Chapter 4 - The Man They Buried
For five years, Iris had imagined what she would say if her father walked through the bakery door.
She had imagined screaming.
Crying.
Hitting him.
Holding him.
Instead, when Nathan Bell stood ten feet away in the mine, alive and trembling, she said nothing.
Her knees failed.
Elias caught her.
Nathan stepped forward.
"Iris."
She pushed away from Elias.
Then crossed the distance and struck her father across the face.
Nathan didn't defend himself.
She hit him again.
"You were alive."
"I know."
"You let me bury you."
"I know."
"You let me think I had nobody."
His face broke.
"I know."
Then Iris grabbed him and held on.
Nathan's arms closed around her.
He was thinner.
Much thinner.
His hair had gone almost completely white.
But the smell of tobacco, soap, and old paper was the same.
She sobbed against his shoulder.
Not delicately.
Not quietly.
Five years came out at once.
Elias stepped back.
When Iris finally released Nathan, she wiped her face.
"You'd better have a reason."
"I do."
"It had better be enormous."
"It is."
Nathan looked at Elias.
"You look like Thomas."
Elias stiffened.
"Where is my brother?"
Nathan's eyes filled with regret.
"Come inside."
They followed him through a second hidden passage.
Beyond it was a living space.
A cot.
Water.
Food tins.
Maps covering the walls.
Nathan had lived like a prisoner who had taught himself to survive underground.
"Five years?" Iris asked.
"Not here the whole time."
"Where?"
"Moving."
"Why didn't you come home?"
"Because they were watching you."
"Who?"
Nathan looked at the ledgers.
"Pike."
Iris laughed bitterly.
"That's becoming the answer to everything."
Nathan sat.
His hands shook.
"Amos Pike didn't begin as a criminal. He began as a clerk for a railroad company. He discovered how much federal money disappeared between Washington and territories no one inspected."
Elias leaned against the wall.
"So he created workers."
"Thousands."
"Ghost payroll."
"Some ghost. Some real. When investigators required bodies—proof workers had died during construction accidents—Pike gave them bodies."
Iris's stomach turned.
"From where?"
"Anywhere he could."
Nathan looked ashamed.
"Drifters. Prisoners. People no one would search for."
"Thomas?"
Nathan closed his eyes.
"He found out."
Elias stepped forward.
"What happened?"
"Thomas was hired as a surveyor. He discovered the railroad line existed only on paper. He confronted Pike."
"And?"
"Pike had him arrested."
"For what?"
"Theft."
Elias laughed once, humorless.
"Then?"
"I helped Thomas escape."
Hope flashed across Elias's face.
"So he's alive?"
Nathan didn't answer.
"Elias," Iris said softly.
He ignored her.
"Where is he?"
Nathan stood.
"There are things you need to understand."
"No. One thing."
Nathan looked at him.
"I don't know."
Elias stared.
"He escaped. He planned to take evidence east. Pike's men followed him. After that, nothing."
Elias turned away.
Iris watched him grip the edge of a table.
Nathan continued.
"Years later, I found Thomas's name in a federal registry."
Elias turned back.
"What registry?"
"Protected witnesses."
Silence.
"You think he survived?"
"I think someone wanted the world to believe he didn't."
Elias's breathing changed.
"Where is the registry?"
Nathan pointed to a locked metal box.
"Copies."
Elias opened it.
Inside were documents sealed with federal stamps.
One listed Thomas Mercer.
Status: Relocated.
No destination.
No date.
Elias sat heavily.
For fourteen years he had carried a dead brother.
Now the grave had opened.
Just like Nathan's.
Iris looked at her father.
"Why fake your death?"
"Because I found the master ledger."
"The one Amos wants?"
Nathan nodded.
"I threatened to expose him."
"That was foolish."
He almost smiled.
"You get that from me."
She didn't smile back.
"What happened?"
"Pike sent Walter."
Iris touched her split lip.
Nathan noticed.
His face hardened.
"He hit you?"
"Don't change the subject."
"I'll kill him."
"Get in line."
Elias actually laughed.
Nathan stared at him.
Iris continued.
"What happened when Walter came?"
"I knew I couldn't win. So Doctor Halpern helped."
Iris's eyes widened.
"The doctor?"
Nathan nodded.
"He gave Pike a body."
Iris recoiled.
"Whose?"
"A man who'd died anonymously from fever. Same build. Face badly damaged in a wagon accident."
She remembered Walter insisting she not see the body.
The closed coffin.
Amos comforting her.
Doctor Halpern signing the certificate.
"Everyone lied to me."
"To keep you alive."
Nathan reached for her.
She stepped back.
"Don't."
He lowered his hand.
"You don't get to turn five years into a kindness."
"I know."
"You missed birthdays."
"I know."
"Mother's memorial."
His eyes filled.
"I watched from the ridge."
