He thought he was checking out illegal logging in the Idaho mountains-until he found a German Shepherd locked in a frozen cage, staring at him like it had been waiting for exactly one person

be another kind of uniform.

Grant opened the door before the man knocked.

“Mr. Hayes,” the man said. “Preston Vale. Stonecross Timber.”

Grant did not move from the doorway. “That supposed to mean something to me?”

“It means I can resolve a problem before it becomes a hardship for everyone.” Vale smiled as if hardship were an accounting category. “Our subcontractors continue reading …