Page 263 of Rangers Last Promise

The words come through Sheriff Tate’s radio.

Nobody moves.

Nobody speaks.

For fifteen years, twenty-three men have been missing.

Now they’re beneath McKinley pasture.

Less than half a mile from the house where Mara grew up.

Tate grabs his keys.

“Lieutenant Ross, secure the box and everything inside it. Nobody opens that third envelope until I get back.”

“I’m coming with you,” Mara says.

“No.”

She reaches for her jacket.

“I wasn’t asking.”

Tate points at the shattered front window.

“Vance just fired into this station.”

“And now twenty-three bodies have been found on property he owned.”

“Which means he may still be out there.”

“That’s why I carry a gun.”

I take her arm.

“She stays with me.”

Mara looks at my hand.

Then at me.

“You say that like I’m luggage.”

“I say it like Vance threatened to kill me to get you to bring him the box.”

“He shot at the box.”

“He shot through a sheriff’s-station window.”

“And you’re planning to go without me.”

“Yes.”

“No.”

Sheriff Tate makes a frustrated sound.

“I am begging both of you to stop.”