“Mr. Schroeder,” Winston said, “we get enough horses from Matthews. Do you know where the Chadwick house is?”

“Rail Tower Three,” Schroeder answered, “follow the arroyo downhill to the pond. It’s about 2 miles, and the house is right there.”

“Does that sound right?” Winston asked Roberts. “Wouldn’t want to ride out there, and discover there are two Chadwick houses.”

“He’s got it, no two ways about it.” Roberts nodded vigorously. “But I ain’t going out there again. It weren’t natural. And if Mr. Matthews insists I go out there again, I quit.”

“Mr. Della Vega,” Winston called. “It appears that I get to ride out to investigate a murder. Or something. You get to be the backup Sheriff, just like Gramps ordered. And Mr. Schroeder and I ride out there to see what happened. Meanwhile, Mr. Roberts, you get to tell Deputy Della Vega here exactly what you saw, that’s after you take care of your horse a bit, while Mr. Della Vega is bringing in one of the patrolmen to back him up here.” He paused. “Gentlemen, did I forget anything?”

“You’re good,” Schroeder said. “I’ll phone ahead to the stables for a second horse, and load it up with supplies and water, just in case.”

“And pack a Browning,” Winston said. “Someone who wrecks up a house, may be a decent number of them.”

“There’ll be a couple of men calling in soon,” Della Vega said, “it being that hour of the morning. Shall I have them meet you at the stables? It might be better to send a larger party.”

“Might as well,” Cooper said. “It’s midweek and very quiet. And switch around the other walking patrols so we appear to be covering everything.”

“I’ll see if railroad can give us a ride to Tower Three,” Schroeder said. “They have that fancy new diesel yard locomotive, so they never need to get up a head of steam before they can move.”

Soon enough Winston and his three deputies had reached Tower Three, waved goodbye to the yard locomotive and its flatcar, and headed down the arroyo. There was little to say. The three deputies engaged in vigorous discussion of the ongoing baseball season, a topic about which Cooper knew little.

Beyond the modest pond were the remains of the Chadwick house. Winston signalled for his deputies to stop while he approached the house. The horses, he noticed, were a bit skittish, as though they were aware of something that evaded human senses.

“Keep your eyes open,” Winston said. “The horses might smell something, like a large bear.”

“Weren’t no bear what wrecked that house,” Schroeder said. “On the ground. That was the front wall. It looks like it was just yanked out of place, so part of the roof collapsed. You could do that, with a truck, and a chain wrapped through the two windows. Assuming the walls weren’t too solid.”

Winston looked inside. Furniture was smashed to pieces. In what had been a kitchen, barrels of salt pork and flour look to have been split open. Little was left of their contents.

“Hello?” he called. “Is anyone here?” His call was met with silence.

“Mr. McTavish?” Winston said. “You’re the expert tracker. Please see if you can find a trail. Houses don’t blow apart like this, not all by themselves. Someone must’ve done it, and probably left a trail behind them.”