Chapter 4 - The Father Who Was Supposed to Be Dead
Silas did not speak.
The man in the doorway lowered the revolver slightly.
Constance could hear Silas breathing.
“Father?”
Daniel Mercer looked older than sixty.
Tired.
One side of his face bore a long scar.
But there was no mistaking the resemblance.
Silas’s eyes.
Silas’s jaw.
Silas’s silence.
“You’re dead,” Silas said.
“I needed to be.”
“For twelve years?”
“Yes.”
“You let me bury an empty box.”
Daniel flinched.
“I know.”
“You let Elizabeth think you were dead.”
“I know.”
“Then she disappeared.”
Daniel looked away.
Silas crossed the room.
Constance caught his arm.
He was shaking.
“Where is she?”
Daniel’s eyes filled.
“I don’t know.”
Silas shoved him against the wall.
“Wrong answer.”
Daniel dropped the revolver.
“I tried to save her!”
Silas froze.
Daniel explained.
Years ago, he had discovered Bitter Creek Timber was bribing officials and forging deeds.
Sheriff Reed, then a deputy, had been involved.
Daniel threatened to expose them.
They staged his death.
He survived.
Then made a terrible choice.
He disappeared intentionally to protect his children.
“I thought if they believed I was dead, they’d leave you alone.”
“They didn’t.”
“I know.”
“Elizabeth answered one of their advertisements.”
“I tried to stop it.”
“How?”
“I followed her to Red Pine.”
Daniel’s voice broke.
“She had already discovered the scheme. She wanted evidence. She was braver than I was.”
Silas stepped back.
“And then?”
“They caught us.”
Constance felt the room tighten.
“Reed?”
“Reed and Amos.”
“What happened to Elizabeth?”
Daniel shook his head.
“She escaped.”
Silas stared.
“She escaped?”
“I saw her run into the trees.”
“You searched?”
“For months.”
“And never told me?”
“They threatened you.”
Silas turned away.
Constance watched him struggle with the impossible collision of grief and hope.
Elizabeth might have survived.
Daniel handed him the notebook.
“She left that behind.”
The notebook contained coded references.
Properties.
Names.
Payments.
At the back was a message.
S—
If you ever find this, I chose to disappear.
Not because I stopped loving you.
Because I learned what they would do to you if I returned.
E.
Silas sat down.
Constance quietly left the room.
Some pain deserved privacy.
Downstairs, Earl stood by the window.
“You trust him?”
“No.”
“Neither do I.”
“But?”
“But I believe fear makes people do ugly things.”
Earl looked at her.
“That include me?”
“Yes.”
He nodded.
Fair enough.
Daniel came downstairs an hour later.
Silas followed.
His face was unreadable.
“We return to the cabin.”
Daniel said, “Not yet.”
Silas stopped.
“Why?”
“Because there’s one thing you need to see.”
Behind the boardinghouse was an old root cellar.
Daniel unlocked it.
Inside were crates of documents.
Copies of forged deeds.
Ledgers.
Letters.
Enough evidence to destroy Reed.
Enough to expose Bitter Creek Timber.
Constance found papers bearing her father’s name.
Samuel Bradley.
She opened them.
Her hands trembled.
Her father had known.
He had refused to sell the timber rights.
He had written to an attorney months before his death.
If anything happens to me, my daughter inherits everything. Do not allow Bitter Creek to approach her without independent counsel.
Constance stared.
“My father died of pneumonia.”
Daniel looked at the paper.
“Maybe.”
She went cold.
“No.”
Silas stepped beside her.
“We don’t know otherwise.”
Daniel said nothing.
That was worse.
They loaded what evidence they could carry.
Then came the gunshot.
Earl fell.
Constance screamed.
Silas dragged her behind a crate.
Daniel fired toward the door.
A second shot splintered wood.
Sheriff Reed’s voice came from outside.
“Daniel!”
Daniel went pale.
“He found us.”
Silas checked Earl.
The bullet had struck his shoulder.
Alive.
Barely.
Reed shouted, “You have something that belongs to me.”
Constance looked at the papers.
Silas whispered, “Back exit?”
Daniel pointed toward a tunnel behind the cellar shelves.
They crawled.
Constance helped Earl.
Silas followed behind.
The tunnel opened beyond the tree line.
They ran.
Horses waited where Daniel had hidden them.
They rode south through darkness.
By sunrise, Earl was feverish.
They reached the cabin near noon.
Abigail opened the door.
Then stopped.
Her face changed when she saw Daniel.
“You.”
Daniel froze.
Abigail stepped backward.
“No.”
Silas looked between them.
“You know him?”
Abigail’s breathing quickened.
“He’s the one.”
Daniel whispered, “Abigail—”
She slapped him.
Hard.
Constance stared.
Abigail pointed at Daniel.
“He didn’t just investigate them.”
Silas went still.
“What are you saying?”
Abigail’s eyes filled with tears.
“He helped start it.”
Silence swallowed the room.
Daniel closed his eyes.
Silas looked at his father.
“Is that true?”
Daniel said nothing.
Silas’s voice dropped.
“Answer me.”
“Yes.”
One word.
Silas stepped back.
Daniel began explaining.
Years earlier, before the fraud turned violent, Daniel and Clara Pike had created a legitimate matchmaking service for remote homesteaders.
They charged fees.
They wrote letters for people who could not write.
They arranged transportation.
Then Reed saw money.
Amos saw land.
What began as matchmaking became manipulation.
Daniel tried to leave.
Too late.
“And Elizabeth?” Silas asked.
“I never involved her.”
“You involved all of us.”
Daniel looked destroyed.
“Yes.”
Silas walked outside.
Constance followed.
He stood at the woodpile staring at nothing.
She did not touch him at first.
Then she placed one hand between his shoulder blades.
He leaned into it.
Only slightly.
Enough.
“I don’t know what’s real anymore,” he said.
“You are.”
He looked at her.
“So are you.”
“That’s enough for tonight.”
His eyes moved to her face.
Something passed between them.
Then he kissed her.
Not dramatically.
Not possessively.
One careful kiss.
Asking.
Constance answered by reaching for his shirt.
When they separated, both were breathing harder.
Silas almost smiled.
“That was poorly timed.”
“Extremely.”
“Should I apologize?”
“Absolutely not.”
For the first time since Montana, Constance felt wanted.
Not tolerated.
Not accepted despite herself.
Wanted.
The moment ended when Abigail screamed from inside.
They ran.
Earl’s bed was empty.
The back door stood open.
Blood marked the floor.
On the table lay a note.
Silas picked it up.
WE HAVE DOBBINS.
BRING CONSTANCE BRADLEY AND THE DEEDS TO TOWN BEFORE MIDNIGHT.
COME ALONE.
May you like
Below that was one final line.
OR ELIZABETH MERCER DIES FOR REAL THIS TIME.
