Chapter 9 - The Ledger of Pine Hollow
Hannah raised her rifle.
Rebecca caught the barrel.
“No.”
Hannah stared at her.
“They came armed.”
“So did we.”
“Rebecca—”
“If shooting starts, they get exactly what they want.”
Harlon’s riders spread across the clearing.
Sheriff Kums approached first.
He stopped twenty yards away.
“Rebecca.”
She stepped forward.
“This is becoming a habit.”
Kums looked past her.
His eyes landed on Hannah.
For the first time Rebecca saw the sheriff lose control of his expression.
“Hannah.”
Hannah’s voice was cold.
“Wyatt.”
Harlon rode closer.
He stared as though seeing a dead person.
“You should’ve stayed gone.”
Rebecca looked at him.
“That sounds almost like a confession.”
Harlon recovered quickly.
“You don’t understand what you’ve gotten into.”
“I understand you marched me from town and followed me here twice.”
“We’re here on legal authority.”
Kums pulled out folded paper.
Rebecca almost laughed.
“What did you steal this time?”
Kums’s jaw tightened.
“This valley is under dispute. Until ownership is resolved, removal of mineral records or commercial property is prohibited.”
Thomas Reed stepped forward.
“Commercial property belonging to whom?”
“Harlon Puit.”
Rebecca held up Elias’s journal.
“Funny. Elias Mercer wrote that Puit stole from him.”
Harlon’s face hardened.
“You’re waving a dead man’s scribbles.”
Rebecca smiled.
“So you admit he owned the shack?”
Silence.
Thomas coughed to hide laughter.
Harlon glared.
Kums dismounted.
“Hand over the documents.”
“No.”
“Rebecca.”
“No.”
He looked at Hannah.
“You taught her stubbornness.”
Hannah’s mouth twitched.
“Silas did most of that.”
Mentioning Silas changed Kums.
Rebecca noticed.
Guilt.
“Sheriff,” she said quietly, “why did you sign a deposition saying you saw Elias Mercer’s patent?”
Harlon turned sharply toward Kums.
Rebecca had guessed correctly.
Harlon had not known the deposition survived.
Kums’s face went pale.
Rebecca continued.
“Nineteen years ago. Your signature.”
Harlon said, “What is she talking about?”
Kums did not answer.
Rebecca understood that the group before her was less united than it appeared.
She pressed.
“And why did Marsh freight Mercer’s possessions to Puit storage three days after Elias disappeared?”
Delbert Marsh shifted in his saddle.
“That was my father.”
“But the records are yours now.”
“I inherited a freight business, not his sins.”
“That may be the first sensible thing anybody from Pine Hollow has said to me.”
Harlon snapped.
“Enough.”
Rebecca looked at him.
“Afraid of old paper?”
“I’m afraid of fools turning stories into accusations.”
“Then let a judge read them.”
Nobody spoke.
Harlon’s expression told her more than words could.
He did not want court.
Good.
Rebecca stepped closer.
“I’m filing the patent.”
Kums said, “You can’t before winter.”
“I can.”
“Roads close.”
“Then I’ll travel before they do.”
Harlon smiled.
“You think Silver Junction will accept a twenty-year-old claim from a girl with no recognized inheritance?”
Rebecca produced Hannah’s birth record.
His smile disappeared.
“This recognizes her.”
She pointed toward Hannah.
“My mother recognizes me.”
Hannah stepped beside her.
“I’ll testify.”
Harlon stared at Hannah.
Then he laughed softly.
“A missing woman using a false name for six years? You think that helps credibility?”
Rebecca saw the trap.
Hannah had hidden.
Harlon could portray her as dishonest.
Then Lydia emerged.
“I’ll testify too.”
Harlon stared.
Another ghost.
“Lydia Vale.”
“Still unpleasant to see me?”
“Never particularly liked you.”
“The feeling survived.”
Micah stepped forward.
“So will I.”
Thomas Reed joined him.
“And me.”
Caleb and Jesse followed.
Harlon looked around.
Rebecca watched numbers change the confidence in his face.
