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widow’s family kept it for a long time. I think she died here. Peter told me the kids would come up from Alabama for the summer, close the place down for the winter. One day he and Alicia rang the doorbell and made them an offer. That was right after their marriage, a few years before Mary Lee and I met them.”
    “When I was a kid I always thought the people who lived in houses like this had perfect lives,” said Lew.
    “Umm,” said Osborne.
    Lew reached into the back seat for her briefcase, “well … ready?”
    “Not really.”
    They looked at one another, then out at the dark windows of the manor. On the second level, four bedroom windows running along the front of the house appeared to be half open to catch any breezes. At ground level, a series of tall French casement windows, which Osborne knew opened into the front hall and the dining room, had been cranked open, too. But the moon, still hidden behind clouds, did not help illuminate any more details. Not even the corner street lamp with its hazy glow made a difference.
    As they braced themselves to enter the stately home, the night air grew warmer, heavier. Osborne rolled his window down all the way. He reached for the door handle, then paused.
    “Listen …,” he said. “I hear music …”
    “Odd this time of night,” said Lew, rolling down her window. “I do, too. Tony Bennett. ‘I Left My Heart In San Francisco.’ Is it coming from the Rodericks’?”
    “I can’t tell,” Osborne strained to listen.
    Lew cleared her throat gently. “Doc, you know Alicia, right?”
    “She was a close friend of my wife’s,” said Osborne. “I know her husband better.”
    “Would you mind telling them?”
    “Well … okay.” Osborne didn’t move. He felt his shoulders slump slightly.
    “Doc … if you don’t want to …”
    “No, no, that’s all right.” Osborne still didn’t move, “… Jeez, y’know, Lew, I just remembered something. This won’t be the first time they’ve gotten news like this. Their only child, their son, committed suicide.”
    “Oh …,” said Lew. “Recently?”
    “A good ten years ago. He had just finished med school and started his internship. It was a real shock. Mary Lee came over that day to help out…,” Osborne shook his head, “I forgot all about that until just now.”
    “I assume you weren’t the one to deliver
that
news …”
    “No, fortunately …” Osborne sighed and braced himself. “All right, Lew, I’m ready.” He stepped into the night, closing the car door behind him. The faint strain of music could no longer be heard. A flagstone walkway led up to an imposing front door.
    “Remind me to tell you about this door later,” muttered Osborne as he reached to press the doorbell.
    A massive slab of dark wood, it was adorned with a single square of leaded glass into which was etched a delicate design of a fairy princess. The door had been shipped from England right after Peter and Alicia moved in, a non-negotiable “surprise” purchase that Alicia had made in spite of her husband’s horror at the price. The door and Peter’s inability to reverse his wife’s decision had been the talk of Loon Lake husbands for years.
    Osborne pressed the doorbell and listened to the chimes pealing in the distance. Though at least three years had passed since he’d been to this house, the musical notes instantly reminded him of the time, nearly thirty years ago, when he first met Alicia. He met Peter then, too, but it was Alicia who left the indelible first impression.
    Their lives had first intersected at a dinner party hosted by the couple about two years after the Osbornes had moved to Loon Lake. For Osborne’s wife, the invitation to that dinner party had been like winning the lottery. It meant she’d been chosen.
    Alicia and Mary Lee were introduced at a bridge club luncheon, when Mary Lee was asked to substitute for a regular. While Mary Lee recognized immediately that Alicia was a woman she dearly