Chapter 9 - The Night the Barn Burned
They searched the old stable foundation.
Beneath a rotted feed trough, Arthur found an iron ring embedded in the floor.
He pulled.
A narrow compartment opened.
Empty.
Arthur’s hope collapsed.
Then Leanne noticed scratches beneath the lid.
Someone had already opened it.
Recently.
Silas had known.
But who had taken the ledger?
Arthur began reconstructing the night of the fire.
Anna had hidden the book.
Someone came searching.
The barn caught fire.
Anna must have moved the ledger before she died.
But where?
Then Arthur remembered the wooden horse in Samuel’s room.
Anna had carved Samuel’s initials into it.
Arthur picked it up that evening.
Something rattled inside.
He broke the base carefully.
A brass key fell into his palm.
Leanne stared.
The key fit nothing in the house.
But Arthur knew one place they had not searched.
The old family well had been sealed after the fire.
Beside it stood a small iron pump box.
Arthur inserted the key.
The lock opened.
Inside was oilcloth.
Inside the oilcloth was a ledger.
Names.
Payments.
Bribes.
Land parcels.
And dates.
Silas Vane had paid men to intimidate landowners into selling.
Several entries referred to fires.
One entry carried Arthur Hale’s name.
Beside it were three words:
REFUSED. APPLY PRESSURE.
Then another entry.
A. HALE SAW RECORDS.
Arthur’s hands began shaking.
Anna had not died because of Arthur.
She had died because she knew the truth.
But the final page contained something even more devastating.
The man paid to start the fire was someone Arthur knew.
Someone who had helped carry Samuel’s coffin.
May you like
Sheriff Caleb Dunn.
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