Chapter 4 - Footsteps Outside the Door
Silas read the letters until sunrise.
Abigail's father, Henry Mercer, had once operated a freight route through three territories.
Silas had always believed it carried cattle feed, mining equipment, mail, and passengers.
The receipts told another story.
Payments.
Unregistered passengers.
False employment contracts.
Transfers.
Silas felt physically ill.
Eda sat opposite him.
“You didn't know.”
It wasn't a question.
“No.”
“Did Abigail?”
Silas looked at the letters.
One envelope carried her handwriting.
He had been unable to open it.
Eda noticed.
“You don't have to.”
“Yes, I do.”
Inside was a letter Abigail had apparently written but never mailed.
Silas read silently.
Her father had confessed something shortly before his death.
He had discovered his freight company was being used to transport vulnerable women under fraudulent labor agreements.
When he tried to stop it, his business partners threatened Abigail.
Henry had hidden records beneath the barn.
Abigail had planned to take them to authorities.
Then Henry died.
Months later, Abigail became ill.
Silas had always believed fever killed her.
Now doubt entered the room.
At the bottom of the letter Abigail had written:
If anything happens to me, Clem Hutchkins knows why.
Silas stopped breathing.
Eda reached across the table but hesitated before touching his hand.
Silas noticed.
Then placed his hand over hers.
It was the first deliberate contact between them.
Neither spoke.
Grief was changing shape.
It was no longer only loss.
It had become evidence.
By afternoon, Amos arrived.
He read everything.
“I can arrest Clem for threatening you.”
“Then do it.”
“I can hold him briefly.”
“Do it.”
“But these records implicate others.”
“Then arrest them too.”
Amos looked exhausted.
“Silas, half these names belong to respected men.”
Eda answered, “Respectable men don't buy people.”
Amos nodded.
“You're right.”
It was the first time he said it without qualification.
Clem was arrested before sunset.
For one night, the ranch breathed easier.
Then at midnight, horses approached.
Silas stepped onto the porch.
Amos rode toward him.
Alone.
Silas knew immediately.
“What happened?”
“Clem escaped.”
Eda appeared behind Silas.
“How?”
Amos looked furious.
“My deputy let him out.”
“Why?”
“He's gone too.”
Silas cursed.
Amos continued.
“Clem knows about the evidence.”
“How?”
“My deputy.”
Eda whispered, “Then he'll come here.”
Silas looked toward the barn.
“No.”
Everyone turned.
“He'll expect us here.”
“What are you suggesting?” Ruth asked.
“We leave.”
Silas had an abandoned line cabin farther into the hills.
Before dawn, they packed supplies.
Seven women.
Silas.
Amos.
Nine people disappearing into snow.
But as they prepared to leave, Joelle found something nailed to the front door.
A strip of red cloth.
Eda recognized it.
It had belonged to a woman named Clara who disappeared from Pike's wagon train.
Attached was a note.
COME TO THE OLD MILL OR SHE DIES.
Joelle whispered, “She's alive.”
Eda closed her eyes.
Silas read the note again.
A trap.
Obviously.
But traps worked best when the bait mattered.
And Clara mattered.
Silas looked at Amos.
The sheriff understood.
“No.”
“We can't leave her.”
“That's exactly what Clem expects.”
Eda stepped forward.
“Then surprise him.”
Silas looked at her.
“How?”
For the first time since the auction, Eda smiled.
Not happily.
Dangerously.
“Clem thinks we're seven frightened girls.”
Her eyes moved toward Ruth, Mabel, Lena, Susanna, Pearl, and Joelle.
“He hasn't learned anything.”
Outside, snow began falling harder.
And before dawn, the seven women Clem had once expected to control began planning how to walk voluntarily into his trap.
May you like
But this time, they would not be alone.
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