Next to him stood a tall man in a heavy dark coat.

“For six years I carried that picture around in my head thinking it was a stranger,” I said.

I turned the silver band on my right ring finger.

“I thought Daniel had some secret business with someone from out of town.”

Vance got up and went to the little coat closet beside his desk.

He reached in and took a heavy dark jacket off a brass peg.

“It wasn’t a stranger, Clara,” Vance said.