Chapter 5 - The Cole Brothers
The old Cole ranch had once seemed enormous to Ethan.
Now it looked tired.
The barn leaned east.
Fence rails sagged.
Only the cottonwoods remained unchanged.
Caleb stood on the porch before Ethan dismounted.
“You shouldn’t be here.”
Ethan tossed him the cartridge casing.
Caleb caught it.
“Neither should you.”
Isaac remained near the horses.
Caleb eyed him.
“I need to talk to my brother alone.”
“No,” Ethan said.
Caleb exhaled.
“You trust him?”
“I trust that he hasn’t lied to me yet.”
The words landed harder than Ethan intended.
Caleb opened the door.
“Inside.”
They entered the room where their mother had died and their father had grown old.
Caleb poured whiskey.
Ethan refused.
“Where’s Father’s notebook?”
Caleb drank.
“Safe.”
“From Vale?”
“Yes.”
“You were at my ranch.”
“I kept his men outside as long as I could.”
“You could’ve warned me.”
“I thought you were dead.”
“Comforting.”
Caleb slammed the glass down.
“You think this is a joke?”
“No. I think thirty-seven of my cattle were stolen, a village nearly died, and your cartridge was lying beside the trail.”
Caleb turned away.
“I drove the cattle.”
Ethan felt Isaac stiffen behind him.
“Why?”
“Vale ordered a survey party into the canyon. He wanted it to look like a cattle operation.”
“So you helped.”
“I didn’t know about the spring.”
“Do you expect me to believe that?”
“I knew Vale wanted the village gone. I thought he planned to scare them.”
Ethan’s voice rose.
“You helped armed men enter their home.”
“Yes.”
The blunt admission silenced him.
Caleb faced him.
“I did it.”
“Why?”
“Because Vale owns the mortgage on this ranch.”
Ethan stared.
“Father paid it off.”
“No.”
“He told me—”
“He lied.”
Caleb opened a desk.
Documents filled the drawer.
He handed Ethan a note.
Thomas Cole had borrowed eight thousand dollars in 1868.
A fortune.
Collateral: the ranch, cattle and northern grazing parcel.
Lender: Gideon Vale.
Ethan read the signature.
“That doesn’t make sense.”
“Father was nearly bankrupt.”
“Why?”
Caleb laughed bitterly.
“You left for the Army. I stayed. You got his stories. I got his debts.”
Ethan flinched.
Caleb continued.
“Vale kept renewing the note. Every year the interest grew.”
“So you worked for him.”
“I kept our home.”
“You helped him destroy someone else’s.”
Caleb looked ashamed.
“Yes.”
Isaac spoke for the first time.
“Where is the notebook?”
Caleb’s eyes narrowed.
“Why?”
“Because men nearly killed children for what it contains.”
Caleb stared at him, then walked to the fireplace.
He removed a brick.
The notebook lay behind it.
Ethan reached for it.
Caleb held it away.
“Before you read this, understand something. Father wasn’t innocent.”
Ethan stopped.
Caleb opened the notebook.
Thomas’s handwriting filled the pages.
Survey coordinates.
Rock samples.
Water measurements.
Then a map.
The Apache canyon.
The original spring.
A second underground channel.
And beneath the northern ridge, marked in red pencil:
SILVER VEIN—EXCEPTIONALLY RICH.
Ethan stared.
“That’s what Vale wants.”
“No.”
Caleb turned the page.
A second note appeared.
ORE REMOVED, 1859–1861. RECORDS FALSE.
“Father and Vale mined it together,” Caleb said.
Ethan looked up.
“Before the war?”
“Yes.”
“How much?”
“Enough to make Vale rich.”
“And Father?”
“Enough to make him ashamed.”
Ethan said nothing.
Caleb sat down.
“Father discovered the vein extended beneath the canyon where the village lived. Vale wanted them driven out. Father refused.”
“So they split.”
“Eventually.”
“What happened to the mine?”
“Father collapsed the entrance.”
Ethan looked at the map.
“Using the spring?”
Caleb nodded.
“He diverted part of the underground flow. Flooded the lower shafts.”
Isaac stepped closer.
“So water protects the mine.”
“Yes.”
“And Vale buried the spring.”
Caleb’s face went pale.
“He’s trying to reverse Father’s work.”
Ethan finally understood.
The spring was not merely water.
It was part of a lock Thomas Cole had built beneath the mountain.
Vale needed the village gone so no one would witness him opening it.
Ethan pointed to the map.
“Where does the second water channel go?”
Caleb did not answer.
“Caleb.”
His brother looked toward Isaac.
Then spoke quietly.
“Under the village.”
Ethan froze.
Caleb continued.
“If Vale blasts the wrong wall trying to drain the mine, the ground beneath half that settlement could collapse.”
Isaac’s face emptied of emotion.
“When?”
Caleb looked toward the window.
“Tomorrow.”
Ethan grabbed the notebook.
“Then why are we standing here?”
Caleb caught his arm.
“Because Vale has twelve armed men.”
Ethan pulled free.
“The village has children.”
“I know.”
“Then decide whose brother you are.”
Ethan walked toward the door.
Behind him came the click of Caleb checking his revolver.
Ethan turned.
Caleb slipped the weapon into his holster.
“I’ve been Vale’s man for seven years.”
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He picked up his hat.
“Maybe one day is enough to stop being one.”
