"Because your attackers know where you live."
Clara looked at him for several seconds.
"You're difficult."
"So I've been told."
They rode north.
Bennett Ranch sat six miles from Mercy Creek.
It had once been prosperous.
Now Cole understood why.
Two sections of fence were down.
Three horses were missing.
The well had been surrounded by fresh earth.
Clara dismounted.
"They poisoned it."
Cole knelt beside the well.
He smelled the water.
"Not poison."
Clara frowned.
"What?"
"Oil."
He dipped a stick into the water and examined the surface.
"Someone poured crude oil into it."
"Why?"
"To make you leave."
Clara looked across the ranch.
"My husband refused to sell."
"When did he die?"
"Two months ago."
"How?"
She looked away.
"Shot."
Cole straightened.
"By who?"
"The sheriff called it robbery."
"And you?"
"I called it murder."
Cole said nothing.
Clara looked toward the hills.
"Three weeks after my husband's funeral, a man named Silas Vane came here."
Cole's expression changed.
"Vane?"
"You know him?"
"Only his reputation."
Silas Vane owned the largest cattle operation in the county.
He also owned half the businesses in Mercy Creek.
Or so people said.
"He offered me half the ranch's value."
Clara laughed bitterly.
"When I refused, he doubled the threats."
"And then?"
"Fence sabotage. Missing cattle. Poisoned well."
Cole stared at the ranch.
"Why does he want this land?"
Clara hesitated.
"You should ask Evelyn."
They rode to Hart Ranch.
Then Mercer Ranch.
The pattern was identical.
Three ranches.
Three poisoned wells.
Three dead husbands.
Three offers from Silas Vane.
And all three ranches sat over the same underground water system.
Cole looked at a map spread across Evelyn's kitchen table.
"Where did you get this?"
"My husband was a surveyor before he became a rancher."
Evelyn pointed to three blue lines beneath the land.
"The creek disappears underground here."
Cole followed the markings.
"How deep?"
"Unknown."
"How valuable?"
Evelyn's expression was grim.
"Enough to keep thousands of cattle alive."
Rose leaned against the doorway.
"And enough to make someone very rich."
Cole looked between them.
"That's why they want you gone."
Clara nodded.
"But there's something else."
"What?"
Evelyn opened a small wooden box.
Inside was a folded document.
"My husband found this six months before he died."
Cole unfolded it.
It was a survey map.
Someone had marked a large circle beneath the three ranches.
At the center was a single word.
MERCY.
Cole frowned.
"What's Mercy?"
Rose stepped closer.
"We don't know."
Cole folded the map.
"Then we find out."
Silas Vane
Silas Vane arrived in Mercy Creek before noon.
He came in a black carriage pulled by two matched horses.
He wore an expensive gray coat and a silver watch.
He looked like a banker.
He behaved like a king.
Sheriff Amos Reed stood beside him.
Cole watched from across the street.
Clara walked beside him.
"That's Vane."
"I figured."
"You don't like him."
"I don't know him."
"You don't have to know a snake to recognize one."
Cole looked at her.
"That sounds personal."
"It is."
Vane crossed the street.
His smile was polite.
"Mrs. Bennett."
Clara stopped.
"Mr. Vane."
"I heard about last night."
"I'm sure you did."
His eyes moved to Cole.
"And who is this?"
"Cole Walker."
Vane smiled.
"The drifter."
Cole said nothing.
Vane turned back to Clara.
"I came to make another offer."
"No."
"You haven't heard it."
"I've heard enough."
Vane's smile disappeared.
"You should reconsider."
Clara stepped closer.
"My husband refused you."
"Your husband is dead."
Silence.
Cole's eyes hardened.
Vane continued.
"Forgive my bluntness. But this land is becoming dangerous."
Cole finally spoke.
"Funny."
Vane looked at him.
"What?"