Adventures in Winter Driving — Kari Anne Kilgore

The Oddest of JobsMore than the usual number of unusual people call Maple Ridge home.Carol Sanderson and her boyfriend Sid Rutherford work for the most eccentric of them all.They know to expect anything when decorating the most mysterious house in town.Except for what they discover on a snowy December night.A Storms of Future Past Story Originally published in Mystery, Crime, and Mayhem: Crime in the CountrysideAlso available in the collection Shadows Mountain Deep An excerpt from Adventures in Winter Driving:Watching Out for the Wrong Trouble What's got you spooked? Sid said. You're watching the trees like something's going to jump out after us.Carol shoved him with a playful elbow.It's not what might jump out of the trees. It's the trees themselves. Some of those old pines are huge, you know? They'd be tough to clear if even one of them fell.Sid looked more closely, shaking his head.Like most kids who grew up in Maple Ridge, they'd both spent time working either at the Maple Barn or out in the ring of trees that kept it supplied.Understanding what kept a tree healthy and in good shape was pretty much hardwired by the time they graduated high school.They've stood there a long time, haven't they? he said. Good thing it's not supposed to snow too much tonight.