About This Book
Sheriff Cord Arbutten's wife is dead - an apparent suicide - but his grown sonclaims she was murdered by the Sheriff. Rand Arbutten, an attorney who hates his father, vows he's going to prove it. When it comes to light that she was killed with the Sheriff's old service revolver right in the middle of a nasty divorce, the Governor suggests that Cord think about stepping down. Suddenly, the Sheriff is faced with losing everything, including his freedom.
Investigative reporter Allie Grainger gets involved when her best friend Sheryl, a Sheriff's Deputy, begs her to help. Allie barely knows the Sheriff, but she knows that Sheryl greatly respects him and that her deceased aunt, who worked for him for over twenty years, believed he was an honorable man. That's enough for her. Repeated clashes with the Sheriff's son only make Allie more determined to discover the truth. Rand sets out to block Allie at every turn. When anger doesn't work, he turns on a charm that gets to Allie a lot more than she's willing to admit.
Sidney Finch, a Sheriff's Deputy who idolizes the Sheriff, doesn't use charm toimpede her investigation. He uses naked threats. Allie has to ask herself whohe's trying to protect - the Sheriff or himself? She isn't sure how far Sidneywill go to stop her, but since he has a hair-trigger temper and carries a gun, she absolutely doesn't want to find out.
Then Rand Arbutten agrees to work with Allie instead of against her. She isn'tsure of his motives but she'll take any help she can get. With her dead auntwhispering encouragement in her ear and Sheryl egging her on, Allie sets out todiscover what really happened the day Jean Arbutten died.
