She smiled with immense satisfaction as she placed the shimmering butcher knife in the kitchen drawer. She had just finished wiping every single blade down and placing them each from largest to smallest, all at least a half an inch apart, in the upper kitchen drawer. There wasn’t a speck of dust or smidgen of filth tainting the sparkling silver of the sharp cool steel.

Shutting the drawer without a sound, she walked quietly out of the kitchen and into the living room. It was almost twice as large as the kitchen which made it quite spacious. Always polished wooden floors made up every room in the downstairs area of the cabin as well as the upstairs. The staircase was quite the masterpiece in itself with its gleaming cherry oak banister and glossy steps. She was always so proud of that staircase.

The staircase led to a balcony hallway with the view of the grand living room and the crisscrossing beams above. Upstairs was where the guest bedrooms sat quietly, waiting for the next friendly stranger to make use of them. They were, of course, flawless in décor and sanitation as well. She made a habit to clean them as frequently as possible since she never really knew when they would be used.

The master bedroom was downstairs in one of the many doors that bordered the back wall of the living room. Only she was every allowed in there.

Heaving a satisfactory sigh, she walked over to her white curved sectional sofa and seated herself. She turned the volume up on the local news channel and smoothed the creases away in her jeans.

An hour ticked by and she was now barely listening to the monotonous voices reading about seemingly important news. Instead she was reading a new murder mystery book she purchased at the local bookstore. Quite content in reading her favorite genre, she almost didn’t hear the sudden change in the news topic. Her ears pricked up and her blue eyes peered through her eyelashes.

“In other news, the search for the missing Swanson family has been called off today. For approximately three months, the unknown whereabouts of the family of four has not been located. Reports from close friends and family say that Dan and Kristie were taking their two children on a short vacation from their home here in Valdez, Alaska to a relative’s house in northern Idaho. They never arrived to there awaited destination. No further sightings have been spotted of the family nor their vehicle,” the female correspondent reported glumly.

The television screen flashed to a candlelit memorial with a close up of a picture of the missing family. The male co-correspondent added, “How unfortunate. Our thoughts and prayers are with the family and friends.”

She pursed her lips in an adequate manner. She was pleased that she covered her tracks well. She always did of course.

“On a lighter note, we have some horrible weather coming our way, don’t we Meredith?”

“We sure do, Stuart. A blizzard should be passing through later tonight. If you look outside your window right now, you can already see the falling snow and wind picking up. It’s going to be some storm…”

She tuned out the voices mesmerized by the fact that there was going to be a blizzard tonight. She already knew there was going to be one as it was surely obvious, but hearing it confirmed only made her all the more giddy.

It’s the perfect time, she thought. She shut the book and placed it neatly on the coffee table. Grabbing her black winter pea coat, she raced out the door to her black pick up truck. Everything was in tucked securely under the tarp in the back of the vehicle.

There was work to be done to the small back road heading out of the town of Valdez, and she only had so much time before someone came along.