Chapter 5 - A House Beneath Dead Man’s Peak
Hattie did not open the door.
Red Lawson remained outside.
“Mrs. Hayes?”
“How do you know who I am?”
“Whole town knows Hayes bought himself another bride.”
Bought.
The word made Hattie’s jaw tighten.
“He married me.”
“Sure.”
“Why are you here?”
“My horse went lame.”
“The horse outside isn’t lame.”
Silence.
Hattie looked through the narrow window beside the door.
The riderless animal stood trembling near the trees.
Red laughed quietly.
“You’re sharper than the last one.”
The last one.
Hattie’s grip tightened around the skillet.
“You knew Mary?”
Another pause.
“Open the door.”
“No.”
“I knew Mary.”
Hattie’s pulse quickened.
“What do you want?”
“Warmth.”
“You can warm yourself in the shed.”
“I might have information your husband forgot to share.”
Hattie felt anger rising.
“I’m not interested in gossip delivered by armed strangers.”
“You should be.”
A gust of wind slammed snow against the cabin.
The temperature was dropping.
Hattie knew leaving a man outside could kill him.
But every instinct warned her against opening the door.
Then she heard another sound.
Hooves.
Gideon appeared from the trees.
He rode hard toward the cabin.
Red stepped away from the door.
Hattie could not see his face clearly.
Gideon dismounted before his horse fully stopped.
He crossed the yard.
“What are you doing here?”
His voice carried a tone Hattie had never heard.
Cold.
Dangerous.
Red spread his hands.
“Visiting.”
“Leave.”
“Storm’s coming.”
“Not my concern.”
“You’d let an old friend freeze?”
“You were never my friend.”
Hattie watched through the glass.
Red stepped closer.
Even from inside, she could feel the tension.
“You still got it?” Red asked.
Gideon did not answer.
“The map?”
Hattie’s stomach tightened.
So the map mattered.
Red smiled.
“That’s what I thought.”
Gideon’s hand moved toward his belt.
“Ride south.”
Red’s expression hardened.
“You always did think everything belonged to you.”
“You have one minute.”
Red glanced toward the cabin.
Toward Hattie.
“She know?”
Gideon took one step forward.
“Leave her out of this.”
“She’s living in Mary’s house.”
“It’s Hattie’s house now.”
Those words struck Hattie unexpectedly.
Red smiled again.
“Does she know what happened to the woman before her?”
Gideon went very still.
Hattie opened the door.
Both men turned.
“Enough.”
Gideon’s face changed.
“Hattie, inside.”
“No.”
Red’s smile widened.
Gideon’s did not.
Hattie looked at Lawson.
“If you have something to say, say it.”
“Hattie.”
She ignored Gideon.
Red studied her.
“You don’t look much like Mary.”
“I am becoming increasingly grateful for that observation.”
Red laughed.
“You’ve got bite.”
“You’re still not answering.”
His amusement disappeared.
“Ask your husband about the winter of ’77.”
Gideon stepped forward.
“Go.”
Red looked at him.
“You can’t bury truth forever.”
Then he mounted his horse.
Before riding away, he looked once more toward Hattie.
“He didn’t tell Mary everything either.”
He disappeared into the snow.
Hattie closed the door.
Gideon remained outside for several seconds.
When he entered, he brought cold air with him.
He removed his coat.
Hattie waited.
He avoided her eyes.
Finally she said, “Who is Red Lawson?”
“A prospector.”
“That is not what I asked.”
“We worked together once.”
“Where?”
“The mountains.”
“The mysterious map?”
Gideon’s jaw tightened.
“Yes.”
Hattie folded her arms.
“Mary knew him.”
“Yes.”
“How?”
Another silence.
Hattie felt something inside her change.
Not fear.
Trust.
Or rather, the beginning of trust retreating.
“You told me Mary died of fever.”
“She did.”
“Was Red involved?”
Gideon looked directly at her.
“No.”
The answer came firmly.
Hattie believed that part.
But there was more.
“What are you hiding?”
“Something that happened before you.”
“That answer might work if the man from your past hadn’t appeared at our door.”
“Our?”
Hattie stopped.
Gideon had caught the word too.
Their house.
Their problem.
She exhaled.
“Yes. Our door.”
Something softened in him.
Then vanished again.
“Hattie, Lawson is trouble.”
