It was cold and cloudy that Saturday morning in late November. Although it had not snowed for a week, a few remnants of snow remained in the shadows on the north sides of the houses along Hawthorne Drive. Neither rain nor snow had been in the morning's forecast, but a swiftly moving layer of low gray clouds threatened to make the weatherman a liar.

An old white minivan drove past the Hawthorne House. It slowed and stopped before turning around to park in front of the Victorian ...