Chapter 5 - The Man Who Finally Looked Away
Henry Cole had been Iris's father's best friend for thirty years.
He had repaired the bakery oven for free after Nathan died.
He had carried firewood to Iris every winter.
He had once punched a drunk cowboy for calling her names.
And now he stood outside a cabin with Amos Pike's men.
"Iris," Henry called. "Please."
Elias stood beside the door.
"How many?"
Nathan peered through a crack.
"At least twelve."
Doctor Halpern lay on the cot losing blood.
Iris looked at her father.
"Is there another exit?"
Nathan shook his head.
Elias checked his ammunition.
"Then we negotiate."
"With Pike?" Iris asked.
"With Henry."
She laughed bitterly.
"He sold us out."
"Maybe."
"You saw the note."
"I saw handwriting."
"So?"
"Men who betray people don't usually announce themselves politely."
Iris hated that he had a point.
Henry called again.
"I'm alone at the door."
Elias opened it two inches.
Henry stood with empty hands.
Behind him, mounted men formed a line.
Walter was among them.
Amos wasn't.
"Come inside," Elias said.
Walter shouted, "No!"
Henry turned.
"You wanted her alive."
Walter glared.
Henry entered.
Elias locked the door behind him.
Iris crossed her arms.
"Say it."
Henry looked older than he had yesterday.
"I didn't betray Nathan."
"The note is your handwriting."
"I wrote it."
"That's called betrayal."
"I wrote it twelve years ago."
Silence.
Nathan frowned.
"What?"
Henry sat.
"Thomas Mercer asked me to."
Elias stepped closer.
"My brother?"
Henry nodded.
"Thomas knew Pike suspected Nathan. He needed Pike to believe the master ledger was with someone else."
Iris stared.
"So the note was bait?"
"Yes."
"Why did Pike get it now?"
"I don't know."
Elias did.
"Someone found Thomas's papers."
Henry nodded.
"Probably."
Iris looked toward the armed men.
"Then why are you here?"
Henry's face tightened.
"Because Walter has my daughter."
Iris's anger vanished.
"Emily?"
Henry nodded.
"They took her from the schoolhouse."
Red Creek's cruelty had changed shape.
It was no longer aimed only at the weak.
Pike was afraid.
And frightened powerful men became dangerous.
"Where?" Nathan asked.
"Pike ranch."
"With Mrs. Halpern?"
"Yes."
Doctor Halpern tried to sit.
Elias stopped him.
"You're not going anywhere."
"My wife—"
"You'll die before you reach the door."
Henry looked at Iris.
"Walter wants the ledger."
"We don't have it," she said.
Nathan did not react.
Too late.
Henry saw.
"You do."
Nathan sighed.
"Not here."
"Where?"
"I'm not telling you."
Henry's face crumpled.
"Emily is sixteen."
"I know."
"They'll hurt her."
"I know."
"You don't understand."
Nathan stepped closer.
"I understand better than anyone."
Iris watched the two old friends.
Fear could make enemies out of good men.
That was Pike's real talent.
Not money.
Not violence.
Isolation.
He convinced every person their suffering was private.
That nobody else would risk anything to help.
Elias looked at Iris.
She understood immediately.
"You want to go back."
"To town."
"Why?"
"Because we're losing by hiding."
Nathan shook his head.
"Pike owns the sheriff."
"Not the town."
"He owns half of it."
"Then we'll talk to the other half."
Iris thought of the people watching her in the dirt.
Cowards.
Neighbors.
Friends.
Maybe all three.
"They won't help."
Elias looked at her.
"They already started."
She remembered Henry telling Walter to let Elias pass.
Doctor Halpern ordering Amos out.
Small things.
But small things were how fear cracked.
"What do we tell them?" Iris asked.
"The truth."
"We don't have proof."
Nathan smiled weakly.
"I do."
He reached beneath his shirt.
A key hung around his neck.
"The master ledger isn't in the mine."
"Where?" Iris asked.
"In the safest place I could think of."
"The bank?" Elias guessed.
Nathan shook his head.
"The church."
Iris blinked.
"Reverend Mills?"
"Doesn't know."
Nathan had hidden it beneath the floorboards under the pulpit.
The one building Amos Pike rarely entered because his wife had died there during a fever outbreak twenty years earlier.
