Chapter 2 - The Secret Beneath Sarah’s Grave
Caleb drew his revolver before the door opened six inches.
"Don't shoot."
Samuel Pike's voice came through the gap.
Caleb pulled the door wide.
The stagecoach driver stood there with blood seeping through his bandage.
"You trying to get yourself killed?"
Samuel looked at the weapon.
"Apparently I've been doing that since Salt Lake."
Caleb let him inside.
Nora immediately noticed Samuel was holding a folded piece of paper.
"What is that?"
Samuel placed it on the table.
"Found it nailed to the barn."
Three words had been written across it.
MIDNIGHT. COME ALONE.
Caleb glanced toward the clock.
Nine seventeen.
Nora folded her arms.
"You're not going."
Caleb looked at her.
"Wasn't asking permission."
"Good, because I wasn't offering an opinion."
Samuel coughed to hide what might have been amusement.
Caleb frowned.
Nora stepped closer.
"Someone forged your letters, manipulated me into traveling here, shot at us, set fire to your barn, stole my belongings, and now wants you digging up your dead wife in the middle of the night."
"That's an accurate summary."
"And your plan is to cooperate?"
"My plan is to find out what Sarah knew."
"By walking directly into a trap?"
"If necessary."
Nora stared at him.
"You really have been alone too long."
Caleb almost asked what that meant.
Instead, he checked his revolver.
Nora shook her head.
"Absolutely not."
"This is my ranch."
"And apparently I'm your wife."
Caleb stopped.
Samuel suddenly found the stove fascinating.
Nora's cheeks reddened.
"You know what I meant."
"No, I'm curious."
"I'm saying whoever created this mess expects us to behave according to whatever story they invented."
Caleb studied her.
"So?"
"So we stop behaving predictably."
That got his attention.
By eleven thirty, they had a plan.
Samuel would remain in the cabin with lamps burning.
A blanket stuffed beneath Caleb's coat would make it appear someone sat beside the front window.
Nora was ordered to remain inside.
She agreed.
Far too easily.
Caleb should have known better.
He left through the rear door at eleven forty-five and moved through the trees toward Sarah's grave.
The moon painted the snow blue.
Sarah rested beneath a simple stone Caleb had carved himself.
SARAH MERCER
1845–1869
BELOVED WIFE
He stood before it for a long time.
"I'm sorry," he whispered.
He had brought a shovel.
The first bite of metal into frozen earth felt like betrayal.
Each scoop was worse.
Fifteen years collapsed around him.
He remembered Sarah laughing as she hung laundry.
Sarah asleep against his shoulder.
Sarah standing barefoot in the garden because she liked cool soil beneath her feet.
Sarah dying.
He stopped digging.
For a moment he could not continue.
Then a voice came from behind him.
"She wanted you to."
Caleb spun.
Nora stood ten feet away holding his Winchester.
His anger arrived before relief.
"What are you doing here?"
"Not letting you get murdered."
"I told you—"
"I know."
"Nora."
"You can argue after midnight."
He stared at her.
"Can you even fire that?"
She levered a round into the chamber.
Caleb blinked.
"My father had three daughters and no sons."
Fair enough.
They dug together.
Shortly before midnight, Caleb's shovel struck wood.
He froze.
Nora lowered hers.
The coffin lid appeared beneath the remaining soil.
Caleb's chest tightened.
"I can do this part."
Nora stepped back.
Caleb cleared the lid.
There was something wrong.
The coffin looked intact.
But the iron screws along one side were newer than the others.
Someone had opened Sarah's grave before.
Caleb's grief transformed instantly into rage.
He removed the screws.
Nora whispered, "Caleb..."
He lifted the lid.
Then stopped breathing.
Sarah's remains lay inside.
But resting above them was a metal box.
It had not been there when he buried her.
Caleb reached inside and removed it.
The box was locked.
A small brass plate bore two initials.
S.M.
Nora touched his sleeve.
"Someone used her grave as a hiding place."
"Recently."
They heard a horse.
Caleb extinguished the lantern.
Nora crouched beside him.
A rider approached from the eastern trail.
One rider.
He dismounted beyond the cottonwood.
"Mercer."
Caleb recognized neither voice nor silhouette.
"You wanted me here."
"No."
Caleb's brow furrowed.
"What?"
"I was sent to make sure you didn't come."
Nora shifted beside him.
The stranger stepped into moonlight.
He was old.
Perhaps sixty-five.
Silver beard.
Long coat.
No visible weapon.
Caleb raised his revolver anyway.
"Name."
"Doctor Jonathan Vale."
Caleb felt the ground disappear beneath him.
Doctor Vale had treated Sarah.
"You told me she died of fever."
Vale closed his eyes.
"I lied."
Caleb moved so quickly Nora barely caught his arm.
