Newly minted lawyer, Tina Willet, held many different jobs during her struggle to put herself through college and law school. Now she finds spending her summers as a landman, securing leases for prospective oil companies, is an asset nothing else could have given her for the plans she has for her future. She wants to practice law in Denver with a firm emphasizing environmental law. The firm where she has been clerking during school terms has offered to keep her on, even though she had been arrested for attracting the attention of the authorities during a protest against gene modified grains. It was her misfortune to be handcuffed and taken to the police station. Her mug shot was picked up by reporters and the whole riotous event went viral. Unfortuately, the name of her law firm was included in the story and the firm immediately became the target of a torrent of emails, either berating her involvement in the protest, or supporting her passion for the anti "frankenfood" movement. Instead of firing her, her superiors took advantage of her notoriety and immediately brought her to the forefront of the courtroom, albeit in a small secretarial role, while they tried a case suing GMO corporations for supposedly allowing rogue seed to escape onto neighboring farms. The firm won the case, with the offending companies paying large penalties for breaking the Federal Patent Seed regulations and the affected farmers also receiving significant amounts in damages. The trial over, Tina was assigned to sort through the stored emails and secure for future reference anything that might be of use in future GMO cases. Among the emails was one addressed to her personally. The name of the sender sent shivers down Tina's back as memories of the tragic events of the past flooded through her mind; the lifechanging event involving the murder of her grandmother, the accusation and conviction of her young aunt, all because of her aunt's reputed love affair with the man whose name Tina was now staring at. Clayton Ross was asking for her private email address. He wanted information on how you could identify the modified grain if it had been introduced into one of his fields. However, he cautioned, he wished to proceed secretly because the culprits were local businessmen and most likely members of Tina's extended family. Did she dare to revisit all the pain, all the scandal, even the possible danger that her presence might reopen the now very cold case? Her parents wouldn't approve, she knew that, exposing her family, her sister, to a cause they had decided to let lie in the past. On the other hand, she knew her beloved aunt had been innocent. Her testimony ignored because of her age and her obvious loyalty to her aunt, the trial had surged ahead toward an injustice that now could never be corrected. But Tina wondered, could truth still prevail? She replies to the email and learns that there is also a minor oil boom blossoming in Ravenhill. What could be more convenient for stirring up trouble than contested mineral leases. Right up her alley. She mentions to the Senior lawyers in her current firm that there is the possibility of another lucrative case of GMO mishandling near her hometown. She adds that she has a lead on reliable inside information that she could access while investigating possible benefits of the oil rush to her family. What she asks for in return, is a referral and a chance to apply at several of the many high quality environmental law firms based in Denver. Her superiors agreed and Tina returns to Ravenhill and the place and people of her youth to confront the trauma of the past.
About the Author: Born and raised on a farm in eastern North Dakota, Juanita Jones Neff, has always been accused of reading too much. Which could be true, as she readily admits to having read the entire Wyndmere school library from A to Z. Supplementing her income with beauty pageant winnings, Juanita attended UND, married and raised 3 children, now with families of their own. She is a poet, painter, doer and dreamer, and continues to be an avid reader, never to be found without a book by her side, most often a mystery.