Esmerelda Sleuth: Beyond the Portal (Book 3) - AI interactive story

A thin layer of powdery snow blanketed the ground, covering an icy crust that had formed hours earlier. The frozen moisture on the trees made them glassy, almost magical. Virginia was in the grip of one of its worst recorded snowstorms, and it was still coming down.

I stomped the snow from my boots, setting them on the boot tray before slipping into my office loafers. As I opened the door to shake my jacket, Nora's voice cut through the cold.

"You're fighting a losing battle," she said, snuggled under an afghan in a winged-back chair. She’d strategically placed it in front of the infrared fireplace, a necessary addition to the mansion's outdated furnace. Opposite her, a similar empty chair beckoned.

"Close the door, will you? Even with this heater, I can’t get warm. I never thought about the furnace being old."

I quickly shut out the cold, hanging my down-filled jacket on the antique brass coat tree. "We haven’t had a winter like this since you and I moved here. Why would you think about the need for this much heat? If the winter was milder, that furnace would have been sufficient."