Chapter 3 - The Brother Who Was Buried
Ethan did not move.
For twelve years, Jacob Walker had existed only as a grave beside Bitter Creek.
Ethan had dug it himself.
Or believed he had.
He remembered the flood.
The broken wagon.
Eli's body found downstream.
Jacob disappearing three days later.
Then a coat discovered near a cliff.
Blood on the rocks.
The sheriff had said no man could survive that fall.
There had been no body.
Only enough evidence for grief to finish the story.
Now Jacob stood below an abandoned church with a revolver pressed against Thomas Reed.
He had more gray in his beard.
A scar crossed his temple.
But he was Jacob.
"Ethan," he said.
Clara looked between them.
"You know him?"
"My brother."
Jamie's eyes widened.
Jacob smiled.
"The famous mountain man can still be surprised."
Ethan's voice was barely audible.
"Let the boy go."
"Still giving orders."
"Let him go."
Jacob pulled Thomas closer.
"Give me the notebook."
Ethan understood.
Silas's notebook.
Whatever business operated through Black Pine was bigger than one saloon debt.
"First the boy."
"No."
"Then we're standing here awhile."
Jacob laughed softly.
"You always did think patience made you righteous."
"It makes me hard to hurry."
Clara touched Ethan's back.
Her hand shook.
"Please."
Jacob noticed.
"So that's her."
Ethan's eyes narrowed.
"You know Clara?"
"Know of her."
Clara went pale.
Jacob continued.
"Caleb Ellis had terrible luck at cards."
"You knew my husband?"
"I knew his debt."
"You killed him?"
Jacob's smile faded.
"No."
Clara looked relieved for half a heartbeat.
Then Jacob added, "But Silas did."
The world seemed to tilt beneath her.
"What?"
"Caleb discovered something Silas didn't want known."
"You're lying."
"Am I?"
Jacob looked toward Ethan.
"Notebook."
Ethan removed it.
He held it above the opening.
"Boy."
Jacob pulled a knife.
Cut Jamie's rope.
"Climb."
Jamie scrambled toward the ladder.
Clara grabbed him.
She pulled him against her.
The boy buried his face in her chest.
For several seconds nothing mattered except the fact that he was breathing.
"Ma."
"I'm here."
"You came."
"I said I would."
Jamie saw Ethan.
Fear crossed his face.
Clara cupped his cheek.
"He's helping us."
Jacob watched them.
Something unreadable moved across his expression.
"Now the notebook."
Ethan tossed it down.
Jacob caught it.
Thomas suddenly elbowed him.
The gun fired.
Ethan shoved Clara and Jamie behind the altar.
Thomas tackled Jacob.
They crashed into the wall.
Ethan jumped through the opening.
By the time he landed, Jacob had recovered.
He fired again.
Ethan rolled behind a support beam.
Thomas crawled away.
"Go!" he shouted.
Jacob fled through a tunnel.
Ethan almost followed.
Then he heard Thomas groan.
Blood spread across the carpenter's shirt.
Ethan knelt.
"Where does the tunnel go?"
"Mill."
"Who else?"
Thomas coughed.
"Silas. Three men. Maybe more."
"What is this?"
Thomas looked toward Jamie.
"Not in front of him."
Clara climbed down with the boy.
Thomas's eyes softened.
"Jamie."
The child ran to him.
"Mr. Reed!"
Thomas forced a smile.
"You kept carving."
Jamie nodded.
"You said marks help people find home."
Thomas looked at Ethan.
"Good boy."
Clara pressed cloth against Thomas's wound.
"Tell me what happened to Caleb."
Thomas closed his eyes.
"He found the ledger."
"What ledger?"
"Not Silas's little book. The real one."
Ethan crouched.
Thomas continued.
"For years, Silas has been trapping widows, drifters, ranch hands. Fake debts. Forged contracts. Land transfers."
Clara stared.
"He wanted my land?"
"You own more than you know."
She frowned.
"I own nothing."
"Caleb's father left him one hundred sixty acres east of Red Creek."
"No."
"Caleb never told you?"
