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he said, adding with a small smile, “Jo.” He opened the front door for her and stepped back. “And Mrs. Holt is Warren Kunkle’s niece.”

    “Oh,” Jo said, as the door closed behind her.

    Jo left the Holt property with some difficulty, maneuvering her Toyota past the clusters of vehicles clogging the drive, grateful that the simplicity of the Holt’s landscaping allowed her to veer onto the hard, snow-dusted ground as needed. Once back on the street, she sighed with relief, glad to pull away from the flashing lights and crackling radios, wondering how those whose job it was to regularly function under such conditions could bear it. The lieutenant seemed as calm and in control as he always had, which in the past had often been maddening but tonight felt comforting. It brought back memories of how Mike had been able to soothe her far simpler worries with his usual reasonableness.

    Carrie’s worries, however, Jo quickly reminded herself, were not so simple, and she gave her friend a call before heading over to her place. Carrie was waiting at the door as Jo pulled up.

    “Charlie’s sound asleep on his pain medication in the family room, and Amanda’s finishing her homework upstairs,” Carrie said. “You probably haven’t had any dinner yet, right? Come on back. I’ve been keeping a pot of stew warm on the stove.”

    Jo peeled off her jacket and gloves as they walked through Carrie’s work-in-progress living room whose sparse sheet-covered furniture shared space with paint cans and tools. Never waiting on ceremony in her long-time friend’s home, she deposited her things on a chair before entering the warm, welcoming kitchen. Carrie lifted the lid on a large pot and stirred at its contents, releasing aromas that set Jo’s mouth to watering. As she dished out the stew, Carrie peppered Jo with questions, most of which Jo was unable to answer.

    “I’m sorry, Carrie. Lieutenant Morgan was playing it very close to the vest. All I managed to learn from him is that Parker Holt’s wife is the niece of Mayor Kunkle. I saw Kunkle arrive while I was waiting.”

    “That’s right. I’d forgotten she was his niece.” Carrie set Jo’s steaming bowl in front of her on a bright placemat. She frowned. “I wonder what his coming there means to all this.”

    “Probably nothing,” Jo said, tucking into her food. “I’m sure he was simply there to offer support and comfort to his niece. She apparently wasn’t home when this all happened. I saw a woman who I presume was her arrive shortly after Kunkle did.”

    Jo speared a gravy-soaked potato chunk, then asked, “Did you talk with Sylvia? How is she?”

    “She’s nervous, doesn’t like the idea of Xavier being questioned by police, even though I assured her it was just routine, that they had to talk to everybody with any connection to the situation at the house so that they can write up all the proper reports.” Carrie’s brave tone faltered as she sat down across from Jo. “But I just don’t understand what’s taking so long. Dan’s been there over two hours now. What could he have to tell them that would take more than five minutes?”

    “Carrie.” Jo set down her fork to reach for her friend’s hand. “He’s probably waiting all this time for them to get around to him. All things official, by definition, move at glacier speed.”

    “I know, I know. I’m just so afraid that if it somehow reflects badly on Dan’s work, it could damage his business. What if they say he must have left something on the stairs, an extension cord stretched across it, or something? And that’s the reason Parker Holt tumbled down them?”

    “They won’t, because Dan would never do that. And he would double-check to make sure Xavier didn’t either.”

    “Then why call Xavier over there at all?”

    Jo frowned. “I don’t know. And Morgan brought up Xavier in his questions to me, which struck me as odd. Something about whether Xavier knew that I was