Chapter 13 - The Attorney’s PriceSheriff Dalton was alive.
The bullet struck his side after he confronted Silas Crane behind the livery.
Crane escaped.
Dalton identified the shooter.
That mattered.
So did Chester Hale’s disappearance.
Daniel searched Hale’s office.
Drawers emptied.
Legal files missing.
Safe open.
Everett found whiskey bottles beneath the desk.
Ayana found something better.
A torn receipt.
Three thousand dollars.
Dated October 18, 1879.
The day after Elias hid the documents.
Daniel felt betrayed.
Hale had stood in his house.
Handled his father’s papers.
Warned him about Pike.
All while possibly working for him.
Martha Reed refused the simple conclusion.
“Chester was weak.”
Daniel looked at her.
“That's supposed to comfort me?”
“No. Weak men can be dangerous. But three thousand dollars could mean many things.”
“He lied.”
“Yes.”
“So did everyone who knew my father.”
Martha did not argue.
Ayana watched Daniel.
His anger had become a habit.
Useful in short bursts.
Dangerous when it replaced thought.
They found Hale near sunset.
He had not fled far.
He was sitting beside his dead horse in an arroyo four miles outside town.
Crane had shot the animal beneath him.
Hale raised his hands when Daniel approached.
“I can explain.”
Daniel dismounted.
“Start with three thousand dollars.”
Hale closed his eyes.
“I took it.”
Ayana asked, “For what?”
“To give Pike information.”
Daniel grabbed Hale’s collar.
“What information?”
“Where Elias planned to file the water covenants.”
Daniel's fist tightened.
Hale continued quickly.
“I was desperate. Gambling debts. Drinking. Pike knew.”
“You betrayed my father.”
“Yes.”
Daniel wanted an excuse to strike him.
Hale gave none.
“I told Pike about the covenants. That’s why Elias moved the documents before they were recorded.”
“So none became valid.”
“Some did.”
Daniel released him.
Hale took a shaking breath.
“After taking Pike's money, I confessed to Elias.”
“What?”
“The same night.”
Daniel stared.
“Why would he trust you again?”
“He didn’t.”
That answer sounded truthful.
Hale continued.
Elias had nearly killed him when he learned what happened.
Then, instead of throwing Hale away, he forced him to help repair the damage.
“You prepared the secret deeds.”
“Yes.”
“Where are they?”
Hale looked toward the ranch.
“In the courthouse.”
Daniel frowned.
“We searched.”
“You searched recorded deeds.”
“What else is there?”
“Sealed filings.”
Hale had submitted several documents to the county clerk under an obscure procedure used when disputes over surveys remained unresolved.
They were timestamped but not publicly indexed pending confirmation.
Pike never knew.
“If the judge recognizes them,” Hale said, “the access agreements existed before Pike’s forged mortgage.”
Daniel slowly understood.
That could prevent Pike from controlling the basin even if he somehow won the ranch.
“Why didn't you tell me?”
Hale looked ashamed.
“Because telling you meant telling you why Elias needed secrecy.”
“Your betrayal.”
“Yes.”
Daniel looked at Ayana.
She said nothing.
Hale's guilt did not erase what he had done.
But his later actions mattered too.
Repair is not erasing.
Daniel remembered Ayana’s words.
He finally asked, “Why did Crane shoot at you?”
Hale reached inside his coat carefully.
He removed a folded affidavit.
“I wrote this.”
A sworn confession.
Hale admitted taking Pike’s money, misusing his notary seal access, and later discovering Pike had used the stolen seal to forge Elias’s mortgage.
He named Crane.
Wade.
Others.
“This could send Pike to prison,” Daniel said.
“If the court believes me.”
“Why now?”
Hale laughed bitterly.
“Because I am tired of spending every morning wondering which coward I will be that day.”
Daniel looked at the older man.
For perhaps the first time, he understood why Elias had kept Hale close.
Not because Hale was trustworthy.
Because Elias wanted him to become so.
They returned to town under guard.
Dalton, pale but alert, read the affidavit.
“Good.”
Then he looked at Daniel.
“Bad news.”
Pike had filed for immediate possession of Harper Ranch.
He claimed Daniel had defaulted and was destroying collateral by allowing “hostile armed groups” onto the property.
Daniel stared.
“Hostile groups?”
Ayana understood first.
“My family.”
Dalton nodded.
Pike was turning their presence into evidence Daniel could not manage the ranch.
Worse, Pike had sent messages to neighboring towns claiming Apache raiders had gathered on Harper land.
Fear spread faster than facts.
By morning frightened settlers were arriving armed.
Daniel stood outside the sheriff’s office as men shouted.
“Drive them out!”
“They’re planning a raid!”
“They attacked the Mercer boys!”
Daniel climbed onto the boardwalk railing.
“Enough!”
The crowd quieted partially.
He pointed toward Pike’s hotel.
“You’re being lied to.”
Somebody shouted, “By Indians?”
Daniel's temper flashed.
“No. By a banker.”
Nervous laughter.
He continued.
“The riders at my ranch helped defend it from Wade Mercer, the same outlaw who kidnapped travelers from this town.”
“Why should we believe you?”
Daniel looked toward Ayana.
She stood at the edge of the crowd.
He could speak for her.
He chose not to.
Ayana stepped forward herself.
She described Wade's attack.
She described Pike's water scheme without theatrics.
Some listened.
Some did not.
Then an elderly rancher named Ortega pushed through.
“My south well dropped fifteen feet two years ago.”
Another rancher spoke.
“So did mine.”
Murmurs spread.
The story was becoming larger than Daniel.
Pike appeared on his hotel balcony.
“You're listening to frightened people invent conspiracies.”
Daniel looked up.
Pike's expression remained polished.
Daniel held up the blue ledger.
“Then you won't mind reading your own accounts in court.”
Pike’s face changed.
Only for a second.
But the entire street saw it.
Daniel knew immediately.
For the first time, Harlan Pike was afraid.
Then a gunshot exploded from the crowd.
The blue ledger flew from Daniel’s hand.
Someone had shot it.
A second bullet struck the wooden post beside Ayana.
People screamed.
Daniel pulled her down.
Crane appeared on a rooftop across the street.
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He aimed again.
And this time his rifle pointed directly at Chester Hale.
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