Rattling chains

When a letter from a Denver detective agency warns that a long-missing fugitive may be returning to Monte Vista, Sheriff Joe Cook initially dismisses it as nonsense. But the name Jefferies Brofman brings an old scandal rushing back: thirty years earlier, the respected treasurer of the Squaw Mountain Mining Company vanished with more than five thousand dollars, leaving behind an unlocked house, unanswered questions, and rumors of buried money.

Now the sheriff and his deputy, Shorty McKay, must determine whether Brofman is truly coming back—and how they can recognize a man whose face no one remembers. Their investigation leads toward the abandoned house on Gopher Hill, a place already feared as haunted and linked to whispers of an earlier murder. With a mysterious fortune, an elusive fugitive, and a cold case full of missing details, this classic western mystery offers a lively blend of frontier humor, suspense, and eerie atmosphere.