Chapter 5 - What Elias Saw at North Creek
Rafe Kums stood in the barn doorway.
The running iron hung from his hand.
“Drop it,” Emmett said.
Rafe smiled.
“You first.”
Odessa raised her shotgun.
Rafe’s smile disappeared.
Perhaps men had mocked Odessa’s size.
Very few were foolish enough to ignore what that size meant when she held a twelve-gauge.
Rafe dropped the iron.
Then ran.
Emmett fired above him.
Rafe reached his horse and disappeared.
Whitlock still breathed.
Barely.
They carried him inside.
Odessa pressed cloth against the wound while Emmett rode for the doctor.
Whitlock survived the night.
Before dawn, he told them everything he knew.
Rafe had been stealing cattle for years.
Not enough at once to draw attention.
A few from one ranch.
A few from another.
He altered brands and moved them through Ironwood.
Vain financed the operation.
Whitlock had discovered discrepancies but trusted Rafe.
Then Emmett saw riders near the north pasture.
Rafe needed someone blamed.
Emmett was grieving.
Distracted.
Perfect.
“But Elias?” Odessa asked.
Whitlock shook his head.
“I only know Rafe once bragged that Vain had solved a water problem permanently.”
The doctor insisted Whitlock rest.
Emmett stepped outside.
Odessa followed.
“You can leave,” she said.
He turned.
“What?”
“You married me for shelter. Not this.”
“I married you because I needed shelter.”
“That’s what I said.”
“No.”
He stepped closer.
“That stopped being the reason.”
Odessa’s expression shifted.
Neither spoke.
Emmett reached toward her face.
Then stopped.
He was not ready.
Neither was she.
But Odessa took his hand and pressed it briefly against her cheek.
That was enough.
They went back to work.
Whitlock’s evidence cleared part of Emmett’s name, but they needed Vain connected directly.
Elias’s map pointed north.
So they returned to North Creek.
This time they followed the old diversion farther into Ironwood territory.
Behind a rock shelf they discovered a timber gate controlling water flow.
Stamped into its metal hinge was a manufacturer date.
Three months before Elias died.
Proof the diversion existed before his death.
Then Odessa found initials scratched into the timber.
E.K.
Beneath them:
SAW THEM MOVE CATTLE. RAFE KNOWS.
Elias had left a message.
Emmett touched the carving.
“He knew he was in danger.”
Odessa’s eyes filled.
“He was trying to leave evidence.”
A noise sounded behind them.
Sheriff Puit.
He held a rifle.
“Step away from that gate.”
Odessa stared.
“You were there.”
Puit’s face tightened.
“I didn’t kill Elias.”
“But you covered it up.”
“I found him after.”
“With Rafe?”
Silence.
That was answer enough.
Puit lowered his rifle slightly.
“You don’t understand Vain.”
“Then explain,” Emmett said.
Puit looked suddenly old.
“Vain owns debts. Businesses. Men. He owned mine.”
“You declared murder an accident.”
“I had children.”
“So did other men.”
Puit flinched.
He reached into his coat.
“I kept something.”
A folded document.
Elias’s original death report.
Not the official version.
It described head trauma before the fall.
Puit had signed it.
“Why keep this?” Odessa asked.
“Insurance.”
“Against Vain?”
“Against everybody.”
He handed it to her.
Then horses sounded nearby.
Puit’s face drained.
“He followed me.”
“Who?”
Puit looked toward the ridge.
“Vain.”
Three riders appeared.
Rafe among them.
Puit raised his rifle.
“Go.”
Emmett grabbed Odessa’s arm.
They ran toward their horses.
Shots erupted.
Puit fired back.
Emmett and Odessa reached the trees.
Behind them came another volley.
Then silence.
Odessa stopped.
“Puit—”
“We can’t help him.”
They rode hard.
Only after crossing Kesler land did Emmett realize the original report was still in Odessa’s coat.
They had evidence.
Real evidence.
But when they reached the ranch house, the front door stood open.
Inside, every drawer had been emptied.
The floorboards had been torn up.
May you like
And across the kitchen table someone had written four words in Elias Kesler’s bloodstained journal.
WE FOUND THE OTHER PAGE.
