The mountains were still topped with snow, although the steadily increasing temperatures had melted most of it away. The white-capped peaks were contrast against a sky so clear and blue it almost didn’t seem real. April through November, about once-a-month,...

The road narrowed as they climbed. Asphalt gave way to gravel, then to hard-packed dirt that rattled beneath the Jeep’s tires and sent dust curling into the headlights. Trees pressed closer on both sides; pines and scrub oak, their branches...

For a few seconds after the broadcast cut back to the studio, no one moved. The television glowed above the bar, the anchor pale and strained, clinging to a professional cadence that no longer fit the moment. Her words blurred, “trying...