Chapter 6 - The Last Train West
Samuel Pike's revolver pointed at the floor.
That was the only reason Caleb did not shoot him immediately.
Nora stared at the stagecoach driver.
"You wrote the letters?"
Samuel nodded.
"Yes."
Caleb stepped forward.
"You have ten seconds."
"Then listen quickly."
Samuel placed his gun on the floor.
"I worked for Crowe."
"We know."
"No. You know I drove coaches for him."
Samuel swallowed.
"I did more."
Nora held the ticket tightly.
"What?"
"I found people."
"For what?"
"Debts. Land. Pressure."
His voice became quieter.
"Women."
Caleb's expression hardened.
Samuel continued.
"Crowe used marriage agencies to move women onto disputed properties. A legal spouse could complicate inheritance, invalidate claims, create ownership transfers."
Nora looked sick.
"So I wasn't the first."
"No."
"How many?"
Samuel did not answer.
"How many?"
"Nine."
Silence.
Nora walked over and slapped him.
Samuel accepted it.
"You deserved worse."
"I know."
Caleb said, "Why warn us?"
Samuel looked at him.
"Because the tenth woman reminded me of my daughter."
Nobody spoke.
"She died seven years ago."
Nora's anger remained, but something shifted.
Samuel continued.
"Crowe ordered me to write the letters because I knew enough about Mercer from old ranch records."
"Sarah?"
"Crowe had reports."
Caleb felt violated in a way he could not name.
Samuel nodded toward the ticket.
"Abigail is trying to escape."
"Then why does the note say bring Nora alone?"
"Because Abigail doesn't trust anyone."
"How do you know?"
"I helped her."
Nora stared.
"When?"
"Two months ago. She discovered Crowe wasn't her guardian."
Evelyn whispered, "What did he tell her?"
"That her mother abandoned her."
Evelyn began crying.
Samuel looked away.
"I told her enough to make her question him."
Caleb checked the clock.
"We have twenty-eight minutes."
They rode.
Hard.
The train station came into view as steam rose from the locomotive.
Passengers hurried aboard.
Nora dismounted before her horse stopped completely.
"Abigail!"
No answer.
Caleb ran behind her.
The conductor shouted, "All aboard!"
Nora moved through the crowd.
Then she saw her.
A woman stood at the far end of the platform.
Dark red hair.
Gray traveling dress.
One suitcase.
Nora stopped.
Abigail stopped.
Neither moved.
Then Nora said, "I'm Nora."
Abigail's face changed.
"You look like Mother."
Evelyn appeared behind them.
Abigail's suitcase fell from her hand.
"No."
Evelyn whispered, "Abby."
Abigail backed away.
"No."
"It's me."
"You're dead."
"So are you, apparently," Nora said softly.
Abigail looked at her.
Against all reason, both women laughed.
Then both began crying.
The train whistle screamed.
Abigail stepped toward Evelyn.
Their reunion lasted only seconds.
A gunshot shattered the station clock.
Caleb pulled Nora down.
Men appeared on the opposite platform.
Crowe's attorneys had not merely destroyed records.
They had sent killers.
Daniel returned fire.
The marshal shouted orders.
Passengers screamed and ran.
Abigail grabbed Nora.
"Come with me!"
They crawled behind luggage carts.
Caleb moved between them and the shooters.
One man rushed from the ticket office.
Caleb struck him with the rifle stock.
Another fired.
Daniel fell.
"Daniel!"
Caleb fired twice, then reached his brother.
Blood covered Daniel's side.
"I'm fine," Daniel grunted.
"You've always been a terrible liar."
"Go!"
Caleb looked toward Nora.
She and Abigail had reached the locomotive.
The marshal's deputies pushed the attackers back.
Then the train began moving.
"Nora!"
She looked toward Caleb.
Abigail shouted something.
Nora shook her head.
The train accelerated.
Caleb ran beside it.
"Jump!"
Nora hesitated.
Then jumped.
Caleb caught her.
They both hit the platform hard.
For one absurd second they lay tangled together.
Nora looked at him.
"You have a habit of catching me."
"You have a habit of falling."
Then both realized Abigail was still aboard.
Evelyn screamed her name.
The train disappeared west.
Caleb helped Nora stand.
"Why didn't she jump?"
Nora opened her fist.
Abigail had pressed something into it.
A key.
And a note.
Nora unfolded it.
Crowe keeps everything in the Red Canyon station vault.
He told me if I ever betrayed him, he would kill Nora first.
Do not follow me.
I'm finishing this.
Nora looked toward the vanished train.
"She's going after the records."
Samuel swore.
"Red Canyon is abandoned."
