But now that Marshall had died, she wondered if that was what she had felt. Some kind of premonition. But, as distressing as it was that Marshall was dead, it wasn’t the end of the world. After all, he was retiring anyway. Plans were already in place. Margaret would run for mayor in the fall.

  All that had changed was that Margaret would become interim mayor now. In fact, Judith knew it would suit Margaret far better to have it happen this way. Margaret was a shoo-in for becoming mayor. Knowing Margaret, Judith was sure that she had already picked her replacement.

  And she did know Margaret. They had grown up in Spring Falls together. Margaret was a few years ahead of her in high school and already in charge. Margaret had run for Student Council president and won hands down. Judith had admired her then. She still did.

  In some ways, she had patterned herself after Margaret. Take charge. Get things done. They were both like that. The fundamental difference, as far as Judith could tell, is that Margaret loved to be in the spotlight and she did not.

  And both were often in the spotlight. The difference was that Margaret made it happen for herself, and for Judith, it only happened because of her work with so many businesses in town. Plus, everyone knew she couldn’t stop herself from fixing things that were broken. Which, in Judith’s world, meant when something was going on that she thought was wrong.

  So although she and Margaret knew each other, they never became friends. Judith thought it might be because Margaret didn’t want to share the spotlight, and Judith knew on her part it was because Margaret was too much about Margaret. It set her teeth on edge.

  Still, Judith had to be happy for Margaret. She was finally getting what she probably set out to get long ago. She would be the Mayor of Spring Falls. The only thing Judith didn’t understand was why. It was a small town. Why not go to a big city and take it over? Maybe Margaret preferred to be a big fish in a small pond, rather than just another person trying to get ahead in a big city.

  That’s probably it, Judith thought to herself. But if all she had been worried about was Marshall’s death, then why did she still feel that uneasiness? In fact, now the uneasiness was worse. So, as much as she wanted her uneasiness to have been solved by Marshall dying, Judith knew it wasn’t. Something was still very wrong in Spring Falls.

  With that thought, Judith quickened her steps, and without her knowing that it happened, her hair flared. A couple who were in town to see their daughter in college walked by Judith and noticed the flare. And then looked back at the retreating figure, thought that a beam of sunlight must have struck her hair. Otherwise, what they had seen would be impossible.

  They glanced up at the sky and wondered where the sun could have come from. Dark clouds hung heavy above them. They looked at each other, shook their heads, and decided to just accept that it had happened without knowing what it meant. People who lived in town knew exactly what it meant. Judith Zoe was on the warpath, probably over the Mayor’s death.

  Judith was so familiar with the streets that she didn’t pay attention to her surroundings. She only realized she was at the driveway of the Ruby House when her phone rang. Glancing at the screen, she saw it was Tanner. For a minute, she hesitated. She didn’t want to conduct business right now. But then she remembered Tanner was on the Town Council, and he might have news.

  “Could we meet right now?” Tanner asked, sounding slightly breathless. But perhaps that was because he was whispering.

  When Judith hesitated, he added, “It’s important. And private.”

  Judith turned and started back to her office. It was the most private place she knew.

  “My office.”

  “Be there in a few,” Tanner whispered and hung up.

  But when he arrived, he wasn’t alone. Barbara Green was with him. Of course, Judith knew who Barbara was. Who didn’t? It was Barbara’s landscape company that took care of her yard and garden. In fact, all the Ruby Sisters used her services.

  When Judith went to Barbara’s nursery to buy plants, Barbara would often talk to people and help them decide what would work best in their gardens. But other than their brief conversations at the nursery and sometimes at Town Hall meetings, Judith didn’t know Barbara well.

  Now, looking at the two of them standing in her office, she realized she felt afraid. Something was about to change, and she wasn’t so sure that she was ready. Perhaps Tanner and Barbara were there to ask her to become a member of the Town Council. She already knew her answer. No. It would be a conflict of interest.

  But once she had them seated in her office, the blind behind her closed, the lights low so the room felt comfortable and safe, she thought she might be wrong about why they were there. The hair on the back of her neck stood up as Tanner leaned forward and asked her if what they told her would remain private.

  “Only if it doesn’t affect other people negatively.”

  Barbara whispered something to Tanner, her face pale. Judith thought she had aged ten years since she had seen her last week at the coffee shop.

  Something had changed. And it couldn’t just be Marshall’s death. Could it?

  Fifteen

  Emma returned from her run wet, cold, and confused. She had gone to the Green Zone, where no construction would ever take place, and saw a clearing in the woods. And equipment.

  Someone hid it well. Unless you were on foot, you’d miss it because a band of trees surrounded it. Despite that, she had seen it, and she knew it was something she wasn’t supposed to see. It was so unexpected that she stopped and stared, wishing she was mistaken but angry because she knew she wasn’t. To Emma, who loved this forest, what she was looking at was a travesty. She had stood there, not moving, not realizing she was crying.

