Show SYNOPSIS OF PRECEDING CHAPTERS at the inquest into the death of 0 john mason banker jean daughter of campo ragland owner of the bar hook ranch where mason met death surreptitiously passes to kentucky jones the bullet which had killed mason she having abstracted it from the evidence kentucky goes to work on the bar hook ranch the mason verdict Is accidental death bob r collot owner of the 88 ranch adjoining the bar hook drives his cattle on the bar hook land lee bishop Ra glanda glands ranch boss ex postulates and bill mccord elliots elliote Elli foreman insults him bishop and jones are astounded by Ra glands indifference to elliots elliote Elli action jones tells jean elliot knows she purloined the bullet at the inquest which jones has got rid of her reaction mystifies him zack sanders cook at the bar hook ranch Is 13 found dead murdered sheriff hopper investigating sanders death announces his knowledge that mason also was murdered in a gun tight fight with riders of the 88 ranch jim humphreys bar hook cowboy Is killed and billy petersen badly wounded jones sends tor for fighting cowmen but ragland countermands the order jones seeks to trace the ownership of a gun found on jack sanders which he be Is confident has a bearing on the mystery jean sells him her share in the bar hook ranch thus giving him birn a free hand in any controversy with elliot |