Chapter One

I lost my shoe as soon as I left the cement path. The mud sucked it off my foot and I stood there, on a raw April day, toes red, trying to balance on one foot. I’d lived in New England all my life and should know the hazards of mud season by now. But, when I opened my purse to take out my keys, the “to do” list I created that morning flew out of my bag and onto the last of the dirty snow. I went to pick it up and ended up shoeless.

Of course, it was my fault for wearing such impractical footwear, but my feet were swollen this morning and these were the first shoes I found that fit. I pulled the silver shoe with the kitten heel out of the mud, took a tissue out of my purse, and smeared the semi-solid dirt all over the outside. Due to years of yoga, I didn’t tumble into the mud, despite the awkwardness of my newly pregnant body. I wasn’t showing yet, but my pants were too tight. When the inside of the shoe looked clean, I slipped it on and continued on my way. Past the Prescott church, the carriage shed, and to the Whitaker-Clary house. My meeting with Grace at the Swift River Valley Historical Society was scheduled for 2 PM and my phone said it was already 2:08. It also said that I had twenty-three unread messages.

            I wasn’t looking forward to the meeting. Some items had gone missing from the historical society, and Grace was the last person to see them. Nothing in the museum was worth over five hundred dollars; we’d had the items professionally appraised just last year. On the other hand, the documents and equipment were irreplaceable. I’d agreed to meet in the unheated farmhouse because Grace had denied the items were not in their usual places. I’d been the archivist here for almost four years. I’d tagged and catalogued and examined everything in the collection. It was highly unlikely I was mistaken.

            I clomped toward the large, white farmhouse that served as the primary exhibit for the museum. To this day, it lacked running water and central heating. A fund drive raised half the amount needed to update the house. It did have electricity and I hoped that Grace had already turned off the alarm system. That alarm system and I had ongoing issues.

            I went to the back of the house and walked up the short flight of stairs leading to the summer kitchen. The door was unlocked. My shoe was leaving tracks on the stairs so I pulled out the entire packet of tissues, wiped off the shoe again, and debated going next door for water. That would make me later still so, putting the cold shoe back on my foot, I pulled open the door and went inside.

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