Chapter 2 - The Man in the Photograph
Elias turned toward the door.
His revolver rose.
"Who's there?"
Silence.
Ingrid extinguished the lantern.
Darkness swallowed the shack.
Elias heard footsteps outside.
Slow.
Measured.
Then retreating.
He reached the door and pulled it open.
Nothing.
Only snow.
He stepped outside.
A single trail of boot prints crossed the clearing and vanished toward the trees.
"Ingrid."
She came beside him.
"Stay here."
"No."
"You nearly died this morning."
"And someone just followed us."
"Exactly."
He looked at her.
She did not move.
Elias realized arguing would waste time.
They followed the tracks together.
Thirty yards into the trees, the prints disappeared beneath fresh horse tracks.
Whoever had been watching them had mounted and ridden west.
Toward the road.
Elias returned to the shack.
This time he barred the door.
Then he relit the lantern and placed the photograph on the table.
"Start talking."
Ingrid stared at Erik's younger face.
"I never saw this."
"Your husband knew my father."
"I didn't know."
"Your husband used my father's warning knots."
"I know what it looks like."
"What does it look like?"
"Like I came here because of this."
"Didn't you?"
Her head snapped up.
"No."
"Then why Montana?"
"Because Pastor Reynolds found work here."
"At my ranch."
"Yes."
"The same ranch where your husband secretly knew my father."
She folded her arms.
"I understand why you don't believe me."
"Try helping me."
For a long moment, she said nothing.
Then she sat.
"Erik died eighteen months ago."
Elias remained standing.
"He worked timber camps when he was young. Later he bought a small farm outside Bergen. We married there."
"Did he ever talk about America?"
"Rarely."
"What did he say?"
"That he had worked here before we met."
"Where?"
"He never told me."
Elias tapped the photograph.
"This answers that."
"Partly."
"What else did he hide?"
Ingrid swallowed.
"A ledger."
Elias stared.
"What ledger?"
"The night before he died, he asked me to bring him a metal box from beneath our floorboards."
Elias pulled out a chair.
"What was inside?"
"Documents. Letters. Numbers. He was very ill. He made me promise that if anyone ever came looking for them, I would burn everything."
"Did you?"
"No."
"Why?"
"Because while he slept, I read one page."
She looked at the mortgage documents Crane had delivered.
"It listed ranches in Montana."
Elias felt his heartbeat change.
"Mine?"
"I don't know. Erik woke before I could read more."
"What happened to the ledger?"
"After he died, it disappeared."
"Who took it?"
"I don't know."
"Then you came to America."
"Months later."
"Because of the ledger?"
"No. Because Erik's debts took our farm."
Elias sat back.
The similarities were suddenly impossible to ignore.
"Debts."
"Yes."
"Real ones?"
"I believed so."
"You don't anymore."
"No."
Elias looked at his father's photograph.
"What did Erik die from?"
Ingrid's eyes hardened.
"An accident."
"What kind?"
"A barn beam collapsed."
Neither moved.
Elias looked slowly at the scar on her cheek.
"The same kind of accident you almost had today."
Ingrid nodded.
For the first time since he'd hired her, Elias saw fear in her that was not for herself.
"Three days before Erik died, he found three red knots tied around the beam."
Elias stood abruptly.
"Why didn't you tell me earlier?"
"Because until tonight, I thought they were Erik's private warning system."
"They were my father's."
"Or someone taught both of them."
Elias picked up the map.
Several ranches were circled.
The Ward ranch.
The Mercer place.
A property near Bozeman.
Three others.
All had dates beside them.
Elias recognized some names.
Every one of those properties had changed ownership after financial trouble.
He pointed at one circle.
"This ranch belonged to Caleb's father."
Ingrid looked at him.
"Your ranch hand?"
"Yes."
"What happened?"
"Foreclosure. My father hired Caleb afterward."
"Who bought the Mercer property?"
Elias stared at the map.
"First Territorial Bank."
The lantern flame moved.
Ingrid whispered, "Crane."
"Maybe."
Elias studied the papers.
Most were old receipts and legal notices.
Then he found a letter.
It was addressed to his father.
EDWARD,
IF THEY FORCE THE WARD PROPERTY INTO DEFAULT, DO NOT SIGN ANYTHING CRANE BRINGS YOU.
E.L.
Elias's mouth went dry.
"Erik."
Ingrid took the letter.
Her hands trembled.
"His handwriting."
Another note lay underneath.
