Chapter 16 - Inside the Walls
Silas survived.
Deputy Marshal Cole placed him under guard at Dr. Price's former clinic.
Caleb rode home so quickly Kalisa struggled to keep pace.
“What did Silas mean?” she asked.
“I don't know.”
But Caleb remembered something.
After Mary's death, Reeves had insisted on repairing the house.
A window had been broken.
Part of the kitchen wall had been damaged.
Caleb was barely functioning then.
Hargrove handled everything.
Caleb went directly to the kitchen.
The western wall looked ordinary.
He knocked along the boards.
Solid.
Solid.
Hollow.
Caleb ripped one plank free.
Behind it was a narrow cavity.
Empty.
His heart sank.
Then Kalisa reached inside.
“Wait.”
Her fingers found cloth.
She pulled out a small leather saddlebag.
Kalisa stopped breathing.
“Nantan.”
She recognized the beadwork.
Her hands shook as she opened it.
Inside were three items.
A knife.
A folded map.
And a black leather ledger.
Caleb stared.
“The book.”
Mary had hidden it in Nantan's saddlebag.
But how did it end up inside Caleb's wall?
Silas knew.
Perhaps Mary gave him the bag.
Perhaps he hid it after her death.
Caleb opened the ledger.
Page after page of payments.
Voss.
Pike.
Silas.
Several ranch hands.
Descriptions were coded.
“Fence repair.”
“Night herding.”
“Recovered stock.”
But dates matched known attacks.
Then one entry:
M.C. road diversion — $150.
Mary's Creek.
The day before Mary died.
Another:
W parcel resolution — personal.
No amount.
Caleb turned pages.
At the back was a folded railway letter addressed to Reeves.
It confirmed preliminary interest in building a water depot if Reeves controlled access to three springs, including Whitlock.
The date was seven months before Mary died.
Kalisa whispered, “This proves the motive.”
“Part of it.”
Caleb kept reading.
Then he found a page that made him sit down.
Payment to Silas Boone.
$300.
Beside it:
Retrieve documents from M.W. No injury unless necessary.
Kalisa read over his shoulder.
“It says no injury.”
“So maybe Reeves didn't plan to kill her.”
“That doesn't make him innocent.”
“No.”
Caleb turned the next page.
One line had been crossed out so heavily the paper nearly tore.
He held it toward the window.
Beneath the ink he could make out:
R. went personally.
Caleb's chest tightened.
Reeves himself went after Mary.
Then Kalisa found something inside the back cover.
A loose scrap.
Mary's handwriting.
R.H. thinks Nantan gave the copy to Tokala. He does not know I have the original.
If I cannot reach Ward, I will return home before dark.
Caleb read the last sentence.
“She was coming home.”
All these years he had believed Mary rode away after their argument with no intention of returning until she calmed down.
She had planned to return before dark.
Kalisa placed a hand on his shoulder.
He did not pull away.
Outside, a horse approached.
Caleb hid the ledger.
Deputy Marshal Cole entered.
“We have a problem.”
“What now?”
“Reeves filed for emergency possession of your north parcel based on Mary's sale.”
Eleanor stepped in behind him.
“The judge denied immediate possession.”
Caleb exhaled.
“But,” Eleanor continued, “Hargrove produced another witness.”
“Who?”
“A notary from Prescott claims he watched Mary sign the sale.”
Caleb laughed bitterly.
“Paid?”
“Probably.”
“Can we prove it?”
“Maybe.”
Cole noticed the broken wall.
“What did you find?”
Caleb removed the black ledger.
Cole's expression changed.
“Enough to search Hargrove's ranch?”
Cole examined several pages.
“Yes.”
“Now?”
“Yes.”
For the first time they possessed evidence strong enough for a warrant.
But as Cole turned toward the door, Kalisa looked out the window.
Smoke rose in the west.
Thick.
Black.
From the direction of Hargrove's ranch.
Caleb stepped outside.
The plume grew larger.
Cole swore.
“He knows.”
Caleb stared at the smoke.
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Reeves Hargrove was burning his own records before the law could reach them.
And somewhere inside that fire might be the final proof of what happened to Mary.
