Chapter 7 - No Woman Is a Debt to Be Collected
Anna could barely stand.
They carried her into the old logging cabin and built a small fire.
Her hands were blistered from cold.
Her coat had been cut at one shoulder, but beneath it she was not badly injured—only exhausted, hungry, and terrified.
Clara stayed beside her.
Gideon guarded the door.
After warm broth and half an hour near the fire, Anna was able to speak clearly.
“Rusk found out I copied pages.”
Clara held her hand.
“When?”
“The morning after you left.”
“How did you escape?”
“I didn’t.”
Clara froze.
Anna continued.
“He kept me at a freight house outside St. Louis. Two men took me west after he learned you were headed to Bitter Creek.”
“Why west?”
“Because the ledger was already moved.”
“To where?”
Anna looked at Gideon.
“Your property.”
Silence.
Gideon stared at her.
“My property?”
“Not exactly your cabin. Somewhere on your land.”
“That makes no sense.”
Anna pushed herself upright.
“It will.”
She reached beneath her coat and pulled out a folded paper.
A survey map.
Gideon recognized the ridge immediately.
His ridge.
His forty-three acres.
A red pencil mark circled an area northeast of the cabin.
“What is this?”
“An old silver prospect.”
“I know it.”
“Do you own it?”
“Yes.”
“Rusk wants it.”
Gideon laughed without humor.
“There’s no silver worth digging.”
“Not anymore.”
“What does that mean?”
Anna looked at Clara.
Then back at him.
“Judge Keene and Rusk have been buying transport land for two years. Rail expansion.”
Gideon’s expression changed.
The territorial railway had been surveying new routes.
Rumors had circulated all summer.
Anna continued.
“Your ridge controls the narrowest passage between Bitter Creek and the southern basin.”
Gideon walked to the map.
He saw it now.
The old mining cut.
The creek.
The canyon.
A rail line could cross there.
“How much?”
Anna shook her head.
“I don’t know. But enough that Keene’s group has been buying land through false names.”
“Why not just offer me money?”
“They did.”
Gideon remembered.
A letter six months ago from a company in Denver.
He had thrown it away.
“They offered low.”
“And you refused.”
“Yes.”
“So Rusk found another method.”
Clara understood before Gideon did.
“Me.”
Anna nodded.
“Marriage.”
Clara’s face went white.
“If I married Gideon…”
“Then depending on how papers were written, Rusk intended to create a claim through debt.”
Gideon swore.
Anna continued.
“They could say Clara’s bureau obligations became part of the household debt. Then Keene could enforce liens.”
Clara stood abruptly.
“I brought this to him.”
Gideon turned.
“No.”
“Yes.”
“No.”
“If I hadn’t come—”
“They chose me before they chose you.”
She stared at him.
“This started with my land.”
“It followed me here.”
“It followed both of us.”
Clara looked away.
Gideon crossed the room but stopped several feet from her.
“Listen to me.”
She didn’t.
“Clara.”
Finally she looked.
“You are not the weapon they used.”
Her eyes filled.
“You are the person they tried to use.”
That landed.
Gideon added, “There’s a difference.”
Anna watched them quietly.
Outside, horses sounded in the distance.
Gideon turned.
Riders.
He extinguished the lantern.
“Everybody quiet.”
Three horses approached.
Stopped.
A man called out.
“Cobb!”
Rusk.
Clara closed her eyes.
Anna whispered, “He found me.”
Gideon moved toward the door.
Rusk’s voice came again.
“I know Miss Mercer is with you.”
Anna’s surname.
So there was no point pretending.
“Come outside,” Rusk called. “We can finish this sensibly.”
Gideon answered through the door.
“You keep using that word.”
Rusk laughed.
“Mr. Cobb, you are protecting two women who have stolen company property.”
Anna’s face tightened.
Clara looked at Gideon.
Rusk continued.
“I have warrants.”
“From Keene?”
A pause.
Then, “From lawful authority.”
“That what we call him now?”
Rusk’s voice sharpened.
“You are interfering with legal transport.”
Gideon opened the door a few inches.
Snow blew inside.
“I’ll tell you something legal.”
Rusk waited.
“No woman in this cabin is property.”
“I didn’t say property.”
“You said debt.”
“Same thing the way you use it.”
Rusk stepped closer.
“Clara owes my company one hundred eighty-seven dollars.”
Clara recoiled.
Gideon almost laughed.
“For what?”
“Travel. Lodging. Clothing. Administrative expense.”
Gideon looked down at her boots.
“You send her across Wyoming barefoot and charge clothing?”
Rusk’s eyes hardened.
“She was provided shoes.”
Clara whispered, “Dodd took them.”
Rusk ignored her.
Gideon heard.
“So that’s what happened.”
Clara looked ashamed.
He shook his head.
“No.”
She stopped.
“Not your shame.”
Rusk’s patience broke.
“Enough. I will collect what I’m owed.”
Gideon stepped onto the porch.
“No.”
“Move.”
“No.”
“I have three armed men.”
“I counted.”
“And you’re alone.”
Gideon glanced back.
Clara stood near the doorway.
Anna behind her.
He looked at Rusk.
“No, I’m not.”
A rifle clicked from the trees.
Rusk turned.
Sheriff Bell stepped into view.
Then another man.
And another.
Harlan Pritchard.
Samuel Reed from the blacksmith shop.
Even one of the saloon men who had laughed when Clara arrived.
Bell held his rifle low.
“Evening.”
Rusk stared.
“You’re obstructing a court order.”
Bell shrugged.
“Been a disappointing week.”
“You’ll lose your badge.”
“Maybe.”
Rusk’s expression hardened.
“You think these people will stand with Cobb when they learn what his bride stole?”
The saloon man spoke.
“Seen what your company leaves women wearing.”
Rusk looked toward him.
The man shifted uncomfortably.
“I laughed at her.”
He swallowed.
“Shouldn’t have.”
Clara stared at him.
He could barely meet her eyes.
But he stayed.
Rusk looked around.
The balance had changed.
Not enough for victory.
Enough that force would cost him.
He stepped backward.
“This is not finished.”
Gideon’s voice was calm.
“I know.”
Rusk mounted.
Before leaving, he looked at Clara.
“You think these people will save you?”
Clara took one step onto the porch.
“No.”
Rusk smiled.
Then Clara continued.
“I think I’m going to save myself.”
His smile disappeared.
The riders vanished into the snow.
Bell lowered his rifle.
Gideon turned to Clara.
She was shaking violently.
But she had stepped outside anyway.
Anna reached for her.
Then Gideon noticed something in the snow where Rusk had stood.
A small metal object.
He picked it up.
A brass tag.
Number 17.
Clara recognized it.
“The deposit box.”
Anna stared.
“That isn’t possible.”
“Why?”
“Because I saw them empty it.”
Gideon turned the tag over.
Words had been scratched onto the back.
Not printed.
Handwritten with a sharp blade.
NORTH STAR SHAFT.
Gideon’s blood went cold.
The North Star was the abandoned silver mine on his property.
The same place circled on Anna’s map.
Whatever evidence Rusk wanted had not been moved away from Gideon’s land.
May you like
It had been moved directly beneath it.
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