Chapter 9 - What Silas Found Beneath the Barn
They emptied the ranch before dark.
But Silas returned to the barn.
Abigail's records were incomplete.
Something bothered him about the metal box.
Why hide only part of the evidence?
He searched beneath the floor.
Three hours later he found a second compartment.
Inside was Abigail's journal.
The truth broke him.
Abigail had not died from ordinary fever.
She suspected poisoning.
She had written about dizziness after Clem visited.
About medicine delivered by Harland's physician.
About knowing too much.
Her final entry said:
Silas believes I will recover. I cannot bear to frighten him until I am certain. If I am wrong, let him never see these pages. If I am right, I pray someday he finds the courage I did not have time to use.
Silas sat alone beneath the barn.
For three years, he had blamed himself for failing to save her.
Now he understood.
Abigail had been murdered.
His grief became rage.
Then he heard horses.
Harland's men.
Silas grabbed the journal.
Outside, flames rose near the house.
The ranch was burning.
And across the yard, Eda suddenly appeared.
She had come back for him.
“Silas!”
He ran toward her as the barn roof caught fire.
Behind them, the house where seven women had first experienced safety disappeared behind flames.
Eda pulled Silas toward the horses.
He looked back once.
Abigail's home was burning.
But her truth was in his hands.
And Harland had just made his greatest mistake.
He had destroyed a building.
Not the people inside it.
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By morning, the entire town would see the smoke—and Eda intended to make sure they learned who had lit the match.
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