He had barely even spoken to Emma’s mother, even though he wanted to. He knew Veronica from ParaTi’s, and when he admitted it to himself—which wasn’t often—he knew he was besotted with her. A strange word that, but it felt like the perfect one to describe how he felt about her.

  The first time he had seen Veronica was when the Council had met at ParaTi’s. He had fallen in love with the restaurant and tried not to think that he might also have fallen in love with the tall woman who moved like a dancer and smiled at everyone.

  He couldn’t acknowledge such a thing to anyone. He could barely admit it to himself. However, he started eating at ParaTi’s as much as he could without raising suspicions, and he always tried to sit at one of Veronica’s tables. Tanner wasn’t sure if she had noticed him doing that, but over the past few months, she would often pause and chat for a minute.

  Recently, during a quiet mid-afternoon visit to ParaTi’s after a client meeting, Tanner found the restaurant empty. Taking advantage of the open time, Veronica joined him at his table. She introduced him to her world by sharing a photo of her daughter, Emma, and spoke passionately about Emma’s love for art. Veronica also recounted their journey, describing their many moves before settling in Spring Falls.

  She shared how happy she was when she discovered she had a half-brother, Daniel, who arrived in town with Robert when he visited his mom, April. Both of them had agreed that there must be some kind of force that moves people towards each other. And if they were open to it, they would notice and accept it.

  Veronica confided in Tanner that Emma had always been the center of her world, because there were just the two of them. But when they moved to Spring Falls, they had both made friends and met so many people they liked that they decided to stop moving and stay. And now they were both much happier.

  Tanner didn’t think he would find a missing family member in Spring Falls the way that Veronica had, but at least he was making friends. Trying not to think about how he had lost two of them in just the last few days, he made a decision. He stepped out of line and headed off toward Emma before she went out the door.

  “Hi, I’m Tanner Foster. I know your mother, and she showed me your picture. And of course, I saw you at the meeting yesterday.”

  Tanner wanted to sink into the floor. He thought that was the stupidest introduction ever. But then Emma smiled at him and he felt better.

  Emma looked at the tall thin man standing awkwardly in front of her, and realized he felt embarrassed, and she understood what it took for him to come over to say hello. She often had the same problem.

  Besides, her mother had told her about a dark-haired man who always sat at her tables and then pointed him out at the meeting. She was happy to finally officially meet the man her mother talked about, unaware that she often blushed as she did so.

  Smiling at him, she said, “Hi. I saw you at Judith’s too, but my mom had already told me about you.”

  Tanner took a step back and could feel his face turning red. Could it be true she talked about him?

  “She did?”

  “She did. Said you were a nice man and fun to talk to. I’d stay and talk, but I have something I need to do.”

  Tanner nodded and stepped away, too afraid to say anything else in case he blurted out things that he shouldn’t say. Like, I think your mother is the most beautiful and kind woman I have ever met.

  No, he couldn’t say that. So instead, he stood transfixed as Emma left the shop. When she turned to wave as she went out the door, he managed a wave in return.

  Stepping back into the end of the line, Tanner thought about what Emma had said. Veronica had talked about him? Was it weird that it made him happy to think that she did?

  Taking a seat, Tanner opened his computer to get some work done. Maybe being around people would help him think better. For the next few hours, the murmur of people coming and going helped him concentrate.

  Sometimes he saw people he knew, and they’d stop by the table and chat. Often he’d hear people discussing Marshall and Barbara and wondering what was going on in Spring Falls, but he refused to be drawn in.

  Working at the coffee shop was going so well, Tanner got a sandwich and soda and settled back in again. Hours later, he was caught up. Except for his work with Walt. He needed more information from him.

  So, ordering a coffee to go, Tanner packed up and texted Walt to tell him he was heading his way. And even though he didn’t get a reply, he decided to go anyway. Maybe Walt was trying to avoid thinking about what had happened, and had buried himself in his work.

  Walt’s bookstore was only a few blocks away, nearer to the campus. Walt always carried books students needed to read in class. However, ebooks had taken over much of his business, and Tanner knew Walt had been struggling to figure out ways to keep his business afloat.

  That worry, plus the two deaths, was a good reason for Walt to stop answering his texts. At least, that’s what Tanner told himself. He refused to worry that another one of his friends might be in trouble.

  But when he got to the bookstore, and it was closed, his heart stopped beating for a moment. There was no way Walt had intentionally closed his bookstore. Peering through the front window, he saw Walt’s bright blue glasses lying on the floor.

  Walt wore bright framed glasses hoping that people would think about going to the bookstore that the guy with the glasses owned. He had told Tanner he liked the idea of it because it helped people remember him. Otherwise, why would they remember a guy who was average in every way? An old man with gray hair and a bald spot.

  Tanner dropped his coffee cup, not even noticing that coffee sloshed onto his shoes, and reached into his pocket for his phone to call Judith. He needed her to help him. He couldn’t bring himself to call the police station. What if Walt had simply knocked his glasses off the counter and hadn’t noticed?

