Chapter 5 - A Dead Man Walked Into Town
Eliza looked at Caleb.
"Say it again."
Caleb entered the office.
Pike's deputies remained behind him.
"You remember more than you're admitting."
"I remember you taking me away."
"After you killed Samuel."
Rebecca shouted, "Liar!"
Caleb ignored her.
He looked only at Eliza.
"You were angry with your father."
Eliza felt memories stirring.
"You wanted to leave. Samuel refused to give you your inheritance."
"Stop."
"You fought."
"Stop."
"You threw something."
A lamp.
Eliza saw it.
Her hand.
A lamp crashing.
Flames.
She stumbled backward.
Silas caught her.
Caleb smiled.
"There it is."
Eliza whispered, "I started the fire."
"No," Rebecca said.
"I remember."
Rebecca grabbed her shoulders.
"You knocked over a lamp because Caleb struck you."
Eliza looked at her.
"You were defending yourself."
Caleb shrugged.
"Fire killed Samuel either way."
Silas spoke.
"Thomas's statement says Samuel was dead before the fire reached the office."
Caleb's expression shifted.
Pike looked at him.
That was interesting.
Caleb had not known.
Silas saw it.
"So who killed him?"
Caleb said nothing.
Rebecca whispered, "Rourke."
Pike raised his weapon.
"Enough."
Silas stepped between him and Eliza.
"You going to kill all of us?"
"Would simplify things."
Nathan looked at the deputies.
"You gentlemen understand what he's saying?"
The deputies shifted.
Pike's eyes hardened.
"Nobody's killing anyone. They're fugitives."
Eliza suddenly understood something.
Pike needed the appearance of law.
Even now.
He needed witnesses to believe he was sheriff first and criminal second.
She stepped forward.
"Then arrest me."
Silas turned.
"No."
Eliza kept her eyes on Pike.
"Take me to Denver."
Pike frowned.
"Public trial."
Caleb's expression changed.
"That's unnecessary."
Eliza saw fear.
Small.
But real.
"You accused me of murder. Let me stand before a judge."
Pike looked at Caleb.
Wrong move.
Two deputies noticed.
Eliza continued.
"Unless you're afraid of what I'll say."
Pike's jaw tightened.
"Fine."
Caleb stepped toward him.
"Harlan."
"Shut up."
That was the first crack.
Eliza allowed herself to be arrested.
Silas protested until she whispered, "Trust me."
It was a strange thing to ask after everything.
He did.
They rode toward Denver.
Rebecca and Nathan followed under guard.
Silas rode beside Eliza.
At midday, Caleb approached.
"You always were stubborn."
She looked straight ahead.
"Was Anna?"
He went quiet.
"Or Eliza?"
"Same woman."
"No."
She finally looked at him.
"Anna trusted you."
Caleb smiled.
"She loved me."
Eliza's expression remained calm.
"Because you built her in a cage."
His smile vanished.
"You needed me."
"I was injured."
"You'd have died without me."
"You were the reason I nearly died."
He leaned closer.
"You don't know that."
"I remember your wagon."
Caleb's face tightened.
"And the medicine."
Silence.
"And Rourke's ring."
Caleb looked toward Pike.
Eliza noticed.
She leaned closer.
"You're afraid of him too."
"Rourke?"
"Yes."
Caleb laughed.
But she had found the wound.
"Does he know you failed to kill me?"
Caleb's eyes turned cold.
"You should have stayed Anna."
"Why?"
"Because Eliza Mercer never understood when she was beaten."
She held his gaze.
"Apparently neither does Anna Vale."
That night, they camped beside an abandoned stage station.
Silas quietly worked one hand free from his rope.
Eliza noticed.
So did Nathan.
Rebecca created a distraction by pretending to collapse.
Nathan shouted for help.
One deputy approached.
Silas moved.
Within seconds, he had the man's weapon.
Chaos followed.
Pike fired.
Silas shot the pistol from his hand.
The deputies hesitated.
Caleb ran.
