Chapter 13 - The Story Before the Soldiers
They had perhaps three days.
Judge Kell sent his own telegram disputing Vane’s account.
The newspapers transmitted another.
Marshal Crowley prepared affidavits.
Still, Jonah knew money traveled faster than correction.
Vane had friends in the territorial capital.
Silas, recovering in Hartwell, sent word that he wanted to speak.
Jonah went reluctantly.
Naelli came with him.
Silas lay in Mercer’s clinic, shoulder bound.
He looked weak.
Jonah found that unsettling.
Silas had filled his childhood like a wall.
Seeing him reduced to a bed made Jonah understand walls were only wood and stone.
Silas looked at Naelli.
“You survived.”
She replied, “You sound disappointed.”
“Not particularly.”
Jonah sat.
“What do you want?”
“To help.”
“No.”
Silas almost smiled.
“You learned suspicion.”
“I had good teachers.”
Silas deserved that.
He took it.
“Vane bribed Colonel Pierce.”
“Who?”
“Officer likely assigned if militia comes.”
Jonah’s jaw tightened.
“Proof?”
“Blackstone ledger.”
“We found letters, not Pierce.”
“False name.”
Silas told him to look for P. Holdings.
Elias had overlooked it.
Payments.
Three thousand dollars.
Large enough.
“Why did you pay him?” Jonah asked.
“I didn’t.”
“Your ledger.”
“Vane reimbursed through mineral option payments.”
“That still passed through you.”
“Yes.”
Jonah stared.
Silas continued.
“Pierce believes Apache resistance threatens settlement. Vane feeds that belief.”
Naelli’s expression hardened.
“So whatever he sees, he will see danger.”
“Yes.”
“Then why tell us?”
Silas looked at Jonah.
“Because Vane tried to kill me.”
Jonah laughed.
“There is your morality.”
Silas nodded.
“Yes.”
The honesty made Jonah angrier.
Naelli asked, “Will you testify?”
Silas looked at her.
“Against Vane?”
“And yourself.”
Silas stared.
“No.”
Jonah stood.
“Then we’re done.”
Silas said, “Sit.”
“No.”
“You need me.”
“We need evidence.”
“I am evidence.”
“Only when convenient.”
Silas looked toward the window.
“Miriam asked me once if I thought you would hate her.”
Jonah stopped.
Silas continued.
“I told her no.”
“Why?”
“Because children forgive mothers.”
Jonah stared.
“Did you believe that?”
“I needed to.”
Jonah sat again despite himself.
Silas spoke more quietly.
“I wanted her to marry me after enough time passed.”
Naelli looked away.
Jonah did not.
“Did you ask?”
“Yes.”
“What did she say?”
“She said loving the man who stayed would feel like rewarding the lie that made the other one disappear.”
Jonah’s chest tightened.
Silas smiled sadly.
“She could be cruel.”
“No.”
Jonah shook his head.
“That sounds accurate.”
Silas looked at him.
“I kept Elias away partly because I wanted her.”
There.
A confession not written in a ledger.
Jonah felt anger rise.
Silas continued.
“And partly because if he returned, the Cedar fraud would surface.”
“Which mattered more?”
Silas answered honestly.
“I stopped knowing.”
Jonah hated that too.
He asked, “Did you ever threaten to kill her?”
“No.”
“Elias says you threatened her life.”
“I told him powerful investors might retaliate.”
“That is not what he heard.”
“I know.”
“So you intentionally frightened him.”
“Yes.”
“Did you intend him to disappear forever?”
“At first? No.”
“When did that change?”
Silas looked at Jonah.
“When you were born.”
Jonah froze.
“I saw you once.”
“When?”
“You were four days old.”
Jonah could barely breathe.
Silas continued.
“Miriam let me hold you. I knew if Elias returned, everything would change.”
“You decided he was dead for us.”
“Yes.”
Naelli’s hand tightened around the chair.
Jonah stood abruptly.
He wanted to strike Silas.
Instead he walked to the window.
Outside, Hartwell moved normally.
Wagons.
Smoke.
Children.
How could ordinary life surround revelations?
“You raised me.”
“Yes.”
“You taught me to ride.”
“Yes.”
“You sat beside Mother when she died.”
“Yes.”
“You also stole my father.”
Silas swallowed.
“Yes.”
Jonah turned.
Silas looked close to tears.
That did not help.
Love did not erase damage.
Damage did not erase love.
Jonah hated complexity.
Naelli said, “Testify.”
Silas looked at her.
“If you care about him, testify.”
Silas’s jaw tightened.
“You know nothing about—”
“I know you say you raised him.”
She stepped closer.
“Then do one thing that costs you instead of him.”
Silence.
Silas looked at Jonah.
Then nodded.
“I’ll testify about Vane.”
Jonah asked, “And Weller?”
Silas closed his eyes.
“Yes.”
“The false survey?”
“Yes.”
“The mortgage?”
“Yes.”
“Finch?”
“I did not order his death.”
“I didn’t ask that.”
Silas looked at him.
“I knew Vane planned to stop him.”
“Meaning?”
“I knew men would intercept him.”
“And you said nothing.”
“Yes.”
Naelli’s expression hardened.
Silas added:
“I did not know they would kill him.”
Jonah believed him.
That did not save him.
They left.
Outside, Naelli said, “You did not hit him.”
“You sound impressed.”
“I am.”
Jonah smiled faintly.
Then hoofbeats approached.
A scout rode into Hartwell.
“Soldiers.”
Naelli’s father appeared behind him.
“How many?”
“Thirty.”
“Leader?”
“Colonel Pierce.”
Jonah looked toward the southern road.
Vane’s bought officer was less than a day away.
And before nightfall, Vane’s newspaper printed a special edition:
APACHE WAR PARTY OCCUPIES CEDAR PASS
Naelli read the headline.
“They are making us into the story they need.”
Jonah nodded.
“Then we change the scene.”
“How?”
He looked toward the spring.
“Your father moves most riders away from Cedar before Pierce arrives.”
Naelli frowned.
“He will think we retreat.”
“Good.”
“And you?”
“I stay.”
“With how many?”
“Five witnesses. Judge Kell. Crowley.”
Naelli understood.
“No army.”
“No image of one.”
She smiled slightly.
“Your father would have brought a gun.”
Jonah looked toward the clinic.
“So would my uncle.”
“What will you bring?”
Jonah held up the original covenant copy.
“Paper.”
Naelli smiled.
Then said:
“And me.”
Jonah shook his head.
Naelli raised one eyebrow.
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He sighed.
“Fine.”
