Stone’s taciturn face hardly moves when he answers. “There’s only the sheriff and a couple of deputies. If those men are here to kill us, they’ll kill anyone who tries to interfere as well. And I happen to like the sheriff.”

“But they could be legitimate FBI agents. Right?”

“They could. But they don’t feel legitimate.”

“What about the state police?”

“Take ’em too long to get here in the snow. And my phone’s tapped. I have a cell phone, but whoever’s out there will have those frequencies covered. If they mean to kill us, they’ll move in the second I call for help.”

“Isn’t it early for snow? It’s ninety degrees in Mississippi.”

“Anything can happen in October. It rained four days up-country before it turned to snow. That’s why the river’s up like it is.”

I edge up to the other front window and peer out. I see nothing but spruce, firs, and snow. “Why don’t they move in now?”

“They’re waiting for dark.”

“So, we just sit here?”

Stone takes one more look out the window, then walks over to the table holding his weapons. “Look, you started all this. Now you’ve got to live with it. So just sit tight. I’ve been in spots like this before. It’s a game of nerves.”

I came to Colorado alone knowing that I would be walking right into the men watching Stone. I did this believing that Stone—a good man with a guilty conscience—would be unwilling to add my death to that conscience by sending me back to Mississippi alone. I was sure that my obvious vulnerability would convince him that the only decent thing to do would be to accompany me back to Natchez to testify. I didn’t reckon with the possibility that the men watching him would attempt to kill him outright—and me with him.

He lifts a cordless phone from the coffee table, punches a button on it, listens, then hangs up and slips the phone into his pocket. “You killed Arthur Lee Hanratty’s brother, right?”

I nod.

“That makes me feel a little better.” He removes a pistol from the small of his back (I hadn’t even noticed it), then takes the cordless phone from his pocket and sits on the sofa with both gun and phone in his lap. “Well, what’d you come back for?”

“The truth. You know it, I need it. It’s that simple.”

An ironic smile flickers over Stone’s features. “I suppose since you and I may die together soon, I could make you aware of a few facts. But I’m not going to testify for you. Voluntarily or any other way. And first you’d better show me you’re not wearing a wire.”