  In a vast swath of land, everything was gone. Trees and the underbrush were completely gone. And instead there was a row of partially built houses. So either something was going on that shouldn’t be going on, or she was in the wrong place. She didn’t think she was. So she was angry, sad, furious, and disgusted.

  But just to make sure she had come to the right place, and that she wasn’t losing her mind, she took a few pictures on her phone, thinking she would show Judith. Judith would know what to do. Tucking her phone back into her fanny pack, she turned away from the devastation, but not before apologizing to what was no longer there. Although she hadn’t done it, perhaps she should have noticed something was wrong before this terrible thing happened.

  But it was too late and too cold to be standing around, just staring at the ruin of the forest. Besides, maybe she shouldn’t be there. Something about the whole thing made her nervous. She kept expecting someone to pop out of nowhere and yell at her.

  Thirty minutes later, when Veronica came out of the kitchen where she had been making Emma a batch of pancakes, she saw her daughter standing on the mat in the coatroom, still dripping water, and looking upset.

  “What’s wrong? Did you hurt yourself?”

  Emma looked up and realized she was still in her wet coat and shoes. “Oh, sorry,” she said as she slipped out of both, hanging up her coat and putting her shoes on the mat. “Just thinking.”

  “Well, go get out of your wet clothes, and come eat the pancakes I made you. Maybe you can tell me what you were thinking about.”

  Minutes later, Emma was at the table, digging into her stack of pancakes, each bite swirled first in the real maple syrup they could now afford. Thanks to Daniel, Emma thought.

  She still couldn’t believe her good fortune. Her mom had found a half brother and now she had an uncle she adored. Or more accurately, Daniel had found them because somehow the universe had brought him to town with April’s son, Robert.

  And then it turned out that Daniel had seen Cindy when he was ten years old and fallen in love with her. And her grandmother had been friends with Cindy when they met at Daniel’s father, Cedric’s, art studio. No one would believe that story, except that it had happened in her life.

  Until Daniel found them, Emma didn’t really believe in the interconnectedness of all things. But too many things had happened in the past year that couldn’t be explained any other way.

  And now Daniel was living with Cindy, who was helping her become the artist she had always dreamed of becoming. Just like her grandmother and mother, who never had the chance. So she wasn’t just wanting that dream for herself, it was to honor them, too.

  Between art, dance, a new acting class Marsha had begun, her mom not stressed anymore, the new friends she had made, everything about her life was perfect now. She didn’t want to think that something could spoil it. She could ignore what she saw. Someone else could take care of it. But what if they didn’t? She’d feel guilty forever about doing nothing.

  All she could hope for was that she was wrong. But she would soon discover that she wasn’t. And what she had seen was only the tip of the iceberg. It was what Judith had sensed long ago. A danger faced the town that would—as always when evil is revealed—change the people of Spring Falls forever.

  So after the pancakes were eaten and the dishes were washed, instead of setting out her homeschooling lessons for the day, her mother sat down, took her daughter’s hands in hers, and asked, “Tell me what happened.”

  After all that they had been through together, Emma knew that she could trust her mother, so she answered, “I ran to a section of the Green Zone, or I think I was there, and I saw something that shouldn’t be there. Or at least I don’t think it should.”

  Seeing her mother’s puzzled face, she took out her phone and showed her the pictures she had taken.

  It was only when she saw her mother’s face turn pale that Emma accepted she was right. Something terrible had happened.

  “We need to tell Judith. We’ll go after my lunch shift at ParaTi’s. Instead of your regular homework, can you look up everything you can find about the Green Zone?”

  Emma nodded, grateful that her mother didn’t just push her worries aside and was willing to find out the truth with her. But then, if she was honest with herself, which she was trying to be, her mother had always been on her side.

  Sixteen

  Marsha and April had just finished lunch in the 2nd floor kitchen of the Ruby House. April was downstairs in her office preparing for her meeting with a new client. Marsha was debating with herself what to do with her afternoon. She had work to do, but she was stalling, as she often did. She had so many projects in the works, she didn’t know where to start.

  She was trying to decide what task was the most important and waiting for inspiration to strike, gazing out the front window towards town, when she saw Judith standing at the end of their driveway.

  Well, that’s unexpected, she thought. But lovely. A good way to spend some time this afternoon. Besides, Judith wouldn’t be here if there wasn’t something important going on.

  If it had been summer, Marsha wouldn’t have been able to see Judith. The large maple tree in the front yard would have blocked her view. But now its bare limbs were outlined against the dark sky with a dusting of snow, and it was easy to see into town. It made for a beautiful scene. If she were an artist, she’d paint it.

  Marsha thought that there was something amazing about trees. Especially this one. Sometimes she’d walk to the tree and talk things over with it. Or just hug it, thinking nothing. And somehow the tree always made everything better. It didn’t matter the season. It was always there for her. Actually, it was there for anyone who noticed, and even those who did not.

  Marsha thought her favorite season might be winter, when the tree limbs were bare. Then she could see the entire outline of the tree. Every tree’s structure was similar to its species but unique to itself, depending on what happened as it was growing. Like people, Marsha thought.

