Chapter 6 - Midnight at the Mill
Catherine refused to sacrifice Caleb.
Elias refused to let her go alone.
So they compromised.
Catherine entered the abandoned mill carrying the documents.
Elias and Dalton approached through the woods.
Vale waited beside Caleb.
A rope bound Catherine's brother to a support beam.
"You've caused remarkable trouble," Vale said.
Catherine held up the papers.
"Let him go."
Vale laughed.
"You still care about him?"
"He's my brother."
"He held you on the floor."
"And he'll answer for that."
Caleb closed his eyes.
Catherine continued.
"But not to you."
Vale raised his pistol.
"Documents."
She placed them on a barrel.
Vale examined the trust.
His face changed.
Thomas had done more than protect the land.
He had transferred ownership of the watershed to Pine Creek itself.
Even Catherine couldn't authorize mining.
Vale had lost.
"You knew?" he whispered.
"No."
"You came here knowing these papers were worthless to me?"
"I came for my brother."
Vale pointed his pistol at Caleb.
Catherine didn't move.
"Then watch him die."
"Jonathan."
Samuel stepped from the shadows.
Vale turned.
Samuel held no weapon.
Only the ledger.
"You want someone to blame? Blame me."
Vale smiled.
"Gladly."
A gunshot cracked.
Not Vale's.
Dalton's bullet struck the pistol from his hand.
Elias charged from the opposite side.
Vale ran.
He climbed through the machinery toward the upper platform.
Elias followed.
The rotting mill groaned.
Catherine freed Caleb.
Samuel helped.
Above them, Vale and Elias fought beside the old waterwheel.
Vale grabbed a broken timber and swung.
Elias ducked.
The platform collapsed.
Vale fell but caught the edge.
Elias reached down.
Even after everything, he tried to save him.
Vale stared at the offered hand.
Then pulled a hidden knife.
The remaining boards broke.
Vale disappeared into the shallow millrace below.
Dalton found him alive, injured and unable to escape.
By sunrise, Jonathan Vale was in chains.
Catherine stood outside the mill with her brothers.
Samuel couldn't look at her.
"Are you going to have Dalton arrest us?"
"Yes."
Caleb flinched.
Catherine's voice remained steady.
"You broke into my home. You assaulted me. Being my brothers doesn't erase that."
Samuel nodded.
"I understand."
"But I'll tell him you helped save Caleb and gave evidence against Vale."
Samuel finally met her eyes.
It wasn't forgiveness.
But it was something truthful.
Dalton took both men back to Pine Creek.
Elias and Catherine returned to the cabin.
For the first time since he'd entered her life, the mountain was quiet.
That evening Elias saddled his horse.
Catherine stepped onto the porch.
"Where are you going?"
"Home."
She stared.
"That's it?"
His faint smile appeared.
"You don't need rescuing anymore."
"Maybe I never needed rescuing."
"No."
He mounted.
"You needed someone to hear you."
He turned his horse toward the trail.
Catherine wanted to call him back.
Instead she watched him disappear between the pines.
Three weeks later, Catherine received a letter from the territorial court.
Vale had made a confession.
But Catherine stopped breathing when she reached the final paragraph.
Thomas Miller's poisoning hadn't begun with Vale.
Someone else had been giving her father smaller doses for months.
The court had found the person's name.
May you like
Catherine unfolded the second page.
And saw her mother's signature.
