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twenty-first-century America for the rest of his natural life, Niall had made a point of educating himself on modern finance, U. S. and world history, and as much as he could fathom of the sciences. So he was fairly certain that trust funds involved monies bequeathed from a deceased family member, implying that whoever had set up Hazel’s trust had obviously known her quite well.
    “That lady needs a keeper,” Sam said as he stepped out of a nearby aisle.
    “You heard?”
    Sam gave a shrug and continued toward the back of the store. “Eavesdropping is a hard habit to break.”
    “Especially when the subject is interesting,” Niall said.
    “Hey, I’d be a hundred times dead if I hadn’t perfected that particular habit. So who in hell told Hazel four husbands is her limit? Never mind; from what I heard, your Miss Callahan did.”
    Niall lost his grin even as Sam’s widened. “My Miss Callahan?”
    “Hearing things I shouldn’t isn’t my only talent,” the store owner said, grabbing a thick brown envelope off the counter on his way to the storage room. “Speaking of eavesdropping, the two guys I found you have it down to an art, which is something you won’t see on any résumé from law academy graduates.” Sam exited the side door and turned down the narrow dirt lane toward Bottomless, his limp barely noticeable—but then, it was still early in the day. “I doubt you’ll find explosives expert, either, or scuba diver, parachutist, or sniper.”
    “I need police officers,” Niall said dryly, “not men who can sneak into a foreign country and take down the government.”
    Sam stopped in front of the first of five cabins he and Ezra rented to tourists. “Hey, you never know when a new mythical god might show up and start rearranging these mountains again. Wait; you got any magic in you like Duncan?”
    “Nay,” Niall said, unable to stifle a shudder. “That would be my cousin’s blessing to shoulder.”
    “Probably just as well,” Sam went on as he mounted the porch stairs. “I don’t know how Olivia puts up with all of Mac’s hocus-pocus, because personally, that shit gives me the heebie-jeebies.”
    Sam was Olivia’s father, which she’d discovered four years ago when he’d hired on at Inglenook posing as a camp horse wrangler in hopes of saving his daughter from her ex-in-laws, only to then end up trying to stop her from marrying a . . . man who had the audacity to move mountains.
    Sam threw open the cabin door. “Well, here’s your new police station and jail,” he said, gesturing inside. “Or rather, your station and interrogation room, since the council said they didn’t want the liability of a jail.” He slapped the envelope he was holding against Niall’s chest. “And if you’re even half as smart as I think you are, these two men will be your first and second officers.”
    Niall grasped the envelope and stepped inside. “My first officer is right now out patrolling the town,” he said as he looked around the small rental cabin, noticing that instead of a table and couch there were only two desks, a bookcase, and an ancient woodstove in the corner. There was still a kitchen area against the back wall of the front room, but the rugged-looking wooden door with bars set into a windowless opening leading into the bedroom was definitely new. To the right was a regular pine door that he could see opened into a bathroom.
    “But unlike Shep,” Sam said with a chuckle, “my guys have opposable thumbs and can use a cell phone, shoot a gun, and blow up stuff.”
    “But can they run a man to ground on a moonless night, swim the length of Bottomless without getting winded, and track scent through any weather?”
    “With their eyes closed.”
    Niall tossed the envelope onto the larger of the desks and folded his arms over his chest as he faced Sam. “Why are two highly trained warriors wanting to come play policeman in the Maine woods?”
    “Because they’re tired of policing