In Chap­ter 17, titled “The Dis­ap­peared,” Joe observes his daugh­ter Sheri­dan expert­ly rid­ing a sor­rel geld­ing in the indoor are­na of a guest ranch. Impressed by her skill and flu­id move­ments, he notes her abil­i­ty to guide the horse with sub­tle leg pres­sure rather than rely­ing on the reins. The cold envi­ron­ment con­trasts with the heat­ed are­na, and Sheridan’s ded­i­ca­tion to train­ing the hors­es is evi­dent as she pre­pares to fin­ish her work­day. Their warm exchange high­lights Sheridan’s pride in her role, though she admits feel­ing occa­sion­al guilt that her moth­er and sis­ter would envy her job.

Joe vis­its Sheridan’s small but tidy apart­ment above the are­na, where she pre­pares a sim­ple meal of toma­to soup and grilled cheese. The set­ting reflects her inde­pen­dence, and Joe mus­es about the role rever­sal, recall­ing how he once cooked for her. The apartment’s per­son­al touch­es, like fam­i­ly pho­tos, evoke nos­tal­gia. Joe’s brief inspec­tion of the bath­room reveals his pro­tec­tive father­ly instincts, as he avoids snoop­ing but won­ders about Sheridan’s per­son­al life, par­tic­u­lar­ly whether any men’s items might be present.

Over lunch, Sheri­dan shares details about her life at the ranch, explain­ing her pref­er­ence for the soli­tude of her apart­ment com­pared to the shared dor­mi­to­ries for most staff. The con­ver­sa­tion shifts to her rela­tion­ship with Lance Ram­sey, the head wran­gler, caus­ing her to blush when Joe brings him up. Joe then steers the dis­cus­sion toward Kate, a guest at the ranch, whom Sheri­dan describes as a reserved but pas­sion­ate rid­er who cher­ished the ranch’s free­dom and nat­ur­al beau­ty.

Sheri­dan recounts how Kate strug­gled with the tran­si­tion from her high-pres­sure life in Eng­land to the ranch’s slow­er pace, even­tu­al­ly embrac­ing the dis­con­nect from tech­nol­o­gy. Kate expressed a deep reluc­tance to return home, hint­ing at unre­solved trou­bles. Joe probes for more details, ask­ing if Kate men­tioned any con­flicts with staff or guests, but Sheri­dan recalls only Kate’s dis­com­fort with the Young­bergs dur­ing a horse­shoe­ing ses­sion. The chap­ter ends with Joe piec­ing togeth­er clues about Kate’s mys­te­ri­ous dis­ap­pear­ance, while Sheridan’s obser­va­tions pro­vide sub­tle insights into the ranch’s dynam­ics.