Chapter 5I was in the bathroom, showering after a freezing afternoon outside trying to trim back some maple tree branches that had snapped from too much snow in the night. Dad’s chainsaw didn’t start, and Jerry didn’t have one, so we’d had to resort to handsaws and a hatchet Jerry found in his barn to try and get them down before they went through a window. My fingers were numb by the time we were done, so Jerry volunteered to put on coffee while I went upstairs and warmed up in a steaming shower.
The knock at the door startled me as I was lathering up. “Yeah?”
Jerry opened it a few inches so he could be heard without coming in. “Your phone’s ringing. Unidentified caller.”
“Answer it, will you? I’ll be right out.”
As I ducked under the spray to rinse off, Jerry’s calm voice ebbed into
