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Chapters (64)
  1. Cover
  2. PRAISE FOR JANICE CANTORE
  3. Map of Rogue’s Hollow
  4. Dedication
  5. ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
  6. Epigraph
  7. PROLOGUE
  8. 1
  9. 2
  10. 3
  11. 4
  12. 5
  13. 6
  14. 7
  15. 8
  16. 9
  17. 10
  18. 11
  19. 12
  20. 13
  21. 14
  22. 15
  23. 16
  24. 17
  25. 18
  26. 19
  27. 20
  28. 21
  29. 22
  30. 23
  31. 24
  32. 25
  33. 26
  34. 27
  35. 28
  36. 29
  37. 30
  38. 31
  39. 32
  40. 33
  41. 34
  42. 35
  43. 36
  44. 37
  45. 38
  46. 39
  47. 40
  48. 41
  49. 42
  50. 43
  51. 44
  52. 45
  53. 46
  54. 47
  55. 48
  56. 49
  57. 50
  58. 51
  59. 52
  60. 53
  61. EPILOGUE
  62. 1
  63. ABOUT THE AUTHOR
  64. DISCUSSION QUESTIONS

We’ve searched hotels in Medford, Ashland, can’t find any indication Bass stayed either of those places. Grants Pass is another possibility, but this Cove place, it looks like a place they think we’d ignore, came the answer from Cyrus.

Ice thought about that. Cyrus might be right. In any case, the town would have Barney Fife–type cops, he bet. Yeah, if the girl were there, he’d find her.

It would be child’s play.

12

Several days passed before Tess could review the thumb drive Alonzo Bass had left her. She’d wanted to get to it sooner, but there had been so much to do after the fire, she’d had to sideline it.

After all evacuation orders were lifted, she’d been busy with organizing fire cleanup and helping the families who’d lost everything in the fire. The threat of shifting weather added urgency to her task. Cold and rain—a lot of rain—were forecast soon, and they had to hurry to prevent landslides from destroying more in the burn area. The city council raided an emergency fund to help with the cleanup. The new mayor, Pete Horning, decided on what he saw as the most cost-effective way to proceed with the job. His thinking was that this was a transition time for seasonal workers. Summer work was winding down and winter work had not yet fired up. He felt there would be plenty of people eager and available to help for a week to ten days.

Tess was wary of the idea for a lot of reasons, but it was the first time in her tenure as police chief that she saw unanimous agreement on the part of the city council. And an ad in the paper asking for temporary help, promising a little better than minimum wage, had brought in a surprisingly large number of applicants. The city council would oversee the program, reviewing applications and hiring people to start ASAP. Rogue’s Hollow employed one maintenance person and he was on vacation. The county stepped in to help with the program, offering a man from their public works to supervise the team, along with a work van, a trailer, and tools.

The cooler weather assisted the final dousing of fire hot spots, but as the rain started to fall, there was even more urgency to the cleanup work. Déjà vu, Tess thought, reminded of what typically happened in California—summer fires, then winter landslides. Places where the loss of vegetation might lead to those landslides needed to be dealt with. A lot of the work would be filling and placing sandbags; some of it would be mulching, shoring up bare spots.