Chapter One

      Alice watched the leather-bound volume of Keats skitter off the counter and slide across the library floor. “I beg your pardon, what did you say?”

      The young deputy’s face looked somber. “The sheriff wants to see you, Miss Alice,” he puffed. “Wants you to come over to his office right away. Said it was real important.”

      What on earth could be so important that Sheriff Rivera would send his deputy to summon her in the middle of her peaceful October afternoon at the Smoke River library?

      “Sandy, did he say why he wants to see me?”

      “No, ma’am. Just said for me to get the lead—uh...to hurry and not take no for an answer.”

      Alice retrieved her wide-brimmed sun hat and her beaded reticule, locked the library door and followed the deputy down Main Street to Sheriff Rivera’s office. When she entered, the lawman shifted his feet off the desk and jackknifed to attention.

      “Miss Alice, good morning.” He wasn’t smiling, and that made her uneasy. Hawk Rivera smiled at all the girls. Or, to be more accurate, all the girls smiled at him.

      “What have I done, Sheriff?”

      “Alice, I want to introduce you to US Marshal Randell Logan. He’s brought some news you need to hear. It’s about your sister, Dorothy.”

      For the first time she noticed the tall, lean man standing in one corner of the small sheriff’s office next to a bulletin