On the Big Rock, a towering bearded man is building a limestone replica of Roman Jerusalem for a Christian passion play. His cronies, who are in league with an interstate fraud ring, want the boy to disappear now.
Flying an ancient rented Cessna, Maytubby takes fire from a suspect he is tailing, while Bond combs river trails for traces of the killer.
While Maytubby and Bond try to protect the deaf boy and his mother from the crime ring, an improbable ally materializes from the prairie oak thickets, wielding a monstrous shotgun.
Kris Lackey, author of the USA Today bestseller Nail’s Crossing, has published stories in the Missouri Review, Wisconsin Review, Cimarron Review, and other magazines. He lives in Norman, Oklahoma.