He finally turned toward Kums.
“Search the property.”
Kums did not move.
“Harlon.”
“You have lawful notice.”
“I have notice you drafted.”
“You signed it.”
“I signed an order preserving disputed property. Not permission to seize private papers.”
Harlon’s eyes narrowed.
Rebecca sensed an old fracture widening.
“Whose side are you on?”
Kums looked tired.
“I stopped knowing years ago.”
That answer shocked everyone.
Harlon rode closer.
“Careful.”
Kums looked at him.
“No. I think I’m finished being careful.”
Rebecca’s breath caught.
Kums removed his badge.
He stared at it.
Then pinned it back.
“Rebecca Boon remains in possession until court order says otherwise.”
Harlon’s face reddened.
“You’ll regret that.”
“I already regret most things involving your family.”
Harlon wheeled his horse.
His men followed reluctantly.
Delbert Marsh remained.
Harlon shouted.
“Delbert!”
Marsh looked between groups.
Then dismounted.
“I’m done.”
Harlon stared.
“What?”
“My father is dead. Yours is dead. I’m fifty-two years old and still cleaning up what they started.”
“You owe me.”
“No.”
Delbert took his rifle from the saddle and handed it to Kums.
“I owe you nothing.”
Harlon rode away alone with seven men.
Rebecca watched until they vanished.
Then she turned to Kums.
“This doesn’t make us friends.”
“I’d be alarmed if it did.”
“Why help now?”
Kums looked toward Hannah.
“Because nineteen years is long enough.”
Rebecca folded her arms.
“Start talking.”
Kums sat beside the fire that evening.
He confessed slowly.
When he was twenty-four, he worked as deputy clerk.
Elias Mercer presented his patent.
Kums witnessed it.
Harlon’s father, Edwin Puit, later ordered the county clerk to remove the filing.
“He couldn’t order him.”
“He owned the man’s gambling debt.”
Kums looked ashamed.
“I signed the deposition because Elias demanded it. I kept a copy.”
“Where?”
“Gone.”
“Harlon?”
“Probably.”
“What happened to Elias?”
Kums stared at the flames.
“I saw him the night before he disappeared.”
“What did he say?”
“That he had proof Edwin Puit was stealing ore.”
“Then?”
“He asked me to ride to the territorial marshal.”
“Did you?”
“No.”
Rebecca’s voice hardened.
“Why?”
“My younger brother owed Puit money. Edwin threatened him.”
“So you did nothing.”
“Yes.”
“Then Elias disappeared.”
“Yes.”
“Did you help cover it?”
Kums looked at her.
“I helped cover my cowardice.”
Rebecca hated him for saying it plainly.
It made anger more complicated.
Delbert Marsh returned from his horse carrying a leather book.
“My father kept this.”
He placed it on the table.
A freight ledger.
Rebecca opened it.
Pages recorded twenty years of shipments.
One entry had been circled.
December 2.
Passenger: E. Mercer.
Destination: Redstone Station.
Rebecca looked up.
“You transported Elias after he disappeared?”
Delbert shook his head.
“My father did.”
“But this says passenger.”
Kums grabbed the book.
“He was alive.”
Lydia whispered.
“After everyone thought he was dead.”
Rebecca turned pages.
Another entry.
Payment received from E. Puit.
Rebecca’s heart fell.
“Edwin paid for the trip.”
Delbert nodded.
Rebecca stared at the ledger.
Perhaps Elias had not been murdered.
Perhaps he had been forced out.
Then Hannah spoke.
“Redstone Station is on the Montana route.”
The same place she had searched.
Rebecca looked at her mother.
“Your father may have survived.”
“For some time.”
Rebecca’s mind raced.
“If Edwin sent Elias away, why hide it?”
Kums answered.
“Because a living Elias could come back.”
Rebecca closed the ledger.
“Unless somebody made sure he couldn’t.”
Outside, thunder rolled.
Not weather.
A blast.
Everyone ran to the door.
Fire erupted from the northern tunnel.
May you like
Harlon Puit had not gone home.
He had decided to bury the evidence instead.
