Chapter 2 - The Man in the Storm
The figure moved closer.
Bessie recognized Earl.
For one moment, relief rushed through her.
Then she noticed he was alone.
Silas lowered his rifle.
"Where's Caleb?"
"Tom took him down."
"You were told to go with them."
Earl's eyes shifted toward Amos.
"I came back to help."
Amos said nothing.
Bessie felt his hand tighten around her wrist.
Silas crouched beside him.
"We need to move him."
"Storm's closing the lower trail," Earl said.
"Then we use the timber shelter."
"It's half collapsed."
"It's better than freezing here."
Earl looked at Amos's leg.
"Can he walk?"
"No."
Earl looked at Bessie.
Then, almost automatically, his mouth curled.
"You planning to carry him?"
Six weeks earlier, that tone would have made the other men laugh.
Nobody laughed now.
Bessie stood.
"Give me your rope."
Earl blinked.
"What?"
"Your rope."
He handed it over.
Bessie looped it beneath Amos's arms and through the heavy straps of his coat.
Silas understood first.
"You'll tear your hands open."
"Then I'll tear them open."
Amos shook his head.
"No."
Bessie ignored him.
She wrapped the rope around her waist.
Amos's voice hardened.
"Bessie."
She looked down.
"You've got a better idea?"
"Leave me."
"No."
"Bess—"
"No."
Earl glanced toward the ridge.
"He's right about one thing. We wait too long, nobody gets down."
Bessie turned so sharply Earl stepped backward.
"Then stop talking."
She leaned into the rope.
Amos barely moved.
Pain tightened his face.
Bessie changed position.
Bent lower.
Planted both boots.
Pulled again.
This time Amos slid several inches.
Silas pushed from behind.
Together they moved him through the snow.
Twenty feet.
Thirty.
The storm erased their tracks almost as soon as they made them.
Bessie breathed through clenched teeth.
Her thighs burned.
Her lower back screamed.
Every step sank.
Every pull felt like lifting the mountain itself.
Behind her, Earl muttered, "Good Lord."
Bessie didn't answer.
Amos did.
"Told you she was stronger than she looked."
Bessie heard the weakness in his voice.
"Save your breath."
"Marriage improved your manners."
"Save. Your. Breath."
They reached the shelter near dusk.
Only half the roof remained.
One wall had collapsed.
But the stone fireplace was intact.
Silas and Earl dragged broken boards inside.
Bessie lowered Amos near the wall.
She examined his leg.
The injury was bad.
A deep gash below the knee.
Possibly a fracture.
The bleeding had slowed only because of the cold.
That would not last once they warmed him.
Bessie had treated plenty of kitchen cuts.
Mining injuries too.
Nothing like this.
Silas knelt beside her.
"You know what you're doing?"
"No."
"Good."
She stared at him.
"Why is that good?"
"Means you'll be careful."
They heated water in a dented tin pot.
Bessie cut away the frozen fabric around Amos's leg.
He bit down on a piece of leather while she cleaned the wound.
When she finished, sweat covered his face despite the cold.
Earl stood by the broken wall, looking outward.
Bessie noticed.
"What are you watching?"
"Storm."
"No."
Earl turned.
She pointed toward him.
"You keep looking uphill."
He said nothing.
Silas did.
"Amos said someone was waiting for him."
Earl's face hardened.
"You think it was me?"
"I didn't say that."
"You looked at me."
"You've got a memorable face."
Under different circumstances, Bessie might have smiled.
Nobody did.
Amos stirred.
Silas leaned closer.
"Tell us what happened."
Bessie touched Amos's shoulder.
"You don't have to."
"Yes," Amos whispered. "I do."
His eyes opened.
"The upper supports failed around one."
Silas frowned.
"Failed?"
"Not cracked."
Amos swallowed.
"Cut."
Silas stared.
"You're sure?"
"I delivered those beams myself three weeks ago."
"What kind of cut?"
"Saw marks."
Silas stood slowly.
Earl swore.
Bessie felt cold despite the fire.
"Someone caused the collapse?"
Amos nodded.
"The first support went. Men started running. Then the second came down."
"Who was near it?"
"Couldn't see."
"What about the avalanche?"
