3
Thirty-year-old Louisa Dupont drove slowly into the hills to the west of Hunters Creek. It was the first day of her new life. Two days ago she was a city detective, now she was a member of Al Bruce's Regional Enforcement Team. The reason for her transfer had never been clarified. That she was good at her job was certainly a factor. That she was to be the only female in a hitherto all-male unit was probably another, as she knew the Attorney General's office was at pains to rectify gender imbalances in the teams. It was a surprise move but a welcome one and she was determined to make a success of it.
She was not native to the High Plains. She had been born and had lived for her first eighteen years in the Mississippi Delta, in a nondescript town a few miles from New Orleans. A move to Ne
