A widowed businessman returns early to his quiet mansion, ready to confront the housekeeper, but what he sees changes everything

afterward. The gardens had been her project — she was the one with opinions about perennials and sight lines and the precise shade of the climbing roses along the south wall. He had mostly stayed out of it and admired the results.

The garden was where he heard it.

He was walking toward the front door when the sound reached him — coming from the side continue reading …