"Caleb."
He stopped inches from the doctor.
"Say that again."
"Sarah was poisoned."
The words landed without sound.
Caleb stared at him.
Vale continued.
"I didn't know until it was too late. By the time I understood what had happened, the man responsible threatened my family."
"Who?"
Vale looked toward Nora.
His expression changed.
"You brought her."
"Apparently everyone knows more about my life than I do."
Vale stepped closer to Nora.
"What was your mother's name?"
Nora stiffened.
"Evelyn."
"Evelyn what?"
"Whitmore."
Vale looked almost sick.
"You need to leave this mountain."
Caleb stepped between them.
"Why?"
Vale ignored him.
"Nora, did your mother ever tell you about Utah?"
"No."
"Did she ever mention a man named Daniel Mercer?"
Caleb's head snapped around.
Daniel.
His younger brother.
Missing since 1870.
Never found.
Nora shook her head.
Vale looked toward the metal box.
"Open it."
"It's locked."
Vale reached beneath his collar and removed a small brass key.
Caleb stared.
"You've had the key for fifteen years?"
"Sarah gave it to me the night she died."
Caleb's anger nearly became violence again.
"She gave you something for me and you kept it?"
"Because delivering it would have killed you."
"Maybe that should've been my decision."
"It wasn't only your life."
Vale looked at Nora.
Caleb noticed.
So did she.
Nora whispered, "Why do you keep looking at me?"
Vale handed Caleb the key.
"Open the box."
Inside were documents wrapped in oilcloth.
A small ledger.
Several photographs.
And a letter addressed to Caleb.
His hands trembled as he opened it.
My dearest Caleb,
If you are reading this, then Jonathan finally decided the truth was more dangerous buried than spoken.
I am sorry.
Not for loving you.
Never for that.
I am sorry because I brought danger to our home and did not tell you soon enough.
Your brother Daniel discovered something involving land deeds in the eastern valley. Powerful men were forcing settlers from their claims and buying the property through false names.
Daniel believed they wanted access to something beneath the mountains.
He asked me to keep records.
I did.
Then someone learned I had them.
Caleb stopped.
Nora whispered, "Keep reading."
He did.
If I die, you must not trust the official story.
And you must find Evelyn Whitmore.
Caleb slowly raised his eyes.
Nora's face had gone white.
He continued.
Evelyn has the other half of the evidence.
If she has a daughter one day, protect that girl.
Because what Daniel discovered belongs to her family as much as ours.
Nora took one step backward.
"No."
Vale watched her carefully.
Caleb unfolded another page.
There was a map.
Several parcels had been circled.
One included Caleb's ranch.
Another contained a name.
WHITMORE CLAIM.
Nora stared.
"My father told me we never owned land."
Vale's voice was quiet.
"Your father lied."
Nora looked at him.
"My father died when I was twelve."
"Richard Whitmore was not your father."
Silence.
Caleb's hand tightened around the letter.
"Who was?"
Vale hesitated.
Nora stepped toward him.
"Tell me."
"Daniel Mercer."
Caleb's heart stopped.
"My brother?"
Vale nodded.
Nora stared at Caleb.
Neither spoke.
The implications were too large.
The forged marriage arrangement suddenly felt more sinister.
If Nora was Daniel's daughter, she was Caleb's niece.
She had been sent to marry him.
Someone had deliberately arranged it.
Caleb felt sick.
Nora seemed to understand at the same moment.
"Oh God."
Caleb immediately said, "Nothing happened."
"I know."
"We aren't married."
"I know."
But embarrassment was the smallest problem now.
A gunshot exploded.
Doctor Vale fell.
Nora screamed.
Caleb fired toward the trees.
A rider vanished among the pines.
Caleb dropped beside Vale.
Blood spread across his chest.
"Doctor!"
Vale grabbed Caleb's coat.
"Crowe..."
"Where?"
Vale coughed.
"He knows the box is open."
"Who is Elias Crowe?"
Vale's eyes found Nora.
"Ask her mother."
Nora shook her head.
"My mother is dead."
Vale stared at her.
"No."
Nora froze.
"What?"
"Your mother isn't dead."
His breathing became shallow.
Caleb pressed a hand over the wound.
"Stay with me."
Vale's fingers tightened.
"Evelyn is alive."
"Where?" Nora demanded.
Vale tried to answer.
Then another sound came from the trail.
Hoofbeats.
Many.
Caleb looked up.
Lanterns appeared below them.
Five.
Seven.
Ten riders.
Vale whispered one final sentence.
"They're not coming for the box."
Caleb looked at Nora.
Vale's eyes closed.
"They're coming for her."
The riders reached the bottom of the hill.
One man raised his head.
May you like
Then he shouted into the darkness.
"Nora Whitmore! Your mother sent us."
