Chapter One
Guston， Colorado
Willem hefted his battered valise and stopped to catch his
breath. He looked up at the white-shuttered rooming house，
perched a good quarter mile away on the steep hillside， and
grimaced.
\"Whoever built this place must ve been part mountain
goat.\" He sucked in a breath before he trudged on. The July
sunshine was finally breaking over the dusky blue summit
of the snow-capped peaks surrounding Guston. It filtered
down in broken shafts through the thick growth of blue
spruce and quaking aspen at the outskirts of the mining
town. Willem clenched his teeth and inhaled another gulp of
\"The air at this height lacks body，\" he grumbled， and
stopped to clear his head. Willem dragged off his cap and
looked down at the town. A high mountain breeze ruffled
his too-long hair and blew a strand over his eyes. He de-
cided to see if there was a cheap barber available in Guston
as soon as he was settled.
went， with well-laid-out lots and thrivinl
watched l~.arried activity of construction a
der. Wide banners were being stretched b
and the h~.rsh sound of an off-key brass ba
steep incline.
\"What s the damned occasion?\" he~
Whatever it was， he felt a wave of disappoil
him. If Moira was in this area. as the Pin]
she would be harder to ferret out with peol:
than fleas on a hound. He slapped the cap
in irritation and resumed his climb up the gJ
last thing he was interested in was being aI
people celebrating.
He didn t even pause to kick the dirt frol
shoes when he reached the boardinghous~
door wide and stepped inside. The neat-as-~
spotless rugs laid atop gleaming wood flo
his tracks. Instantly he backed out to wil
from the toes of his shoes on the backs ot
but not before the smell of homemade brea，
His empty belly roared to life.
This was not the usual gold-camp room
lem stood in a formal parlor， done in shad
blue and cream， while he waited for someol
steady thunk of a long pendulum in a ma，，
clock ticked off the minutes while he stood
toward a shiny desk along the back wall of
hand-lettewxl sign proclaimed it to be the R
Willem noticed the rows of key hooks atta(
seoted wall behind it. Only two of them
numbered room keys. The others were va
tion Otto s opinion of the boardinghous
other miners. A tiny brass bell sat by anoth(
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