Weak sunlight attempted to warm the still-frigid air the next morning. Harriet stood, her upper body bent into the open door of the tool cabinet in her garage.
“I know my uncle had a tree saw,” she said over her shoulder to James, who was at the back of the car winding a coil of rope.
“I’m sure they’ll have saws at the u-cut place,” he told her as she continued to rummage around.
She straightened finally, a worn bow saw in her hand.
“This one will cut through our Christmas tree trunk like butter.”
James put his rope in the back of the car and took the saw.
“Wow, that one has cut a few trees.” He turned it from side to side. “The paint is almost completely gone from the handle.”
“Uncle Hank changed the saw blade regularly, and he taught me how to do it. I put a new one in last year, so it should be sharp.”
James smiled and pulled her into his arms.
“You’ve gotta love a girl with a sharp saw,” he said and kissed her.
“Let’s go see if Luke’s had any luck wrestling the dogs into their coats,” Harriet said, and headed for the kitchen door.
Scooter was running from the stairs, across the kitchen to the studio door, and back again, barking the whole time; Cyrano sat at Luke’s feet, his quilted Christmas coat strapped around his long body, a look of disgust on his face.
“How’s it going in here,” James asked with a laugh.
“Cyrano was fine, but Scooter is being a little jerk.”
Harriet tried not to laugh, without much success. She opened the dogs’ treat jar and held it out to Luke.
“Try a little bribery,” she suggested.
He took a dog biscuit and held it out for the little dog and, when Scooter was in reach, grabbed him with one hand while giving him the treat with the other. Scooter sat down beside Cyrano, looking more miserable than his buddy if, that were possible.
James pulled his phone out of his pocket.
“We’ve got to get a picture of this.”
Harriet folded her arms across her chest.
“They might not like their new coats while we’re in the kitchen, but they’re going to appreciate the wool batting I quilted into them when they get to the tree farm.”
Luke shook his head.
“I’ll have to see it to believe it.”
James took Harriet by the hand and positioned her next to Luke, then picked the dogs up, handing Scooter to Harriet and Cyrano to Luke. He stood between the two of them and held his phone out in front of them.
“Okay, let’s get a family picture to document the start of our adventure.”
Luke and James started down one row of trees at the farm while Harriet walked down the next row over, looking at the same trees from the opposite side.
“Watch where you’re going,” a familiar voice said. Lauren was standing in the same row as Harriet, one tree away.
“Fancy meeting you here,” Harriet said with a smile. She held a dog leash in each hand; the dogs were out of sight under the lowest branches of the tree in front of her.
“My parents sent Les and I out to find them a tree, or I wouldn’t be here. I have a very nice potted Norfolk Island pine tree that doubles as a Christmas tree for my house.”
Lauren’s twin brother Les joined them when he realized Lauren had stopped.
“Hi, Les, Merry Christmas,” Harriet said.
“Hi, Harriet. Are you having any luck finding a tree?”
“I’m letting James and Luke do most of the searching. I’m just making sure whatever they find doesn’t have a flat spot on this side.”
“Our parents want a Noble fir, and my mom has a specific spacing between whorls of branches in mind,” Les sighed. “This is our third tree farm.”
Lauren sighed, sounding just like her brother; and Harriet once again noticed how much they looked alike, especially with their hair tucked up in knitted caps. They were, of course, fraternal twins, but with the exception of Les’s pale facial hair, they looked identical. She had to force herself not to stare.
“We ran into Morse at the coffee shop on our way here,” Lauren said, “and she said they haven’t positively identified the body you and Luke found in the river yesterday, but they’re pretty sure it’s Valery Melnyk. The face and hands are too damaged, so they’re going to have to do DNA testing, but the clothes and wallet say it’s him.”
The tree in front of Harriet shook.
“No, this side isn’t good,” she called to James and Luke. She stepped down the row a couple of trees, pulling her little charges with her. Lauren moved with her while Les went back to checking trees on the opposite side of the row.
“I wonder what happened?” Harriet finally said.