They formed a plan.
Henry would tell Walter that Nathan agreed to exchange the ledger at midnight.
That would buy time.
Elias, Iris, and Nathan would slip back to town through the creek bed.
Doctor Halpern would remain hidden.
Henry would return to Walter.
Before leaving, he hugged Iris.
"I'm sorry."
She wanted to stay angry.
Instead she hugged him back.
"Bring Emily home."
"I will."
He left.
They waited ten minutes.
Then slipped from the cabin.
The journey back to Red Creek took hours.
By the time they reached town, most windows were dark.
The church stood at the end of Pine Street.
Unlocked.
Nathan led them inside.
He approached the pulpit.
"Help me."
Elias moved it.
Nathan pried up a floorboard.
A metal case rested beneath.
He unlocked it.
Inside was a thick leather-bound ledger.
Iris touched the cover.
"This is what they killed people for?"
Nathan nodded.
"More than killed."
He opened it.
Land theft.
Fraud.
Bribes.
Disappearances.
Judges.
Sheriffs.
Railroad executives.
Federal agents.
Names powerful enough to destroy Pike.
Elias turned pages.
Then froze.
"What?"
He pointed.
Thomas Mercer.
Payment: $5,000.
Recipient: A. Pike.
Description: Removal.
Elias's face went white.
Nathan looked away.
Iris touched Elias's arm.
"That doesn't prove he died."
"No."
"But—"
"It proves Pike was paid to remove him."
Elias shut the ledger.
"We take this to a federal judge."
"Nearest is three days away," Nathan said.
"Telegraph?"
"Pike controls the office."
Iris smiled slowly.
"Not tonight."
They looked at her.
"Lucy Bennett runs the night shift."
Nathan frowned.
"Her father owes Pike."
"Lucy hates Walter."
That changed things.
They crossed town through alleys.
At the telegraph office, Lucy nearly screamed when she saw Nathan alive.
Iris covered her mouth.
"Later."
Elias dictated a message to the federal district court in Santa Fe.
URGENT. EVIDENCE OF FEDERAL LAND AND RAIL FRAUD. MULTIPLE HOMICIDES. REQUEST IMMEDIATE MARSHAL RESPONSE. RED CREEK.
Lucy transmitted it.
Then stopped.
"What?"
"The line went dead."
Elias checked outside.
Someone had cut the wire.
"Did it send?"
"Most of it."
"Enough?"
"I don't know."
A bell began ringing.
The church bell.
Once.
Twice.
Then continuously.
People emerged from houses.
"What is that?" Nathan asked.
Iris's face changed.
"Fire alarm."
Orange light appeared behind buildings.
The bakery.
"No."
She ran.
Elias caught her.
"Iris!"
"My bakery!"
Flames climbed through the roof.
People rushed with buckets.
For five years, the bakery had been all she had.
Her mother's recipes.
Her father's desk.
The marks on the wall where Iris's height had been measured as a child.
Everything burned.
Walter stood across the street.
Watching.
He smiled.
Iris started toward him.
Elias stopped her.
"Not now."
Walter shouted over the flames.
"Midnight, Nathan!"
The town went quiet.
People looked at Nathan.
Shock spread.
The dead man stood alive in the street.
Walter continued.
"Bring the ledger to Pike ranch, or Henry Cole's daughter and Doctor Halpern's wife die!"
Murmurs.
Faces changed.
Walter had made a mistake.
He had said it publicly.
Elias noticed.
So did Iris.
She turned toward the crowd.
"Now you know."
Nobody moved.
Walter laughed.
"They won't help you."
Iris looked at the same faces that had watched her bleed.
Then Henry Cole emerged from the darkness.
His hands were tied.
Blood ran down his forehead.
Walter's smile disappeared.
Henry had escaped.
He stumbled toward Iris.
"They moved Emily."
"Where?"
Henry collapsed.
Iris caught him.
He whispered something into her ear.
Her blood turned cold.
"What?"
Henry looked toward the burning bakery.
"They're not at the ranch."
"Where are they?"
Henry swallowed.
"Under the bakery."
Iris stared at the flames.
Then came a scream.
From beneath the burning building.
A girl's scream.
"Help me!"
May you like
Iris knew the voice.
Emily was trapped under the fire.
