Broker jumped in his truck, fought his way through the congested downtown traffic, drove past the festive streetlights hung with wreaths and Christmas decorations, half heard the carols piped from the busy storefronts. He drove up the North Hill, and when he wheeled into the deserted parking circle in front of the one-story school building, Kit was waiting at the front door with a teacher’s aide.

“Hey. Where’s Mom?” she asked, as she hopped in the backseat of the extended cab. Tallish, broad-shouldered, narrow-hipped, and cougar-cub lean at eight years old, she’d learned to be a stickler about punctuality. From her mother. She also had Nina’s hair, freckles, and deep green eyes.

“Let’s go find out,” Broker said as he drove home faster than usual. He’d purchased the house on North Third as an investment; a large white duplex on the bluff overlooking the river. His address of record remained the Broker’s Beach Resort in Devil’s Rock, north of Grand Marais, on the Lake Superior shore. The needs of his reconstituted family had obliged him to migrate from the remote north woods. Nina insisted on dance lessons, piano, and most of all, access to a fifty-meter pool; her daughter would be a competitive swimmer.

Like her mom.

Broker pulled up the long driveway and parked his truck in back of a rusted Honda Civic. A square, powerfully built man with a graying ponytail and a Pistol Pete mustache squatted behind the car, replacing the license tabs. As Broker and Kit got out of the truck, Kit called to the guy, “Dooley, you seen Mom?”

Dooley stood up and shook his head. Kit jogged toward the back door. Following her, Broker yelled over his shoulder to Dooley, “Could you take the tree outa the truck, strip the plastic sleeve, and lean it against the garage?”

Dooley nodded and headed for the truck. He was a steady excon who’d helped Broker out of a few jams back when Broker was in law enforcement. Broker gave him an efficiency apartment in exchange for yard work, maintenance, and general watchdog duties. He was a good man to have around, except for his tendency to talk up born-again Christianity to Kit…