Chapter 9 - What Leah Never Told Him
Leah disappeared before breakfast.
Graham discovered her horse missing at seven.
By seven-oh-five, his temper had arrived.
Silas leaned against the corral fence.
“She left a note.”
“That improves nothing.”
He handed it over.
Gone to Red Bluff. Need to confirm something at Pike Freight. Do not follow me.
Graham read the last sentence twice.
“Do not follow me.”
Silas nodded.
“Clear.”
Graham walked toward the barn.
Silas sighed.
“You following her?”
“Obviously.”
“I’ll come.”
“No.”
“Why?”
“She specifically said not to.”
“And you’re respecting half the note?”
“Yes.”
Silas smiled.
“Growth.”
Graham saddled his horse.
Red Bluff was busy when he arrived.
He found Leah’s mare behind the hotel.
No sign of Leah.
Pike Freight stood two streets away.
Graham crossed toward it.
A hand caught his sleeve.
Leah pulled him into the narrow alley beside the hotel.
“What are you doing?”
“Looking for you.”
“I told you not to.”
“I have difficulty with instructions.”
“I’ve noticed.”
She looked frightened.
That removed his irritation.
“What happened?”
“Nothing yet.”
“Why are you here?”
Leah looked toward Pike Freight.
“There’s a basement archive.”
“How do you know?”
“I worked there.”
“You plan to break in?”
“No.”
“Good.”
“I already did.”
Graham stared.
“You what?”
“Technically the door was unlocked.”
“That is not what technically means.”
“Keep your voice down.”
He ran one hand over his face.
“What did you find?”
Leah pulled a small ledger page from inside her coat.
“Copies of river-parcel payments.”
Graham scanned it.
Annual lease income from the railroad.
Large amounts.
Paid to Pike Consolidated.
“But Pike doesn’t own the parcels.”
“Exactly.”
“He’s been collecting rent on Father’s land.”
“For four years.”
Graham did the arithmetic.
Thousands of dollars.
Enough to finance expansion.
Enough to explain Pike’s new wealth.
“This destroys him.”
“No.”
“Why?”
“Because this is a copied page.”
“From his ledger.”
“That I stole.”
Graham looked at her.
“Leah.”
“I know.”
“No, you don’t.”
“I know exactly what I did.”
“Then why?”
“Because I needed to know whether Matilda was right.”
Graham lowered his voice.
“You could have been caught.”
“I wasn’t.”
“That isn’t the point.”
She stared.
“You don’t get to tell me what risks I can take.”
“I do if your risk affects—”
He stopped.
Leah waited.
“Affects what?”
“Everything.”
“Everything?”
“The hearing.”
She looked disappointed.
Graham immediately hated himself.
“Leah.”
“No.”
She folded the copied page.
“You’re right. The hearing.”
She stepped away.
He caught her arm gently.
“That isn’t what I meant.”
“What did you mean?”
Graham had faced blizzards with easier answers.
“I don’t want anything to happen to you.”
Leah looked at his hand on her sleeve.
He let go.
Her voice softened.
“Nothing happened.”
“This time.”
A door opened nearby.
They both fell silent.
Caleb Doss exited Pike Freight carrying a stack of papers.
He turned toward the alley.
Leah pulled Graham backward.
They waited until Doss passed.
Graham whispered, “We’re leaving.”
“No.”
“Leah.”
“There’s another reason I came.”
“What?”
She looked uncomfortable.
“I lied to you.”
Graham’s expression changed.
“About?”
“How I met Matilda.”
“You said she found you outside a boardinghouse.”
“She did.”
“But?”
“I knew who she was before that.”
Graham said nothing.
Leah continued.
“When I worked for Pike, I saw the Alder account.”
“What account?”
“The cattle transfer.”
His body went still.
“You knew?”
“Not everything.”
“How much?”
“I saw a ledger entry showing Caleb Doss collected the payment.”
Graham stepped back.
“You knew four years ago that Silas didn’t take it.”
