Mel grinned. "That would probably surprise Paul Nowack to learn, being as he doesn't even know me."

"But he knows of you. And for the sake of this trip, you count as part of my family."

"I'm just a humble cop—"

"Hardly humble," Jane muttered.

"— not a high-stakes real estate entrepreneur, but it seems to me that this place is likely to be a real hellhole if somebody's willing to go to all that trouble and expense to unload it."

"Oh, no. I saw the brochures. It's a fantastic place. But there is something—"

Mel's eyes widened in alarm. "Oh?"

"Well, it seems it's a ski resort without a mountain. That's what Shelley said."

"Without a mountain? Jane, even in the dark I can tell we're surrounded by mountains. They're great hulking things with pointy tops and thousands of tons of snow poised to avalanche down on us. You can hardly miss them."

"This resort's in the mountains, it just doesn't have one of its very own. But it has everything else you'd want for a vacation, they say. That was the point in inviting both our families. To show off all the fun stuff you can do at this resort."

"Except ski."

"Right. And you can ski, Shelley says. Just not right there. You take a shuttle bus that runs every fifteen minutes to a place just two miles down the road that's supposed to have terrific skiing."

Mel was unconvinced. "And we're not even staying together. You and I, I mean."

"I told you, Shelley has to entertain these investors in the condo she's been given and couldn't have all the kids underfoot. And there's no way either of us would trust the kids to stay alone."