Chapter 5 - What Leanne Found Beneath the Ashes
The burned barn stood half a mile from the house.
Arthur had built another smaller structure afterward, but he never demolished the ruins.
Leanne understood why.
Some graves had headstones.
Others had blackened timber.
Arthur told her that the fire began shortly after midnight.
He had been in town purchasing medicine because Samuel had developed a fever.
When Arthur returned, the barn and part of the house were burning.
Anna had gone inside for Samuel.
Neither came out.
Arthur tried to follow.
Neighbors restrained him after burning beams collapsed.
The sheriff concluded that a lantern had fallen.
Arthur never believed it.
“Why?”
Leanne asked.
“Because there wasn’t supposed to be a lantern in the barn.”
Arthur explained that he had removed them days earlier because hay was stored there.
But nobody listened.
Three days later, while Arthur repaired a fence, Leanne walked near the ruins.
She did not enter.
At first.
Then she saw something protruding from beneath snow and charcoal.
Metal.
She crouched.
A small brass corner.
She pulled.
Nothing.
Leanne fetched a shovel.
An hour later she uncovered a scorched metal box.
Arthur found her carrying it toward the house.
His face changed.
“Where did you get that?”
“The barn.”
He nearly dropped the fencing tool in his hand.
“That belonged to Anna.”
Inside were burned papers.
Most were unreadable.
But one envelope had survived inside several layers of cloth.
Arthur opened it.
A name appeared.
Silas Vane.
Arthur’s expression hardened.
Leanne noticed immediately.
“Who is he?”
Arthur did not answer.
Then someone knocked on the front door.
Three slow knocks.
Arthur looked toward the window.
A rider stood outside.
Even through falling snow, Arthur recognized him.
Silas Vane had returned to the valley.
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And he had arrived less than an hour after Leanne uncovered Anna’s box.
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