Nohimana almost smiled.
"What?"
"Every answer seems to come with another warning."
"Maybe that's how you know you're close."
They packed before dawn.
Ethan saddled two horses.
Nohimana checked the supplies.
They carried food, blankets, water, ammunition, and the documents.
The journal remained hidden beneath Nohimana's coat.
The original letter was folded inside Ethan's saddlebag.
The photograph was wrapped in cloth.
And the silver pocket watch remained around Nohimana's neck.
Before leaving, Ethan walked through the house.
He looked at the fireplace.
The kitchen.
The old staircase.
His father's room.
For the first time, the ranch no longer felt like a place where he had grown up.
It felt like a place where a secret had been waiting for him.
Nohimana mounted her horse.
"You ready?"
"No."
She smiled.
"Good."
They rode north.
For two days they traveled through open country.
The mountains gradually disappeared behind them.
The land became flatter.
The trees thicker.
On the afternoon of the second day, they reached Black Willow.
It was barely a settlement.
A handful of buildings.
A blacksmith.
A general store.
A tavern.
And an old boarding house.
Ethan dismounted.
A woman stood on the porch.
She was elderly.
Her hair was white.
She watched them approach.
Nohimana stopped.
The woman's eyes immediately fell on the silver watch.
She went pale.
"You have Red Hawk's watch."
Nohimana's hand moved instinctively toward it.
"How do you know?"
The woman stepped closer.
"I have been waiting for that watch for twenty years."
Ethan's hand moved toward his revolver.
"Who are you?"
The woman ignored him.
She looked at Nohimana.
"You're his daughter."
"Yes."
The woman's eyes filled with tears.
"I knew your father."
"Who are you?"
"My name is Abigail Mercer."
She looked toward Ethan.
"And you must be Jonathan Carter's son."
Ethan froze.
"How do you know my father?"
Abigail's face became serious.
"Because your father saved my life."
She opened the door.
"Come inside."
They followed.
The room smelled of old wood and dried herbs.
Abigail locked the door behind them.
Then she lowered the curtains.
"You should not have come."
Nohimana looked at her.
"My father said the same thing."
Abigail sighed.
"Then he was right."
Ethan stepped forward.
"What happened to him?"
Abigail stared at him.
"Your father discovered that Graves had an informant inside the federal office."
Ethan's jaw tightened.
"Who?"
Abigail shook her head.
"I never learned his name."
"Then how did my father die?"
"He didn't die the way they told you."
Ethan felt his chest tighten.
"What happened?"
Abigail sat down.
"Your father was attacked."
"By Graves?"
"By men working for him."
"Where?"
"On the road south of here."
Ethan looked at Nohimana.
"He survived."
Abigail nodded.
"Your father survived the attack."
Ethan froze.
"What?"
"He was wounded."
"How badly?"
"Badly enough that we thought he would die."
"Then why..."
Abigail's voice softened.
"Because he did not die that night."
Silence.
Ethan stared.
"Then when?"
"Three years later."
"Three years?"
"He lived under another name."
Nohimana whispered:
"Why?"
"Because Graves believed he was dead."
Ethan sat down.
"My father was alive."
"Yes."
"For three years?"
"Yes."
"Where?"
Abigail looked at him.
"Here."
The room seemed to spin.
Ethan stood again.
"You knew?"
"I helped him."
"Why didn't you tell me?"
"Because he made me promise."
"Why?"
"Because he believed Graves was still watching your family."
Ethan turned away.
His hands shook.
Everything he had believed about his childhood was collapsing.
Nohimana moved beside him.
"What happened to Jonathan?"
Abigail looked at her.
"He died quietly."
"How?"
"His injuries never healed."
She paused.
"But before he died, he gave me something."
Ethan turned.
"What?"
Abigail stood.
She walked to an old cabinet.
From inside she removed a metal cylinder.
She placed it on the table.
"This."
Ethan stared.
"What is it?"
"Your father's final message."
Nohimana looked at him.
Ethan reached for it.
His fingers trembled.
There was a tiny keyhole.
He took the brass key from his pocket.
Number 17.
He inserted it.
