Chapter One

'Out of the things I could have been doing, riding up the side of the mountain to take a look at an old cabin was not on the top of my list!" Heath muttered only to himself.

The cabin was something Jarrod was supposed to look at-a former friend had shocked the oldest brother and left him 'that old cabin'. Well, those had been the words Hank Wiseman-another attorney, a friend of the oldest Barkley brother, had read while executing the deceased's will the week before.

"It's not supposed to be that far from our lodge, ten miles - a day's ride is all." Jarrod stood in the Barkleys' living room and looked at the rest of the family. He'd then looked at Heath and slowly asked his half-brother if Heath would have the time to go check it out. "I would do it myself, only I have to be in San Francisco in a few days. I'd like to know whether the thing is worth keeping or not."

'At least the weather is good.' Heath thought as he ducked to keep from getting hit when he passed a tree with a low hanging branch. It was a wonder the branch wasn't lying in the middle of the path he was traveling on; it didn't appear to have much holding it in place. 'Wouldn't surprise me if I found the thing in the middle of the road on my way back," Heath thought as the tree disappeared behind him.

The trees were putting forth new leaves, and more animal life could be seen coming and going. Those items, along with the smell of fresh, clean air felt as comforting as one of his late mother's large, soft quilts. It made it so he found himself recalling one memory after another-some good, some not so good. He might have continued his trip down memory lane only he turned the bend and the property his half brother had inherited came into view. He almost fell out of his saddle-he was that shocked by what he saw. After all, 'that old cabin' didn't exactly bring to mind much of a picture.

When Heath had left Stockton, he'd expected to find- at best- a one or two bedroom, small, cabin. He'd expected to see broken-if not missing-windows, and maybe even a door with a few holes (even minor ones). Instead he saw himself looking at a two story log home. If there were any broken windows, they'd have to be on the sides or in the back-as the two large windows on the bottom floor (one on each side of the front door) had no holes whatsoever. At least, from where he sat that appeared to be the case. There was a front porch and railing that ran along the front of the porch, except for where the steps were attached. There was a balcony that appeared to run along side the front of the house and wrapped itself around the south side of the home. Whether or not it wrapped around the backside of the place, Heath could not tell. The windows on the upper side of the house seemed to be intact as well. Heath was now eager to start his inspection and find out what shape the home was actually in; he pushed Charger forward. The pathway to what Heath was now calling a home-instead of a cabin-was on a small hill; it had small holes here and there, but nothing of real concern. In no time at all, he was dismounting his horse and tethering him to the wooden column nearest the four wooden steps that led up to the porch.

He would have simply climbed the steps and gone inside only, having been told by Jarrod how old the place was supposed to be, along with the fact that no one was supposed to have lived in the place for a number of years, he inspected the steps first. The last thing he wanted to do was find his foot and leg going through boards and hitting the ground underneath the steps, possibly spraining his ankle as he did so. This being the case, he was surprised to realize two of the steps seemed to be brand new - or close to it- while the other two were still pretty solid. Instead of climbing the steps, Heath began inspecting the short columns in the railing, along with the long, thin board that was attached to the columns. Again, he was surprised the many of them appeared to have been replaced.

Heath hesitated as he thought about climbing the steps, wondering if -by some wild chance-he'd taken a wrong turn and traveled to the wrong place. If it wasn't for the fact that an overwhelming, strong, feeling-one that seemed to be trying to pull him up the steps, Heath might have decided pull the map Jarrod had given him and taken a second look at it. As it was, he slowly climbed the stairs, keeping his eyes wide open.

Once he was on the porch, Heath began inspecting the bench that sat in front of the window that was set on the left side of the door. It was as solid as the steps. Since there was no curtain in the window, Heath could easily look into what turned out to be the rather large room which appeared to be a mixture of a living room and dining room-at least fifteen feet wide and twenty feet long. He could see an old couch that sat next to the west wall while one long, empty table sat in the middle of the room, surrounded by numerous chairs. There was an empty fireplace that was built into the north wall. He could see there was an opening on the east side of the room; it went into another room. Since he could see a part of a potbelly stove, Heath assumed it was the kitchen.

He moved to the window that was to the right of the door. There was a white curtain hanging in the window, though it was pulled to one side, making it so he could see into a bedroom. There was a bed with a blanket and pillow near the window, a dresser on the west side of the room, a two by four board with seven nails sticking out of it on the north wall, next to the door that led into the room. Since the will had listed what items went with the place, the curtain and bedding were no surprise. There was an empty hat stand in the northeast corner. The bedroom door was closed; Heath could only assume it led into at least a small hallway that led to the dining room or another room.

Heath stepped back, his eyes roving over the outside of the building. 'This place is a large as the Barkley lodge, or close to it. If the inside of this place is in as good of shape as the front of it, Jarrod would be crazy to sell it.' Heath then walked around the building, inspecting everything from the foundation to climbing up a set of steps that led to the side balcony and checking the outside of the upper half of the building-that is where he could see- in spite of having a key to the back door. He wanted to inspect as much of the outside as possible before entering the home. Since there were windows on the second floor, he could see in a few of those. While there was an outside door on the second level, it was locked. Heath wasn't really surprised. He finished the outside inspection, walked back down the steps and headed for the back door only to stop dead in his tracks. The door, which had been shut, was now slightly open. Since he'd heard nothing and seen no one while he was doing his inspection, it bothered him that someone had entered the home, unawares-before him. He took out his pistol and started cautiously moving alongside the back of the cabin.