Pike confessed that Silas Crowe had sent him.
But that wasn't the worst part.
Crowe had also ordered the murder of Thomas Vale.
Nine years earlier, Vale had been a surveyor hired to confirm Elias's mother's claim to the northern valley.
He had discovered something beneath the mountain.
Silver.
Not a small vein.
A massive deposit.
But Rebecca Rourke had refused to sell.
Crowe wanted it.
Vale had refused to alter the survey.
So Crowe had him killed.
Then he spread the story that Elias had murdered him.
"The body was found near your land," Pike said.
Elias nodded.
"Because Crowe wanted it there."
Pike swallowed.
"There was another thing."
"What?"
"Vale didn't find the silver alone."
Elias looked at Clara.
"Who helped him?"
Pike's eyes shifted toward the floor.
"Your father."
Silence filled the cabin.
Clara looked at Elias.
He stared back.
"My father?"
Pike nodded.
"Daniel Bell."
Clara felt as though the room had tilted.
Her father had died when she was seventeen.
She remembered him as a quiet man who repaired watches, read newspapers, and rarely spoke about business.
He had never mentioned Mercy Creek.
Never mentioned Elias.
Never mentioned a mountain valley.
"You knew him?" she whispered.
Elias nodded.
"He saved my life."
"When?"
"After Thomas Vale was killed."
Clara's eyes filled with tears.
"Why didn't you tell me?"
"I didn't know who you were when you came to town."
"And now?"
"Now I know."
She turned away.
Her father's past had suddenly become a door she had never known existed.
And behind it stood a man she had been taught to fear.
"What happened to my father?"
Elias answered quietly.
"Crowe killed him too."
Clara closed her eyes.
"No."
"I saw him."
"No."
"Clara."
She turned.
"Don't call me that."
He stepped back.
She wiped her eyes.
"I spent years believing my father died of fever."
"That was the story Crowe paid someone to tell."
"How do you know?"
"Because I was there."
Clara's anger disappeared.
"Why didn't you save him?"
Elias's jaw tightened.
"I tried."
"Then why?"
"Because I was seventeen."
Clara stared.
He looked down.
"I was a boy with a rifle and no idea what I was doing."
His voice broke slightly.
"Your father died protecting me."
Clara didn't speak.
Elias continued.
"He gave me the survey map."
"The map Crowe wants."
"Yes."
"Where is it?"
Elias looked toward the floorboards.
"I don't have it."
Clara frowned.
"Then who does?"
He looked at her.
"You."
That night, Clara returned to Mercy Creek.
She went to the boardinghouse and opened her trunk.
Beneath her clothes was an old wooden case.
Inside was her father's pocket watch.
She had carried it for thirteen years.
The back of the watch had always seemed unusually thick.
She had never thought to question it.
Now she took a small knife and pried open the inner casing.
A folded piece of paper fell into her palm.
Clara stared at it.
A map.
Old mountain lines.
A river.
A marked ridge.
And beneath it, a note.
For Clara.
If you ever find this, the truth has finally caught up with us.
Trust Elias Rourke.
He is not the man they say he is.
The northern valley must never belong to Silas Crowe.
Clara read the words twice.
Then someone knocked on her door.
She hid the map.
"Who is it?"
"Miss Bell?"
Sheriff Danton.
Clara opened the door.
The sheriff stood outside.
He smiled.
"We need to talk."
"About?"
"Elias Rourke."
Clara kept her hand near the door.
"What about him?"
"He killed a man tonight."
Her heart stopped.
"Who?"
"Owen Pike."
Clara stared.
"That's impossible."
"Is it?"
"I treated Pike."
"Then perhaps you can tell me where he is."
Clara said nothing.
The sheriff's smile faded.
"Miss Bell, I advise you not to involve yourself."
"Was my father involved?"
The sheriff went still.
"What?"
"My father. Daniel Bell."
A long silence.
Then the sheriff said, "You should leave town."
"Why?"
"Because some questions have answers that kill people."
Clara looked into his eyes.
"Did Crowe kill my father?"
The sheriff didn't answer.
He didn't need to.
Clara closed the door.
She waited until his footsteps faded.
Then she took the map and ran.
She found Elias before dawn.
He was standing near the frozen river.
"You came back," he said.