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“But you can usually tell if someone’s listening. It’s sort of echoey. The best time to call is late at night. You’re more or less safe then . . . unless someone has insomnia.”
    â€œI don’t think I’ll wait that long. Can I borrow the Rover to take a quick trip into Williams Lake?”
    Kate nodded. “I’ll come with you.”
    Maggie pulled a notepad out of her pocket. “Before we go,” she said, “I want to go over a few things. First, have you a photograph of your husband?” The silver-framed photograph that Kate produced showed a tall, dark-haired man sporting a beautiful tan, a boutonniere and perfect white teeth. He had a protective arm around the diminutive Kate in the picture, who was dressed in some gauzy fabric that blew prettily in the wind.
    â€œYour wedding?”
    â€œYes,” Kate answered. “We were very happy,” she added wistfully.
    â€œWe’ll find him,” Maggie said in a firm voice. “Now, while I go upstairs and grab my handbag, I want you to take this pad and make a list of your husband’s friends, acquaintances and family.”
    â€œDo you want Ray Teasdale and Nordstrom and Kraft’s addresses too?”
    â€œWho are Nordstrom and Kraft?”
    â€œJamie’s bosses. Albert Nordstrom’s known Douglas for years.”
    â€œHe’s the one that deals in mines and things?”
    â€œI think he does something with money,” Kate answered vaguely.
    â€œYou mean a brokerage firm?”
    â€œSomething like that.”
    â€œHe sounds like a good one to contact. Just write all the names down.” And she left the room.

CHAPTER FOUR
    T he Rover had travelled less than a half mile along the lakeside road when a car driven by Vivienne Harkness sped toward them, sending spumes of choking dust into the air as it passed. Momentarily blinded, Kate edged the car off the road. “Wonder why she’s in such a hurry?”
    As the dust settled, Maggie turned in her seat to look back. “Funny,” she said, “there’s no sign of her on the road now.”
    â€œProbably turned into our place,” Kate answered.
    â€œBut she can see you’re not there!”
    â€œOh, she won’t be coming to visit. You see, the lake’s kidney-shaped. We’re on the southern bulge and the Harknesses are on the northern one, so it’s much shorter to cross our land than follow the lake road.”
    â€œYou don’t mind?”
    Kate shrugged. “They’ve been using the back road away before I came on the scene,” she answered, putting the Jeep into gear.
    The only public telephone in the town was located outside the post office, and Maggie was lucky, as there was no one using it and she was through to her boss straightaway.
    â€œA missing husband?” Nat said, when she’d finished telling him about Guthrie’s disappearance. “Husbands go off on benders all the time. Why not find another place if you’re so determined to stay up in there in the wilderness. A hotel or something.”
    â€œIt’s not that simple, Nat.”
    â€œWhat do you mean?”
    â€œI . . . we sort of found a body. Up in a ravine.”
    â€œA body?” he exclaimed. “How could you sort of find a body?”
    â€œI was out riding and we found a Jeep that had gone over a cliff . . . ” The line was so quiet that as Maggie related what had happened, she thought he’d hung up. But when she got to the bit about watching the police haul the dead man up the side of the cliff, she heard an audible sigh of relief.
    â€œSo the police have got it all in hand.”
    â€œWell-l-l, not quite,” she answered.
    â€œDon’t tell me. There’s more?”
    â€œWe still don’t know who the dead man is, and then there’s the business of me being shot at.”
    â€œShot at!” She held the phone away from her ear until his