A stagecoach that vanished without a trace...$40,000 in stolen payroll money...a jewel-studded belt buckle -- they are all pieces of a 110-year-old mystery, that Paul Braun is determined to solve. While the thirteen year-old Easterner is visiting his grandmother in Colorado, she gives him a heart-decorated belt buckle that had belonged to a distant, vaguely remembered relative. Intrigued by the odd-looking heirloom, Paul and his new friend, an American Indian bo), named Jay Jenkins, hunt through dusty attic trunks and yellowing newspaper clippings trying to discover more about its enigmatic owner. Suddenly, their search uncovers an ever) more perplexing puzzle -- the still-unsolved disappearance of a stagecoach, its passengers, and the fortime in gold it was carrying. Men his ruby-studded buckle is stolen, Paul realizes that it could possibly be the key to the whereabouts of the long-vanished coach -- and that, even today, someone is intent on preventing anyone from unlocking its terrible secret, Drawing from a true incident in the American West's rich past, master storyteller Patricia Beatty combines fast-paced plotting and a fascinating set of characters to weave this exciting tale of adventure and suspense.