“I took it from her trunk the morning I left.”
“Why?”
“Because she told me the man who wore it had murdered my family.”
Elias could not breathe.
“My father?”
“I don't know.”
“You said your family was killed.”
“Yes.”
“When?”
“Seventeen years ago.”
The same number.
The photograph.
The payments.
The medallion.
Mercer Pike.
Everything seemed to point toward a night Elias could barely remember.
A night his father had returned home with blood on his sleeves.
Elias had been twenty-two.
His father had told him there had been an accident at the northern spring.
Nothing more.
For seventeen years, Elias had believed him.
Now he wasn't sure what he believed.
Before either could speak again, a gunshot shattered the window.
The lamp went out.
Ita grabbed Elias and pulled him to the floor.
Another shot struck the wall.
“Stay down.”
“How many?”
“Six.”
“How do you know?”
“I heard six horses.”
Elias reached for his rifle.
Ita stopped him.
“Not yet.”
“They're outside.”
“Yes.”
“Then we fight.”
“No.”
“Why?”
“Because they want you angry.”
A voice called from the darkness.
“Calder!”
Elias recognized it.
Mercer Pike.
“Your father left something unfinished!”
Ita's face became expressionless.
Elias whispered, “You know him.”
“Yes.”
“How?”
“He came to my grandmother's camp seventeen years ago.”
The front door exploded inward.
Six men entered.
Pistols.
Rifles.
Lanterns.
Mercer Pike stood in the center.
He was older now, but his face was unmistakable.
“You found the ledger,” he said.
Elias raised his rifle.
Pike smiled.
“You really are your father's son.”
Ita stepped forward.
“No.”
Pike looked at her.
For the first time, fear appeared in his eyes.
“You.”
“Yes.”
“You were supposed to stay in Arizona.”
“I was.”
“Why did you come here?”
“To finish what you started.”
Pike laughed.
“You think a marriage makes you Calder?”
Ita's hand moved beneath her shawl.
Elias noticed.
Pike did not.
“You killed children,” she said.
Pike's smile disappeared.
“Your father paid me.”
Elias felt his blood turn cold.
“Stop.”
Pike looked at him.
“Ask him.”
“My father is dead.”
“Convenient.”
Elias raised the rifle.
“What happened that night?”
Pike's men spread through the room.
Pike answered slowly.
“Your father wanted the spring.”
“The land?”
“The water.”
“There were families there.”
“Yes.”
“What did he do?”
Pike smiled.
“What men do when they want something badly enough.”
Ita pulled the spear from beneath her shawl.
The weapon was short enough to conceal but long enough to kill.
Pike took one step backward.
“You brought that?”
“It belonged to my father.”
“You should have buried it.”
“I buried him.”
The six gunmen raised their weapons.
Elias moved beside Ita.
“You're not taking her.”
Pike laughed.
“I don't need to take her.”
He pointed at Elias.
“I only need you alive long enough to sign the north pasture away.”
Elias understood.
The ranch wasn't the real target.
The northern pasture contained Cold Water Spring.
His father had fought for it.
Someone still wanted it.
The door behind the gunmen opened.
Abel stood there with a shotgun.
“You boys picked the wrong house.”
Two shots thundered.
The room exploded into chaos.
Ita moved first.
She struck one gunman across the wrist with the spear shaft.
Elias fired at another man's pistol.
Abel fired again.
One man fell through the doorway.
Another ran into the yard.
Pike grabbed Ita from behind.
Elias tackled him.
They crashed against the table.
The ledger flew across the floor.
Pike pulled a small pistol.