Chapter 5 - The Truth Beneath the Saddle
Dr. Everett Hale.
Clara had known him for eight years.
He delivered babies.
Set broken bones.
Treated ranch hands who couldn't pay.
He had sat beside Clara at Thomas's funeral.
He had signed the paper declaring Thomas died from injuries caused by a wagon accident.
Clara remembered his hand on her shoulder.
I'm sorry, Mrs. McKe.
There was nothing anyone could have done.
Now Mercer lay bleeding on Clara's floor and insisted Hale was Boone's hidden partner.
Clara refused to believe it.
For nearly five minutes.
Then she opened Thomas's papers again.
She searched payments.
Initials appeared repeatedly.
E.H.
Large sums.
Dates aligned with missing persons reports Clara remembered seeing posted in town.
Tahen watched silently.
Clara's denial collapsed.
"Why?"
Mercer breathed shallowly.
"Money."
"Doctors don't make this kind of money."
"This one did."
Mercer coughed.
Clara held water to his lips.
He explained in fragments.
Hale identified vulnerable travelers.
People without families nearby.
Workers with no papers.
Native patients traveling between settlements.
He passed routes to Boone.
Boone's men intercepted them.
Some became forced labor.
Some were held for ransom.
Others disappeared farther south.
Hale used his position to falsify deaths and explain disappearances.
"No bodies?" Clara asked.
Mercer shook his head.
"Sometimes."
Clara felt sick.
"And Thomas found out."
"Part."
"Enough to die."
Mercer closed his eyes.
"Enough."
By dawn, his bleeding slowed.
Tahen wanted to leave immediately.
Clara agreed.
They needed Ross.
But now they knew Ross's outpost was watched.
Mercer gave them another route.
An abandoned mining road into Carrion Canyon.
"If Boone meets Hale tonight," Clara said, "we could catch them together."
Tahen shook his head.
"Too dangerous."
"We need proof Hale is involved."
"We have papers."
"His lawyer will call them forged."
"Mercer talks."
Mercer laughed painfully.
"If I live."
Clara looked at him.
He wasn't wrong.
Tahen said, "Ross can arrest Hale."
"On whose testimony? Mine? Yours? Keta's? Boone will say we're all lying."
Tahen's eyes narrowed.
"You want canyon."
"I want to hear Hale admit it."
Tahen crossed his arms.
"How?"
Clara held up Thomas's papers.
"We let him think we're bringing these."
Tahen stared.
"No."
"It will work."
"No."
"You don't even know the plan."
"Still no."
Clara almost smiled despite everything.
Keta would have enjoyed that argument.
Then she remembered Keta was riding south with the original packet, hopefully reaching Ross.
If Boone had men on every road, Keta might already be in danger.
The thought ended her amusement.
They compromised.
Tahen would send two riders to find Keta.
Another would go toward Ross using Mercer's hidden route.
Clara, Tahen, and two others would watch Carrion Canyon.
Mercer insisted on coming.
"You can barely sit up," Clara said.
"So can Keta."
"That is not a persuasive example."
"I know Boone's signals."
Tahen considered.
Then agreed.
Clara did not.
Nobody cared.
By afternoon they were moving again.
Carrion Canyon deserved its name.
Narrow walls.
Bleached bones.
Very little shade.
A single wagon road twisted between cliffs tall enough to hide twenty men.
Tahen chose a ridge overlooking the meeting place.
From there they saw Boone arrive shortly before sunset.
Only three riders accompanied him.
His injured shoulder was bandaged.
He looked furious.
Twenty minutes later, a covered carriage entered from the east.
Dr. Everett Hale stepped out.
Even at a distance Clara recognized his gray coat.
Her stomach twisted.
Hale was older than Boone.
Silver-haired.
Clean-shaven.
Respectable.
He looked like a man invited to dinner.
Not a criminal meeting in an empty canyon.
Boone shouted first.
His voice echoed upward.
"You said the McKe woman knew nothing!"
Hale answered calmly.
"For three years, she didn't."
