In the desert, a Native American woman is dead--an ex-con once jailed for the murder of her husband--and her teenage daughter has vanished into the long shadows of the night-still canyons. A dedicated law officer, Sheriff Joanna Brady of Cochise County has suffered stoically through loss and pain--yet she has never wavered in her commitment to duty and the pursuit of justice. Now, as she stands on the brink of a new life and new happiness, death is summoning her once more, calling her down a twisted trail of hatred, greed, and devastating consequence to the black heart of the Dragoon Mountains.There is no respite yet for Joanna Brady--only a terrifying excursion into a world of passion and violence, where long-buried secrets are the best reasons of all to kill . . . or to die.