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to call if I remembered anything. This is Stella Crown.”
    He breathed in sharply. “I’ll relay the information to her and have her call you. Can I have your number, please?”
    I gave it to him, and he promised to get a hold of the detective right away. I hung up and stood at my office window, pondering the drifts. Time to get to work if Doug, our milk hauler, would be able to do his job.
    The office door opened, and I turned to find Nick staring at some photos I’d hung.
    “You’ve done some decorating,” he said. “Your folks?”
    “The first one. My mom and dad.”
    “And you. Look how cute you were. Two years old?”
    “Three.”
    He nodded. “So it wasn’t long after that, then, that your father died.”
    “Right.”
    “How old were you in this one?”
    The second picture showed my mom, Howie, and me, leaning against a fence.
    “About ten.”
    We didn’t say anything as we looked at the last picture. My birthday party, the same day I met Nick. Howie and I sat at a picnic table, happy and comfortable with each other. I turned away, glancing at my wrist, where Howie’s name at least partly commemorated him. I tugged my sleeve over it, hiding it from view.
    “So what now?” Nick asked.
    “Time to clear out the snow.”
    I pulled my stocking cap back on and we went out to the tractor barn, where I had readied the tractor when I’d heard the storm was coming. I pointed Nick toward the snowblower.
    “See if you can clear paths to the house and barn so we’re not fighting through it all day. I’ll start with the drive.”
    “You got it.”
    I found Lucy checking water pipes on the far side of the barn.
    “Luce, I’m going on the tractor. If you hear the phone, give me a holler. I’m expecting to hear from the detective.”
    She eyed me, pursing her lips, but didn’t ask anything. “No problem.”
    For the next hour or so Nick and I worked, creating huge piles of snow, clearing enough space so our milk could be taken. Since milk can only remain in the tank forty-eight hours and Doug hadn’t been to our place since the day before last, he had to have access today, or we’d be screwed. I was thankful the snow hadn’t had a chance to melt and freeze, or the tractor would’ve had a terrible time pushing it out of the way. I’d just hopped down from the tractor to give Nick more instructions when Lucy found us.
    “What?” I said. “Phone?”
    “Nope. Auger’s frozen.”
    “Oh, shit. All right.”
    “What?” Nick asked.
    I pointed toward the back of the barn. “It’s how we move grain from one place to another. We gotta thaw it out or we’ll be shoveling feed ourselves.”
    “We might end up doing that, too,” Lucy said. “The silage is starting to freeze to the walls and the unloader.”
    I sighed. “Why don’t you start hacking away at that. Nick and I will work on the auger.”
    “I’m on it.”
    Nick followed me into the barn and I handed him a hair dryer.
    He laughed. “What’s this?”
    “Our un-freezer. Come on.”
    An extra-long extension cord later, Nick was standing with the blow-dryer in his hand, pointing it toward the frozen mechanism on the auger. I got to work trekking in and out of the barn with hot water, attempting to hurry along the melting process where ice had locked up the gears. When the auger finally began to move, Nick cheered.
    “Nice work,” I said.
    He smiled, and I couldn’t help but smile back. “Ready for some more?”
    “Lead on, oh fearless leader.”
    I didn’t know about fearless. But at least working was better than thinking.

Chapter Six
    We were loading newspaper into the shredder when a car pulled into the lane. Queenie bounded out to check on it, and I straightened up.
    “Friend?” Nick asked.
    I shook my head. “Don’t know the car.”
    A woman stepped out of the white Caprice Classic, bundled in a knee-length coat, her head and face covered with a scarf.
    I went to the doorway of the barn. “Help you?” I called.
    She looked