Lauren shuddered.
“I wonder if its connected to Daniel’s death,” Harriet continued.
“Hard to imagine how, although I guess we don’t know either of them well enough to know.”
“They could be friends or even lovers or have business dealings…”
“Or they could run Foggy Point’s drug cartel,” Lauren added, getting into the spirit. “But let’s get real. The most likely scenario is either a psychopath picking random victims or their deaths are unrelated. I mean, I don’t think they’ve even determined that anyone killed Valery. He could have fallen in the river.”
Harriet raised an eyebrow.
“Seriously?”
Lauren chuckled.
“I guess not. Not very many people walk along the river in this weather.”
A tree started shaking to Harriet’s left. She examined the foliage on her side of the tree.
“This one looks good,” she called.
“You realize the people in this row don’t know James and Luke are on the other side. To them it looks like you’re talking to a tree.”
Harriet looked around her and did notice an older couple staring at her. She smiled and turned back to her tree.
“Do you have time to take a few pictures of James, Luke, and I cutting the tree?”
Lauren looked at Les across the aisle.
“Sure, we’re good. I’m pretty sure we’re going to have to go up in the hills to find what my mom wants, in any case.”
Harriet reeled the dogs in, and they walked down the aisle to the opening between rows.
James held the saw against the trunk of their chosen tree, and Luke crouched on the opposite side of the tree pulling the trunk toward him. Harriet was behind Luke, holding the dogs, one in each arm.
“If we don’t stop with the picture-taking it’s going to be the new year before we get this tree home,” James said through his fake smile.
Harriet set the dogs down.
“Okay, fine, go ahead and cut.”
Lauren scrolled through the pictures on her phone.
“We do have twenty-some pictures to choose from.”
Harriet went to check for herself, or she would have seen Aiden approaching.
“Getting a tree with the little family, I see,” he said, stopping in front of her. He spread his arms out. “And here we are at the same farm where we got our first Christmas tree together. Is this where you bring all your boyfriends on your first Christmas tree date?” His voice grew louder as he spoke. “Oh, wait, I should have said husband. You two skipped right over the boyfriend stage.”
“Aiden, please, can we not do this now?”
James and Luke had started to carry the tree back toward the parking area, but James set his end of the tree down and rejoined Harriet when he heard Aiden’s voice.
“Is there a problem here?” he asked, looking from Aiden to Harriet and then Lauren.
Lauren looped her arm through Aiden’s.
“Aiden was saying hello, but he’s going to find his tree now, aren’t you Aiden?”
Les came over and stood on Aiden’s other side.
“Come on, man, you’re starting to draw a crowd.”
Several groups of tree hunters had stopped what they were doing and were watching the drama. Aiden started to say something, but apparently thought better of it. Finally, he shook his head and stomped down the aisle in the opposite direction from the parking area. Lauren followed him for a few yards to be sure he wasn’t going to come back and then returned.
“Boy, he’s a stubborn one.”
“That’s one way of putting it.”
James stood behind Harriet and put a hand on each of her shoulders.
“And we get to have Christmas dinner with him at Jorge’s,” he said with a grin.
Lauren laughed.
“Sounds like fun.”
Luke waved at them.
“Everything okay?” he called to Harriet and James.
“Be right there,” James called back.
Lauren tapped the face of her phone.
“I sent the pictures to your phone.” She paused for a moment then looked at Harriet. “You’re going to have to do something if he keeps this up.”
“Didn’t you say Jorge was like a father figure to him?” James asked Harriet.
She nodded thoughtfully.
“Maybe it’s time we talked to him. I mean, we could try talking to Aiden, but that’s what he wants. He wants to stay connected. Assuming Jorge agrees that he needs to back off, he’s probably the only one who can convince him.”
Lauren dropped her phone back into her messenger bag.
“My work here is done. And I need to go light a fire under Les.”
“Thanks for taking our pictures,” Harriet told her.
“Go enjoy your family,” Lauren said and left to find her brother.