Caleb stood in the darkness.
His cheek was bleeding.
He looked at the broken window.
Three days suddenly seemed too long.
The next morning, he found Evelyn at the Mercer ranch.
The property was enormous.
Hundreds of acres stretched toward the mountains.
But the ranch house looked abandoned.
The fences were broken.
The cattle pens were nearly empty.
Several buildings had been burned.
“Vane's men?” Caleb asked.
“Yes.”
“When?”
“Two weeks ago.”
Caleb dismounted.
He walked around the barn.
The destruction was deliberate.
Someone had wanted the ranch to look worthless.
“Where are your cattle?”
“Sold.”
“By who?”
“The bank.”
“You didn't stop them?”
“I tried.”
“Why didn't you go to the sheriff?”
Evelyn looked at him.
“I did.”
“And?”
“He told me the bank owned everything.”
Caleb laughed bitterly.
“The bank.”
“Yes.”
“Vane owns the bank.”
“Yes.”
“So he takes the ranch, sells the cattle, destroys the buildings, and then buys the property for almost nothing.”
Evelyn nodded.
“That's the plan.”
Caleb looked toward the river.
“And your husband knew.”
“He did.”
“What did he do?”
“He hid something.”
Caleb turned.
“What?”
“A ledger.”
“Where?”
“I don't know.”
“Then how do you know it exists?”
“Because Thomas told me.”
“When?”
“The night before he died.”
Caleb's expression hardened.
“What did he say?”
Evelyn looked away.
“He told me that if anything happened to him, I should never trust the sheriff.”
“Anything else?”
“He said the truth was closer than I thought.”
Caleb looked around the ranch.
“Closer than you thought.”
“Yes.”
He walked toward the house.
Inside, the rooms were dusty.
Furniture had been overturned.
Drawers had been emptied.
Pictures had been smashed.
Caleb entered the study.
A fireplace stood against the wall.
He examined it.
Then he noticed something.
The bricks around the hearth were newer than the others.
He tapped one.
It sounded hollow.
Evelyn came closer.
“What is it?”
Caleb removed the brick.
Behind it was a narrow cavity.
Inside sat a leather-bound ledger.
Evelyn covered her mouth.
Caleb opened it.
Names.
Dates.
Amounts.
Payments.
Bribes.
Every page was filled with evidence.
Sheriff.
Bank manager.
Judge.
Ranchers.
Land agents.
All had received money from Silas Vane.
And then Caleb found something worse.
Thomas Mercer had written several notes in the margins.
One name appeared again and again.
Deputy Samuel Pike.
Caleb stared at it.
“Pike.”
“You know him?”
“Everyone knows him.”
“Is he corrupt?”
“Probably.”
Evelyn looked at the ledger.
“There.”
She pointed.
Beside Pike's name was a date.
The date Thomas Mercer had died.
And beneath it were three words.
PAYMENT FOR SILENCE.
Caleb closed the book.
“We need to get this to the territorial judge.”
Evelyn nodded.
“Where?”
“Redstone.”
“Two days away.”
“Three if Vane is watching.”
“He is.”
Caleb looked at her.
“How do you know?”
“Because someone has been watching this house every night.”
Caleb smiled faintly.
“Then we should give them something interesting to watch.”
They left before sunrise.
Evelyn rode beside Caleb.
The ledger was hidden beneath her saddle.
They avoided the main road.
Instead, Caleb took them through a narrow canyon.
For several hours, nothing happened.
Then they heard horses.
Five riders.
Behind them.
Caleb looked back.
“Keep riding.”
“What about you?”
“I'm going to slow them down.”
Evelyn shook her head.
“No.”
“That's an order.”
“You're not my husband.”
Caleb looked at her.
She continued riding.
“I don't take orders from men who think they can sacrifice themselves.”
Caleb almost laughed.