"Tunnel collapse shook the ledge. Snow broke loose afterward."
Silas walked to the doorway.
"This wasn't an accident."
"No."
Bessie looked at Amos's broken rifle.
"And the marks?"
Amos closed his eyes.
"I got Caleb out. Was heading down when somebody came through the trees."
"Who?"
"Face covered."
"A miner?"
"Maybe."
"They attacked you?"
Amos nodded.
"Hit me from behind. We fought. Rifle broke against a rock."
Bessie stared at the three cuts.
"What are those?"
Amos looked toward the weapon.
"He carved them after I was down."
"Why?"
"He said something."
Bessie leaned closer.
"What?"
Amos hesitated.
Silas turned.
"Say it."
"He said, 'Three warnings were enough.'"
Nobody spoke.
Earl moved away from the doorway.
"What in hell does that mean?"
Amos shook his head.
"I don't know."
But Bessie knew he was lying.
Not because Amos was a bad liar.
Because she was his wife.
She knew the tiny pause before an answer.
The way his left eyebrow moved when he chose words carefully.
The way he avoided her eyes.
She waited until Silas and Earl were busy with the fire.
Then she whispered, "You know."
Amos stared at her.
"Bess."
"What were the three warnings?"
He looked toward Silas.
Then back at her.
"Letters."
Her stomach tightened.
"What letters?"
"They came to the cabin."
"You never told me."
"I burned them."
"What did they say?"
His breathing became shallow.
"First one told me to stop bringing timber to the north tunnel."
"Second?"
"Stop asking where the missing silver was going."
Bessie froze.
"Missing silver?"
Amos nodded.
"Loads leaving at night. Company books didn't match."
"And the third?"
Amos's eyes moved toward Earl.
"Third said if I kept asking questions, they'd bury me under the mountain."
Bessie felt something inside her shift.
She had spent weeks thinking Black Ridge's biggest ugliness was the way men laughed at her.
Now she understood those jokes had been small.
Childish.
There was something far worse living beneath them.
"Who knew?"
"Silas."
She looked toward the foreman.
"Anyone else?"
"One other man."
"Who?"
Amos hesitated.
"Earl."
Bessie looked toward the doorway.
Earl was gone.
She stood.
"Where is he?"
Silas turned.
"Who?"
"Earl."
Silas looked outside.
Only snow.
"Earl!"
No answer.
Silas grabbed his rifle.
"Stay here."
Bessie stood in front of him.
"No."
"Bessie."
"I've listened to that word enough today."
Silas stepped outside.
Bessie followed.
The storm had weakened slightly.
Enough to see tracks.
Earl's tracks led uphill.
Not down.
Not toward Black Ridge.
Toward the collapsed mine.
Silas crouched.
"Why would he go back?"
Bessie thought about Amos's warning letters.
About Earl being the only other man who knew.
"Maybe because he forgot something."
Silas looked at her.
"Or someone."
They followed the prints thirty yards before finding Earl's lantern.
It lay in the snow.
Still burning.
No Earl.
Beside it was a patch of disturbed snow.
A struggle.
Silas saw the blood first.
Bessie saw something else.
A small brass button.
She picked it up.
An eagle was stamped into the metal.
Silas's face changed.
"Company coat."
Bessie knew exactly one man in Black Ridge who wore buttons like that.
Superintendent Nolan Pike.
Behind them, Amos suddenly shouted from the shelter.
"Bessie!"
She ran back.
Amos was trying to stand.
His face was white.
"What happened?"
He pointed toward the damaged rear wall.
Someone had pushed a folded piece of paper through the gap.
Bessie picked it up.
Three words were written inside.
BRING THE LEDGER.
Silas read over her shoulder.
"What ledger?"
Amos closed his eyes.
Bessie stared at him.
"You have it."
He didn't answer.
"You have the missing silver records."
Amos reached inside his coat.
Nothing.
His expression changed.
He searched another pocket.
Then another.
"Bess."
"What?"
"The ledger was here."
Silas turned toward the doorway.
Fresh footprints crossed the back of the shelter.
They had been standing only yards away.
May you like
Someone had already come inside.
And the bloody tracks led toward Black Ridge...
