- Chapter 1 occurs on Wednesday, June 7, 1871, the day of Agatha Burkhardt's funeral.
- Except Agatha's little sister, Georgie, doesn't believe the body in the coffin is Agatha's.
- As she stands by the open grave with Ma and Grandfather Bolte, Georgie recalls what brought them to this point.
- A couple of weeks before, Agatha ran off with some pigeoners, who are apparently people that chase pigeons for a living. Hey, a job's a job.
- Georgie flashes back to yesterday, when she went with Ma and Grandfather Bolte to identify the body Sheriff McCabe brought back when he went looking for Agatha.
- Georgie's glad she looked, even though the body was in bad shape, because now she knows that the only evidence the body is Agatha is that it's wearing Agatha's dress and has auburn hair.
- Georgie thinks everyone's jumping to conclusions, but Ma and Grandfather Bolte confirm that the body is Agatha's and don't want to hear any more lip about it.
- On the way home from identifying the body, Georgie tells Grandfather Bolte he needs to go look for Agatha because he's a better tracker than Sheriff McCabe.
- We find out that Agatha isn't the first Burkhardt to disappear—Georgie and Agatha's father left to search for gold in Colorado ten years ago, and they never heard from him again.
- Ma and Grandfather Bolte feel blessed to have a body this time, but Georgie jumps from the moving wagon and runs out her feelings.
- There's a large number of mourners at Agatha's funeral, including her two suitors, Billy McCabe and Mr. Benjamin Olmstead.
- Georgie recalls that she saw Billy kiss Agatha after she'd turned him down and while she was seeing Mr. Olmstead; Georgie still disapproves of Agatha's two-timing.
- So Georgie told Mr. Olmstead about it. Apparently, her sense of justice outdoes her sense of loyalty to her sister.
- Georgie describes Mr. Olmstead as the well-to-do owner of Olmstead Hotel, Billy as the local heartbreaker every girl falls for, and Polly Barfod (Billy's new fiancée) as nowhere near as cool as her sister.
- Georgie thinks it's ridiculous that in the two weeks since Agatha ran away, Sheriff McCabe found a body, and now they're having a funeral.
- As the mourners pile dirt on the coffin, Georgie flashes back to another memory of Agatha.