Chapter 26 - The Man Eli Used to Be
Captain George Hollis arrived in Tucson wearing a suit too tight across his stomach.
Eli recognized him instantly.
Hollis had commanded a scouting detachment fifteen years earlier.
He also knew exactly which memories Eli had spent those years trying to bury.
Pike’s attorneys called a preliminary hearing to challenge the reliability of seized records.
The courthouse overflowed.
Tala attended with Nantan.
Mira remained at Rosa’s, still recovering.
Daniel sat behind Rebecca, not beside her.
Thomas waited with federal investigators.
Voss and Rourke were held elsewhere.
Hollis testified that Eli once participated in forced removals of Apache families.
True.
That Eli had threatened prisoners.
True.
That Sarah later criticized those actions.
Also true.
Pike’s lawyer asked:
“Did Mr. Crane express hostility toward government land policy?”
Hollis smiled.
“Frequently.”
“Toward survey officials?”
“Yes.”
“Toward Mr. Pike?”
“Not by name.”
“But generally?”
“Yes.”
The strategy was clear.
If Eli hated survey authorities, Sarah’s records could be portrayed as family revenge.
The lawyer then produced a letter Eli wrote to Sarah years earlier.
Eli’s stomach dropped.
Private.
How had Pike obtained it?
The letter described guilt after a cavalry raid.
One sentence read aloud:
Sometimes I think every map we carried was another way of telling people their home belonged to someone else.
Pike’s lawyer smiled.
“Strong political sentiment, Mr. Crane?”
Eli sat in the witness chair later.
He could have denied.
Qualified.
Explained.
Instead he said:
“Yes.”
The lawyer paused.
“You admit hostility?”
“I admit regret.”
“Did that regret influence your wife?”
“Probably.”
“Did you encourage her investigation?”
“No.”
“Why not?”
“She hid it from me.”
Murmurs.
The lawyer pushed.
“Because she did not trust you?”
“Yes.”
More murmurs.
Tala watched.
Eli continued before asked.
“She thought I was too angry. She thought Pike could provoke me into doing something stupid.”
The lawyer smiled.
“Exactly.”
“And she was right.”
The smile faded.
Eli looked toward Pike.
“But that doesn’t make his forged surveys real.”
The room quieted.
The lawyer objected.
The judge allowed Eli to continue narrowly.
Eli did not defend his character.
That was Pike’s trap.
Make the case about whether Eli deserved trust.
Instead he returned to documents.
“Believe nothing I say. Compare the bank payments to the altered surveys. Compare Voss’s letters to foreclosure dates. Compare Pike’s original signatures to the later maps.”
The lawyer tried again.
“Mr. Crane, are you asking this court to believe you have no personal desire to punish Edwin Pike?”
“No.”
Pike looked up.
Eli said, “I wanted to kill him.”
Shock moved through the room.
Daniel closed his eyes.
Thomas stared.
Tala remained still.
The attorney almost smiled.
Eli continued.
“That is why nobody should convict him because I hate him.”
The smile vanished.
“Convict him because the evidence says what it says.”
The judge called order.
Outside afterward, Daniel grabbed Eli.
“Are you insane?”
“Possibly.”
“You admitted wanting to kill the defendant.”
“True.”
“You could ruin the case.”
Thomas approached.
“No.”
Daniel looked at him.
Thomas almost smiled.
“He may have saved it.”
By admitting bias, Eli removed Pike’s easiest weapon.
The case no longer depended on Eli appearing pure.
It depended on records.
Pike’s next attack targeted Nantan.
His lawyers argued that oral knowledge of water routes had no legal standing.
Nantan responded through an interpreter.
He did not claim his memory was a deed.
He explained locations.
Springs.
Seasonal flows.
Landmarks.
Federal engineers later compared his account with geological tests.
They matched.
Tala testified about the bounty.
Mira’s written statement documented being shot at and captured.
Then Daniel took the stand.
Eli watched his brother confess publicly.
The debts.
The information sold.
Sarah’s route.
Every humiliating detail.
Pike’s lawyer asked:
“You expect leniency?”
Daniel looked toward Rebecca.
“No.”
“Then why confess?”
Daniel answered:
“Because my brother told my son bad choices can still be faced.”
Eli looked down.
Pike’s defense weakened by the hour.
Then, during recess, Marshal Reeves approached.
His face was grim.
“What?”
“Harlan Voss is missing.”
Eli stared.
“Escaped?”
“His transport wagon was attacked.”
“By whom?”
“Unknown.”
“Rourke?”
“Still locked up.”
Tala joined them.
“Pike?”
Reeves shook his head.
“He was here all morning.”
Eli looked across the courtyard.
Pike met his eyes.
Then smiled.
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Voss had been the prosecution’s strongest living witness.
And someone had just removed him.
