Chapter One The Returning Cavalryman

He was not indulging grief. If his father had died here, Thomas Walker would have left something behind. Thomas had been cautious to the point of stubbornness. He would not have trusted his last words to a neighbor, and certainly not to the town sheriff. In the West, a sheriff's conscience could sometimes be bought for fifty dollars. Under the desk, Jack found a loose floorboard. He stopped. He pried it up with his knife. Beneath it lay an iron box wrapped in oilcloth. The outside was burned black. The lock had warped from heat. Jack broke it with the butt of his revolver. Inside were a leather journal, a silver pocket watch, an old mining map, and a small copper spur. William's spur.