Chapter 2 - The Name in Thomas Miller’s Letter
Elias did not react.
Caleb did.
“What does Boone have to do with anything?”
Silas Vane looked irritated that the question had been asked.
Catherine looked from him to Elias.
Elias remained beside her, still holding himself between her and both brothers.
Vane unfolded the letter.
“The late Thomas Miller deposited this with the county clerk four months before his death.”
Catherine’s breath caught.
“My father filed a letter?”
“Not exactly.”
Vane held up a second paper.
“A conditional land declaration.”
Caleb stepped forward.
“That wasn’t in the will.”
“No,” Vane said. “It was attached to the original homestead record.”
Nathan whispered, “What does it say?”
Vane’s mouth tightened.
“That depends on whether it is enforceable.”
Elias finally spoke.
“Read it.”
Vane looked at him.
The dislike between the two men appeared immediate.
“You don’t give orders in my presence, Boone.”
“I wasn’t giving one.”
“What do you call it?”
“A chance to save time.”
Catherine nearly laughed despite the pain in her shoulder.
Vane did not.
He read.
“If any claim, sale, lien, or transfer involving the Miller homestead is made within one year of my death, without the willing presence and signature of my daughter Catherine Miller before two independent witnesses, I request that Elias Boone of Black Ridge be summoned as trustee of the disputed property until a court can establish lawful ownership.”
Silence.
Caleb stared at Elias.
Catherine forgot her pain.
“Trustee?”
Elias looked almost as surprised as she felt.
Vane folded the paper.
“Apparently.”
“You didn’t know?” Catherine asked.
“No.”
Caleb laughed.
It came out too loud.
“You expect me to believe Father made some mountain drifter trustee of our land?”
“Your land?” Catherine asked.
Caleb ignored her.
Vane turned toward him.
“The declaration carries Thomas Miller’s signature, the county clerk’s stamp, and two witnesses.”
Caleb’s expression changed.
“Who?”
Vane looked at the paper.
“Reverend Amos Bell.”
Nathan muttered a curse.
“And Abigail Turner.”
Catherine knew both.
Reverend Bell had buried Thomas.
Abigail Turner had delivered Catherine into the world thirty-two years earlier.
Neither would have helped forge anything.
Caleb knew it.
“What does this mean?” Catherine asked.
“It means,” Vane said slowly, “the transfer filed with your signature can be challenged.”
“Can be?”
“Yes.”
“It was forged.”
“That allegation must be proven.”
Catherine stared at him.
“I’m telling you I didn’t sign it.”
“And your brother will tell a judge you did.”
Caleb smiled.
Vane continued.
“But Thomas’s declaration creates a larger problem. Until the matter is heard, Mr. Boone may petition the court to suspend any commercial activity on the land.”
Elias looked at Caleb.
“No trees get cut.”
Caleb’s smile disappeared.
“No road gets built,” Elias added.
Vane’s jaw tightened.
“No equipment comes onto the property.”
“Enough,” Vane said.
Elias looked at him.
“You brought the declaration.”
“I brought it because I prefer lawful transactions.”
Catherine noticed Caleb glance toward him.
Vane saw that too.
“I do not,” Vane continued, “pay for forged deeds.”
Caleb exploded.
“You knew what you were buying!”
Vane’s face hardened.
Nathan closed his eyes.
Catherine felt something in the room shift.
Elias noticed it.
“What did he know?” he asked.
Caleb realized his mistake.
Vane stepped closer to him.
“Choose your next words carefully.”
Caleb opened his mouth.
Nathan interrupted.
“We should leave.”
Caleb looked at him.
“Now.”
Nathan’s voice shook.
Catherine had never seen him afraid of Caleb before.
That frightened her more than Caleb’s anger.
Elias bent and helped Catherine sit on the intact section of a bench.
“Your shoulder?”
“I can move my fingers.”
“That wasn’t what I asked.”
“It hurts.”
“We’ll have someone look at it.”
Caleb scoffed.
“You her nurse now?”
Elias ignored him.
Vane turned toward the doorway.
“My attorney will file a response by morning.”
Catherine stood.
Pain streaked across her shoulder.
“You’re leaving?”
Vane looked at her.
“This is now a legal dispute.”
“You walked into my home with armed guards after my brothers attacked me.”
“I did not order your brothers to attack you.”
“Did you order them to get my signature?”
Vane paused.
“No.”
Caleb stared at him.
Catherine saw it.
So did Elias.
Vane had just abandoned Caleb.
Caleb understood perfectly.
“You son of a—”
One of Vane’s guards moved.
Elias stepped forward.
The guard stopped.
Vane raised one hand.
“No.”
Then he turned to Caleb.
“Our business relationship is suspended.”
Caleb looked stunned.
“You can’t do that.”
“I already have.”
“The money—”
“Was contingent upon clear title.”
“You paid the advance!”
That was the second mistake.
Catherine’s head snapped toward him.
“What advance?”
Caleb froze.
Nathan looked sick.
Vane’s eyes narrowed.
“Mr. Miller.”
“How much?” Catherine demanded.
Caleb said nothing.
“How much did he pay you?”
Vane answered.
“Two thousand dollars.”
Catherine felt as though the floor tilted.
Two thousand dollars was more money than Thomas Miller had seen at one time in his entire life.
“Where is it?”
Nathan whispered, “Gone.”
Caleb whirled on him.
“Shut your mouth.”
Catherine stared at Nathan.
“Gone where?”
Nathan’s breathing quickened.
“Debts.”
“What debts?”
“Caleb’s.”
Caleb lunged.
