A three AM phone call about a locked room changed everything

step to catch her breath.

Her fingers twisted the silver hoop earring in her left ear, a quick, nervous habit that had stayed with her through the whole long winter.

“The trunk of the sedan is already full, but I can fit this on the back seat,” she said.

I followed her down the gravel path to her car, where the exhaust was still blowing white steam into continue reading …