Eliza saw him disappearing toward the horses.
She followed.
"Caleb!"
He turned.
For a second they faced each other alone.
"You want answers?" he said.
"Yes."
"Then ask Rourke."
"Did you kill my father?"
"No."
"Did you hit me?"
His silence answered.
"Did you take me?"
"Yes."
"Why?"
His expression twisted.
"Because Rourke was going to kill you."
Eliza stopped.
"What?"
"I took you before he could."
"You drugged me for six years."
"Because the first time your memories returned, you tried to go to the police."
"You could have told me the truth."
"And have Rourke find you?"
"You tried to have me killed three days ago."
Caleb looked genuinely confused.
"No."
Eliza froze.
"The men at Kenosha Pass."
"I didn't send them."
"Don't lie."
"I sent men to bring you home."
"They attacked me."
Caleb stared at her.
"Then they weren't mine."
A shot cracked.
Caleb jerked.
He dropped.
Eliza screamed.
Silas reached her.
The shot had struck Caleb's shoulder.
Not fatal.
From the ridge, a rider disappeared.
Silas looked at Eliza.
"Rourke."
Caleb groaned.
"Now you believe me?"
Eliza knelt beside him.
"I believe he wants you silent."
They returned to the others.
Pike had escaped.
Two deputies surrendered.
The third admitted Pike had been taking Rourke's money for years.
Caleb's wound was treated.
Under pressure, he finally talked.
Rourke had planned the original land theft.
Caleb had joined for money.
Then things spiraled.
"I didn't expect Samuel to die."
Eliza stared at him.
"But you helped cover it up."
"Yes."
"You stole my life."
"Yes."
"Why marry me?"
Caleb looked away.
"At first? Land."
Silas's hand tightened.
Eliza remained still.
"And later?"
Caleb laughed bitterly.
"I don't expect you to believe me."
"Say it."
"I loved Anna."
Eliza felt nothing.
"Anna didn't exist."
"She did to me."
"No. She was what remained after you took everything else."
Caleb looked down.
That truth seemed to hurt him.
Good.
He deserved it.
But Eliza needed more.
"Who killed my father?"
Caleb answered.
"Victor Rourke."
"Did you see it?"
"Yes."
"Will you testify?"
He looked at her.
"If I do, he'll kill me."
Silas spoke.
"If you don't, I might."
Eliza gave him a look.
"What?"
"Not helpful."
"Felt helpful."
Caleb almost laughed.
Then stopped when Silas looked at him.
They reached Denver with the surrendered deputies as witnesses.
Judge Wallace arranged protection.
Caleb signed a confession.
Pike became a wanted man.
Warrants were prepared for Rourke.
But Rourke disappeared before officers reached his mansion.
His office had been emptied.
His bank accounts were being transferred.
He was running.
Eliza knew where.
"The ranch."
Silas looked at her.
"Why?"
"The deeds."
"Those are with Wallace."
"Not all of them."
She remembered something.
Her father kneeling beneath the stable stairs.
A second hiding place.
"The original Mercer land grants."
Rebecca understood.
"Without them, Rourke's fraudulent claims can still tie the estate up for years."
They rode for the ranch.
But when they arrived, the stable doors were open.
Inside, the hiding place had been emptied.
Silas found fresh tracks.
Then Eliza noticed something on the floor.
A black stone.
Onyx.
From a ring.
Rourke had been there.
Silas looked toward the mountain trail.
"He's heading west."
Eliza's face changed.
"Kenosha Pass."
"Why there?"
She remembered.
A cave.
Her father.
Boxes.
Records.
"Because that's where my father kept the documents he trusted most."
They mounted immediately.
Before Eliza could ride, a boy came racing toward them from the road.
He carried a telegram.
"For Miss Mercer!"
Eliza opened it.
Only six words were written.
I HAVE REBECCA. COME TO THE PASS.
She turned.
Rebecca's horse was gone.
May you like
Then Silas saw the final line.
COME ALONE OR SHE DIES.