  She imagined this tree having been present when the town had only a few people living in what became Spring Falls. Who planted it? Or did it plant itself? What had it seen and experienced? How had that affected what it looked like now?

  Did the tree weep for man’s inhumanity to man? Did it mourn for the cruelty, both intentional and unintentional, that humans did to each other and other beings? Did it despair as it watched the greed that was destroying the world?

  All of those thoughts passed through her mind as she waited for Judith to walk up her driveway, and it didn’t help her mood. She really didn’t want to think about the mess humans were making in the world. She just wanted to teach students how to dance and do theater. What they did with it didn’t matter. She knew that being in those classes opened both their minds and bodies to possibilities. She wanted to help them see the world as a beautiful place. If they took care of it.

  Thank God for Spring Falls, Marsha thought. At least the people here care. She was a huge supporter of the Green Zone. Perhaps Spring Falls could be a beacon of light to other small towns.

  But Judith was standing at the end of their drive. Why was she there? Did it have something to do with Marshall’s death? She and April had heard about it the same way everyone else in Spring Falls had.

  Within hours, they both had received multiple texts. However, the facts were sparse. The conjecture of how and why ran wild. Maybe Judith knew more, and she was coming over to discuss it with them.

  As she watched Judith at the end of the drive, Marsha saw Judith answer her phone, pause, and abruptly turn away. Marsha, a student of body language, didn’t need to see Judith’s red hair flaming to know that something had happened. And she was betting it wasn’t a good thing.

  Maybe I’ll just go back to bed, Marsha thought.

  But then the tree shivered as a gust of wind swept through, and she reminded herself that, like the tree, she was strong and capable, and there was no turning away from whatever was happening.,

  Downstairs in April’s office, April’s client couldn’t stop talking about Marshall’s death. April kept trying to rein him back in, discuss the remodeling of his office building, but he remained distracted by the news.

  Finally, she gave in and asked him if he had known Marshall well.

  “I thought I did,” the client replied. “But lately he seemed more withdrawn.”

  “Was he unhappy?”

  “No, actually, I think he was happier. But over what? I asked him one time, and he just smiled at me and said something inane like, ‘things are going well.”

  “Did you ask him what things?”

  “I did.”

  April could imagine that her client did. He was the curious sort. Very hands on. If they ever got around to remodeling his office, she knew he would be the kind of client who had to know everything. How much did something cost? Why did she use that? So now, she could imagine that he didn’t let Marshall get away with not answering.

  “And, what did he say?”

  “It was the strangest thing. He wouldn’t tell me. Just said I’d find out soon enough.”

  “I don’t imagine that sat well with you.”

  “It didn’t. But what could I do?”

  “And now he’s dead.”

  “And now he’s dead. I’ll never find out what he meant.”

  Of course, he was wrong. They’d all find out why Marshall was happy. And that would be when they realized they never really knew Marshall Ferguson.

  Seventeen

  Convinced that Marshall’s death wasn’t an accident, Booker stepped up the investigation. He sent his team to talk to the neighbors and check nearby security cameras for any useful footage.

  Marshall’s own security system had been disconnected, with its memory wiped clean. Under normal circumstances, this would make no sense, especially if Marshall was just leaving for a vacation. But once the realtor told Booker the house was for sale, he understood. Marshall had no intention of returning to Spring Falls and he wanted nothing left behind.

  Booker wondered if perhaps that was where Marshall’s computer had gone. Perhaps he had sent it on to wherever he was going. But he doubted it. Marshall and his computer were bound at the hip. He’d have it with him whether he was going on a vacation or was leaving town for good. Someone had taken it, and the only reason they would do that was because there was something on the computer that they didn’t want anyone to see.

  While his team fanned out across the neighborhood, Booker planned to approach the Town Council members, the closest semblance of family that Marshall had.

  Margaret picked up immediately. Not bothering to say hello, she blurted out, “I figured I’d hear from you sooner or later.”

  “I thought I would give you a head’s up that I’m headed to your office.”

  “Come ahead, but I’m in Marshall’s office at the Town Hall.”

  “Give me ten.”

  While she waited, Margaret went to the restroom. Washing her hands, she checked herself in the mirror, tilting her head at her reflection, and judged it adequate for the conversation with Booker. She was as put together as she always was, but she had tousled her carefully dyed blond hair just enough to look as if she was in disarray over Marshall’s death.

  She wondered if she should cry a little to redden her eyes, but decided that was overkill, and Booker would never buy it anyway.

  The coffee in the Town Hall was bland, almost tasteless, so Margaret sent her assistant to fetch better quality coffee from a nearby café. As she thought of the many hours she’d be spending in the Town Hall in the future, she toyed with the idea of investing in an espresso machine.

  It would improve not only the quality of the coffee but also the office ambiance. In fact, she had grand plans to revamp the Mayor’s office. These ideas had been brewing for a long time, but now she had the opportunity to implement them. However, she would bide her time until her position as the Mayor was officially announced.