Behind a loose stone, she found a leather-bound book.
Inside were names.
Landowners.
Debts.
Payments.
Witnesses.
And beside several names was a single letter:
V.
She recognized some names.
People who had lost farms.
People who had disappeared.
People who had left Red Hollow suddenly.
She brought the ledger to Ethan.
He read it.
His face changed.
"This is Vane."
"Yes."
"Where did you find it?"
"Church basement."
Ethan closed the book.
"Don't tell anyone."
"Why?"
"Because if Vane knows you have this, he'll kill you."
Abigail stared at him.
"Then what do we do?"
"Get it to the marshal."
"There isn't one nearby."
"Then we'll find one."
She looked at him.
"You said you didn't want trouble."
"I don't."
"You're walking directly into it."
Ethan nodded.
"I know."
"Why?"
He looked at her.
"Because I know what happens when decent people decide silence is safer."
Abigail understood.
The ledger was proof.
Vane had been stealing land through forged debts.
But the ledger also contained something worse.
A name Ethan knew.
Martha Blackwood.
His younger sister.
Abigail saw his expression.
"Ethan."
He could barely speak.
"She's alive."
The Sister
Ethan had believed his sister dead.
For five years, he had carried that belief like a stone.
Now he knew she was alive.
The ledger showed payments made to a woman named Martha Blackwood.
"Where?" Abigail asked.
Ethan pointed to a location.
"Forty miles south."
They left before sunrise.
They found Martha living in a small cabin.
She was thirty.
Thin.
Tired.
But alive.
When she opened the door and saw Ethan, she froze.
"Ethan?"
He could not speak.
She slapped him.
Then she hugged him.
Then she cried.
"You were dead."
"I thought you were."
"Why didn't you come?"
"I was afraid."
"Of what?"
"Of becoming him again."
Martha looked at Abigail.
"Who is she?"
"Abigail Reed."
Martha smiled.
"You finally found someone."
Ethan frowned.
"Found someone?"
"Someone who makes you want to live."
Ethan looked away.
Martha told them the truth.
Their father had been murdered by Vane's men.
Ethan had hunted the killers.
He had killed seven.
But the wrong man had been blamed.
Ethan had disappeared afterward.
Martha had been forced to leave town.
Vane had taken their family land.
Now Ethan understood.
This was never just about Red Hollow.
It was about his family.
And the man who had destroyed it.
The Wraith Returns
Ethan returned to Red Hollow changed.
People noticed.
He stood straighter.
He spoke less.
He visited the blacksmith.
"Make me a holster."
The blacksmith stared.
"I thought you didn't carry a gun."
"I don't."
"Then why?"
"Because someone else might."
He bought a revolver.
Not for revenge.
For protection.
Vane heard.
He sent six men.
They surrounded the schoolhouse.
Abigail stood inside with the children.
Ethan arrived alone.
Cole Mercer stepped forward.
"Come with us."
"No."
"You know what happens next."
Ethan looked at the men.
"I do."
Mercer smiled.
"The Wraith is back."
Ethan shook his head.
"No."
He drew his revolver.
"The Wraith is dead."
Then he fired.
Not at a man.
At the gun in Mercer's hand.
Mercer dropped it.
The other men froze.
Ethan said:
"Go tell Vane."
"What?"
"Tell him Ethan Blackwood is coming."
The men fled.
Abigail came outside.
"You said you didn't want to become him."
"I won't."
"You drew your gun."
"I did."
"You shot."
"I did."
"What's the difference?"
Ethan looked at her.
"The difference is who I am shooting for."
She understood.
The Night of the Fire
Vane retaliated.
The church burned first.
Then the Parker barn.
Then the schoolhouse.
Flames rose into the night.
Children screamed.
Abigail ran inside.
Ethan followed.
The roof was collapsing.