Eli dreaded coming face-to-face with Alfred Price - not because he was afraid. Price was too old and drunk to be a danger to a full-grown man. No, what Eli feared was facing a prison sentence for murder. For that reason he'd asked Stan Glenn, the fire department's mechanic and best ladder man, to accompany him out to Nettie's former home. Never, he swore silently, she's never setting foot in there again.

He'd been utterly honest with her when he talked about love, but he also ...