Chapter One

The snow was starting to come down really hard. The map said that the road to the cabin was right around the corner, but what did Mapquest know about driving in the mountains in the snow?

“Go ski, drink hot chocolate by the fire, read a book…just get the hell out of town.” Max her boss had told her.

Lexie had been working on her book for over a month and she was blocked. She never got blocked, but after the breakup with her now ex-boyfriend, she couldn’t even put three words of love together without bursting out in tears.

“My wife’s family friend owns a cabin up in the Adirondacks.” He held the key in his hand when he had made the suggestion.

So here she was, alone but the pet cage in the backseat, heading down mountain roads. As she got to the next exit she slowed down. Did that sign say Shasta Road, she put on her blinker and made the right turn up the incline. Thank God she had borrowed her bosses Jeep, the road was turning slick.

“Where the hell was my mind when I agreed to head up here Snowball?” She asked the pet carrier in the back seat.

Slowing down she made the right turn into the driveway. Her headlights reflected off the gate. Reaching over to her briefcase she pulled out the slip of paper with the gate code on it.

“Shit!” She cursed when the cold icy air hit her face. Reaching out to the key pad she punched in the code. Slowly, due to the mounded snow the gate opened. Rolling up the window, she slowly edged the Jeep through the opening and headed up the driveway.

“Okay Snowball, were almost there,” Hearing a whimper from the carrier. She nearly drove the Jeep into a snow bank when the cabin came into view. “Cabin hell, this isn’t a cabin…it’s a chalet.” She stopped and pulled out the garage opener and pressed the button. The front door of a four-car garage opened she drove in.

When she got back she was going to give Max a piece of her mind. This didn’t belong to a family friend of his wife; he had to have rented this just for her. Turning off the Jeep she turned to the carrier.

“Well Snowball, home sweet home for the next three weeks.” She opened the door, the garage was ice cold. Quickly she got the car unloaded and then went to open the pet carrier. Nothing happened when the little door opened. “Come on Snow, I’ll open a can of your favorite food if you’ll come out.”

She tried to coax the small animal out of the carrier. Leaving it sitting on the floor of the kitchen, she went about unloading the eco-shopping bags she had brought from her SoHo apartment. Still in her snowsuit and boots she filled the cupboards and the industrial fridge. Once that was done she opened the small rolling suitcase and started taking out Snowballs dish and water bowl. Once that was sat on the floor filled with minced steak from last night’s dinner and fresh water, she noticed a little pink nose poking out of the carrier. Shaking her head she walked past the carrier and headed into what she was told was the living room. Reaching for the door, she bumped her boot on the carrier and a small fuzzy white dog ran to the bowls and started to eat.

Continuing into the living room, she walked to the thermostat and turned the heat on. Looking around the white on white room she drew in her breath, it was beautiful. Crossing the white carpet she headed to the stairs. Once she had a look around, she would bring in her suitcase and unpack. There were four bedrooms and two baths. Picking the room with the in-suite bathroom, she went back down stairs to the kitchen. Snowball would need to go out to do her business.

“Good girl, lets go do our business and then figure out how to start a fire.” She grabbed her keys and went into the garage.

Finding a snow shovel, she went out to the front of the cabin and started shoveling a path to the nearest tree. Snowball stood in the driveway and watched her clear a path to her bathroom. Whimpering and scampering along the frozen grass she made a beeline to the tree and quickly got her business done, and scampered back to the driveway.

“Okay, now that’s done let’s get in and get warm.” Lexie followed the little white dog back into the garage.

When she had moved into her apartment she noticed the lease said she could have a small pet. The landlord told her about a boutique dog store, but instead, she had gotten directions to the local humane center. Walking along looking into the pens she noticed a small white ball of fur. That was her dog! Quickly filling out all the adoption papers, she finally brought the little dog home. Along the way it had started to snow and the little dog sitting on her lap began to bark at the falling snow hitting her windshield.

“Okay Snowball, big ferocious killer that you are…” Then it hit her she had just named her dog…Snowball.

Once the mandatory stop at the boutique dog store, she bought a carrier, bowls, food, puppy pads, and the cutest dog sweater in the shop. Tucking the dog into her coat, she carried in the bags, and brought the dog into her new home.

Drying her off she watched Snowball walk into the white living room and curl up on the beach towel Lexie had brought. Making a little den for herself she looked up at Lexie and began to whimper again.

“Okay, I get the hint.” Lexie said as she read the directions that were sent along with the map the cabin. Making sure the damper was open, she put the logs in the grate and rolls of old newspaper. Finding the matches in the box on the mantle, she started the fire. Replacing the screen in front of the fire, she moved to the windows and looked out at the dark cold landscape. Softly falling snow fell along the path to the tree, good thing she had brought the puppy pads, if this kept up she would be cleaning the little path the whole three weeks.

Slowly turning back around she looked about the spacious living room. She noticed the 52 inch flat screen TV over the fireplace mantle, state of the art stereo system, game console, and a huge mahogany desk. So this is how the rich live, she thought. Max had told her once this third installment of the detective series, she would have enough money to buy her own vacation home. She had automatically pictured herself sitting on a private beach on an island somewhere. Now looking at this place, she could see herself here along with Snowball and where did those children come from? Shaking her head she left Snowball curled up in front of the fire and went up to her bedroom to unpack and change into her pj’s.