Chapter 17 - Silas’s Last Lie
Eli moved away from Silas.
The space between them felt wider than the valley.
“You picked up the medicine.”
Silas’s voice was low.
“Yes.”
Jacob’s hand drifted toward his revolver.
Tomas noticed.
“Ask first.”
Jacob nodded.
He looked at Silas.
“Why?”
“Mercer asked me.”
“You just said Mercer was Daniel’s lawyer.”
“He was.”
“Why would you collect medicine for Daniel?”
“He said the pharmacy would not release it to him without local identification.”
Boone laughed bitterly.
“That’s weak.”
Silas snapped:
“It’s true.”
Eli’s face hardened.
“Did you put it in Dad’s bottle?”
“No.”
“Did you give it to Mercer?”
Silas hesitated.
“Yes.”
Jacob closed his eyes.
“So Mercer could have altered the medicine.”
“Yes.”
“Clara wrote someone else collected it. She didn’t know you handed it back.”
“I never told her.”
“Why?”
“Because Daniel was dead and Clara already thought I was part of every bad thing in this county.”
“You were.”
Silas looked wounded.
Jacob continued.
“You forged deeds. Covered Elias’s death. Ordered Clara’s wagon disabled. Used Eli as bait.”
“I did not poison Daniel.”
“Maybe not.”
Jacob lifted Clara’s note.
“But your lies made the truth impossible to see.”
That silenced Silas.
Eli walked to the edge of the chamber.
Tomas followed but gave him space.
Boone examined Daniel’s letter.
“Mercer would kill for this.”
Jacob nodded.
“Which means we get it to Whitaker.”
A voice sounded from outside.
“You won’t.”
Mercer.
Of course.
He stood at the chamber entrance.
Two Western Meridian guards behind him.
Jacob looked at Boone.
“You were supposed to watch the trail.”
Boone grimaced.
“I’m wounded, not magical.”
Mercer extended his good hand.
“Letter.”
Jacob smiled without humor.
“You left the hearing?”
“I was excused for medical reasons.”
“Convenient.”
“Yes.”
Mercer looked at Silas.
“You finally told them.”
Silas said nothing.
“About the laudanum?”
Silas’s jaw tightened.
Mercer laughed.
“You always were terrible under pressure.”
Eli stepped forward.
“You killed my dad.”
Mercer’s amusement disappeared.
“No.”
“You bought the medicine.”
“Yes.”
“You had Silas collect it.”
“Yes.”
“Then Dad died.”
Mercer looked at the boy.
“Your father was already destroying himself.”
“That doesn’t answer me.”
Jacob noticed pride despite the pain.
Eli had learned to demand answers.
Mercer sighed.
“I did not poison Daniel.”
“Who did?”
Mercer glanced at Silas.
Silas exploded.
“You lying bastard.”
Mercer smiled.
“There it is.”
Jacob raised his revolver.
“Enough games.”
Mercer’s guards did the same.
Tomas remained still.
Mercer said:
“Daniel tampered with his own medicine.”
Eli stared.
“What?”
“He wanted Clara frightened.”
Jacob frowned.
“Why?”
“To stop her from leaving him.”
Eli’s face went white.
Mercer continued.
“Daniel had discovered Clara planned to take Eli and separate financially.”
“No.”
“Your mother was leaving your father.”
Eli shook his head.
Mercer spoke gently, which made it crueler.
“Daniel added laudanum to his bottle himself. Not enough to kill. Enough to make himself dangerously ill. He intended Clara to believe her dosing mistake had caused it.”
Jacob stared.
“That’s insane.”
“Daniel was desperate and indebted.”
“Proof?”
Mercer nodded toward the letter.
“He wrote another.”
“Where?”
“I destroyed it.”
“Convenient.”
Mercer smiled.
“Exactly.”
No proof.
Just another story.
Then Silas spoke.
“He’s telling the truth.”
Everyone turned.
Silas looked destroyed.
“I saw Daniel refill the bottle.”
Eli whispered:
“You saw?”
“Yes.”
“And you said nothing?”
“I confronted him.”
“When?”
“The afternoon before he died.”
“What did he say?”
Silas closed his eyes.
“He said Clara was going to take you away.”
Eli began crying.
Silas continued.
“I told him he was a fool.”
“And then?”
“He said he’d scare her.”
“Did you remove the bottle?”
“No.”
“Why?”
“I thought he was bluffing.”
Another failure created by inaction.
Jacob asked:
“Then how did he die if he only meant to scare her?”
Silas looked at Mercer.
Mercer answered.
“Because Daniel forgot how much he had added.”
Eli shook his head.
“No.”
Mercer shrugged.
“People make stupid decisions.”
Jacob hated how plausible it was.
That was the problem.
Truth was often less satisfying than murder.
No mastermind.
A desperate man manipulating his wife.
A family hiding shame.
Then everyone building new lies around it.
Eli looked at Silas.
“Mom thought she killed him.”
“Yes.”
“For how long?”
“Nearly a year.”
“And you knew he altered the bottle?”
Silas whispered:
“Yes.”
The boy’s grief transformed.
“You let her believe that?”
Silas had no defense.
Jacob almost preferred if he had killed Daniel.
This was quieter cruelty.
Cowardice.
Silence.
Silas said:
“I was ashamed.”
Eli shouted:
“So you made her ashamed instead?”
The chamber echoed.
No one spoke.
Mercer used the moment.
He stepped closer.
“Letter.”
Jacob folded Daniel’s letter.
“No.”
Mercer nodded to his guards.
Tomas finally moved.
He kicked dust into the nearer man’s eyes.
Jacob tackled the other.
Boone drew his pistol.
Silas lunged at Mercer.
The fight lasted seconds.
No one was shot.
Mercer ran.
He reached his horse before Jacob emerged.
Jacob aimed.
Eli shouted:
“Don’t!”
The same word from the platform.
Jacob froze.
Mercer rode away.
Jacob lowered the gun.
Eli stared at him.
“You could’ve hit him.”
“Maybe.”
“Why didn’t you?”
Jacob holstered it.
“Because we need him alive in court.”
Eli nodded.
Then looked at Daniel’s letter.
“And because you listened.”
“Yes.”
The boy held out his hand.
Jacob gave him the letter.
Eli folded it carefully.
“What will happen to Dad’s name?”
Jacob knew what he meant.
Would they hide Daniel’s blackmail and manipulation to protect Eli?
“No more clean stories.”
Eli’s eyes filled.
Jacob continued.
“We tell what we can prove. We say what we don’t know.”
“And Mom?”
“We stop making her carry his choices.”
Eli nodded.
Then Tomas emerged from the chamber holding something else.
A small cloth-wrapped bundle had been hidden beneath the tin box.
He opened it.
Inside was a second carved medallion.
The Hayes half.
Jacob stared.
Tomas placed the two medallions together.
Their carved lines joined.
On the reverse, a set of letters appeared.
Not ceremonial symbols.
A survey reference.
Tomas whispered:
“The compact location.”
The two pieces were not merely proof of an agreement.
Together, they revealed where the original signed document had been hidden for thirty-two years.
And the location was not in Red Mesa.
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It was beneath the original Hayes ranch house.
The house Silas had occupied his entire life.
