Chapter 10 - The Night the Records Burned
By morning, every road out of Black Pine had a deputy on it.
Charles Tagot arrived before noon.
Cora watched his carriage roll down Main Street.
He looked nothing like Boon.
Charles was shorter.
Heavier.
Perfectly dressed despite the mud.
A silver-topped cane rested beside him.
Two territorial marshals rode behind the carriage.
Hyram Cole waited outside the hotel.
The two men shook hands.
That told Cora everything.
“They aren’t even hiding it,” she said.
Boon stood behind the church curtain.
“They don’t need to.”
Walter Grady read the arrest notice.
“Attempted murder of Owen Pike.”
Cora laughed bitterly.
“Owen Pike admitted killing Caleb.”
“Only to us.”
“Marcus heard.”
Grady looked toward Marcus.
“Hyram will say he’s a thief.”
“He is a thief,” Marcus said.
“Unhelpful.”
Elias added, “I heard nothing.”
Cora paced.
“Pike is alive.”
“Unless Hyram decides otherwise,” Boon said.
Everyone became quiet.
Cora stared.
“You think he’ll kill Pike?”
“I think Pike is more useful dead.”
A dead witness could not contradict the murder accusation.
It also erased the only man who had admitted what happened to Caleb.
“We find him first.”
“How?” Grady asked.
Cora thought.
Pike was injured only in pride.
He had fled on foot.
His horse remained at the line cabin.
He would need shelter.
Food.
Transportation.
“He’ll go somewhere Hyram doesn’t control.”
Boon frowned.
“Why?”
“Because he just failed.”
Marcus looked up.
“Hyram doesn’t forgive failure.”
Cora nodded.
“So Pike may be hiding from both sides.”
Elias said, “There’s an old mining camp west.”
“Silver Run,” Cora said.
Abandoned after the vein collapsed.
Eight miles.
They could reach it before dark.
But Boon could not travel openly.
Every deputy had his description.
So Cora did something Boon found deeply offensive.
She disguised him as a preacher.
Reverend Matthew donated an old coat and hat.
Cora stared after Boon changed.
“Something’s wrong.”
Boon frowned.
“What?”
“You look too angry.”
“I am too angry.”
“Preachers can be angry,” Matthew said.
Cora shook her head.
“Not that wealthy.”
She rubbed fireplace ash onto his coat.
Boon stared at her.
“You’re enjoying this.”
“More than expected.”
They left town in a supply wagon.
Cora drove.
Boon sat beneath sacks.
Marcus rode separately with Thomas.
At Silver Run they found Pike inside the old assay office.
He nearly shot Cora when she entered.
“Don’t.”
Her shotgun was already aimed.
Pike froze.
Boon stepped behind her.
“You.”
Pike backed away.
“Stay there.”
Cora said, “You told me what happened to Caleb.”
“I was talking.”
“You confessed.”
“I was lying.”
“Why?”
Pike’s eyes shifted.
Boon saw it.
“Hyram plans to blame your death on me.”
Pike’s face changed.
“You don’t know that.”
“He already accused me of attempting to murder you.”
Silence.
Cora lowered her gun slightly.
“You know Hyram.”
Pike swallowed.
“He sent men after me.”
That confirmed everything.
“Why?”
“I was supposed to kill Marcus.”
Cora’s stomach turned.
“And the boy?”
Pike looked ashamed.
“Leverage.”
Boon stepped closer.
“Where is Hyram’s private ledger?”
Pike laughed.
“You think I know?”
“You worked for him.”
“I killed for him. That doesn’t mean he trusted me.”
Cora flinched at the words.
Pike noticed.
For the first time, guilt crossed his face.
“About Caleb…”
“Don’t.”
“I didn’t mean—”
“Do not give me an apology because the man paying you has decided you’re disposable.”
Pike looked down.
Fair.
Boon asked again.
“Ledger.”
Pike hesitated.
“Safe in the syndicate office.”
“Combination?”
“No.”
“Who knows it?”
“Hyram. Marcus maybe.”
Marcus shook his head.
“No.”
Pike suddenly looked toward the window.
Smoke rose above Black Pine.
Too much.
Cora stepped outside.
Orange light flickered across the town skyline.
“The courthouse.”
Elias whispered.
They rode back hard.
The records office was on fire.
Flames consumed the roof.
Townspeople formed bucket lines.
Cora jumped from the wagon.
“Volume Twelve!”
Boon grabbed her.
“Hyram already has it.”
“Other records!”
She pulled free and joined the line.
For two hours they fought fire.
By midnight, the brick walls remained.
Almost everything inside was gone.
Survey books.
Tax receipts.
Deeds.
Years of history turned to ash.
Judge Palmer arrived in his nightshirt beneath a coat.
He looked horrified.
Hyram Cole arrived later.
Too late.
Conveniently.
“What happened?” Hyram asked.
Cora stared at him.
“You tell us.”
He looked offended.
“Mrs. Hayes.”
“You burned it.”
“Careful.”
“No.”
She stepped closer.
People watched.
Boon remained hidden near the alley.
Cora no longer cared.
“You stole land.”
Hyram’s face hardened.
“You’re emotional.”
“You killed my husband.”
A murmur moved through the crowd.
Hyram smiled coldly.
“Grief has confused you.”
“Owen Pike confessed.”
That got him.
Only for a fraction of a second.
But Cora saw it.
“Hyram,” someone shouted.
Marcus Vane stepped into the street.
Hyram turned.
Marcus raised his voice.
“I altered the deeds.”
Silence spread.
“I forged Boon Tagot’s signature because Hyram ordered me.”
People gathered.
Hyram looked around.
“You are a confessed embezzler.”
“Yes.”
Marcus swallowed.
“And a coward.”
His son stood beside Clara near the church.
Marcus looked at him.
“But I’m done being one.”
Hyram’s face went white with anger.
Then another voice came.
“So am I.”
Elias Ward stepped forward.
He held Caleb’s survey copies.
“The original records are gone.”
People stared.
“But Caleb Hayes copied them before he died.”
Cora watched Hyram.
For the first time, he looked uncertain.
Then Charles Tagot appeared.
The marshals beside him.
Charles pointed toward the alley.
“Arrest my nephew.”
Boon stepped into view voluntarily.
Cora turned.
“No.”
He looked at her.
“If I run, they control the story.”
The marshals approached.
Cora moved between them.
“Boon didn’t shoot Pike.”
One marshal asked, “Where is Pike?”
Cora opened her mouth.
A horse entered town.
Everyone turned.
Owen Pike rode slowly into the street.
He looked half frozen.
Terrified.
Alive.
He stopped ten feet from Hyram.
Then spoke loudly enough for everyone to hear.
“Boon Tagot didn’t try to kill me.”
Hyram’s expression changed.
Pike looked at Cora.
Then at the crowd.
“And Caleb Hayes didn’t die in an accident.”
The whole town fell silent.
Pike pointed directly at Hyram Cole.
“He ordered us to stop Caleb from reaching Helena.”
Cora closed her eyes.
Truth had finally entered the street where lies had ruled for years.
But Hyram was not finished.
He smiled.
Then reached inside his coat and removed a folded document.
“You all seem very interested in evidence.”
He handed it to Judge Palmer.
The judge read.
His face changed.
Hyram looked toward Boon.
“Perhaps we should discuss the late Silas Tagot’s will.”
Boon went still.
Charles Tagot smiled.
May you like
And Cora realized Hyram had saved his most dangerous weapon for last.
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