That hurt worse.
"You watched?"
"I wanted to come down."
"But you didn't."
"If Pike knew I was alive—"
"He beat me anyway."
Nathan flinched.
Iris immediately wished she could pull the words back.
But truth was not supposed to be comfortable.
"Your plan didn't protect me," she said. "It just made me face them alone."
Nathan nodded slowly.
"You're right."
No defense.
That was worse somehow.
Then a sound echoed through the mine.
Metal striking stone.
Elias stood instantly.
"Someone's here."
Nathan extinguished one lamp.
"Back passage."
"How many entrances?"
"Three."
"Can they surround us?"
"Yes."
"Good to know."
Iris stared.
"Good?"
"No."
Nathan moved toward the maps.
"There is another exit through the north shaft."
A gunshot cracked.
The lantern shattered.
Darkness.
Iris dropped.
Elias fired toward the tunnel.
A man screamed.
Nathan grabbed Iris.
"This way."
They ran.
Her ribs burned.
Behind them came voices.
Walter.
"Find the girl!"
Elias stopped.
Iris grabbed him.
"No."
"They'll follow."
"So will you."
Something in her voice worked.
He moved.
They entered a narrow shaft barely wide enough for one person.
Nathan led.
Iris followed.
Elias remained behind.
Gunfire echoed.
Then silence.
They reached a ladder.
Nathan climbed.
Iris followed slowly.
Halfway up, pain exploded through her side.
"I can't."
Nathan looked down.
"Yes, you can."
"I can't breathe."
Elias appeared beneath her.
"Put your foot on my shoulder."
She looked down.
"You'll fall."
"Trust me."
That word again.
Trust.
She lowered one foot.
He braced.
"Push."
She climbed.
At the top, Nathan pulled her through.
Elias followed.
They emerged behind rocks overlooking the mine entrance.
Six riders waited below.
Walter Pike stood among them.
Sheriff Dugan was beside him.
And Doctor Halpern.
Iris stared.
"No."
Nathan whispered, "Samuel?"
The doctor looked up.
For a moment their eyes met across the distance.
Then Halpern raised his rifle.
Elias pushed Iris down.
A shot rang out.
Stone exploded above them.
Iris couldn't understand.
Doctor Halpern had helped Nathan.
He had protected her.
Why was he with Pike?
Nathan shouted, "Samuel!"
Halpern called back.
"I'm sorry!"
Walter grabbed the rifle from him.
"Stop talking."
Elias studied the slope.
"Can we reach the horses?"
"No," Nathan said.
"Other route?"
"Creek bed."
They crawled behind the ridge.
Iris kept seeing Doctor Halpern's face.
Not angry.
Terrified.
They descended into the dry creek.
Nathan knew every turn.
After twenty minutes, gunshots faded.
They reached a hidden cabin.
Inside, Nathan locked the door.
"We stay until morning."
Elias checked the windows.
"No. They'll find it."
"Not unless Samuel tells them."
Iris looked at him.
"He already betrayed you."
Nathan shook his head.
"Samuel wouldn't."
"He shot at us."
"He shot above us."
Elias paused.
True.
The bullet had struck stone high.
Nathan moved to a shelf.
"He was warning us."
"Or missing."
"Samuel doesn't miss."
Iris sat.
Her body had reached its limit.
Nathan gave her water.
She drank.
Elias watched through the window.
Then a rider appeared in the distance.
Alone.
Doctor Halpern.
He approached without a weapon.
Nathan opened the door before Elias could stop him.
Halpern stumbled inside.
Blood covered his shirt.
"Samuel!"
Nathan caught him.
"They know," Halpern gasped.
"Know what?"
"Everything."
Elias shut the door.
"Who shot you?"
"Walter."
Halpern looked at Iris.
"I'm sorry."
She knelt beside him.
"Save it."
He gave a weak laugh.
"Still Nathan's girl."
"Why were you with them?"
"They took my wife."
Iris's anger disappeared.
"What?"
"Amos has kept her at the Pike ranch since noon."
Nathan looked sick.
"Samuel."
"They knew I helped fake your death."
"How?"
Halpern reached into his coat.
"Because someone told them."
He pulled out a small envelope.
"Someone close to you."
He handed it to Nathan.
Inside was a note.
One sentence.
THE MASTER LEDGER IS WITH NATHAN.
Iris recognized the handwriting.
Her stomach turned.
"No."
Elias looked at her.
"You know it?"
She nodded.
The handwriting belonged to the last person she expected.
Someone who had stood beside her father's coffin.
Someone who had visited the bakery every Sunday since his death.
Someone who had held Iris while she cried.
Nathan whispered the name first.
"Henry Cole."
Outside, a horse stopped.
Then another.
Then ten more.
The cabin surrounded them.
A familiar voice called through the door.
May you like
"Iris, open up."
Henry Cole had found them.
