Chapter 13 - Seven Women Finally Spoke
The hearing drew crowds.
Reporters came.
Eda testified first.
She gave her name.
Not Lot Seven.
Eda Mercer.
Then Ruth.
Mabel.
Lena.
Susanna.
Pearl.
Joelle.
Each woman described recruitment, fraudulent debt, threats, transportation, and the auction.
Joelle spoke about Margaret.
Clara spoke about the mill.
Margaret identified Harland.
Mabel authenticated her copies.
Amos testified about corruption.
Then Silas took the stand.
“What did you purchase for seven dollars?” an attorney asked.
Silas looked at Eda.
“Nothing.”
The attorney frowned.
“You submitted the winning bid.”
“I paid seven dollars.”
“For what?”
“To stop Clem Hutchkins.”
“So you claim no ownership?”
Silas's voice hardened.
“You can't own a person.”
Silence filled the courtroom.
The statement spread through newspapers.
But the defense attacked the women.
Called them liars.
Runaways.
Thieves.
Eda endured it.
Then Abigail's journal was admitted.
Harland's connection to her death opened another investigation.
The case expanded.
More victims came forward.
Twenty.
Thirty.
Then fifty.
The network began collapsing under the weight of its own records.
Yet one mystery remained.
Who had slipped the first paper beneath Sheriff Bell's door?
The answer arrived in the form of an elderly man.
The auctioneer.
He entered the courthouse voluntarily.
“I did.”
Everyone stared.
He had participated for years.
Then Lot Seven arrived.
He saw Joelle.
She reminded him of his dead daughter.
For the first time, guilt overcame fear.
He had sent Amos the paper.
His testimony connected everything.
Harland closed his eyes.
The conspiracy was finished.
But Eda discovered something unexpected after court.
Silas was leaving.
His wagon was packed.
“Where are you going?”
He looked toward the mountains.
“West.”
“Why?”
“The ranch is gone.”
“So rebuild.”
Silas looked at her.
“That house belonged to Abigail.”
Eda stepped closer.
“Maybe the next one belongs to the living.”
Silas could not answer.
May you like
And for the first time, Eda realized freedom could mean losing the man who had helped her find it.
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