Chapter 8 - What Was Buried Under the Cottonwood

The old Torne house had been abandoned for seventeen years.

Corvin had not entered since Elias died.

The roof sagged.

Dust covered the piano Helena once played after supper.

On the wall, a pale rectangle showed where a family portrait had hung.

Mara remained outside while Corvin and Jonah crossed the overgrown yard toward the cottonwood.

"You remember the horse?" Jonah asked.

"Blue."

"The mean gray gelding?"

"He wasn't mean."

"He bit me."

"You deserved it."

For a moment, they were brothers again.

Then Corvin drove a shovel into the earth.

Two feet down, metal rang.

They uncovered an iron cashbox wrapped in decayed oilcloth.

Jonah whispered, "Mother."

The lock opened with the medallion-shaped key Rebecca had found among Caleb Mercer's papers.

Inside lay the second ledger.

Also letters.

Receipts.

A list of bank transfers.

Corvin read the first page.

Then the second.

By the fifth, he sat on the ground.

Torne Ranch had survived the devastating winter of 1869 because twenty-eight thousand dollars had been deposited into Elias Torne's account.

The money had not come from cattle.

It came from land sales arranged by Gideon.

Land at Dry Creek.

Land acquired after families were forced away.

Jonah stared at the figures.

"So the ranch—"

"Was saved with stolen money."

Neither spoke.

Mara approached.

Corvin handed her the ledger.

She read the names.

Several were recognizable to her.

She closed the book.

Corvin could not meet her eyes.

"I didn't know."

"I know."

"My father knew."

"Yes."

"He kept the ranch."

"Yes."

The lack of comfort hurt.

Corvin looked toward the abandoned house.

"Everything I thought he built—"

Mara interrupted.

"Your father did not build this house alone. Your mother lived here. Workers repaired it. Animals fed you. Water kept all of you alive. Do not make one man's guilt larger than every other life."

Corvin looked at her.

"That supposed to make me feel better?"

"No."

"Good."

She handed the ledger back.

"It is supposed to make you responsible."

Jonah opened another envelope.

Inside was a document signed by Elias.

A confession.

He acknowledged accepting the money despite knowing its source.

He described years of trying to reverse portions of Gideon's transactions.

He also named Vane's father.

At the end he wrote:

I told myself taking the money was necessary to save my family. Gideon told himself removing people from Dry Creek was necessary to save ours. Silas Vane told himself bribing officials was necessary for progress. Each of us renamed greed until we could sleep beside it.

Jonah read the line twice.

Corvin stared into the distance.

Then Jonah found something else.

A bank certificate.

Twenty-eight thousand dollars had later been placed into a trust.

Beneficiary:

Families displaced from Dry Creek and their lawful descendants.

Trustee:

Gideon Torne.

Corvin looked at Jonah.

"Did he ever distribute it?"

They searched.

No evidence of payment.

Instead they found annual interest statements.

Twenty-eight thousand had grown.

By the latest surviving entry, nearly eight years earlier, the account held more than seventy thousand dollars.

A fortune.

Jonah whispered, "If Gideon kept collecting interest..."

Mara finished, "Then he stole twice."

First the land.

Then the restitution.

Hoofbeats approached.

Corvin reached for his rifle.

It was Gideon.

Alone again.

He dismounted when he saw the open cashbox.

His shoulders seemed to age twenty years.

"You found it."

Corvin held up the trust document.

"Where's the money?"

Gideon looked at Mara.

Then Jonah.

Finally Corvin.

"Gone."

"Where?"

"Spent."

"On what?"

"Keeping Torne holdings alive."

Corvin crossed the yard and struck him.

Gideon fell against the fence.

Jonah stepped between them.

Corvin shouted, "You stole from people Father tried to repay!"

Gideon wiped blood from his lip.

"Your father created a trust he couldn't fund without bankrupting you."

"It wasn't our money!"

"It became ours when we purchased the claims."

"After driving people off them!"

Gideon stood.

"You want a clean history? Find another country."

Mara's expression hardened.

Corvin shoved past Jonah.

"How much remains?"

Gideon laughed bitterly.

"More than you think."

Corvin froze.

"You said gone."

"I lied."

"Where is it?"

Gideon looked toward Carrick.

"Vane controls it."

"How much?"

"One hundred eighty-six thousand dollars."

Jonah whispered a curse.

Gideon continued.

"And that's why he needs Black Ridge."

Corvin frowned.

Gideon met his eyes.

"Because Vane didn't merely steal the trust."

"He invested it," Jonah realized.

Gideon nodded.

"In his mining company."

Corvin understood.

If the covenant became public and the mining transfer failed, Vane Consolidated could collapse.

And if the company collapsed, the missing trust money would be exposed.

Mara said, "So this is not about gaining a fortune."

Gideon looked at her.

"No."

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Corvin stared toward Carrick.

"It's about hiding one."