Chapter 6 - The Mare Called Ghost
Arthur told Leanne to stay inside.
She did not.
Silas Vane stood on the porch wearing an expensive black coat and a smile Arthur remembered too well.
He had once owned nearly half the valley.
Then railroad expansion made him richer.
“Arthur.”
“Silas.”
“I heard you were still alive.”
“Disappointed?”
Silas smiled.
His eyes moved to Leanne.
“New wife?”
Arthur stepped between them.
“State your business.”
“I’m buying land.”
“Not mine.”
“I haven’t made an offer.”
“You don’t need to.”
Silas looked past him toward the burned barn.
For only a second.
But Leanne saw it.
So did Arthur.
Silas departed soon afterward.
That evening Arthur opened Anna’s surviving letter.
It mentioned payments.
Land deeds.
And a warning:
Silas knows I saw the ledger.
Arthur read the sentence repeatedly.
“What ledger?” Leanne asked.
“I don’t know.”
But suddenly the fire had a shape.
A motive.
And perhaps a murderer.
That night someone entered the barn.
Ghost sounded the alarm.
Arthur ran outside.
A shadow fled toward the trees.
Arthur pursued but slipped on ice.
By the time he stood again, the stranger had vanished.
Near the paddock lay a matchbook.
Stamped with one word.
VANE.
Arthur looked toward Leanne.
“This is why you need to leave.”
“No.”
“They killed my family.”
“We do not know that.”
“If they did, they may kill you.”
Leanne met his eyes.
“Then perhaps you should stop deciding for me what I am willing to risk.”
Arthur had spent years surrounded by people who feared him.
Leanne was the first person who seemed more afraid of leaving him alone.
May you like
And that frightened him most of all.
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