Chapter 8 - The Night Kesler Ridge Burned
Rafe came down the stairs holding a revolver.
“Give me the box.”
Emmett stepped in front of Odessa.
Rafe laughed.
“Still playing husband?”
“No.”
Emmett’s voice was calm.
“I stopped playing.”
Rafe’s smile vanished.
Odessa moved slightly.
Rafe aimed at her.
“Don’t.”
“You killed Elias.”
“He should’ve minded his cattle.”
Odessa’s jaw tightened.
“You hit him.”
Rafe shrugged.
“Once.”
“Then threw him into the ravine.”
“That was Vain’s idea.”
Silence.
Deputy Collins stood outside the doorway.
He heard every word.
Rafe realized it too late.
He fired.
Emmett tackled Odessa.
Collins returned fire.
Rafe escaped through the kitchen.
They pursued.
Outside, flames rose from the remaining barn.
Ironwood riders had surrounded the property.
Vain intended to destroy everything.
Emmett organized the ranch hands.
Odessa drove cattle away from the fire.
Neighbors arrived.
Not because they loved scandal.
Because fires ignored property lines.
Even Silas Whitlock, still recovering, came with Bar Seven men.
For the first time Odessa saw the county standing with her rather than staring at her.
They saved the house.
The barn was lost.
At dawn, Collins returned with Rafe’s abandoned horse.
No Rafe.
But the saddlebag contained letters.
Vain had ordered him to burn Kesler Ridge and recover Elias’s evidence.
Enough for arrest.
Judge Avery issued a territorial warrant.
Still, Vain disappeared.
Railway representatives arrived at noon.
They confirmed Elias’s documents.
Kesler Ridge sat directly across the proposed route.
The ranch was worth several times its mortgage.
Vain had known.
He had engineered the debt acquisition to seize it cheaply.
The bank froze foreclosure proceedings pending investigation.
Odessa stared at the official notice.
“We’re safe?”
“For now,” Emmett said.
She laughed.
Then cried.
Then hugged him so hard his boots nearly left the floor.
“Odessa.”
“Sorry.”
“Don’t be.”
That evening they stood amid the burned barn.
“We rebuild,” she said.
“We?”
Her eyes narrowed.
“You planning to leave?”
“Our agreement was until the ranch was safe.”
Odessa looked away.
Emmett stepped closer.
“I’m asking whether you want me to.”
She faced him.
“No.”
“Good.”
“Why?”
“Because I don’t want to.”
They kissed.
Then Silas approached.
His expression ruined the moment.
“Sorry.”
“What?”
“We found something in the ashes.”
Beneath the burned tack room was a trapdoor.
Odessa had never known it existed.
They opened it.
A cellar.
Inside were crates bearing Ironwood markings.
Emmett pried one open.
Bar Seven cattle tags.
Another contained altered brands.
A third contained bank records.
Then Odessa found a coat.
Elias’s.
Inside the pocket was a photograph.
Vain.
Rafe.
Sheriff Puit.
And a fourth man.
Emmett recognized him.
May you like
His blood turned cold.
The fourth man was the doctor who had treated Emiline before she died.
