Bennett anyway,” Sadie said quietly, nibbling a tiny bite of her cinnamon roll.

“She put it in her sideboard.”

Trevor shoved his chair back from the table and got up, tugging his sweater sleeve down over his watch.

“Val, come out on the back patio with me for a minute,” he said.

“I want to check the gas valve on the outdoor heater before the next freeze comes through.”

At nine fifteen I followed him through the sliding glass door onto the concrete back patio.

The morning air was dry and biting, carrying the smell of woodsmoke from a chimney on the far side of the frozen lawn.