it and his. The girls slid across the bench, and Susan made a face at the ri昀氀e in the truck’s ri昀氀e rack. Jacob climbed in. “It’s a Remington 8. We use it hunting.” Jenny turned, glanced at the ri昀氀e, and looked out the truck’s back window and down at her player. “Whose bag is that?” Jacob shook his head. “Well, if this is a work truck, then someone’s missing their things,” she said. ■ ■ ■ Jenny, Susan, and Jacob entered his father’s farm garage. They walked past tractors and climbed the steps to a workshop loft. Jacob cleared an area and the girls set the player down in the light of a nearby window. Together, they chose an album and a song, Susan swung the needle to the Bee Gees’s Staying Alive, and Jenny began to teach Jacob a few simple dance steps. After starts and stops and much good laughter, Jenny said, “Let’s try something more dif昀椀cult.” She looked over. “Susan, how about—Susan, what are you doing?” “Shush,” Susan said and waved them over. “Look.” She pointed out the window to the farm’s backyard. Two farm hands were standing there at a burn barrel and pulling and dropping clothes, shoes, and belongings from a duf昀氀e bag into it. One then poured on gasoline, stepped back, and set the barrel ablaze. “Isn’t that the duf昀氀e from your truck?” Jenny asked. Jacob shrugged. “It looks like it.” The 昀椀rst worker added the bag to the barrel, and the two men watched the barrel burn. “Creepy,” Susan said. She looked at her watch, stepped away from the window, and began gathering Jenny’s records. “Hey, you two, I need to get home.” ■ ■ ■ The following Saturday morning, Susan’s father, Mike, stepped into Aberdeen’s police station. Sheriff Linsky looked up from his desk. “Mike, good to see you. What brings you in? Wait,” he placed both his hands 昀氀at on his 5 ■ PLAINS PARADOX