One Jump Ahead

In a small-town sheriff's office in the San Luis Valley, Manuel Perez, a one-legged ex-convict just out on parole, arrives early hoping for help and honest work. Sheriff Joe Cook, cautious but sympathetic to Perez's past as a rustler, is already trying to place him on a sheep ranch when Grandpa McMeel bursts in with a startling report: the night before, he saw two men digging beneath the Third Street bridge with flashlights and shovels. The discovery of a fresh, oversized hole quickly sets the town buzzing. Fred Speers adds another eerie detail, saying he watched two tall men carry a long, narrow, heavy box from under the bridge and across Coyote Creek. When the sheriff and his deputy inspect the site, they find a large excavation and a trail to the river, but no footprints and no clear explanation of what was removed. As rumors spread of treasure, contraband, or even a hidden body, the mysterious buried-box incident becomes the talk of the valley, while Sheriff Cook works both to solve the case and to give Perez a genuine second chance. This edition has been fully restored with modern typesetting, custom cover design.