  However, while his phone rang, Tanner kept saying to himself, No, no, no, not another one.

  Forty

  Emma laughed to herself as she headed towards the woods. She wondered if her mother knew that the man she described as nice and fun to talk to was in love with her. What would she think? Would her mother like that? Respond in kind?

  And what would that mean to her? Would it be okay if her mother started dating? All those thoughts ran through her head as she tramped off to the Green Zone. She wished she was running. She’d be there so much faster. But the snow meant no running, just trudging, so it took her almost an hour to reach where she had been on Monday when only a little snow had covered the woods.

  Now it was a wet, sloppy mess. With each step, her boots sank below the surface, snow coming up past them, some of it slipping wetly down behind her socks. She knew that meant she would probably have blisters when she took her boots off.

  What had she been thinking? She could have waited at least one more day to come here. The sun was out. The snow was melting. By tomorrow, it would be almost gone. And the development would still be there.

  But that was hindsight. She had made it this far. She was going to check it out. Then she’d have something to report. She’d walk through it, take some pictures, and share them with Judith.

  As she got closer to the development, Emma thought she saw someone move between the buildings. But when she looked again, not seeing anyone, decided it was just her imagination working overtime.

  Huffing from exertion, from having to lift her feet so high for each step, she made it to what appeared to be a road. A street, she wanted to yell. Right in the middle of the Green Zone. And a lane had been packed down in the middle of the road, making it easy to walk down. Or drive down, Emma thought.

  Don’t get mad now, Emma, she said to herself. Take pictures and get out. Get mad later. Maybe walk out following the road, see where it goes. It will be easier than tramping through the snow.

  Looking back at where she had come from, she could see her footprints, the edges of them melting. It would be even worse going home. Yes, she’d try the road and see where it took her.

  Once again, she thought she glimpsed something moving between the buildings, but could see nothing there. She could tramp over to the houses and see if there were footprints. But she didn’t, admitting to herself she was afraid to look.

  Take the pictures and get out, she said again to herself. Holding her phone up, she started snapping pictures of the partly finished buildings beside the road and then switched to video as she walked down the road. All she wanted to do now was get out of the woods and back to town.

  But she still had to prove what she was seeing. Otherwise, who would believe what was happening here? She had to have evidence so someone could make it stop.

  Marsha had an idea. She wasn’t sure it was a good idea, or that it would work. But it kept niggling at her, and finally she had decided that if it didn’t work, it would be just one class and no one would be that upset.

  Besides, she was the teacher. And if she wanted to shake things up a bit, she could. And she was definitely ready to shake things up. Like many people, she disliked February in Pennsylvania. Although there were signs of spring in February, like the birds building nests, those signs were hard to find amidst the mostly gray days filled with either slush or mud.

  Her idea was to teach a hybrid ballet class once a month, maybe more if the students liked it. She’d start with a five-minute warm-up using Sun Salutation and warrior poses. Then a shortened ballet bar, finishing on the floor doing a few Martha Graham movements.

  Next, instead of going straight into the ballet phrases, they’d do ten minutes of something like hip-hop. For Marsha, this sounded like a fantastic way to introduce her dancers to multiple forms of movement, which was so necessary in today’s dance world. But perhaps it would also inspire them to find expanded and creative ways to do anything. Also necessary in the real world that was constantly changing.

  Her dance teacher had often said she wasn’t building great dancers, she was growing good people. It had taken Marsha many years to understand what she had meant. If some of her dancers went on to make it their profession, that was lovely, but what she really wanted was to make a tangible difference in the quality of life her students experienced. One thing Marsha had vowed to herself was that she’d turn none of the classes they held at The Ruby House into competitions. Dance was an art, and she’d keep it that way.

  Standing in the dance studio, a cup of coffee in her hand, Marsha watched the sun shine through the branches of the maple tree in the yard, causing large piles of snow to slide off and plop into the yard. She had to admit that it was beautiful. Maybe she should expand her thinking and learn to like February.

  Besides, with no leaves on the tree, she could see into town. It was interesting to watch people, many of whom she knew, walking, going in and out of shops, and talking together. Earlier that morning, she had seen Emma heading towards the woods, and realized that if no one else liked the hybrid class, Emma would. She’d do it for her and see what happened.

  Forty One

  Margaret watched the last of the paper burn in the fireplace as she buttoned her coat. She couldn’t hide in the house for one more minute. It was making her stir crazy. Besides, people expected leadership, and she was going to give it to them.

  Earlier, she had made a series of phone calls and set up appointments with everyone from the funeral director to an event planner—a funeral was an event, or at least it would be this time—and a press conference.

  It wasn’t much of a press conference. They only had a small weekly newspaper in town and an online version that people mostly used to check on what was happening in town and who had died. But it was the idea of it. Margaret needed to tell Spring Falls that all was well.

