For CJ Hand, the corral bathed in the morning sunlight is a false sign of the day to come. Minutes after starting his run up Deadman Road, a dense fog shrouds the canyon. In the heavy, gray mist a hushed purr from the road bend behind him forces CJ to take cover in the stand of ponderosa pine and cottonwoods. He waits for the danger to pass. An hour later he stares at a dead man, blood covering the understory of brown pine needles and yellowing cottonwood leaves. The second death lay in front of CJ. The mountain lion is the focus of the first death, but the local County Sheriff realizes...

Two teenage boys on a deer hunt in northwest Iowa watch as a trophy buck flees before either can release an arrow. Something in the crumbling cellar frightened the animal. Curious to know what disturbed the deer they open the shelter door and hell erupts. The sudden failure of an outstanding student, his fiancee's new job opportunities, and a personnel action weigh on CJ Hand. His daughter calls with news of his former wife. A disturbing past leads him back to Lincoln, Nebraska to confront demons. At semester's end on an icy and snowy morning, his life would change once again. Dr. Trisha...