This time Elias did not simply block him.
He grabbed Caleb by the front of his plaid shirt and drove him backward against the wall.
Bottles rattled on the shelf.
Elias’s voice remained low.
“Touch him and I break the hand you use.”
Caleb stared into his eyes.
For the first time, he believed the threat.
Elias released him.
Nathan sank onto a chair.
“He owed men in Helena,” Nathan said.
Caleb pointed at him.
“You keep talking and you’ll regret it.”
Nathan looked at Catherine.
Something inside him finally collapsed.
“He gambled.”
Catherine closed her eyes.
Of course.
Caleb had always gambled.
Cards in barns.
Dice behind saloons.
Anything involving the chance to win without earning.
“How much?”
“More than the advance.”
Caleb cursed him.
Nathan continued.
“The company money paid part of it.”
“What about the rest?”
Nathan looked at Caleb.
Caleb looked toward the door.
Elias saw that too.
“Who owns the rest of his debt?”
Nathan whispered a name.
“Rourke.”
Even Vane went still.
Catherine had heard of Gideon Rourke.
Everyone had.
He owned three saloons, two freight companies, and enough men with guns to make his business disagreements brief.
He had also been accused of burning a rancher’s barn after the rancher refused to sell him grazing rights.
No charges stuck.
“Why would he care about this land?” Catherine asked.
Nathan rubbed his face.
“I don’t know.”
Caleb laughed bitterly.
“You never knew anything.”
Elias turned to him.
“Then tell us.”
Caleb’s eyes moved toward Catherine.
“No.”
Vane put on his gloves.
“I want no part of Rourke.”
Caleb stared at him.
“You already have a part.”
Vane stopped.
Caleb smiled.
A little blood showed between his teeth where he had bitten his lip.
“You think North Ridge found this land by accident?”
Vane’s face changed.
Catherine looked between them.
“What does that mean?”
Nobody answered.
“Caleb?”
He laughed again.
“Ask your mountain man.”
Catherine turned toward Elias.
His expression was unreadable.
“You know something?”
“No.”
Caleb’s smile widened.
“Ask him why your father chose him.”
Elias looked at him.
“You’re guessing.”
“Am I?”
“Yes.”
Caleb pushed away from the wall.
“Then maybe Thomas never told you about the survey.”
Catherine frowned.
“What survey?”
Caleb looked at her.
“The one under the cabin.”
For several seconds there was no sound except the fire popping in the stove.
Catherine shook her head.
“There is no survey.”
“You sure?”
“I went through Father’s papers.”
“You went through what he wanted you to find.”
Elias watched him carefully.
Caleb stepped closer to Catherine.
“He hid things from you.”
“Like what?”
“Like why he never sold this worthless mountain.”
“It wasn’t worthless to him.”
“Oh, Catherine.”
Caleb’s face softened in a way she hated.
“He didn’t keep it because he loved the view.”
Elias said, “Enough games.”
Caleb looked at him.
“Go ask Amos Bell.”
Reverend Bell.
Again.
Catherine remembered something.
Three days before Thomas died, Amos had visited.
They had spent almost an hour alone.
When Catherine entered the room, both men stopped talking.
At the time she assumed they had been discussing funeral arrangements.
“What did Father tell Amos?”
Caleb shrugged.
“I only heard part.”
“What part?”
“That if anybody ever came looking for the old claim, Catherine was to trust Boone.”
Elias’s eyes narrowed.
“The old claim?”
Caleb nodded toward the floor.
“Under your feet.”
Vane moved suddenly.
He walked toward the door.
Catherine blocked him.
“You know what he’s talking about.”
“I have no idea.”
“You’re lying.”
His eyes met hers.
“Yes.”
Everyone froze.
Vane exhaled.
Then he spoke quietly.
“North Ridge wasn’t interested only in timber.”
Caleb smiled.
“There it is.”
Vane continued.
“Our surveyors detected evidence of a mineral seam running beneath this ridge.”
Catherine felt cold spread through her.
“What mineral?”
Vane did not answer immediately.
Elias did.
“Silver?”
Vane looked at him.
“No.”
“What, then?”
Vane’s eyes shifted to Catherine.
“Tungsten.”
The word meant little to her.
Elias understood more.
His posture changed.
“How much?”
“We don’t know.”
Caleb laughed.
“Enough.”
Vane looked toward him sharply.
Caleb continued.
“Enough that Rourke wants it.”
Catherine sat down again.
Her father had known.
He must have.
The hidden declaration.
The trustee.
The witnesses.
The secrecy.
“He was protecting the land.”
Elias nodded slowly.
“And you.”
Outside, one of Vane’s horses whinnied.
Then another.
A rider was coming fast.
All heads turned.
A horse thundered into the clearing.
A young man nearly fell from the saddle before reaching the porch.
Catherine recognized him.
Peter Sloan.
The clerk from Reverend Bell’s church.
He burst through the doorway, breathless.
“Miss Miller.”
“What happened?”
He looked at Elias.
Then at Catherine.
His face was white.
“Reverend Bell sent me.”
“Why?”
Peter swallowed.
“He said someone broke into the church office.”
Catherine stood.
“What did they take?”
Peter pulled a torn piece of paper from his coat.
“Your father’s second letter.”
Elias took it.
Only four words remained legible on the torn edge.
IF CATHERINE IS FORCED—
Catherine looked at Peter.
“Where is Reverend Bell?”
Peter’s mouth opened.
Then a gunshot cracked somewhere beyond the trees.
May you like
Everyone turned toward the window.
Peter whispered, “He was right behind me.”
