Chapter 16 - Midnight on the Mountain Pass
Marshal Collier wanted Eliza to remain in Denver.
She refused.
He argued.
She refused again.
Rowan did not join either side.
That irritated Collier.
“Aren't you going to talk sense into her?”
Rowan looked at Eliza.
“No.”
“Why?”
“Because she heard you.”
Eliza almost smiled.
Collier sighed.
“Fine. Then you travel with marshals.”
“Yes.”
They rode west.
Snow had begun melting from lower trails, but Kenosha Pass remained cold after sunset.
Eliza recognized the rocks.
The river.
The turn in the trail.
Her body remembered before her mind did.
Her breathing became shallow.
Rowan rode beside her.
“Want to stop?”
“No.”
“You sure?”
“No.”
He nodded.
They continued.
At midnight they reached the ravine.
Empty.
Collier spread men along the ridge.
Eliza dismounted.
The exact place where Rowan found her lay twenty yards below.
She stared.
“Smaller than I remember.”
“Fear enlarges places,” Rowan said.
She descended carefully.
Dust had become mud from snowmelt.
Nothing remained of that day.
No blood.
No broken reins.
No proof the old Eliza had nearly ended here.
She picked up a stone.
“Why did he choose this place?”
“To leave you?”
“Yes.”
“Remote.”
“No.”
She shook her head.
“Caleb likes meaning.”
Rowan frowned.
“Our anniversary was Father's death date.”
“Yes.”
“The house was Father's.”
“Yes.”
“The watch was Father's.”
“Yes.”
She looked toward the opposite ridge.
“There.”
An abandoned mining road.
Rowan followed her gaze.
“What?”
“The Mercer claim.”
Her father once owned a small experimental claim near Kenosha Pass.
Not valuable.
Sold before his death.
Or so Eliza believed.
They climbed.
At the end of the road stood a collapsed mining shack.
A lantern glowed inside.
Rowan stopped.
“Eliza.”
“I know.”
“You stay behind me.”
“No.”
He looked at her.
She amended.
“Beside you.”
After a moment, Rowan nodded.
They approached together.
Caleb waited inside.
Alone.
No gun visible.
That worried Rowan more.
“Eliza.”
Caleb looked exhausted.
Beard unshaven.
Coat torn.
He seemed smaller.
Not harmless.
Just human.
For years Eliza had imagined him enormous.
A force of nature.
Now she saw a frightened man who had constructed power from other people's fear.
“You came.”
“Yes.”
Rowan stayed near the doorway.
Caleb looked at him.
“Still following her?”
“No.”
That confused Caleb.
Rowan continued.
“Walking with her.”
Eliza felt warmth despite the cold.
Caleb laughed bitterly.
“You always talk like a sermon?”
“Only when tired.”
Caleb looked at Eliza.
“They'll hang me.”
“Maybe.”
“You don't care?”
“I care about what happens to me.”
His mouth tightened.
“You weren't like this.”
“No.”
“I liked you before.”
“I know.”
Caleb finally reached into his coat.
Rowan tensed.
Caleb removed no weapon.
Only the silver chain that once held Thomas's watch.
Empty now.
“Your father ruined everything.”
Eliza stared.
“My father discovered what you were doing.”
“He humiliated me.”
“You were stealing.”
“I was surviving.”
“No.”
The word echoed.
“Poor boys don't get mines handed to them.”
“Neither did the families you stole them from.”
“They would've lost them anyway.”
“You don't know that.”
Caleb paced.
“Thomas looked at me like dirt.”
“So you watched him die?”
Caleb's face twisted.
“Creed could've saved him.”
Rowan spoke.
“No.”
Both turned.
“I couldn't.”
His voice carried eight years of acceptance.
“I wanted to believe I could've. Makes grief feel controllable.”
Caleb frowned.
Rowan continued.
“Thomas's injuries were beyond me.”
“You don't know that.”
“No.”
Rowan nodded.
“But neither do you.”
Eliza understood.
Rowan had stopped allowing Caleb to define his guilt.
That mattered.
Caleb saw it too.
His final weapon disappearing.
“Eliza.”
Caleb stepped closer.
“We can leave.”
She stared.
“What?”
“Mexico.”
He almost smiled.
“I have money hidden.”
Of course.
“Start again.”
She actually laughed.
“You think I came here because I want another beginning with you?”
“I can change.”
Six years ago those words would have destroyed her.
Three years ago they would have confused her.
Now they sounded tired.
“Maybe you can.”
Hope flickered in Caleb's face.
Eliza continued.
“But not with me.”
His expression collapsed.
“I'm done being the reward for your improvement.”
Silence.
Caleb's hand moved.
A pistol appeared.
Rowan stepped forward.
Eliza did not move.
Caleb aimed at neither of them initially.
The weapon shook.
“Why couldn't you just stay?”
There it was.
The true question.
Not why did you betray me?
Not why did you expose me?
Why did you refuse to remain where I put you?
Eliza answered calmly.
“Because I wanted to live.”
Caleb raised the pistol.
A shot sounded.
Eliza flinched.
Caleb's weapon fell.
Samuel Finch stood outside.
He had fired into the roof beam above Caleb.
Warning shot.
Marshal Collier's men surrounded the shack.
Caleb stared.
No escape.
Rowan had expected the possibility and left marks along the trail for the marshals.
Caleb laughed once.
Then sat heavily on a crate.
“I almost killed you.”
Eliza looked at him.
“Yes.”
“Why don't you hate me?”
She considered.
“I did.”
“Past tense?”
“Hatred keeps you in the room.”
Caleb's eyes filled with something she might once have mistaken for love.
“I don't want you in the room anymore.”
Collier entered.
Caleb offered no resistance.
As they led him out, dawn began appearing over the mountains.
Eliza stepped outside.
The first sunlight touched Kenosha Pass.
She looked toward the ravine.
Rowan stood beside her.
“Ready?”
“For what?”
“To leave.”
Eliza breathed in cold air.
Then nodded.
“Yes.”
This time, when she left the ravine, she did so on her own feet.
But the hardest part still waited in Fairplay.
Evidence had to become justice.
Truth had to survive lawyers.
May you like
And Eliza Mercer would have to tell her story before a room full of strangers.
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