Chapter 9 - Gideon Vale
The false soldiers tied Silas, Thomas, Eli, and Marshal Cole.
Cora held Hope.
Their leader, Warren Pike, searched the house.
“Where's the ledger?”
Nobody answered.
Pike smiled.
“Vale said you'd be difficult.”
Martha Quinn sat calmly beside the stove.
“You boys hungry?”
Pike stared.
“What?”
“Men become stupid when they're hungry.”
“We're not hungry.”
“Then maybe you're naturally stupid.”
Cora almost smiled.
Pike didn't.
He ordered one man to search Martha.
That was his mistake.
The old woman struck him with a cast-iron skillet.
Chaos erupted.
Silas broke the chair supporting his restraints.
Thomas tackled another man.
Cora ducked behind the table with Hope.
Within seconds, Pike's advantage disappeared.
Marshal Cole arrested the survivors.
Martha looked at the unconscious soldier on her floor.
“Told you.”
They reached Fort Ellis two days later.
This time, real soldiers met them.
The ledger was delivered to Colonel James Harwood.
Federal warrants followed.
Gideon Vale was arrested in Helena.
Sheriff Bell fled.
Several businessmen were indicted.
For the first time in weeks, Cora slept without expecting someone to break down the door.
But victory brought another problem.
Thomas confessed his own crimes.
He refused immunity.
Cora stared at him across the small room at the fort.
“You could go to prison.”
“I know.”
“For years.”
“Yes.”
“Hope could grow up without you.”
Thomas looked at his daughter.
“I can't teach her honesty while hiding from what I did.”
Cora hated him for being right.
Thomas testified.
The trial began months later.
Vale's lawyers portrayed Thomas as the mastermind.
They claimed the ledger was forged.
Then Silas testified.
Then Eli.
Then Marshal Cole.
Finally, Cora took the stand.
She described the storm.
The abandoned cabin.
Thomas's disappearance.
The attacks.
Vale watched her without emotion.
When the prosecutor finished, Vale's attorney approached.
“Mrs. Whitfield, isn't it true your husband is a liar?”
Cora looked at Thomas.
“Yes.”
The courtroom murmured.
The lawyer smiled.
“Then why should anyone believe him?”
Cora turned back.
“Because a liar can decide to tell the truth.”
The smile vanished.
“And how do you know he has?”
“Because the truth cost him everything.”
Thomas lowered his head.
Weeks later, Gideon Vale was convicted on multiple charges.
Sheriff Bell was captured in Idaho.
Thomas pleaded guilty to falsifying records and conspiracy.
The judge considered his cooperation.
Sentence: eighteen months.
Cora closed her eyes.
Thomas squeezed her hand before deputies led him away.
“I'm sorry.”
She kissed him.
“Come home better.”
Silas watched from the rear of the courtroom.
Then quietly left.
Cora noticed too late.
She ran outside.
“Silas!”
He stopped beside his horse.
“You're leaving?”
“Work north of here.”
“Without saying goodbye?”
He looked at her.
“Goodbye.”
“That is a terrible goodbye.”
“Never been good at them.”
Cora stepped closer.
“You saved my life.”
“You saved your own.”
“You saved Hope.”
“You did that too.”
“You stayed.”
Silas's expression changed.
Cora hugged him.
He stood stiffly for a second.
Then embraced her.
“Thank you,” she whispered.
Silas closed his eyes.
When they separated, Cora saw grief in his face.
But she misunderstood its meaning.
“Will I see you again?”
Silas mounted.
“Montana isn't that big.”
“It is enormous.”
A faint smile.
“Then maybe.”
He rode north.
Cora watched until he disappeared.
She believed the hardest part of her story was finished.
She was wrong.
May you like
Because three months later, a prison chaplain arrived at her door carrying Thomas Whitfield's wedding ring.
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