“I noticed.”
“He wants something he thinks I have.”
“The map.”
“Yes.”
“To what?”
Gideon looked toward Mary’s room.
Hattie followed his gaze.
“Gold?”
He did not answer.
Hattie laughed without humor.
“Of course.”
“It isn’t that simple.”
“Then simplify it.”
Gideon dragged a hand across his face.
“There was a claim.”
“Yours?”
“Mine and Lawson’s.”
“And Mary?”
“She found it.”
Hattie blinked.
“Mary found gold?”
Gideon nodded.
The delicate Boston woman suddenly became more interesting.
“How?”
“She noticed color in a creek while gathering flowers.”
A ghost of a smile appeared.
“She had no idea what it was.”
“What happened?”
“We followed the creek higher. Found a seam.”
“How much?”
“Enough.”
Hattie stared.
“Enough for what?”
“To make people dangerous.”
The fire popped.
Gideon sat.
“Lawson wanted to register the claim immediately. Mary didn’t.”
“Why?”
“She said the mountain was already full of men killing themselves for gold.”
Hattie thought of the mining town.
She could believe it.
“Then she got sick.”
“Yes.”
“And after she died?”
“I buried the claim.”
“You mean literally?”
“I destroyed the markers. Hid the map.”
“Why?”
Gideon’s expression hardened.
“Because I didn’t care anymore.”
Hattie’s anger softened slightly.
“Red did.”
“He cared enough for both of us.”
“Why didn’t he take the claim himself?”
“He couldn’t find the seam without the map.”
Hattie looked toward Mary’s room.
“So he believes you kept it.”
“I did.”
The admission hung between them.
“You told me the map was nothing.”
“I said it was old business.”
“That is what men say when they don’t want women asking questions.”
“I was trying to protect you.”
Hattie immediately bristled.
“No.”
Gideon blinked.
“No?”
“Do not use that sentence with me.”
“Hattie—”
“If danger is coming to this house, I deserve to know what shape it takes.”
He studied her.
She stepped closer.
“You chose me because you believed I could survive. Then treat me like someone capable of surviving the truth.”
That landed.
Gideon lowered his gaze.
“You’re right.”
Hattie’s anger eased.
“All of it?”
“All of what I know.”
He began explaining.
Years earlier, Gideon and Red had trapped together.
They were never close, but they shared supplies and territory.
Red became obsessed with finding gold.
When Mary discovered the seam, Red changed.
He wanted investors.
Blasting equipment.
Dozens of workers.
Mary hated the idea.
The dispute became ugly.
Then she became ill.
Gideon abandoned everything to care for her.
Red left.
After Mary’s death, Gideon never returned to the seam.
For years, Lawson periodically demanded the map.
Gideon always refused.
“Why return now?”
“I don’t know.”
Hattie looked toward the window.
Snow had begun falling heavily.
“Maybe he ran out of patience.”
Gideon stood.
“I’ll check the animals.”
She caught his sleeve.
“Don’t go far.”
His gaze dropped to her hand.
Hattie almost pulled away.
Instead Gideon covered her fingers with his own.
“I won’t.”
He left.
Hattie watched through the window until he disappeared into the shed.
She wished Red Lawson had never arrived.
She wished Gideon had told her everything sooner.
Most of all, she wished she could stop wondering about Red’s final words.
He didn’t tell Mary everything either.
That night the storm strengthened.
Wind screamed around the cabin.
Hattie woke near midnight.
Gideon was not beside the fire.
She found him standing in Mary’s room.
The old chest was open.
He held the map.
“You’re moving it?”
“Yes.”
“Where?”
“Somewhere Lawson won’t find.”
Hattie looked at the faded paper.
A line had been drawn toward a place marked with a small black X.
Then she noticed writing near the bottom.
Mary’s handwriting.
Gideon, if anything happens to me, do not let Red have this.
Hattie felt cold despite the fire behind her.
She looked at her husband.
“You said Red had nothing to do with her death.”
“He didn’t.”
“Then why was Mary afraid of him?”
Gideon stared at the map.
“I don’t know.”
Hattie’s heart sank.
Because for the first time, she realized Gideon Hayes might not have known his first wife as well as he believed.
May you like
And somewhere beyond the walls, Red Lawson was waiting for the storm to trap them all together.
---
