Chapter 10 - The Night the Shack Burned
The explosion shook snow from the roof.
Rebecca ran toward the tunnel.
Thomas grabbed her.
“No.”
“My mother’s records are in there.”
“And the tunnel may collapse.”
Another blast thundered underground.
Rock cracked.
Smoke rolled from the ravine.
Hannah shouted.
“Back to the shack!”
They ran.
Then Rebecca saw flames through the trees.
The shack.
“No!”
Two riders galloped from the clearing.
One carried an empty kerosene can.
Rebecca fired into the air.
The horses accelerated.
The shack’s west wall was burning.
Micah and Caleb attacked the flames with snow.
Jesse formed a bucket line from the creek.
Rebecca rushed inside.
Smoke filled the room.
The hidden iron box.
She dropped to her knees.
The stove stones were hot.
She pulled them aside.
Her sleeves began smoking.
Hannah dragged her back.
“The box can wait!”
“It can’t!”
Together they pulled it free.
The journals were inside.
The patent.
Birth record.
Depositions.
They carried the box outside.
A section of roof collapsed seconds later.
Rebecca stared.
Her first home after Pine Hollow was burning.
Again.
Something inside her broke.
She walked toward Kums.
“This is your fault.”
The sheriff did not defend himself.
“You let Harlon do this for twenty years.”
“Yes.”
“You knew what he was.”
“Yes.”
“And you marched me out under a rifle.”
Kums’s face tightened.
“Yes.”
Rebecca shoved him.
Micah stepped forward.
Kums raised a hand.
“Let her.”
Rebecca hit him again.
Not hard.
Angry.
Helpless.
Kums accepted it.
Finally Hannah caught Rebecca’s wrists.
“Save your strength.”
Rebecca turned away.
They fought the fire until dawn.
The shack survived.
Barely.
Half the roof was gone.
The west wall was charred.
The bunk destroyed.
But the floor remained.
The stove remained.
The papers survived.
The tunnel did not.
Rockfall sealed the entrance.
Harlon had buried whatever remained inside.
Thomas looked toward the collapsed ravine.
“Could take months to clear.”
Rebecca sat in the snow.
Hannah placed a blanket around her.
Rebecca stared at the house.
“This was supposed to be somewhere.”
Hannah sat beside her.
“It still is.”
“It’s burned.”
“So was the lean-to.”
“That’s not encouraging.”
Hannah smiled faintly.
“You fixed that.”
Rebecca looked at her mother.
“You always talked like this?”
“Unfortunately.”
By afternoon, riders arrived from Pine Hollow.
Rebecca reached for her gun.
Then saw who they were.
Townspeople.
The blacksmith.
Mrs. Talley.
The baker.
Two ranchers.
Widow Amory rode in front.
Rebecca stood.
The widow dismounted.
She was sixty-three, small, straight-backed, and terrifying when annoyed.
She looked at the damage.
Then at Sheriff Kums.
“You useless fence post.”
Kums sighed.
“Morning, Miriam.”
“Don’t morning me.”
Rebecca blinked.
Miriam.
Widow Amory had a first name.
She had never heard anyone use it.
The widow turned to Rebecca.
“We brought lumber.”
Rebecca stared at the wagons behind them.
“You did?”
“And food.”
“Why?”
Widow Amory frowned.
“Because apparently we all needed a fire to remember we have spines.”
The blacksmith removed his hat.
“I should’ve said something when they took your house.”
Mrs. Talley looked ashamed.
“So should I.”
Rebecca did not know what to say.
Part of her wanted to forgive them instantly.
Another part remembered closed curtains.
Silence.
Her father’s funeral.
The march out of town.
Widow Amory seemed to understand.
“You don’t owe anybody comfort.”
Rebecca looked at her.
“Did you know my mother was alive?”
The widow sighed.
“Sometimes.”
Rebecca almost laughed.
“Of course.”
“We’ll discuss how angry you are after the roof is covered.”
That was Miriam Amory’s version of affection.
They worked until dark.
Pine Hollow rebuilt the house it had tried to pretend did not exist.
Not all Pine Hollow.
Harlon’s closest allies stayed away.
But enough came.
By nightfall, a temporary roof covered the shack.
The fire brought something else.
Witnesses.
Everyone could see the destruction.
Everyone heard what had happened.
Harlon could no longer control the story quietly.
Kums announced he would arrest Harlon.
Delbert shook his head.
“He’ll be gone.”
Kums sent riders anyway.
They returned near midnight.
Harlon Puit had disappeared.
His mercantile was locked.
His horse gone.
So were three account books and several hundred dollars.
Rebecca was not surprised.
“What about my old house?”
Kums looked at her.
“Still locked.”
Rebecca turned to Hannah.
“Father hid your money there.”
Hannah nodded.
“And maybe his letter to Harlon.”
“Maybe.”
Rebecca looked toward the valley road.
“I’m going back.”
Kums started.
“You were ordered—”
Rebecca raised an eyebrow.
He stopped.
“The order was Harlon’s manipulation,” he corrected. “You can return.”
“I wasn’t asking.”
Widow Amory smiled.
At dawn Rebecca rode into Pine Hollow.
This time nobody marched behind her.
Hannah rode beside her.
Micah followed.
Kums came last.
People stepped into the street.
Rebecca felt their eyes.
She did not lower hers.
Her childhood house stood near the far end.
A new lock covered the door.
Rebecca used an axe.
One strike.
Two.
Three.
The lock broke.
Inside, everything smelled wrong.
Harlon’s men had searched.
Drawers stood open.
Mattress cut.
Floorboards lifted.
But Rebecca knew a hiding place they did not.
Her father had built a window bench when she was seven.
Underneath was a hollow section.
She pried it open.
Inside lay a cloth bag.
Money.
Letters.
And one sealed envelope.
To Rebecca.
Her father’s handwriting.
Rebecca sat on the floor.
Hannah knelt beside her.
Rebecca opened it.
Daughter,
If you are reading this, then Harlon did what I expected and you found your way to the valley.
Rebecca stopped.
Her father had known.
She continued.
I am sorry for sending you there without truth. I hoped the valley would give you a choice Pine Hollow would not.
There is something I never told Hannah.
Something about Elias Mercer.
Rebecca looked at her mother.
Hannah had gone pale.
Rebecca read the final lines.
Elias came back once.
May you like
You were three years old.
And I sent him away.
