Chapter 13 - A Fire in Mill Creek
Clara had gone back because Creed said one sentence.
“You still don’t understand where the originals are.”
The alarm rang.
Men shouted.
Jonah pulled Martha toward the street.
Clara should have gone with them.
Instead she looked at Creed.
“What originals?”
He smiled.
“Your husband copied from somewhere.”
The bank.
Of course.
Daniel had worked freight accounts routed through Creed’s financial office.
The ledger might describe payments.
The bank books could prove the money moved.
Clara ran toward the rear office.
That was when smoke rose from beneath the floor.
Creed’s smile disappeared.
“What did you do?”
“Nothing!”
They both understood.
Ward.
He was not protecting the bank.
He was destroying it.
Creed rushed toward the vault.
Clara followed.
Inside were ledgers stacked across shelves.
Account books.
Deeds.
Notes.
Decades of crimes.
Creed grabbed one.
Then an explosion shook the building.
The vault door swung partly closed.
Clara fell.
Creed dropped the book.
Smoke thickened.
“Help me!”
He was pinned beneath a metal filing cabinet.
Clara stared.
This man had helped cause Daniel’s death.
Helped ruin Thomas.
Helped hunt her.
She could leave him.
Nobody would blame her.
Then Samuel’s voice seemed to rise in memory.
Papa tried to help people.
Not good people.
Not deserving people.
People.
Clara pushed against the cabinet.
“Move!”
Creed stared.
“What are you doing?”
“Saving you. Unfortunately.”
Together they shifted the cabinet.
Creed crawled free.
Another crash.
The vault door slammed.
Darkness.
Clara ran to it.
Locked.
Creed laughed once.
Not amusement.
Despair.
“Ward.”
“Can it open from inside?”
“No.”
Clara coughed.
“How much air?”
“Enough if the fire doesn’t reach us.”
“That’s comforting.”
Outside, Elias reached the bank.
Flames blocked the lobby.
Mercer grabbed him.
“You can’t go through there!”
“She’s inside.”
“You’ll die.”
Elias shoved him away.
Then Pike appeared.
“Cellar!”
Everyone turned.
“There’s a coal tunnel.”
They ran around the building.
Pike opened a hatch behind the alley.
Smoke poured out.
Elias descended.
Mercer followed.
Inside, beams cracked.
Heat rolled along the tunnel.
They reached the basement.
Pike pointed.
“Vault above us.”
“How?”
“Service stair.”
They climbed.
The floor was burning.
Elias covered his face with his sleeve.
He heard banging.
Metal.
“Clara!”
Inside the vault, Clara froze.
“Elias!”
He followed her voice.
The vault door glowed hot around its edges.
“Back up!”
Clara dragged Creed away.
Elias and Mercer used an iron beam as leverage.
Nothing.
Again.
Nothing.
Pike joined.
Three men pushed.
The door shifted an inch.
Smoke entered.
Clara coughed.
“Again!”
They pushed.
The lock mechanism cracked.
The door opened.
Elias entered through smoke.
He found Clara first.
Hands on her face.
“You hurt?”
“No.”
“Can you walk?”
“Yes.”
Then he saw Creed.
His expression changed.
“You saved him?”
Clara coughed.
“Apparently I make poor decisions around difficult men.”
Elias almost laughed.
“Out.”
Creed clutched the bank ledger.
They escaped through the tunnel minutes before the roof collapsed.
Main Street watched the bank burn.
Creed sat in the snow.
Everything he built disappearing.
For once, nobody comforted him.
Clara opened the ledger he had saved.
Names.
Payments.
Ward.
Pike.
Hale.
Webb.
Railway officials.
Judges.
Creed looked at her.
“You have what you wanted.”
“No.”
“What else?”
“Truth.”
Creed laughed weakly.
“Truth is just a story told by whoever survives.”
Clara looked toward Elias.
“Then we survive.”
Sheriff Pike stood nearby.
Creed saw him.
“You.”
Pike nodded.
“It’s over.”
“No.”
