Chapter 9 - Fire in the Barn
Hannah did not go to the depot alone.
She did something Gideon Vane never expected.
She told everyone.
Within thirty minutes seventeen farmers knew about the note.
Within an hour the newspaper editor knew.
By sunset half of Red Willow knew.
If the note was a trap, it would no longer happen in darkness.
Hannah arrived at the abandoned depot with Abigail, Walter Pike, Samuel Price, and twelve armed ranchers.
No one was there.
Only Caleb’s hat lay on the floor.
Hannah picked it up.
Blood marked the brim.
Not much.
Enough.
A message was pinned beneath it.
STOP THE HEARING.
Hannah felt fear.
Then anger.
Then a calm so complete it frightened even her.
Samuel Price whispered, “What are you going to do?”
“Hold the hearing.”
Abigail looked at her.
“Hannah—”
“That is why they took him.”
“You don’t know if he’s alive.”
“Yes, I do.”
“How?”
“Because if he were dead, they wouldn’t need me to stop.”
They searched until midnight.
No Caleb.
At one in the morning Hannah returned home.
Lucy cried as soon as she entered.
Hannah held her.
“I know.”
The baby searched the room.
Looking for the man who had carried her almost constantly.
“He’s coming back.”
Hannah needed to believe it.
At two-thirty she smelled smoke.
The barn was burning.
Flames climbed the western wall.
Hannah screamed for Abigail.
They rushed outside.
Jasper kicked wildly inside.
Hannah started toward the doors.
A figure ran past her.
Caleb.
For one impossible second she thought she was dreaming.
He kicked open the barn.
Dragged Jasper out.
Released the cow.
Then returned for sacks stored near the wall.
Hannah grabbed his arm.
“No!”
“Seeds.”
“I don’t care!”
“You will in spring.”
He disappeared inside.
Seconds later part of the roof collapsed.
Hannah screamed his name.
Caleb emerged through smoke carrying two seed sacks.
She hit him in the chest.
Hard.
“What is wrong with you?”
He coughed.
“Many things.”
Then she hugged him.
The action surprised both of them.
Caleb stood motionless.
Then his arms closed carefully around her.
Only for a moment.
Hannah pulled back.
“Where were you?”
“Later.”
They fought the fire until dawn.
The barn survived.
Barely.
One wall burned.
The hayloft was lost.
No animals died.
When the sun rose, Hannah sat beside Caleb near the well.
A cut marked his forehead.
The blood on the hat.
“You were taken?”
“Yes.”
“By whom?”
“Rusk and Baines.”
“How did you escape?”
Caleb looked toward the barn.
“Rusk believes ropes are stronger than they are.”
“You make that sound simple.”
“It wasn’t.”
“Did you find Margaret Lyle?”
His expression changed.
“Yes.”
“And?”
“Daniel Hale is alive.”
Hannah stared.
“Where?”
“Federal prison in Colorado.”
“What?”
“He was convicted of railway theft under another name.”
“Framed?”
“Margaret thinks so.”
“Can he prove what happened?”
“He kept copies of route maps.”
Caleb reached inside his shirt.
Removed a folded paper.
“Thomas sent Margaret a statement before he died.”
Hannah opened it.
Thomas’s handwriting.
Daniel Hale came to me with evidence that Vane paid Commissioner Harlow for confidential route information. If Daniel is arrested, the charges are false.
Hannah closed her eyes.
“We have enough.”
“Maybe.”
“What else could we need?”
“Someone outside Red Willow willing to act.”
They looked toward the town.
That was the problem.
The local judge could be bought.
The deputy already was.
Gideon owned influence.
But tomorrow’s hearing would be public.
Samuel Price planned to print everything.
Hannah touched the baby beneath her heart.
Suddenly pain tightened across her abdomen.
Sharp.
She inhaled.
Caleb saw immediately.
“What?”
“Nothing.”
“That wasn’t nothing.”
“The baby moved.”
He did not believe her.
Neither did she.
The pain came again.
Hannah gripped the well.
Caleb stood.
“We’re getting a doctor.”
“No.”
“Hannah.”
“The hearing is tomorrow.”
“The hearing does not matter if—”
“It matters.”
Her voice broke.
“I have already lost Thomas. I am not losing what he died trying to protect.”
Caleb crouched before her.
“This is not land anymore.”
She looked at him.
“It is to me.”
“No.”
His gray eyes held hers.
“It’s home. There’s a difference.”
Hannah’s anger disappeared.
Caleb continued softly.
“Thomas protected you. Not dirt. Not wheat. You.”
She swallowed.
“And now?”
Caleb hesitated.
“Now I am.”
The words settled between them.
Hannah looked away first.
The pain faded.
False labor, the doctor later said.
Stress.
Rest.
A word Hannah had apparently forgotten.
That evening the community rebuilt enough of the barn wall to shelter the animals.
Twenty-seven people came.
No one asked for money.
As darkness settled, Samuel Price rode up with news.
A telegram had arrived.
Federal Marshal Nathan Cross was traveling through Cheyenne.
Samuel had sent copies of the evidence.
“He wants to see everything,” Samuel said.
“When?”
“Three days.”
Hannah’s heart sank.
“The hearing is tomorrow.”
Caleb looked toward Red Willow.
“Then tomorrow we survive.”
A rider appeared on the road.
Deputy Rusk.
He stopped beyond the fence.
“Holt!”
Caleb stood.
Rusk held up a document.
“Warrant for your arrest.”
“For what?”
“Escape from lawful custody.”
Caleb laughed quietly.
“You sold me.”
“The labor bond was never formally discharged.”
Hannah stepped forward.
“I discharged it.”
“You aren’t the court.”
Rusk smiled.
“Come peacefully, or I return with twenty men.”
Caleb looked at Hannah.
She knew exactly what he was thinking.
If he resisted, Gideon would use it against them.
Caleb handed Lucy to Hannah.
Then walked toward Rusk.
Before leaving, he turned.
“Hold the hearing.”
Hannah clutched the newborn.
“I will.”
Rusk shackled Caleb’s wrists again.
The same wrists Hannah had watched freed less than a week earlier.
As they rode away, Lucy began screaming.
This time the baby did not stop.
Neither did Hannah.
But her tears were not helpless anymore.
Tomorrow she was going into that courthouse.
May you like
And she was going to tell Red Willow exactly what Gideon Vane had done.
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