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call.”
    “Just come out to the house. We can have a scotch.”
    Beth waited, half expecting the chief to drop down and lick the mud from Griffin’s cordovan colored shoes but he didn’t. She glanced over at Barry who had scrambled up and taken several steps back at his father’s approach. If Griffin noticed, he didn’t show any sign. He walked past Barry as if he’d forgotten he were there. Barry didn’t wait to be summoned he fell into step behind his father like an obedient dog.
    Before Beth could stop herself she called out, “Barry, you give us a call tomorrow. We’ll be waiting to hear from you.”
    Griffin turned back and gave Beth an appraising look. A smile, indiscernible in nature, wavered at the corner of his mouth, never quite making it across his lips. Beth met his eyes and waited for him to turn away. He gave the slightest nod, acknowledging her unspoken challenge, turned back toward the path and made his way up to the road. Barry followed. He did not look back.
    Murphy Jobes hung back like a reprimanded child until Griffin Tanner departed and Chief Buckner wandered away toward the mayor and the councilman. At her father’s approach Suzy shot a look of embarrassment toward Jar and his mother, turned away and headed up the trail ahead of him. Oblivious to his daughter’s disdain Murphy followed with an unsteady gait calling out, “Suzy Q, wait up!”
    After his friends were gone, Beth gave Jar a tight squeeze. She wished he were little again so she could pick him up and carry him home, and protect him from all the things in the world that didn’t make sense, like fathers who beat their sons and drainage pipes that swallowed little boys. She said, “Just let me say goodbye to the Casteels and then we’ll head on home.”
    He didn’t let go of her hand. “I’ll come too.”
    “You sure?”
    He nodded.
    Susan Casteel’s eyes were red and nearly swollen shut. She’d been crying for hours. Jar felt a lump forming in the back of his throat as he watched her face work in a desperate hope this was all a hoax. She grabbed his arms, leaned down until she was eye level with him and searched his eyes for the truth. “You sure he’s in there Jared? You sure?”
    He looked down at his feet unable to meet her anguished gaze and whispered, “He’s in there, Ma’am. I saw him go.” His voice caught and he finished in a choked whisper. “He didn’t come out. We waited and waited and he never came out.”
    He felt her grip loosen, and understood she wasn’t just letting go of him, she was letting go of hope. In a desperate moment of clarity, he wished he could unsay his words and give it back to her. But it was already gone. He could see Mrs. Casteel’s face working in confusion, her gaze distant as if she were searching for something she had lost. In a flash, he felt all of her pain wash over him, and he understood about a mother’s greatest loss. He knew he had experienced his first grown up moment and he did what any twelve-year-old kid would do, he buried his face against his mother and sobbed.
     

Chapter Four
     
    Junction, Texas
     
    It was a common refrain around town that Griffin Tanner had grown a bit big for his britches. It was often followed by a comment or two about Lloyd Tanner. “A good man. God rest his soul “Salt of the earth.” “Served in World War II.” “Decorated with a purple heart.” “I knew Lloyd when Griffin was bouncing on his knee.” Tsking would ensue, with a shake of the head, followed by a spat of tobacco hitting the ground. Speculations would follow. “What does he want with the land? He doesn’t ranch, doesn’t farm.”
    In the end, Guy Davis would drawl, “It’s a damn shame is what it is.” The others would nod in agreement, squint their eyes in the general direction of Griffin’s estate—unable to fathom the thoughts of a man who never cultivated a single acre of the land he bought.
    The land in question had suffered through the indignities of