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tireless, solid and reliable, but he was slowing down.
    She couldn't bear to think about that now and headed outside with him. Across the street on the common, kids and teachers from a local nursery school were building snowmen. Rose could hear their laughter and hoped what she'd seen that morning had been a terrible accident.
    She crossed Elm Street and continued up Main, passing the only flower shop in town, cyclamen and pots of ferns in its window, but her mind was back at the Whittaker estate. She could smell the smoke and see the pieces of glass embedded in what she knew, in her gut, was Derek Cutshaw's burned body.
    There was no question in her mind. The fire hadn't been an accident.
    Derek had been murdered, and his killer could still be in Black Falls.
    By the time she and Ranger reached O'Rourke's, a bar and restaurant whose owner, Liam O'Rourke, was a longtime friend of all three of her brothers, Rose was aware of Nick ambling behind her. He caught up with her as she started up the stone steps to O'Rourke's front door, a couple of big green shamrocks already stuck on the glass ahead of St. Patrick's Day.
    "Pretty town," Nick said as he eased in on her right side. He'd zipped up his coat, his only apparent concession to the cold walk up Main Street. "Did you ever build a snowman on the town common when you were a tot?"
    "Not that I recall, no." Rose cast him a sideways glance. "I've participated in a few snowball fights, though."
    "My fair warning." He glanced out at the quiet street. "A lot of questions were raised back at the cafe."
    She pulled her hand from the door. Ranger sat quietly, expectantly, next to her.
    "Rose, last March, Derek Cutshaw and two of his ski-bum friends got into a fight here at O'Rourke's with the owner's cousin, a local stonemason.
    "Bowie O'Rourke," Nick said.
    "Sean told you the story?"
    "That's right. He, A.J. and Elijah were all in town that night. Derek insulted Hannah and wouldn't leave her alone. His friends joined in, but he was the ringleader. Sean hauled Hannah out of here before she could rip out a few eyeballs. Bowie stayed and ended up getting arrested."
    "He's still on probation," Rose said. "No charges were filed against Derek and his two friends. He hurled most of the insults. He cut close to the bone, even bringing up Hannah's mother, who used to work here before she died, and implying Hannah--well, it doesn't matter now."
    "You weren't here that night."
    Her mouth was dry, her heart beating rapidly. "No, I wasn't."
    She yanked open the door and bolted inside ahead of Nick. Ranger flopped down in a corner. O'Rourke's only did a light lunch business, and she knew Liam wouldn't mind. She climbed onto a high stool at the dark wood bar. Nick stayed on his feet, taking in the scattering of empty tables, the deep red walls and the black-and-white framed photographs of old Black Falls. Tall, broad-shouldered Liam was behind the bar, polishing a glass with a white cloth and regarding Rose with open suspicion, as if she'd brought bad luck.
    She couldn't pretend not to know Nick, and introduced him. "Liam, this is Nick Martini of Cameron & Martini."
    "Yeah, I know," Liam said. "He was with you this morning. I heard. This town's too small for something like that not to get around fast. The dead man's Derek Cutshaw, isn't it?"
    Rose nodded. "I'm almost positive, yes."
    Liam filled the glass he'd been polishing with water from a small stainless-steel sink, then set it in front of her. "He was in here last night."
    "Alone?"
    "Yeah. I haven't seen much of him this winter but I knew he was back in Vermont. He had coffee and a sandwich and left. No alcohol. He's a mean bastard when he drinks." Liam sighed. "Or was, anyway."
    Rose contained any reaction. "Have you seen Bowie yet today?"
    "He's working out at the lake. He'll stop in later."
    If Nick knew what "out at the lake" meant, he kept it to himself. Bowie O'Rourke and Hannah Shay had grown up together in an isolated hollow a few miles