  The police would handle what happened to Marshall, but she would handle what happened after Marshall. It was up to her to turn his death into a new beginning. And if what he had been doing came to light, she would lie her way out of it and come out of it shining as a beacon of hope for Spring Falls.

  That Barbara had also died was sad, but Barbara had never been a power broker in town. She’d offer to help plan a smaller funeral for her. Maybe find out who inherited her nursery. Maybe buy it from them and turn it into something special.

  The more Margaret thought about the future, the more energized she became. On her way out the door, she texted both Walt and Colin to meet her at the town hall. “Now!” she emphasized.

  By the time she started her car and was pulling out of the driveway, already cleared of snow by her handy man who always did her house first if he knew what was good for him, Colin had answered. Hearing nothing from Walt, she thought about driving by his bookstore and finding him, and then decided not to.

  She’d send someone to find him later, and give him a talking to. Disappearing on her was not a good idea. For a moment, she thought of getting Tanner to also come to the meeting and decided against it.

  Yes, he was a member of the Town Council, but not for long. He had turned against her when he went to Judith. He’d find out what that meant for his future in Spring Falls later. But first she had to build up her image and remind people she was now the acting mayor, and would soon be the Mayor. It was time to act like one.

  Veronica checked her phone and saw that Emma had left the coffee shop and was walking towards the woods. Shaking her head, she sighed. If she had known that was what Emma was planning, she would have told her not to go.

  On the other hand, would she have listened? Telling Emma not to do something she was determined to do would be like telling the wind not to blow. Over the years, Veronica had learned that the best she could do was to keep watch over her daughter and remind her to think before acting.

  Putting her phone away, Veronica headed to work. She had given Emma the day off from homeschooling, not just so she could have a well day off from school, but also so that she could have some time to herself. After work, she planned to go home, grab a book, and snuggle up in her favorite chair and read.

  All that was going on in Spring Falls was so stressful Veronica wanted to not think about it if only for the afternoon. But when she got to work, Pedro was there waiting. And when he asked her if she had heard anything, Veronica realized her daughter was the one who was right. Emma was trying to do something about the injustices that were going on.

  Pedro didn’t have time to curl up in a chair and read a book. His family was in trouble. What Veronica needed to do was to help him. There would be plenty of time to read books after she helped stop the Council, or whomever was responsible, from taking his and his friends’ homes.

  Thinking about Emma trudging through the snow to get answers, because she was sure that was why she was doing it, Veronica decided to be more like her daughter. After work, she’d go to Judith and ask her what she could do. Maybe she could do research that Judith didn’t have time to do.

  But for the next few hours, Veronica didn’t have a chance to do or think about anything other than taking orders and clearing tables. She expected it. After every snow storm it seemed more people would come to lunch. Maybe just grateful to be up and about and safe from the storm.

  Or maybe because during storms the power would often go out in different parts of town, so heading to places that still had power or had a generator running was a wise thing to do. For whatever reason, Veronica was busy. She didn’t mind. On days like this, people seemed to tip better.

  It wasn’t until much later that she thought to look at her phone to check and see where Emma was. She expected her to be home by now, probably wet and cold. She would see if Emma wanted some food from ParaTi’s and treat her to whatever she wanted.

  But when she looked at her find-a-friend app, it didn’t register where Emma was. It was annoying, but she wasn’t worried. That happened from time to time. It worried her a little that it probably meant Emma was still out in the woods, but she was sure that Emma would pop up soon. She had a dance class later that day, and Veronica was sure Emma wouldn’t want to miss it.

  Forty Two

  Booker found Tanner walking back and forth in front of Walt’s bookstore. When he saw Booker, Tanner stumbled towards him, saying, “Please, please, don’t let him be dead.”

  “He’s probably at home, Tanner,” Booker said, holding Tanner still by the shoulders. “This is not the time to fall apart.”

  He had sent one of his deputies over to Walt’s house to check, but had come to the bookstore himself, because of Tanner. He understood why Tanner was so frantic. It was Tanner who had found Barbara.

  All that had happened in the last few days was not Tanner’s normal, orderly life. Not that it was his life, either. Spring Falls was known for its low crime rate and friendly citizens. But as he said to Tanner, it was not time to fall apart, and that meant him too.

  “But I’ll check here too if you really think there’s a problem. We’ll go in the back way so we don’t break down his front door.”

  “I have a key.”

  Booker stared at Tanner.

  “He gave it to me. I’m taking over as his accountant, and he wanted me to be able to come in at night when he has the door locked if I needed anything.”

  “Then why didn’t you just go in?”

  Tanner dropped his head, and Booker put his arm around him, understanding why.

  “Okay, we’ll go in together.”

  Taking a deep breath and willing himself to keep his eyes open, Tanner opened the door and held it open so Booker could go in first. He had no desire ever again to find someone the way he found Barbara. It would haunt his dreams forever.