Page 74 of Snow River

“Gotta love winter, when it takes an extra half hour to go anywhere.”That burr in his voice just wouldn’t go away.

“People keep telling me I’ll get sick of it, but I’m not sure I believe it.”She pulled on her gloves and he swung the door open for her.“So far, I love everything about the winter here.The snow, the alpenglow, the light, the dark.It speaks to me.”

Did she mean that the winter literally spoke to her?With Lila, anything was possible.

Outside—sheer splendor in the form of a deep dark sky filled with scintillating crystals of light.They turned off their headlamps and gazed up at it, speechless.He took Lila’s hand and they stood for a timeless moment just soaking in the beauty.Even though it was a still night, the twinkling of the stars and the gentle light waves of Aurora Borealis just starting up made the sky seem endlessly dynamic.

“How could I ever get tired of this?”Lila whispered.

He squeezed her hand.His heart wanted to believe she wouldn’t, hoped desperately that she wouldn’t.But he’d seen so many people start out with stars in their eyes, only to flee for the lower forty-eight—or Hawaii—after their umpteenth blizzard of the season.

The main road through town was always kept plowed, although the town had lost their best plow truck driver when Daniel had been killed in an avalanche this past spring.Murph McGee had that contract now, and he was so far doing a good job, though he had a bad habit of dinging people’s cars.

It was only a short ski to the general store, but with Lila it took longer because she kept stopping to watch the aurora shimmer into being, then disappear.

“You’ll see plenty Northern Lights this winter,” he told her as he tugged her onwards.“You might even get sick of those too.”

“That will never happen.Shh.”She held up a finger.A great horned owl gave a deep hoot somewhere in the nearby woods.Lila hooted back, the sound so similar to the real thing that he was nearly fooled.

“Have you been practicing that?”

“Yes.I love owls.I could carry on this convo all night.”

But she allowed him to hurry her along the icy, empty road, lit only by the starlight reflecting off the snow.They’d never turned their headlamps back on, and by now their eyes had adjusted to the dark.They skied quietly, not wanting to disturb anyone fast asleep in their homes.

Unlike in a city, most people here didn’t leave any lights on at night.Electricity was always something to be considered.A light required either a generator or precious battery power from a solar array.Bear knew some people who relied on kerosene or oil lamps in the winter, with candles as a backup in case fuel ran low.But no one would leave such a light burning after they went to sleep.

Kathy was the exception, but only because she sometimes forgot to turn her WiFi off at night.It used only a small amount of wattage, easy for her solar system to handle, so she only cursed a bit when she realized it the next morning.

They got lucky.Once again, she’d left it on.Bear leaned against the wall, getting as close to the router inside as he could, while he logged in.“Any chance you remember the last password?”

“No, but I know all the passwords she’s used.She recycles them.”She rattled off passwords until one finally worked and he was online.He went to his email and found the one from Cromwell.As the photo loaded—even Kathy’s Wi-Fi was on the slow side—they watched a soft green veil emerge over the treetops and glow like a beacon.

“Do you hear it sing?”Lila asked softly.“It makes a sound.”

“That’s—” He was going to say “impossible,” but then he remembered that with Lila, nothing was impossible.

The photo popped onto his phone.As he glanced down at it, a chill shot through him.“Lila.”

His tense tone caught her attention.She looked at the phone and gasped.“Is that…?”

“Our new cook?I think it is.”

34

They went backto The Fang, where Bear dug up all the resumé information that Grant Cruz had submitted.Using their headlamps so as not to give anyone the impression that the bar was open for business at this hour, they scoured it for clues.

According to his birth date, he was thirty-eight.His previous job history included restaurants in Illinois, Arizona, and Anchorage.

“He sure has moved around a lot,” Lila noted.“Then again, I’ve done the same thing.It doesn’t necessarily mean anything.”

“I should have called more of these numbers.I only reached out to the Anchorage place, but they said he was a reliable, solid employee.They were sorry to see him go.”

Lila stroked his arm to reassure him that it wasn’t his fault if Grant turned out to be a fraud.“I don’t believe Grant is a killer.Obviously that’s not based on anything other than…well, nothing, really,” she admitted.

”Here’s something.If he killed Rita, why would he come here, to the closest town, and get a job and stay for the winter?Why wouldn’t he be long gone from this area by now?”

“Yes!That’s a much better reason.”Lila whooshed out a breath of relief.She liked Grant, and didn’t want him to be a cold-blooded evildoer.“Sometimes logic really does help.”

---