Free Stone Cold by C. J. Box

situation in a clear-eyed way. At times, it’s annoyed me and I just wished you’d gone on with your business. But it is a unique gift, and I recognize that.
    â€œJoe,” Rulon said, “you’re my range rider—a seeker of truth. You’re my man on the ground, like before. Only this time, you can’t get directly involved in the situation and you need to be wary not to embarrass me.”
    Joe felt himself flush.
    Rulon said, “To be honest, Joe, you weren’t my first choice.”
    â€œOh?”
    The governor’s face was grave. “Two weeks ago, I asked my Division of Criminal Investigation to send a man up there to gather information. Not to storm the castle or throw his weight around—just to get the lay of the land and report back. It was done on the sly, but my guess is it didn’t take long for those cranky insular hill people up there to figure out there was a stranger in their midst. It didn’t work out, and now I have blood on my hands.”
    Joe sat up. A state DCI agent had been murdered?
    â€œWe can’t prove anything,” Rulon said. “But the poor guy burned to death in a motel fire.”
    â€œOkay, I read something about that,” Joe said. “A fatality in a unit of some mom-and-pop motel. But no mention that he was with DCI.”
    â€œIt took some real arm-twisting to contain that story,” Rulon said. “We wanted to wait on revealing his identity until it was proven the fire was arson or an arrest could be made. We even asked the FBI for help with the investigation, but they couldn’t determine any kind offoul play. It was a fire caused by our man smoking cigarettes and falling asleep in bed, they said. Nobody up there talked, and there is nothing to go on to prove it wasn’t a stupid tragic accident.”
    â€œBut you don’t believe that?” Joe said.
    â€œI don’t know what to believe,” Rulon said. “I just know I don’t think the best way to find out about Templeton or what’s going on up there is to walk around with a state DCI badge, asking questions.”
    Joe said, “Ah, now I get it.”
    â€œThought you would. Do you know the game warden up there?”
    Joe said, “Jim Latta. I don’t know him well.”
    Said Rulon, “No one in Medicine Wheel County will suspect anything if Jim Latta gets some help from a fellow game warden. Happens all the time, as you know. That way, you can get access to that county in a way no one else could.”
    â€œDo we let Latta know what’s going on?” Joe asked.
    â€œYour call. I’d suggest you wait to see if you can trust him. I’ll let Lisa know that you’re being sent up there to give a hand to Jim Latta, and she can let him know to expect you.”
    Joe was taken aback. Was Latta under suspicion as well?
    Rulon said, “I’ve asked our man at the FBI to fill you in on all the details of what they’ve got, and he’s supposed to be here any minute.”
    â€œYour man?” Joe prompted.
    â€œSpecial Agent Chuck Coon. I believe you know him.”
    Joe smiled. He’d worked for years with Coon.
    â€œHe thinks you can be a loose cannon,” Rulon said. “I couldn’t disabuse him of that notion with a straight face.”
    â€œHe’s a good man,” Joe said, and meant it.
    â€œToo damned tightly wrapped, if you ask me. But a lot of those lifers are like that. Anyway, he said he’d brief you on what they knowand establish some kind of line of communication and support if you need it.”
    Joe nodded, then asked, “If the FBI has these suspicions, why don’t they send one of their own?”
    Rulon snorted. “If those cranky hill people up there identified my undercover DCI guy, how long do you think a Fed in sheep’s clothing would last? Those guys might as well have
FBI
tattooed on their foreheads.”
    â€œI see your