Leaning against the post, Daniel tugged at his jacket, the icy wind of late winter crept through the material, but he couldn’t bring himself to move. His gaze locked on the hotel, he reached for the pouch of tobacco typically in his pocket before he looked heavenward.

He’d long since given up the habit. Instead, he pulled out a strip of jerky and chewed on it. The pretty woman Tilda Mason had escorted into the hotel stirred something within him. He could still remember the shock in her green eyes when they’d met his, the memory like a kick to the gut.

He glanced over his shoulder as a body joined him. Biting back a sigh, he shrugged deeper into his coat. The lanky youth’s frame was something he’d gotten used to stumbling over. “Something you wanted, James?”

“You been standing here most of the day. Something catch your eye?”

Daniel shrugged. The teen had become a shadow, but he couldn’t find fault with him. His easy acceptance and endless questions had given him something to focus on other than a cold trail and the memory of a brutal murder.

“You could say so.” He tapped the young man’s battered hat down. “Won’t your ma get a might upset with you if you’re late for dinner?”

“Naw, I told her I was coming over to help you. Said to tell you to come by for dinner when you’re done watching the hotel.”

Daniel shook his head, the youthful exuberance making him feel about a hundred years old. “A good lawman needs to know everything before he makes an assumption.

God didn’t give a man brains if’n he didn’t expect ’em to get used. For instance, the stage rolled in today an hour late. Leads one to wonder what happened, but I ain’t gonna go asking just yet. “You need to have your thoughts lined up, James, right along with your evidence. If’n you don’t, you’re setting yourself up for failure.”

James nodded and fell into step with him as they headed for the warmth of his house. “Yes, sir. What if you just know someone’s a bad person? I mean, we all know there are some who just….”

“God works in mysterious ways, James, remember that. I’ve seen some right pretty people be pretty bad. You can’t judge a body on what they look like, but rather on how they act.”

“Yes, sir.” His face pulled into a thoughtful frown. James locked his hands behind his back and walked the remaining distance in silence.

Daniel glanced over his shoulder at the hotel. Every instinct within him screamed there was more than simply being out of money on the new girl’s shoulders. Woman like her was running from something, he’d bet a month’s wages on it. First thing in the morning he would wire Cheyenne and see what he could dig up.