CHAPTER 1
Four years later.
Melinda glanced at the thermometer hanging outside her front window and shivered. Only October and it was already freezing. Well, fifty degrees anyway. That sure feels cold. I'd rather go back to bed. “Come on, Mindy, move your butt,” she said aloud. “If you don't get any exercise, you're going to look like a beluga again in no time. Besides, the pretty leaves are almost gone.”
Pulling on her sneakers, lined hoodie, and gloves, she stepped out onto the porch and locked the door, hanging her key around her neck on a purple lanyard. Before heading out for her habitual hour-long stroll around the neighborhood, she took a moment to regard at her home. One story with red brick up to a black roof. White shutters on the windows. Lilac bushes, now long since dormant,
