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Hilde laughed. "You just don't want to do this. Can't fool me." She handed her the package. "Good luck. Who knows what Kitty Randolph will talk you into before you get back."

"She always tells me how close she and my mother were and how much I look like my mother and how my mother would love that I'm working on fund-raisers with her now."

"You're just a girl who can't say no," Hilde joked.

"That's probably why I agreed to have dinner at Hud's cabin tonight." She grinned at her friend on her way out.

The highway had been plowed and sanded in the worst areas so the drive to Kitty Randolph's was no problem. It felt good to get out for a while.

Dana hadn't been completely honest, though, with her friend. There was another reason she wanted to see Mrs. Randolph. She wanted to ask her about something she'd heard that morning from one of the customers.

Nancy Harper had come in to buy drapery fabric and had mentioned seeing Stacy last night.

"What time was this?" Dana had asked, trying not to sound too interested and get the gossip mill going.

"Must have been about nine," Nancy said. "She drove past. I saw her brake in front of Kitty Randolph's house." Nancy smiled. "Is your sister helping with the clinic fund-raiser? I knew you were, but I was a little surprised Stacy had volunteered. She's never shown much interest in that sort of thing, not after that one she helped with. And this fund-raiser is going to involve cooking and sewing."

Dana had joined Nancy in a chuckle while cringing inside at everyone's perception of her sister. "You're right, that doesn't sound much like my sister."

"Well, you know Kitty. She can be very persuasive."

"You're sure it was Stacy?" Dana had asked, convinced Nancy had to be mistaken. Stacy had helped with one fund-raiser years ago while she was between husbands. By the end of the event, Stacy wasn't speaking to Kitty. The two had stayed clear of each other ever since from what Dana could tell.

"Oh, it was Stacy, all right," Nancy said. "I didn't see her get out of her car because my view was blocked by the trees. But I saw her behind the wheel and I recognized the way she drives. She really does drive too fast for road conditions." Her smile said it was too bad Stacy wasn't more like Dana.

As Dana drove past Nancy Harper's house and parked in front of the Randolph house, the only other house on the dead-end road, she wondered again why Stacy would have come here last night. If indeed she did.

The double garage doors to Kitty's house were closed and there were no visible windows so she could see if Kitty was home or not. Getting out, she walked up the freshly shoveled steps and rang the doorbell.

No answer. She rang the bell again and thought she heard a thud from inside the house. Her first thought was that the elderly woman had been hurrying to the door and fallen.

"Mrs. Randolph?" she called, and knocked on the door. She tried the knob. The door opened.

Dana had expected to see the poor woman lying on the floor writhing in pain. But she saw no one. "Hello?" she called.

Another thud. This one coming from upstairs.

"Mrs. Randolph?" she called as she climbed the stairs. "Kitty?"

Still no answer.

At the top of the stairs she heard a sound coming from down the hall. A series of small thumps. One of the doors was partially open, the sound coming from inside.

She hurried down the hall, her mind racing as she shoved the door all the way open and stepped inside.

At once, she saw that the room was the master bedroom, large and plush, done in reds and golds.

At first she didn't see Kitty Randolph on the floor in front of the closet.

Dana realized why the woman hadn't heard her calling for her. Kitty Randolph was on her hands and knees, muttering to herself as she dug in the back of the huge closet. One shoe after another came flying out to land behind the woman.

Dana stumbled back, bumping into the door as one shoe almost hit her.

Kitty Randolph froze. Her frightened expression was chilling as she turned and