Reed laughed weakly.
"Then you'll die stubborn."
Clara entered the room.
Reed looked at her.
"You."
Clara froze.
"You know me?"
"No."
His eyes moved toward the letter she carried.
"You found it."
Clara went pale.
Elias looked between them.
"Found what?"
Reed closed his eyes.
"Your father was right, Clara."
Elias stepped closer.
"What is he talking about?"
Reed whispered:
"The land."
Then he passed out.
That night, Elias confronted Clara.
She told him everything.
Her father's letter.
The warning.
The name Silas Boone.
The missing proof.
Elias listened without interrupting.
When she finished, he stood beside the window.
"So you came here because of me."
"Partly."
"Why didn't you tell me?"
"Because I didn't know whether I could trust you."
Elias turned.
"And now?"
Clara looked directly at him.
"I don't know."
That answer hurt more than he expected.
The Ledger
Reed recovered enough to explain.
For years, ranchers had been selling land under financial pressure.
But some had never received fair value.
Mortgages had been altered.
Interest rates had been changed.
Property boundaries had been moved.
And when ranchers failed to pay, Silas Boone acquired their land.
"The bank is part of it," Reed said.
Elias clenched his jaw.
"How much?"
"Nearly twenty thousand acres."
Caleb whistled.
"That's half the valley."
Reed nodded.
"There is a ledger."
"Where?"
"Old survey office."
"Who has it?"
"Silas."
Elias looked at Clara.
Her father's letter suddenly made sense.
"He found the proof."
"And Silas killed him?"
Reed hesitated.
"I can't prove it."
"But you believe it."
Reed said nothing.
Elias walked to the door.
"We're getting that ledger."
Clara stood.
"No."
Elias turned.
"You stay here."
"I didn't say I was staying."
"This is dangerous."
"So is losing the ranch."
"This isn't your fight."
Clara stepped closer.
"My father died because of it."
She lowered her voice.
"If I came all the way from Missouri to finish what he started, I'm not going to hide in your kitchen."
Elias looked at her for several seconds.
Then he nodded.
"Fine."
Caleb grinned.
"Looks like you've finally found someone more stubborn than you."
Elias ignored him.
Outside, snow began falling again.
The Survey Office
The old survey office stood at the edge of town.
It had been abandoned for years.
Elias, Clara, Caleb, and Reed entered after dark.
Reed led them toward the rear room.
"There."
A loose floorboard concealed a metal box.
Inside were maps.
Dozens of them.
Elias unfolded one.
His ranch boundary had been moved nearly three hundred acres on paper.
Another map showed the same thing.
So did a third.
Clara's hands trembled.
"My father was right."
Then footsteps sounded outside.
Reed whispered:
"Too late."
The door burst open.
Silas Boone's men entered.
Gunfire exploded through the office.
Elias dragged Clara behind a desk.
Caleb fired through the doorway.
Reed fell.
"Go!" Elias shouted.
Clara grabbed the maps.
They escaped through a window.
Elias covered them while they ran toward the horses.
Bullets struck the snow around them.
They rode hard into the darkness.
Only after reaching the ranch did they discover Reed was missing.
Elias wanted to go back.
Caleb stopped him.
"Not alone."
Clara looked at the maps.
"There's something else."
"What?"
She pointed to a mark on one of the documents.
A red circle surrounded a narrow strip of land along the river.
"What's that?"
Elias stared.
"The old river road."
"Why is it important?"
"Because every ranch in the valley uses it."
Clara looked at him.
"And Silas owns the land beneath it."
Elias suddenly understood.
Silas wasn't trying to buy individual ranches.
He was trying to control the only road that connected the valley to the railroad.
If he succeeded, every rancher would have to sell.