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“I appreciate the restraint.”

She slid a photograph toward me. A woman sat on a porch with a young boy next to her. Somebody had written two names under it. Margaret Hale. Daniel.

“Is this the Margaret everyone’s been talking about?”

“We think so.”

“And Daniel is her son?”

“That’s what we’re trying to nail down. Somebody could’ve written that label twenty years later. We’ve found a Daniel Hale who fits the dates, but Kaycee isn’t convinced it’s fact yet.”

“Why not?”

Rachel gathered up the other photos. “We need something that ties him to the same property or the livestock trail. A family name alone won’t do it.”

I thought of Beau’s office. He had boxes of hauling logs and bills his grandfather had kept because nobody in the Jordan family could throw away a piece of paper.

I kept my mouth shut. Beau had told me about those records because I’d asked about the wagon. That didn’t give me the right to send Rachel and half the town digging through his house.

“I’ll send you digital copies of what we’ve cleared,” Rachel said. “You can decide what works.”

“Perfect.”

“See you later.” She tucked the box and folder under her arm again and headed for her truck.

I’d just turned back to the site plan when something moved at the edge of my vision. I turned. A large dark animal stood about ten feet away, watching me.

My heart jumped into my throat. Then I remembered Ruby talking about Hades. This had to be him. The town wolf was a lot more charming in Ruby’s stories than he was looking right at me.

“Hades?”

His ears moved. Ruby had told me he was harmless. But Ruby also thought interfering in other people’s personal lives constituted community service, so I wasn’t sure I could trust her opinions.

Hades came toward me at an easy walk.

“I’m sure you’re very friendly.”

He kept coming.

“You could demonstrate that from over there.”

He stopped next to me and leaned his shoulder against my thigh. Hard. I moved one foot to keep my balance.

“Oh.”

He leaned harder. Apparently I was being mugged by affection.

A truck door shut behind me.

“He likes you.”

I knew Beau’s voice before I turned. He walked across the dirt in jeans and a dark jacket. He’d left his hat in the truck, and the wind had pushed his hair around enough that he looked less put together than he had yesterday morning.

I noticed. Then I noticed I was noticing a lot lately.

“This is liking me?”

Beau stopped a few feet away. “Yeah.”