In Plain Sight

“Intriguing, with a forest setting so treacherous it makes Nevada Barr’s locales look positively comfy, with a motive for murder that is as unique as any in modern fiction. Pickett is a refreshingly human and befuddled hero . . . But it’s Box’s offbeat way of telling the story that puts it on the best of the year track.” —Los Angeles Times

“A muscular first novel . . . Box writes as straight as his characters shoot, and he has a stand-up hero to shoulder his passionate concerns about endangered lives and liberties.”

—The New York Times Book Review

“A fascinating, well-scripted debut novel. It’s a classic tale of Wild West justice.” —USA Today

Also by C. J . Box

BLUE HEAVEN

THE JOE PICKETT NOVELS

OPEN SEASON

SAVAGE RUN

WINTERKILL

TROPHY HUNT

OUT OF RANGE

IN PLAIN SIGHT

FREE FIRE

BLOOD TRAIL

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This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents either are the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously, and any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, business establishments, events, or locales is entirely coincidental. The publisher does not have any control over and does not assume any responsibility for author or third-party websites or their content.

IN PLAIN SIGHT

A Berkley Prime Crime Book / published by arrangement with the author

Copyright © 2006 by C. J. Box.

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BERKLEY^® PRIME CRIME

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For Molly Jo

. . . and Laurie, always

April

Family quarrels are bitter things. They don’t go by any rules. They’re not like aches or wounds; they’re more like splits in the skin that won’t heal because there’s not enough material.

—F. SCOTT FITZGERALD

The great plain drinks the blood of Christian men and is satisfied.

 

—O. E. RÖLVAAG, GIANTS IN THE EARTH

1

Twelve Sleep County, Wyoming

WHEN RANCH OWNER OPAL SCARLETT VANISHED, NO one mourned except her three grown sons, Arlen, Hank, and Wyatt, who expressed their loss by getting into a fight with shovels.

Wyoming game warden Joe Pickett almost didn’t hear the call over his radio when it came over the mutual-aid channel. He was driving west on Bighorn Road, having picked up his fourteen-year-old daughter, Sheridan, and her best friend, Julie, after track practice to take them home. Sheridan and Julie were talking a mile a minute, gesticulating, making his dog, Maxine, flinch with their flying arms as they talked. Julie lived on the Thunderhead Ranch, which was much farther out of town than the Picketts’ home.