"Now she's got both sets of records."
"Because you failed to recover the second."
Boone stepped close.
"I should have burned that cabin after Thomas died."
Clara's hands clenched.
Tahen placed one palm over hers.
Steady.
Below, Hale said, "You should have killed the woman too."
The words struck Clara harder than Boone's threats ever had.
This man had drunk coffee at her table.
He had checked on her after Thomas's funeral.
He had once brought medicine when she was sick.
Boone laughed bitterly.
"You told me not to."
"Because killing two McKes in one week would have drawn questions."
Clara closed her eyes for one second.
Proof.
They had it.
But only four people heard.
They needed Ross.
Mercer shifted beside her.
A pebble rolled from the ridge.
Tiny.
Almost nothing.
Boone looked up.
Tahen froze.
For several seconds, nobody below moved.
Then Boone resumed speaking.
Clara exhaled.
Hale opened a leather case.
He removed money.
"We end this tonight."
"How?"
"Keta will try to reach Ross."
Clara's pulse jumped.
Hale knew.
"Ross's deputy will stop him."
Tahen whispered a curse.
Mercer mouthed, "Deputy Larkin."
The name appeared in Keta's packet.
Clara felt panic.
Keta was riding directly into a trap.
Hale continued.
"And the woman?"
Boone looked toward the canyon mouth.
"She'll come after the truth."
Hale smiled.
"Then let her."
Clara realized too late.
Tahen did too.
Below them, Boone lifted one hand.
Men appeared along both canyon walls.
Hidden behind rocks.
Rifles raised.
Tahen grabbed Clara.
"Down!"
Gunfire erupted.
Stone exploded inches from Clara's head.
Mercer rolled behind cover.
Tahen's riders returned fire.
Clara crawled toward a narrow gap.
Boone's voice echoed.
"Mrs. McKe!"
She froze.
He knew she was there.
"Bring me Thomas's papers!"
Another shot struck the ridge.
"Or Carrion Canyon becomes your grave!"
Tahen gestured toward a rear path.
They retreated.
The trail narrowed into a crack between rocks.
Mercer stumbled.
Clara caught him.
Behind them, Boone's men climbed.
Fast.
Tahen fired twice.
"Move!"
They ran.
The path descended toward an abandoned mining tunnel.
Clara remembered Mercer's map.
The tunnel crossed beneath the ridge and opened on the north side.
Maybe.
They entered.
Darkness swallowed them.
Clara lit a match.
Old timber supports leaned dangerously.
Mercer breathed hard.
"Left fork."
They found it.
Behind them, Boone's men entered the tunnel.
Voices echoed.
Clara's match died.
They moved by touch.
The passage narrowed.
Then widened.
Ahead, faint moonlight appeared.
Clara nearly laughed with relief.
They reached the exit.
And stopped.
Five mounted men waited outside.
Deputy Marshal Larkin sat in front.
Clara recognized him from town.
He smiled.
"Evening, Mrs. McKe."
Tahen raised his rifle.
Rifles immediately aimed back.
Larkin shook his head.
"Don't."
Clara looked behind them.
Boone's men were coming through the tunnel.
Front and back.
Trapped.
Larkin extended a hand.
"Papers."
Clara didn't move.
"I work for the United States marshal service," he said.
"You work for Hale."
His smile disappeared.
Mercer whispered, "Clara."
She looked at him.
He was staring past Larkin.
Toward the ridge.
A tiny flash appeared.
Then another.
Sunlight?
No.
Signal mirrors.
Three.
Tahen saw them.
His expression changed.
Someone was coming.
Larkin saw it too.
He turned.
From beyond the ridge came hoofbeats.
Many.
Clara's heart jumped.
Keta?
Ross?
Tahen's people?
The first rider appeared.
Then ten more.
Then twenty.
Larkin's face drained of color.
But the man at the front was neither Keta nor Marshal Ross.
Clara had never seen him.
Tahen had.
He whispered one word.
May you like
And for the first time since Clara met him, fear entered his voice.
"Enemy."
