Chapter 10 - The Man Who Knew the Truth
Voss was older than Elias remembered.
Gray-haired.
Heavy around the waist.
But his eyes remained cold.
“You've caused considerable trouble, Ward.”
“Good.”
Voss looked at Naira.
“Your husband was difficult.”
Naira raised her rifle.
Elias gently lowered the barrel.
Voss smiled.
“He refused orders. Encouraged prisoners to escape.”
“They weren't prisoners,” Elias said.
“They were labor.”
“They were kidnapped.”
Voss shrugged.
“History won't care.”
Naira stepped forward.
“I care.”
Voss's smile disappeared.
He admitted Tomas escaped.
He admitted he had ordered men after him.
But he insisted he didn't know whether Tomas survived.
“Last report placed him east of Silver Creek.”
Naira's heart raced.
“Where?”
Voss laughed.
“You think I'll help you?”
Then riders appeared behind him.
But they weren't his.
A territorial marshal had followed Elias's evidence from San Pedro.
Voss suddenly understood.
The documents mattered.
The letters mattered.
Hollis mattered.
Crawford, desperate to save himself, had testified.
Voss reached for his pistol.
The marshal was faster.
“Don't.”
Voss slowly raised his hands.
As he was taken away, he looked at Naira.
“You'll never find him.”
Naira answered quietly.
“You spent five years making sure I wouldn't try.”
May you like
She looked toward the eastern horizon.
“You failed.”
