greeted by her assistant from behind a glass pastry display case, angled against the far right corner of the landing area.

“Howdy,” Kate Vuittron said, shuffling piles of papers into place on the glass.

“Hi. I thought you were acquiring a new desk.” Laurel noted that Kate had placed file folders inside the case. They’d most likely smell like cinnamon cones for the next month.

Kate shrugged. “Since we might be temporary, no desk for me.” She smiled, her unlined skin and shoulder-length, sandy-blond hair making her look much younger than her early forties. “The only furniture we’ve been able to secure so far is that awesome FBI-confiscated conference table and chairs from a government auction in Seattle. That stuff looks like it belongs in a high-end magazine conference room. Like People or Cosmopolitan. Right?”

“I’ll take your word for it.” Laurel moved beyond Kate to the open doorway in the middle of the wall.

Kate cleared her throat. “Is there a chance this office will become permanent? I thought after the Snowblood killer case that you were going to head up a new unit based out of Genesis Valley.”

Laurel breathed out. Kate had a right to know the plans, such as they were. “Honestly, I don’t know. I was successful in helping to wrap up the DC firewood murders after the holidays, and now George is having second thoughts about stationing me in the Pacific Northwest.”

“George?”