Click.
The cylinder opened.
Inside was a roll of paper.
Ethan unfolded it.
Only one sentence had been written.
GRAVES DID NOT BUILD THIS ALONE.
Beneath it were six names.
Three Ethan recognized.
Three he did not.
At the bottom was another line.
THE LAST ONE IS THE MOST DANGEROUS.
Nohimana looked at Abigail.
"Who is the last one?"
Abigail's face went pale.
"I don't know."
"You must."
"No."
She shook her head.
"I never saw his face."
"Then how do you know he exists?"
"Because your father was terrified of him."
Ethan looked at the names.
"Where do we find the others?"
Abigail pointed north.
"One is dead."
She pointed east.
"One disappeared."
Then she pointed south.
"And one still lives."
"Who?"
Abigail whispered:
"The man who currently owns the company controlling the river."
Ethan's eyes hardened.
"Name."
Abigail looked toward the window.
"Samuel Wren."
Nohimana frowned.
"I have heard that name."
"So have I," Ethan said.
He knew exactly who Samuel Wren was.
The wealthiest businessman in the territory.
A man who rarely appeared in public.
A man who owned warehouses, freight companies, banks, and shipping interests.
A man whose name appeared on almost every major contract involving the river.
Ethan looked at Nohimana.
The pieces were falling into place.
Graves had been the weapon.
Chaska had been the betrayal.
The River Crown had been the prize.
But Samuel Wren...
He might have been the man holding the strings.
Abigail walked toward the door.
"You must leave."
"Why?"
"Because if you found me, they can find me too."
Nohimana looked at her.
"Will you come with us?"
Abigail smiled sadly.
"No."
"Why?"
"Because I am old."
She touched Nohimana's hand.
"But you are not."
She looked at Ethan.
"And neither are you."
Ethan nodded.
Before leaving, Abigail stopped him.
"Your father loved you."
Ethan looked back.
"I know."
"No."
She shook her head.
"You don't."
She placed the photograph in his hand.
"He spoke about you every day."
Ethan swallowed.
"What did he say?"
Abigail smiled.
"He said you had your mother's heart and his stubbornness."
For the first time that day, Ethan laughed.
A quiet, broken laugh.
"That sounds right."
"It does."
They stepped outside.
The sun was setting.
Nohimana mounted her horse.
Ethan looked back at Black Willow.
Abigail stood on the porch.
She raised one hand.
Ethan raised his.
Then he mounted.
They rode south.
For several miles neither spoke.
Finally Nohimana said:
"Do you still want to turn back?"
Ethan looked at her.
"No."
"Why?"
He touched the letter in his saddlebag.
"Because my father spent his whole life protecting the truth."
He looked ahead.
"I'm going to finish what he started."
Nohimana smiled.
"And my father?"
"We finish his story too."
She nodded.
They rode side by side beneath the darkening sky.
The silver watch swung gently against Nohimana's chest.
Its hands continued moving.
One second.
Then another.
As if reminding them that time had never stopped.
Not when Red Hawk died.
Not when Jonathan Carter disappeared.
Not when Ethan inherited the ranch.
Not when the chest was opened.
And not now.
Because somewhere ahead waited Samuel Wren.
And somewhere behind him were the final answers.
Who ordered Red Hawk's murder?
Who destroyed Jonathan Carter's life?
Who created the false land agreements?
Who wanted the River Crown?
And why had two fathers sacrificed everything to protect it?
Ethan did not know.
But for the first time in his life, he no longer feared the answers.
He feared only one thing.
That they might arrive too late.
Behind them, the lights of Black Willow disappeared.
Ahead, the road stretched toward the mountains.
Nohimana looked at him.
"Tomorrow?"
Ethan nodded.
"Tomorrow."
And beneath the stars, the two riders continued into the darkness.
Neither knew that, hundreds of miles away, a man named Samuel Wren had already received word that Red Hawk's daughter had opened the chest.
And when he heard that Jonathan Carter's son was riding with her, Wren did not become angry.
He smiled.
Because after twenty years...
the two heirs had finally found each other.
And the last piece of the River Crown had finally moved into place.