Creed rose unsteadily.
“You think Ward allows you to testify?”
“I’m done asking permission.”
Creed stared at the burning bank.
Then something changed.
“What if I testify too?”
Everyone froze.
Jonah stepped forward.
“You?”
Creed looked at Martha.
Then Elias.
“I did terrible things.”
“That’s mild,” Elias said.
“Yes.”
Creed’s eyes remained on flames.
“But Ward started killing people.”
“You benefited.”
“Yes.”
“You covered Thomas’s death.”
“Yes.”
Elias’s hands clenched.
Clara touched his arm.
Creed continued.
“I can prove the railway scheme.”
“How?”
“Original contract.”
“Where?”
He smiled bitterly.
“Not in the bank.”
Of course.
Men like Creed kept insurance.
“Where?” Mercer asked.
“My house.”
Ward attacked that night.
They never reached Creed’s house.
As they traveled, rifle shots came from the tree line.
Their wagon overturned.
Martha screamed.
Elias pulled Clara behind a wheel.
Pike returned fire.
Creed crawled into a ditch.
Ward’s men surrounded the road.
Then a voice shouted.
“Drop your weapons!”
Harrison Webb.
The federal investigator rode forward with six armed men.
Mercer whispered, “That’s Webb.”
Clara felt sick.
Webb looked official.
Badge.
Papers.
Authority.
Exactly what Daniel had trusted.
“Mrs. Voss,” Webb called. “I’m here under federal authority. Give me the evidence.”
Clara stood slowly.
“No.”
His expression hardened.
“I am ordering you.”
“My husband trusted you.”
A pause.
“Daniel made unfortunate accusations.”
“You betrayed him.”
Webb sighed.
“Your husband was idealistic.”
Elias stepped beside Clara.
“And you’re corrupt.”
Webb looked at him.
“Elias Ror. Still trying to become your brother?”
The insult landed.
Elias remained calm.
“No.”
He looked at Clara.
“I’m trying to become myself.”
Webb ordered his men forward.
Then gunfire erupted from behind them.
Not Ward’s.
Ranchers.
Dozens.
Word had spread through Mill Creek.
Families whose names appeared in Daniel’s ledger had come.
Harlan rode first.
Miguel beside him.
Behind them came farmers.
Shopkeepers.
Men and women.
Enough witnesses that Webb’s authority suddenly mattered less.
He looked around.
No easy disappearance tonight.
Clara raised her voice.
“This man betrayed federal evidence!”
People murmured.
Webb shouted, “She is wanted for theft!”
Martha stepped forward.
“I witnessed Ward’s men stealing land.”
Pike removed his badge.
“I took bribes from Benjamin Ward.”
The crowd erupted.
Creed stood.
“And so did I.”
Even Webb looked shocked.
Creed continued.
“I can prove it.”
The tide shifted.
Webb retreated.
Not surrendered.
He knew when public murder became inconvenient.
“You’ve made a mistake,” he told Clara.
She shook her head.
“No.”
He turned his horse.
“You think newspapers save you?”
Clara watched him leave.
“No.”
She held up Daniel’s ledger.
“But they make it harder to bury everyone.”
That night, Mill Creek changed.
Not because Ward was defeated.
He wasn’t.
Not because justice had arrived.
It hadn’t.
But because silence had broken.
The next morning Elias prepared to ride toward North Ridge again.
The phonograph cylinder was still in his saddlebag.
Their most dangerous evidence.
Clara approached.
“You’re not taking that alone.”
“I’m taking it to Laramie.”
“Then I’m coming.”
“What about Samuel?”
“He’s coming too.”
Elias stared.
“You sure?”
“No.”
“Good.”
She smiled.
Then Samuel ran from the house holding a telegram.
“Mr. Mercer says this came for Ma.”
Clara opened it.
Only six words.
DANIEL VOSS MAY STILL BE ALIVE.
Her world stopped.
Elias took the paper.
Clara read it again.
And again.
The sender was anonymous.
But the location at the bottom was real.
May you like
Denver.
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