Rusk controlled the office.
Still, they went.
Mara disguised herself as a clerk's assistant.
Jonah waited outside.
She found the archive room.
She searched for Blackstone's original claim.
Then she found it.
The original document showed that Jonah had legal rights to Willow Creek.
Rusk's later claim had been created afterward.
Mara copied the relevant information.
But before she could leave, a voice came from behind her.
"You shouldn't be here."
She turned.
Gideon Rusk stood in the doorway.
Mara froze.
Rusk smiled.
"I wondered how long it would take."
"You killed my brother."
His smile disappeared.
"I didn't kill anyone."
"Thomas disappeared because of you."
"He disappeared because he was foolish."
Mara stepped backward.
Rusk closed the door.
"You should have stayed where you belonged."
"I belong at Blackstone."
Rusk laughed.
"You actually care about that man."
Mara said nothing.
Rusk's expression became cruel.
"That's unfortunate."
The door opened suddenly.
Jonah stood there.
Rusk looked at him.
"Mercer."
Jonah's eyes were cold.
"Step away from her."
Rusk smiled.
"You think you can threaten me?"
"No."
Jonah's voice was calm.
"I'm telling you."
The two men stared at each other.
Rusk finally stepped aside.
But before leaving, he whispered to Mara.
"This ends soon."
That evening, Jonah and Mara returned to Blackstone.
Neither spoke during the ride.
When they arrived, they found twenty riders waiting.
Rusk's men.
Jonah looked at Mara.
"Go inside."
"No."
"Mara."
She stepped beside him.
"I'm not leaving."
Jonah looked at the men.
One of them shouted.
"Rusk wants the land!"
Jonah answered.
"Tell him to come get it."
The riders laughed.
Then a rifle shot struck the ground near Jonah's feet.
Mara grabbed his arm.
"Jonah!"
He pulled her behind the porch.
The attack lasted several minutes.
They didn't shoot to kill.
They shot to frighten.
To damage.
To make Jonah surrender.
But something unexpected happened.
Neighbors began arriving.
Ranchers who had heard rumors.
Farmers who had lost water rights.
Men who had been too afraid to oppose Rusk alone.
They came riding in from every direction.
One by one.
Then ten.
Then twenty.
The balance changed.
Rusk's men retreated.
Jonah stood on the porch.
He looked at the people who had come to help.
An older rancher called out.
"We're tired of Rusk."
Another shouted.
"So are we."
Mara looked at Jonah.
He looked stunned.
For years, he had believed he was alone.
He wasn't.
That night, the ranchers gathered inside Blackstone's barn.
Mara placed the notebook on a table.
They began comparing documents.
One man produced an old water deed.
Another brought letters.
Another had a receipt.
The pattern became undeniable.
Rusk had been stealing water access for years.
But there was one missing piece.
Thomas Bell.
If they could find him, they might have the final proof.
And then, near midnight, someone knocked on the barn door.
Everyone fell silent.
Jonah opened it.
A thin man stood outside.
His face was bruised.
His coat was torn.
Mara gasped.
"Thomas."
Her brother collapsed into her arms.
The Man Who Came Back
Thomas Bell had survived.
Barely.
Rusk's men had captured him after discovering he had copied the water records.
They had taken him to an abandoned mining cabin.
They wanted the notebook.
They believed Thomas had hidden the evidence somewhere.
He refused to tell them.
Eventually, they left him chained in the cabin.
He escaped when one of the guards became careless.
He had walked for days.
He had almost died.
But he had made it back.
Mara cried as she held him.
Jonah stood nearby.
Thomas looked at him.
"So you're Jonah."
Jonah nodded.
"My sister says you're a good man."
Jonah glanced at Mara.
"I try."
Thomas smiled weakly.
"That's enough."
The next morning, Thomas explained everything.
Rusk had bribed clerks.
He had altered water records.
He had purchased debts from struggling ranchers and then used legal loopholes to take their water rights.
Blackstone was supposed to be the next property.
But Thomas had one final piece of evidence.
A signed ledger.
It contained payments from Rusk to the territorial clerk.
Mara looked at the book.
"This could end him."
Thomas nodded.
"If we get it to the judge."
But Rusk knew.
By noon, riders appeared on the ridge.
This time there were more.
Dozens.
Jonah looked at the people gathered around Blackstone.
"We can't fight them all."
One rancher answered.
"We don't have to."
The territorial marshal arrived that afternoon.
He had heard about the documents.
Rusk arrived shortly after.
The confrontation took place outside the courthouse in Dry Creek.
People gathered around the square.
Jonah stood beside Mara.
Thomas stood on her other side.
Gideon Rusk stepped from his carriage.
"You've caused quite a spectacle."
Jonah said nothing.
Rusk looked at Mara.
"Still hiding behind him?"
Mara stepped forward.
"No."
Rusk raised an eyebrow.
"I'm standing beside him."
The crowd murmured.
Rusk smiled.
"You think a woman with a notebook can defeat me?"
Mara opened the notebook.
"No."
She held up the ledger.
"Evidence can."
Rusk's face changed.
The marshal took the ledger.
He read the entries.