Jean picked up Maggie after Richard left to take Ryley to school. And of course, Maggie didn’t mention where she was going this morning. She knew he’d stop her. But seeing Dan’s property in daylight from the front passenger seat of Jean’s Ford Escape filled her with an unsettling sense of oddness and dread she hadn’t felt in a long time. The driveway was just as she’d remembered, but instead of pulling into the small house built onto the shop, they drove past it to the next driveway to a large two story house, surrounded by beautiful gardens, rockwork and forest. Angie must have been watching because the front door popped open as soon as Jean pulled in beside a small dodge minivan. The gray van appeared quite worn but still in good shape. Maggie stepped out and looked around half expecting to see Dan or Sandra walk out of his shop—the shop and house she could see through the opening in the crop of trees. “Thanks you guys for coming…”
