Angels Fall

pretty rough sketch. Without more details, you're liable to run into a lot of people who'll think maybe they've seen somebody like her. You'll end up chasing a lot of wild geese.
    "You're probably right." Reece put the sketch away and didn't miss the look on Debbie's face. It there was one thing Reece recognized, it was quiet pity. "I feel like I have to try at least. I'd better go. Thanks, Sheriff. It was nice seeing you. Debbie. Bye,. Hank."
    She felt the heat rising up the back of her neck as she walked out. Because in addition to the pity aimed her way, she knew there was speculation mixed in with it.

    Just how crazy was Reece Gilmore?
    Screw it. Just screw it, she told herself as she walked back to Joanie's to get her car. She wasn't going to pretend she didn't see what she'd seen, wasn't going to stuff the sketches in some drawer and forget about it.
    And she wasn't going to let it drag her down, not today.
    Today she was going to town and getting her hair done.
    God help her.

    THE SAGE FLATS were waiting to bloom. Reece thought she could almost hear them take that deep, long inhale that would burst into color on the exhale.
    A trio of pelicans soared in military formation over the marsh, but it was her first sight of a coyote on its slinking lope over the flats that had her telling Linda-gail to stop the car. Though Linda-gail called it an oversized rat, she indulged Reece.
    "He looks so predatory."
    "Sneaky bastards" was Linda-gail's opinion.
    "Maybe, but I'd like to hear one howl like in the movies."
    "I nearly forgot you're a city girl. Weather warms enough to keep the windows open at night, you can hear them sometimes."
    "I'll put that on my list. Thanks for stopping for the city girl."
    "No problem." Then they were zooming down the road toward Jackson Hole, with Martina McBride's powerhouse voice aptly claiming this one for the girls.

    IF REECE CONSIDERED Angel's Fist a rough and interesting little diamond, Jackson was big and polished and faceted with its fashionable western flair and colorful neon. Shops and restaurants and galleries spread with wooden boardwalks and busy streets. And people were busy on them, heading somewhere, Reece supposed. Maybe a stop in town before visiting one of the great parks now that summer was nearly here.
    Some of the people would be in town for supplies, a lunch date, a business meeting. Thriving, she thought, alive and active it was. But beyond the structures and speed or civilization planted here, white-frosted mountains stood in dazzling splendor. They dwarfed what man had made, and shone brighter than jewels in the blaze of the sun.
    It took Reece less than two minutes to understand that though the views were breath-stealing, she'd  made a better choice with Angel's Fist.
    Too many people here, she decided. Too much going on at once. Hotels, motels, recreation centers, winter sports, summer sports, real estate offices.
    She was barely inside the town limits when she wanted out again.
    "This is going to be fun!" Linda-gail swung through traffic as if it were a carnival ride. "If you're feeling a little anxious or whatever, just close your eyes."
    "And miss seeing the crash?"
    "I'm a terrific driver." Linda-gail proved it by threading between an SUV and a motorcycle, waving cheerily at the drivers, then zipping around a corner on a yellow light. "I think I might go red."
    "I think I've already gone green. Linda—"
    "Nearly there. We should do a serious splurge sometime, book the full enchilada at one of the day spas. They have  amazing  spas here. I want someone to slather me with mud and rub me with herbs and—holy shit, a parking place!"
    She zoomed toward it. a heat-seeking missile in a Ford Bronco. Reece's anxiety oxer the crowd, the traffic, her hair, all vanished, swallowed up by the terror of certain death. Before she could babble out a prayer, they were parked at the curb. "It's a couple more blocks, but you never know. Besides, you'll see a little of the place if we walk."
    "I think I've lost all use of my lower body."
    On a giggle, Linda-gail gave Reece a poke. "Come on. Let's go get us some new do's." Reece's legs might have trembled, but they got her to the sidewalk. "How many tickets do you rack up a year? No, how many vehicles do you wrack up annually?"
    On a cluck of her tongue, Linda-gail hooked her arm through Reece's. "Don't be such an old lady. Oh my God, look! Just look at that jacket!" She dragged Reece to a shop window to stare avariciously