THIS IS BIGGER THAN MORTGAGES. THEY CREATE THE DEBT, BUY THE LAND, AND SELL THE WATER RIGHTS.
Elias read it twice.
The Ward ranch sat over one of the region's most reliable winter springs.
His father had always said the water was worth more than the cattle.
Suddenly six thousand dollars in mysterious fees made sense.
"They want the land."
Ingrid nodded.
"And they wanted Erik silent."
Elias looked at her.
"And my father?"
"He died eleven years ago."
"Heart attack."
"Are you certain?"
Elias almost answered.
Then stopped.
His father had been found in this very shack.
Alone.
Everyone assumed his heart had failed.
No autopsy.
No questions.
"God."
Ingrid touched his arm.
It was a small gesture.
But Elias felt it.
He pulled away, not from anger, but because the moment frightened him.
He had spent four years avoiding attachment.
The ranch was failing.
His wife was gone.
His son depended on him.
He could not afford another person he might lose.
Especially one who had already crawled into the center of a mystery that had killed at least one man.
Possibly two.
"We take this to the sheriff."
Ingrid shook her head.
"Not yet."
"Why?"
"Because we don't know who was outside."
"All the more reason."
"And if the sheriff is involved?"
Elias stared at her.
"You're suspicious of everyone."
"That is why I'm alive."
That sentence stayed with him.
They carried the box back to the house.
Elias hid it beneath loose boards in his bedroom.
At dawn, the ranch felt almost ordinary.
Noah ate oatmeal.
Ingrid moved stiffly around the kitchen.
Elias repaired a gate.
But nothing was ordinary anymore.
Around noon, Caleb returned.
He found Elias sharpening fence staples.
"Bank man come back?"
"No."
Caleb glanced toward the house.
"Ingrid okay?"
"Fine."
"Good."
Elias watched him.
"Did you know my father knew a man named Erik Larson?"
Caleb froze for half a second.
"No."
"You're sure?"
"Should I?"
Elias stepped closer.
"He worked this ranch twenty years ago."
Caleb shrugged.
"Lots of men worked here."
"Not many corresponded secretly with my father."
Caleb's face tightened.
"What are you digging into?"
"Something I should have dug into years ago."
Caleb lowered his voice.
"Leave old things buried."
"Why?"
"Because your father's dead."
"And?"
"And dead men don't need justice."
Elias felt anger rise.
"What do they need?"
"Peace."
Caleb walked away.
That evening Noah found Ingrid sitting by the stove.
"Does your side hurt?"
"A little."
"My mom used to say little when she meant a lot."
Ingrid smiled sadly.
"Was your mother clever?"
"Very."
"I believe it."
Noah hesitated.
"Are you leaving when winter ends?"
The question caught her.
"That was the agreement."
"Oh."
"You don't like the agreement?"
He stared at the floor.
"Dad gets quiet when people leave."
Ingrid's expression changed.
"Your father is strong."
"Strong people get lonely too."
Before she could answer, Elias entered.
Noah immediately became interested in his spoon.
Elias had heard enough.
But he pretended he hadn't.
That night snow began falling heavily.
Near midnight, Elias woke to the sound of wood breaking.
He grabbed his gun.
The front door was closed.
Noah's room was safe.
Ingrid's door stood open.
Her bed was empty.
Elias ran downstairs.
The back door swung in the wind.
Footprints crossed the yard.
He followed them toward the barn.
"Ingrid!"
Inside, darkness.
Then a match flared.
Ingrid stood beside the hayloft ladder.
"What are you doing?"
"Someone was here."
"Who?"
"I don't know."
She pointed upward.
A square section of the loft floor had been removed.
Elias climbed.
Beneath the boards was an iron compartment.
Inside lay an old leather ledger.
Ingrid breathed, "Erik's."
Elias opened it.
Pages of names.
Loans.
Foreclosures.
Payments.
Bribes.
Then he reached a page dated eleven years earlier.
WARD, EDWARD — REFUSED TRANSFER.
Below it:
ACTION AUTHORIZED.
Elias stared.
His father's death had occurred three days later.
Another line followed.
MERCER, THOMAS — COOPERATING.
Elias stopped breathing.
Thomas Mercer.
Caleb's father.
A floorboard creaked below.
Elias looked down.
The barn door opened.
Caleb stepped inside holding a rifle.
He looked up at Elias and Ingrid.
May you like
Then he raised the weapon.
"Put the ledger down."