"He said his father lost everything."
"That is what Silas wanted people to believe."
Ethan's expression hardened.
"Why Jacob?"
Thomas looked at him.
"Ask him."
"I am asking you."
"Your brother isn't working for Silas."
"Then why hold a gun on you?"
"Because he wants the ledger too."
"For what?"
Thomas coughed blood.
"To destroy it."
Ethan sat back.
"Why?"
Thomas stared directly at him.
"Because Jacob's name is on the first page."
Outside, horses approached.
Ethan stood.
"How many exits?"
"Tunnel. Trapdoor."
"Can you walk?"
"Not far."
Ethan looked toward Clara.
"Take Jamie upstairs."
"No."
"Clara."
She understood from his face.
This was no longer only rescue.
People were coming.
She took Jamie.
Thomas grabbed Ethan's wrist before they left.
"You need to know something."
"What?"
"Jacob didn't die because of Eli."
Ethan froze.
Thomas whispered, "He disappeared because of what happened before the flood."
Then shouting came from above.
Silas.
"Walker!"
Ethan released Thomas.
Clara pulled Jamie behind the altar.
Silas entered the church with three armed men.
"Nobody needs to die," he called.
Thomas laughed weakly below.
"That man says that whenever he's planning otherwise."
Ethan climbed halfway up.
"You murdered Caleb Ellis."
Silas's smile vanished.
"Thomas talks too much."
"Did you?"
"No."
"Jacob says you did."
That worked.
Silas's eyes changed.
"Jacob is here?"
"Was."
"Where?"
Ethan smiled without warmth.
"Now who wants information?"
One of Silas's men moved toward the altar.
Clara raised Ethan's spare revolver.
"Don't."
The man stopped.
Silas stared at her.
"You wouldn't."
Clara cocked the hammer.
"My son is behind me."
Silas reconsidered.
Ethan climbed out.
"We're leaving."
Silas shook his head.
"Can't allow that."
"Then stop us."
For several seconds no one moved.
Then a gunshot came from outside.
One of Silas's men dropped his weapon, clutching his shoulder.
A voice called from the trees.
"Leave them alone, Silas."
Jacob.
Silas spun.
"You!"
Another shot struck the church bell support.
Silas and his men ducked.
Ethan grabbed Thomas.
They moved.
Clara held Jamie close.
All four escaped through the side door as Jacob kept Silas pinned.
They reached the horses.
Thomas barely stayed conscious.
Ethan lifted him onto Samson.
"Where?"
Clara asked.
"Not Red Creek."
"Why?"
"If Silas owns the sheriff, we're walking into his hands."
Thomas stirred.
"Mrs. Hale."
Ethan leaned closer.
"What?"
"Mary Hale. Dry Creek."
"Who is she?"
"Caleb's sister."
Clara stared.
"Caleb had no sister."
Thomas looked at her.
"Yes, he did."
They rode south and east.
By nightfall Thomas's fever rose.
They found shelter in a line shack.
Jamie slept beside his mother.
Ethan sat outside with Thomas.
"You knew Jacob was alive."
Thomas nodded.
"How long?"
"Eleven years."
Ethan's eyes went cold.
"You let me mourn him."
"He made me swear."
"Why?"
"He was trying to keep you alive."
"From Silas?"
Thomas shook his head.
"From himself."
Ethan said nothing.
Thomas opened his coat.
From an inner pocket he removed a narrow envelope wrapped in waxed cloth.
"Jacob gave me this years ago. Told me to burn it if he ever came back."
Ethan took it.
"Why didn't you?"
"Because people make terrible decisions when grief is talking."
Ethan opened the envelope.
Inside was one sheet of paper.
Jacob's handwriting.
Ethan read the first line.
Brother, if you ever learn I survived, you deserve to know the truth about Eli.
His hand began to shake.
He read the next sentence.
Then he stopped breathing.
Thomas watched him.
"What does it say?" Clara asked quietly from the doorway.
Ethan looked up.
He could not answer.
May you like
Because Jacob had written five words that shattered twelve years of guilt.
Eli did not die accidentally.