“I suspected.”
“You lived with my mother four years.”
“I told her.”
“When?”
“Three years ago.”
Graham stared at her.
“One year after moving in.”
“Yes.”
“Why wait?”
“Because I was afraid.”
The answer was honest.
It did not make him less angry.
“You let her believe Silas stole from her for another year.”
“She already doubted the accusation.”
“You had proof.”
“I had a memory of one ledger line.”
“You could have said something.”
“I eventually did.”
“Eventually.”
Leah’s eyes flashed.
“Yes, eventually. Because I was twenty-five, widowed, broke and terrified Gideon Pike would make me disappear from every job in Colorado. I had already lost one life. I wasn’t brave enough to lose another.”
Graham stopped.
People passed beyond the alley.
A wagon rolled by.
Leah lowered her voice.
“You think courage appears because the truth is important. It doesn’t.”
He looked away.
She continued.
“Matilda didn’t condemn me.”
“That sounds like her after she’d made every mistake herself.”
“Yes.”
The response surprised him.
“She said fear had cost her a son. She wasn’t going to let mine cost me a home.”
Graham looked back.
Leah’s eyes were wet but she refused to let tears fall.
“That’s why she asked you to live with her?”
“Yes.”
“And you helped her investigate Pike.”
“Yes.”
“For three years.”
“Yes.”
“Why didn’t she write me then?”
“Because every new piece of proof made her more ashamed.”
Graham rubbed his jaw.
“That makes no sense.”
“I told her.”
“What did she say?”
“She said if she wrote before clearing Silas, it would look as though she wanted Graham to comfort her before she had repaired what she could.”
He could hear Matilda saying it.
Stubborn.
Impossibly precise.
Painful.
Leah looked toward Pike Freight.
“There’s more.”
“Of course.”
“Andrew worked for Pike.”
Graham stared.
“Your husband?”
“Yes.”
“What did he do?”
“Bookkeeper.”
“Did he know about the Alder payment?”
“I don’t know.”
“You said fever killed him.”
“It did.”
“Then why does this matter?”
“Because after he died, I found a page inside his Bible.”
She reached into the inner pocket of her traveling bag.
A folded scrap.
“I’ve carried it for five years.”
Graham opened it.
Numbers.
Shipment codes.
Initials.
At the bottom:
T.A. / G.P. RIVER LEASE.
“What is this?”
“I thought it was meaningless.”
“Until?”
“Until I saw your father’s hidden ledger.”
Graham compared the numbers mentally.
“They match the river parcels.”
“Yes.”
“Andrew was investigating Pike too.”
“I think so.”
“Did Pike know?”
“I don’t know.”
Graham’s anger shifted.
Not gone.
Changed.
Leah’s life had become tangled with his family long before either understood.
“What else are you hiding?”
“Nothing.”
“Leah.”
“Nothing that matters.”
“That phrase has become dangerous.”
She almost smiled.
Then footsteps sounded.
Caleb Doss appeared at the end of the alley.
He saw them.
For a moment nobody moved.
Then Doss smiled.
“Miss Bennett.”
Graham stepped between them.
Doss raised both hands.
“Easy.”
“What do you want?”
“To deliver a message.”
“Pike has paper for that.”
“This one’s for her.”
Leah’s face tightened.
Doss looked past Graham.
“Mr. Pike knows what your husband took.”
Leah went pale.
Graham turned slightly.
Doss continued.
“And he says if you bring it to court, he’ll tell everyone how Andrew Bennett really got it.”
“What does that mean?” Graham asked.
Doss smiled.
“Ask the widow.”
Then he walked away.
Graham turned toward Leah.
“What did Andrew do?”
Leah’s eyes remained fixed on Doss.
“I don’t know.”
“You sure?”
“Yes.”
But her voice had changed.
May you like
And Graham suddenly realized Gideon Pike possessed something more dangerous than forged papers.
He knew exactly which secrets people were most afraid might be true.
