Chapter 14 - The Secret Silas Vane Had Buried for Twelve Years
Red Hollow looked abandoned.
Snow covered the fences.
Doors hung open.
Wagons were gone.
The place where so many people had been imprisoned now appeared almost peaceful.
May hated that.
Evil should leave visible smoke.
Broken windows.
Dark skies.
Something.
Instead morning sunlight touched the roofs as gently as anywhere else.
Blaine, Caleb, May, Bell, and six railroad guards entered from the east.
Bell had insisted on joining.
Blaine had not objected.
Thomas Mercer had written that courage should cost Bell something.
Walking back into the place he helped create seemed a beginning.
Caleb led them toward Silas's office.
“Underground room is here?”
May nodded.
“Behind the storage cellar.”
Caleb frowned.
“I never knew.”
“Nobody did.”
They found the hidden door.
Steel.
Heavy lock.
Already open.
Blaine raised a lantern.
Stairs descended.
At the bottom stood rows of cabinets.
Silas was nowhere.
May opened one.
Letters.
Another.
Bank documents.
Another.
Photographs.
Bell whispered, “Dear God.”
This wasn't merely evidence of crimes.
It was leverage.
Silas had collected secrets on everyone who worked with him.
Affairs.
Fraud.
Bribes.
Illegal land claims.
Violence.
Everything.
“That is how he controlled them,” May said.
Caleb found a cabinet labeled M.
Inside was a file.
MERCER, THOMAS.
Blaine opened it.
Reports followed his father's movements.
Names of people Thomas contacted.
Then an order.
Authorized by Harlan.
Approved by Vane.
Bell stood nearby.
Blaine handed him the paper.
Bell read it.
His face collapsed.
At bottom was a final note.
Bell will deliver body. His compliance ensures silence.
Blaine stared at him.
“You knew before you brought Dad home.”
Bell's voice barely worked.
“Yes.”
“You stood beside my mother.”
“Yes.”
“You watched her cry.”
Bell nodded.
Blaine's anger rose so quickly May moved closer.
But Blaine did not strike him.
He simply said, “You will testify.”
Bell looked up.
“To everything.”
“Yes.”
“Even if it puts you in prison.”
“Yes.”
“Good.”
Bell folded the paper.
“It's less than I deserve.”
A sound came from above.
Footsteps.
Silas.
They spread out.
But instead of descending, Silas locked the steel door.
Then smoke entered through the vents.
“Fire!” Caleb shouted.
Silas was burning the office.
Blaine pushed the door.
Locked.
The underground archive became a trap.
Smoke thickened.
May searched walls.
“No.”
“What?” Blaine asked.
“There has to be another exit.”
“Why?”
“Silas would never build a room he couldn't escape.”
That logic saved them.
Caleb examined cabinets.
Bell found airflow behind one.
They pushed it aside.
A narrow passage.
Everyone entered as flames spread overhead.
The tunnel emerged beyond the compound near an old mine.
Blaine came out last.
Silas waited on horseback.
Fifty yards away.
He stared at them.
His entire operation burned behind.
For a moment he and May made eye contact.
Silas looked shocked.
She was still alive.
Still free.
Still carrying documents from his secret room.
His world was ending.
He turned his horse.
Caleb raised a rifle.
Blaine pushed the barrel down.
“Why?” Caleb demanded.
“Because I want him alive.”
“So does the law.”
Blaine looked toward Bell.
“For once.”
They pursued.
Silas entered the mine road.
Snow deepened.
His horse tired.
By afternoon, they found it abandoned.
Footprints continued uphill.
May recognized the direction.
“Where is he going?”
Blaine studied the ridge.
“Old Mercer property.”
Caleb stared.
“What property?”
“Our father's first timber claim.”
Winter House had been part of Thomas's business.
The timber claim sat above Red Hollow.
Silas was returning to where everything started.
They followed.
Near sunset they reached a ruined cabin.
Silas stood inside.
No horse.
No escape.
On the table lay a small metal box.
Blaine entered alone.
Silas laughed.
“Thomas's son.”
“You've said that before.”
“You look more like him every time I see you.”
“That's supposed to bother me?”
“It should.”
Silas opened the box.
Inside was money.
Gold certificates.
Foreign accounts.
Enough to disappear forever.
“Help me down the mountain,” Silas said.
Blaine stared.
Silas smiled.
“You think May will stay?”
Blaine's face remained still.
“She doesn't know how to stay. Women like that spend years running even after nobody chases them.”
“Stop talking.”
“You'll wake one morning and she'll be gone.”
Blaine stepped closer.
Silas continued.
“Caleb will resent you for not finding him sooner.”
Another step.
“Bell will go to prison.”
Another.
“And your father is still dead.”
Blaine stopped.
Silas smiled.
“There. That's the wound.”
Blaine looked at him for a long moment.
Then he did something Silas never expected.
Nothing.
No attack.
No rage.
No revenge.
Blaine simply opened the cabin door.
Bell and the railroad guards entered.
Silas's smile vanished.
“You're under arrest,” Bell said.
Silas laughed.
“You?”
“Yes.”
Silas stared at the badge.
“The man I bought?”
Bell removed it.
“No.”
He placed it on the table.
“The man who's going to testify against you.”
Silas finally looked afraid.
They took him down the mountain alive.
That night, Blaine sat outside Red Hollow.
May joined him.
“You could have killed him.”
“Yes.”
“Did you want to?”
“Yes.”
“Why didn't you?”
Blaine looked toward her.
“Because I realized spending my life on Silas would give him one more life than he'd already stolen.”
May's eyes filled.
Blaine held out his father's unopened letter.
“I think I'm ready.”
They opened it together.
The first line read:
My boys, if you're reading this, then fear probably kept me from getting home. Do not let it keep you from living.
Blaine stopped.
He could not continue.
May took his hand.
May you like
For once, the mountain man did not pull away.
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