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with the area, Claire had driven over to the lake several times and hiked up the steep banks of the levee. It was only forty feet high,but it towered above the flat landscape, allowing for an unbroken panoramic view.
    Over a hundred miles of embankment circled Okeechobee, making it the second-largest freshwater lake in the United States. Only Lake Michigan was bigger.
    The Hoover Dike had been built to prevent another flood like the one after the ’28 hurricane, which had drowned thousands of people in that farming region, but over the decades that dike’s unintended consequence was to fuel the explosive growth of Miami and the rest of South Florida. These days seven million souls relied on that reservoir for their drinking water.
    â€œWhat I was getting at,” Earl said, “is that over the years a lot of good came from those campfires. Things that had nothing to do with profit or power. Positive things that wouldn’t have happened otherwise. It pains me to see that go.”
    â€œYou think there’s a risk of that?”
    He looked out into the murky night, his silver mane glowing in the lantern light, his brown eyes weary and evasive.
    He swallowed, braced a shoulder against the doorway.
    â€œBrowning’s had six years to find his way,” Earl said. “I’ve tried to steer him the best I could, but I think we can see where he wants to take the ranch. The kind of men he’s surrounded himself with, and where that’s likely to lead.”
    â€œIs this about that rapper and his girlfriend last month? Because that wasn’t Browning’s fault. The guy just showed up out of nowhere. I agreed to take him on a hunt. So blame me.”
    â€œNo, Claire. You’re missing my point. It goes much deeper than that.”
    â€œWell, what’re you saying?”
    â€œI’ve made a difficult decision, Claire. Coquina Ranch is about to change. It’ll be a radical new direction. There’ll be those who won’t like these changes, but that can’t be helped. I’ll leave it to your husband to explain the details, but I wanted to tell you face-to-face why Idid it. Because as I see it, my duty is not simply to you and Browning and the children you’ll have someday. I have an obligation to my father, and the generations of Hammonds who have been faithful stewards of this land, working hard to preserve its traditions and natural beauty. I can’t let all that just disappear. I’ve tried to do what I thought best for all of us and for the land we love. One day, I hope you’ll come to agree.”
    â€œWhat kind of change, Earl? What’s going on?”
    He closed his eyes for several moments. When he opened them again, he drew a long breath as if he were hitching an enormous burden back onto his shoulders.
    â€œI’ve said enough. Browning will have to explain the rest.”
    She moved closer to him, opening her arms to embrace this man who was more father to her than her natural one, to give him what consolation she could provide. But she was a second late, for Earl Hammond missed the gesture and stepped away into the shadows of the corral, heading back toward the faint light of the lodge.

FOUR
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    ON THE SKINNING TABLE, THE wildebeest was spread-eagled on its belly. Blood drizzled into the stainless-steel gutters and drained into the spouts that disappeared into the concrete floor. Claire Hammond worked with quick, efficient strokes, slicing first at the middle of the rib cage an inch before the front legs and continuing up and across the shoulders.
    When she’d finished that radial cut, she cleaned the blade on her towel and moved around the table to make another incision above the animal’s knees, then sawed the blade around the tough hide until she met the first cut. She wiped the blade again, then slid the tip into the back of the leg and carved downward to intersect with the incision above the knee.
    The