The tall blonde walked over to the oak bookshelf in the den and picked up an old, well-used book.
"Hmm," she mused, examining the cover. "What would Nancy Drew do?" Kiara jumped, startled, when Rochester barked, as if in reply to her query. "You're right, boy," she said decisively. "Let's go investigate!" The dog leapt to her side, nearly knocking the door down in excitement. "Now Rochester," she scolded him with a British accent and an air of affectedness, "we must retain possession of our sangfroid if we are to be detectives." She laughed and patted his downy dome. "It's scary how much I sound like Mother sometimes, isn't it?" As she pulled the door closed and locked it, Kiara glanced quickly over her shoulder into the frigid, snow-flaked forest behind her home. Something appeared amiss, but it was just beyond the borders of her cognizance. "Everything in situ, and yet… not," she muttered before crunching through the partially packed snow near her back door. The dog and his mistress traipsed through the white woods, pausing every now and again to peer at some animal's spoor or to investigate a smoky shadow.
When the pair finally reached the lake, Kiara looked about and sighed.
"Nothing, "Ro", we've seen absolutely nothing," she murmured dismally. "I guess that that's a good thing, though. I mean, if we did happen to spot a clue or two, then Mother would have a satisfactory reason to bring us back to Denver, for our own "safety". I suppose we can at least enjoy the sunset while we're here, eh, old boy?" She wiped off a snowy bench and sat down, the faithful retriever at her feet. For a few minutes, the two simply sat in silence, gazing at the colored sky above the tarn. The stillness was broken, however, by a misty figure rounding Duncan's Point. "The boat!" Kiara hissed as she rose rapidly, "It's back!" She watched as it pulled into a small inlet near her neighbor's dock. "That's not Reggie's boat…" she observed tensely. She and Rochester quickly made their way back to the house, thoughts of a murderous kidnapper filling the head of the human.