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An hour later, after the boys had gone to bed and Bernice and Jasper had retired to their quarters, Bull sat alone on the unlit porch with his boots on the rail, an empty Corona bottle at his feet and a half-sht was clear, the stars like a spill of gold dust across a velvet sky

A bat swooped low over the porch, chasing clouds of newly hatched spring insects In the distant foothills, two coyotes serenaded each other with lovelorn wails

The party outside the bunkhouse was in full swing, with a glowing bonfire, raucous hter, punctuated by an occasional curse over an unlucky throw of the dice So was forbidden, and any cowhand who brought a gun or knife to the celebration would be fired In the years Bull had been giving these post-roundup parties, he’d yet to be called upon to deal with a proble his men

All in all, today had been a good day, he mused The roundup was over with all the stock accounted for Even thecows Jasper had reported earlier had been found in a hidden gulley where they’d wandered in search of succulent spring grass

Best of all, perhaps, he’d foiled Ferg Prescott’s latest plot to fra up that creek property As soon as Rose had told him about those Prescott cattle in the box canyon, he’d knohat the conniving skunk was up to That one phone call was all it had taken to cut the bastard’s scheme off at the pass

But one thing still troubled hi up for the party, Will had told hiround—a ht be dead Rose had sent the boys on their hile she went back and helped him

Why hadn’t Rose ? Had Ferg bought more from her than her old car?

“I was hoping I’d find you out here, Bull” As if his thoughts could conjure her, Rose ca around the house and mounted the porch steps “Now that the roundup’s over, there are things we need to discuss”

“All right Sit down” Bull knehat she had in mind, but he was set on a different conversation Rose had a pushy way about her, but she wasn’t the one in charge here, he reminded himself He was the boss of the Rimrock, and within its borders his as law

“Before you start on me, I want to talk to you about what happened today” He tossed his cigarette butt into the gravel below the porch and watched the s dot die into darkness “I knohat you told ht Will ht was dead I could tell he was pretty upset about it Why didn’t you say so to me?”

Rose settled back in the chair, her hands clasped around one knee “I was hoping Will would tell you that he found the man because he disobeyed me and rode ahead of Beau and me Did he?”

“He did, and he’ll be punished for it I’ve taught my boys to be honest, especially with their father But tell me about the man, Rose Was he really dead?”

“No” She gazed past hiravel “He’d been shot, but the bullet had only grazed his head and knocked hiave him water, cleaned him up soht up with your boys That’s the last I saw of him”

“Did he say who shot him?”

“He said he’d glimpsed a movement in the rocks above the canyon But beyond that, he didn’t even reht have cattle rustlers on the Rimrock?”