Caleb turned.
"What?"
"The railroad stopped using it years ago."
"Then why is she going there?"
Samuel's face changed.
"Because Crowe has a private railcar."
The marshal understood.
"He's escaping custody."
They ran toward the jail.
Too late.
Two guards were unconscious.
Crowe was gone.
A freight engine had been stolen from a siding.
Heading west.
Toward Red Canyon.
Daniel, stubbornly bandaged, refused to remain behind.
They commandeered a handcar and followed.
For three hours, they pumped through darkness.
Red Canyon appeared before dawn.
A deserted station stood beneath towering cliffs.
Crowe's locomotive waited on the track.
Steam hissed.
No movement.
Caleb entered the station.
Nora followed despite every objection.
Abigail stood beside an open vault.
Elias Crowe stood behind her.
Gun at her back.
"Predictable," Crowe said.
Caleb raised his revolver.
"Let her go."
Crowe smiled.
"Drop it."
Caleb did.
Nora stepped forward.
"I'm the one you want."
"Finally, something we agree on."
Abigail shouted, "Don't!"
Crowe pushed her toward the vault.
Inside were ledgers.
Dozens.
Enough to expose everyone.
Railroad executives.
Judges.
Bankers.
Politicians.
Crowe looked at Nora.
"Your father ruined my life."
"Richard?"
"He refused to sell."
"So you murdered him."
"He chose badly."
Nora's face became very still.
Caleb recognized danger in that stillness.
Crowe continued.
"Sign away the Whitmore claim and I release your sister."
"No."
He pressed the gun against Abigail's head.
Nora did not move.
"No."
Crowe's smile vanished.
"You think I'm bluffing?"
"No."
Nora looked at Abigail.
"But I think Abigail already opened the vault."
Crowe frowned.
Caleb saw it then.
A thin trail of oil ran from the vault toward the stove.
Abigail smiled.
"So?"
Nora struck the lantern from Crowe's hand.
Darkness.
A shot exploded.
Caleb tackled Crowe.
Abigail screamed.
Fire raced along the oil.
Daniel and the marshal rushed inside.
Caleb wrestled Crowe to the floor.
The old man clawed for his gun.
Caleb knocked it away.
Flames climbed the vault doorway.
"Nora!"
She and Abigail were trapped inside.
Caleb ran through the smoke.
He grabbed Nora.
Daniel reached Abigail.
They stumbled outside as the station roof began burning.
Crowe crawled toward his locomotive.
The marshal pursued.
Then the canyon thundered.
Everyone stopped.
A burning support collapsed onto the track.
The locomotive began rolling.
Crowe climbed aboard.
The engine gathered speed.
The marshal shouted.
Ahead, the track crossed an old trestle.
Samuel's face went white.
"That bridge hasn't carried a train in six years."
Crowe disappeared into the darkness.
Seconds later came the sound of wood breaking.
Then metal.
Then silence.
Nobody spoke.
Nora looked at the burning station.
"The records."
Abigail shook her head.
"Not all of them."
She reached inside her coat.
A small ledger.
Crowe's personal account book.
The one document tying every crime directly to him.
They had won.
Or so they believed.
Two days later, they returned to Caleb's ranch.
Daniel recovered.
Evelyn and Abigail stayed with Nora.
The marshal carried the ledger to federal authorities.
For the first time, Caleb's cabin felt crowded.
He expected to hate it.
He did not.
One evening, Nora stood beside the stove.
"The marriage agency refunded my fee."
Caleb raised an eyebrow.
"Generous."
"They also apologized."
"Miraculous."
She smiled.
Then her expression softened.
"I'll leave tomorrow."
The words hit him harder than expected.
He looked at her.
"For where?"
"I don't know yet."
"You own four thousand acres."
"If the court recognizes me."
"It will."
Nora looked down.
"I came here believing I was supposed to become your wife."
Caleb said nothing.
"I know that was a lie."
Still nothing.
"But the strangest part is..."
She stopped.
"What?"
Nora looked at him.
"I don't think everything about it was."
Caleb's chest tightened.
Before he could answer, someone knocked.
Daniel opened the door.
A federal courier stood outside.
He handed Caleb a telegram.
Caleb unfolded it.
His expression changed.
Nora stepped closer.
"What?"
The telegram contained twelve words.
Elias Crowe survived the trestle collapse.
His body had never been recovered because there was no body.
And beneath that message was another.
One written by Crowe himself.
SARAH MERCER IS ALIVE. ASK YOUR BROTHER WHERE HE HID HER.
May you like
Caleb slowly turned toward Daniel.
His brother had gone completely pale.
