Delaney was just about to exit the room when the conversation stopped her.

“Don says he looked like a charcoal briquette by the time they got him out.

“Hellva way to die.

The men shook their collective heads and drank their scotch. Delaney knew the fire had occurred in a shed Henry had built across town. According to Gwen, hed taken a recent interest in breeding Appaloosas, but he hadnt cared for the smell of manure near his house.

“Henry loved those horses, said a Moose in a cowboy-cut leisure suit. “I heard tell a spark caught the barn on fire, too. There wasnt much left of those Appaloosas, just some femur bones and a hoof or two.

“Do you think it was arson?

Delaney rolled her eyes. Arson . In a town that had yet to plug into cable television, Truly loved nothing more than listening to gossip and spreading intrigue. They lived for it. Ate it up like a fifth food group.

“The investigators from Boise dont really think so, but it hasnt been ruled out.

There was a pause in the conversation before someone said, “I doubt the fire was intentional. Who would do that to Henry?

“Maybe Allegrezza.

“Nick?

“He hated Henry.

“So did a lotta people, if the truth be told. Burning a man and his horses is a helluva lotta hate. I dont know if Allegrezza hated Henry that much.

“Henry was plenty ticked about those condos Nick is buildin out on Crescent Bay, and the two of them almost got into a fistfight about it down at the Chevron a month or two ago. I dont know how he got that piece of property from Henry, but he sure as hell did. Then he went and built condos all over the damn place.

Again they shook their heads and tipped their glasses. Delaney had spent a lot of hours lying on the white sands and swimming in the clear blue water of Crescent Bay. Coveted by most everyone in town, the Bay was a prime piece of real estate located on a large expanse of undeveloped beach. The property had been in Henrys family for generations, and Delaney wondered how Nick had gotten his hands on it.

“Last I heard, those condos are making Allegrezza a fortune.

“Yep. Theyre being snapped up by Californians. Next thing you know, well be overrun by latte-sippin, dope-smokin pantywaists.

“Or worse—actors.

“Nothin worse then a do-gooder like Bruce Willis moving in and trying to change everything. Hes the worse thing that ever happened to Hailey. Hell, he moves up there, renovates a few buildings, then thinks he can tell everyone in the whole damn state how to vote.

The men concurred with a mutual nod and disgruntled scoff. When the conversation turned to movie stars and action films, Delaney walked unnoticed from the room. She moved down the hall to Henrys study and closed the pocket doors behind her. On the wall behind his massive mahogany desk, Henrys face stared down at her. Delaney remembered when hed had the portrait painted. Shed been thirteen, about the time shed first attempted to exert a little independence. Shed wanted to pierce her ears. Henry had said no. It was neither the first nor certainly the last time hed exercised his control over her. Henry had always had to have control.

Delaney sat in the huge leather chair and was surprised to see a picture of herself sitting on the desk. She recalled the day Henry had taken the photograph. It was the day her whole life had changed. Shed been seven and her mother had just married Henry. It was the day shed walked out of a single wide on the outskirts of Las Vegas and, after a short flight, into a three-story Victorian in Truly.

The first time shed seen the house, with its twin turrets and gabled roof, shed thought she was moving into a palace, which meant Henry was obviously a king. The mansion was surrounded by forest on three sides, cut back to allow beautifully landscaped lawn while the backyard gently sloped toward the cool waters of Lake Mary.

Within hours, Delaney had departed poverty and landed in a storybook. Her mother was happy and Delaney felt like a princess. And on that day, sitting on the steps in a frilly white dress her mother had forced her to wear, shed fallen in love with Henry Shaw. He was older than the other men in her mothers life had been—nicer, too. He didnt yell at Delaney, and he didnt make her mother cry. He made her feel safe and secure, something shed felt all too infrequently in her young life. Hed adopted her and he was the only father shed ever known. For those reasons, she loved Henry and she always would.

It was also the first time shed laid eyes on Nick Allegrezza. Hed popped out of the bushes in Henrys yard, his gray eyes blazing hatred, his cheeks mottled with anger. Hed scared her, yet shed been fascinated by him at the same time. Nick had been a beautiful boy, black hair, smooth tan skin, and eyes like smoke.

Hed stood in the buckbrush, his arms at his sides, stiff with rage and defiance. All that rebellious Basque and Irish blood raging within his veins. Hed looked at the two of them, then hed spoken to Henry. Years later Delaney couldnt remember the exact words, but she would never forget the angry sentiment.

“You make sure you steer clear of him, Henry had said as theyd watched him turn and leave, his chin up, back straight.

It wouldnt be the last time he would warn her to stay away from Nick, but years later, it was one warning she wished shed listened to.

Nick shoved his legs into his Levis, then stood to button the fly. He glanced over his shoulder at the woman tangled in motel sheets. Her blond hair fanned about her head. Her eyes were closed, her breathing slow and easy. Gail Oliver was the daughter of a judge and the recently divorced mother of a young son. To celebrate the end of her marriage, shed had her tummy tucked and her breasts implanted with saline. At Henrys funeral shed walked up to him as bold as brass and announced she wanted him to be the first to see her new body. He could tell by the look in her eyes that shed thought he should feel flattered. He wasnt. Hed wanted a distraction, and shed offered it. Shed acted offended when hed pulled the Harley to a stop in front of the Starlight Motel, but she hadnt asked him to take her back home.

Nick turned from the woman in bed and moved across green carpet to a sliding glass door that led onto a small deck overlooking Highway 55. He hadnt planned on attending the old mans funeral. He still didnt know exactly how it had happened. One minute hed been standing on Crescent Beach going over some specs with a subcontractor, then the next thing he knew, he was on his Harley heading for the cemetery. He hadnt meant to go. Hed known he was persona non grata , but hed gone anyway. For some reason he didnt want to examine too closely, hed had to say good-bye.

He moved to a corner of the deck, away from the light spilling onto the wooden planks, and was quickly enveloped in darkness. Reverend Tippet had hardly uttered the word “amen before Gail, wearing that filmy little dress with the tiny straps, had propositioned Nick.

“My body is better at thirty-three than it was at sixteen, shed whispered in his ear. Nick couldnt remember clearly what shed looked like at sixteen, but he did remember shed liked sex. Shed been one of those girls who loved to get laid but wanted to act like a virgin afterward. She used to sneak out of her house and scratch on the back door of the Lomax Grocery where hed worked after hours sweeping the floor. If hed been in the mood, hed let her in and bang her on a box of freight or on the checkout counter. Afterward shed behave as if she were doing him a favor. Theyd both known different.

The cool night air tossed his hair about his shoulders and brushed across his bare skin. He hardly noticed the chill. Delaney was back. When hed heard about Henry, hed figured shed come home for his funeral. Still, seeing her on the other side of the old mans casket, with her hair dyed about five shades of red, had been a shock. After ten years she still reminded him of a porcelain doll, smooth as silk and delicate. Seeing her brought it all back, and he remembered the first time hed laid eyes on her. Her hair had been blond then, and shed been seven years old.