Chapter 3 - The Rider on the Ridge
Harlan saw Elias standing alone and laughed.
He pulled his horse to a stop twenty yards away.
The other riders spread out.
“Where is she?”
Elias glanced at the empty trail behind him.
“Who?”
Harlan smiled.
“You're making a mistake.”
“Been making those most of my life.”
“Move.”
“No.”
Harlan dismounted.
The other men remained mounted.
Elias noticed something useful.
They weren't eager.
Harlan was angry.
The others were being paid.
Those were different motivations.
“You embarrass me in town,” Harlan said, “then steal a woman off Creed land?”
“She isn't property.”
“Her ranch owes Creed money.”
“That's between her and Creed.”
Harlan stepped closer.
“You don't know what she is.”
Elias's expression cooled.
“I know what you are.”
Harlan swung.
Elias expected it.
He moved just enough for the fist to miss, caught Harlan's arm, and shoved him away.
No punch in return.
Harlan stumbled.
His men exchanged looks.
Humiliation burned across Harlan's face.
He reached toward his gun.
Elias's voice dropped.
“If you draw it, this becomes something else.”
Harlan stopped.
“You threatening me?”
“No.”
“Sounds like it.”
“I'm giving you a chance not to make your day worse.”
One rider laughed before catching himself.
Harlan spun toward him.
That moment was enough.
Elias grabbed Samson's spare lead rope from his shoulder and snapped it against the nearest horse's rump.
The animal startled sideways.
The second horse followed.
Dust exploded through the wash.
Elias ran.
Not toward Mara.
Opposite direction.
Harlan cursed.
“Get him!”
Two riders followed Elias.
Harlan hesitated.
He knew what Elias was doing.
Mara was escaping.
He mounted.
Then he heard a voice from the ridge.
“Harlan!”
A fourth rider approached.
Older.
Silver beard.
Black hat.
Harlan stopped.
The man descended slowly.
“Mr. Creed wants you back.”
“I'm busy.”
“Not anymore.”
“She's getting away.”
“Creed said back.”
Harlan looked toward the canyon.
Then toward the man.
Fear won.
He cursed and turned his horse toward town.
Elias, meanwhile, had reached a narrow ravine.
He climbed over rocks until the riders couldn't follow on horseback.
They shouted threats.
He kept climbing.
By sunset, he reached the mission road.
Mara was waiting beneath a ruined stone arch.
When she saw him, relief crossed her face so openly that both of them pretended not to notice.
“You're alive.”
“Seems so.”
“I thought—”
She stopped.
Elias smiled faintly.
“Disappointed?”
Mara almost laughed.
It was the first sound of its kind he'd heard from her.
Then she became serious.
“We need to reach my house.”
“Tonight?”
“Yes.”
“What proof are we getting?”
Mara looked toward the darkening horizon.
“My husband kept records.”
“Of what?”
“Creed's cattle.”
Elias frowned.
“Thomas worked for him?”
“For six months.”
“And?”
“He discovered Creed was moving cattle across property he didn't own and changing brands.”
“Rustling?”
“More than that.”
She lowered her voice.
“Thomas believed Creed killed Caleb Morris.”
Elias stared.
“Proof?”
“Maybe.”
“Maybe isn't much.”
“It was enough for Harlan to start coming to my house after Thomas died.”
“What exactly did Thomas leave?”
“A ledger.”
“Where?”
Mara looked at him.
“Hidden beneath our floor.”
Elias exhaled.
“And Creed doesn't know?”
“If he knew, I would already be dead.”
A distant gunshot rolled across the desert.
Both turned.
Another followed.
Not aimed at them.
A signal.
Mara's face drained of color.
“They know we're going to my house.”
“How?”
“There's only one reason I'd risk returning.”
Elias looked toward the stars beginning to appear.
“Then we get there first.”
They traveled under darkness.
Near midnight, Mara's cabin appeared beside a line of cottonwoods.
The door was open.
Mara froze.
“I locked it.”
Elias stepped ahead.
Inside, furniture had been overturned.
Cupboards emptied.
Mattress cut open.
Floorboards pried loose.
Mara rushed inside.
“No.”
She dropped beside the hearth.
One board had been ripped away.
The hiding place beneath it was empty.
The ledger was gone.
Mara sat motionless.
Elias surveyed the room.
“They found it.”
“No.”
“Mara—”
“No.”
She reached deeper beneath the floor.
Her hand disappeared into a narrow gap.
Then she pulled out a small leather packet.
Elias stared.
“What is that?”
Mara opened it.
Inside were several folded pages.
“Thomas never trusted one hiding place.”
Despite everything, Elias smiled.
“Smart man.”
“He copied the important pages.”
She unfolded the first.
Names.
Dates.
Brands.
Payments.
Elias crouched.
Then he noticed a name repeated near the bottom.
Sheriff Boone.
Mara saw his expression.
“Yes.”
“The sheriff was being paid.”
“Every month.”
A sound came from outside.
Elias extinguished the lamp.
Too late.
A voice called from the darkness.
“Mara!”
Harlan.
“You've got something that belongs to Mr. Creed!”
Elias looked toward the back window.
Mara clutched the pages.
Harlan shouted again.
“Come outside, or we burn the house!”
Mara's face went white.
Elias whispered, “Back window.”
She shook her head.
“This was Thomas's home.”
“It won't matter if you're dead inside it.”
Outside, something shattered.
The smell of lamp oil entered the room.
Elias grabbed a blanket.
A flame appeared against the front wall.
Mara stared at the fire.
Then at the pages in her hands.
For the first time, fear in her face changed into something else.
Anger.
She tucked the evidence beneath her dress.
“I'm ready.”
Elias opened the back window.
They climbed out as flames began crawling toward the roof.
And while they disappeared into the darkness, Mara looked back at the only home she had shared with her husband.
By sunrise, it would be ashes.
May you like
But the papers Harlan had tried to destroy were still with her.
And one name on those pages was about to change everything.
