Chapter 17 - What the Fire Could Not Burn
Hargrove's ranch house burned for six hours.
Reeves claimed a lantern exploded in the study.
No one believed him.
Belief was not evidence.
Deputy Marshal Cole searched the ruins.
The hidden wall compartment behind Colonel Hargrove's portrait had been emptied before the fire.
Reeves stood near the corral watching.
“You arrived quickly,” he told Caleb.
“So did the fire.”
“Accidents happen.”
“Five years late.”
Reeves smiled faintly.
“Still angry.”
“No.”
That surprised him.
Caleb meant it.
He was angry, but something else now existed beside anger.
Patience.
Mary had asked him for that.
It frightened Reeves more than shouting would have.
Cole found scorched account papers, none useful.
Then Kalisa noticed hoof tracks leading away from the rear of the property.
A wagon had left shortly before the fire.
They followed the tracks north.
The wagon entered a dry arroyo.
Two miles later they found it abandoned.
Inside were ash-covered boxes.
Reeves had attempted to move records, then burned the house to distract them.
One box had broken open.
Caleb sifted through papers.
Mostly cattle bills.
Then Cole found a packet stamped FORT LYMAN.
The papers recorded disposal of surplus ammunition.
Recipient:
HARGROVE CATTLE COMPANY.
Signed by Daniel Voss.
There was also a second signature.
Silas Boone.
And an authorization supposedly issued by Captain Ward.
Caleb recognized Ward's real signature from Mary's papers.
The authorization was forged.
Kalisa searched another box.
She found photographs.
One showed Hargrove standing beside a wagon loaded with military crates.
Another showed Nantan's body.
Kalisa went still.
Caleb moved toward her.
She shook her head.
“I need to see.”
The photograph showed her brother dressed in a cavalry jacket.
His eyes were closed.
Beside him stood Silas.
Behind Silas, partly cut from the frame, was Reeves.
Kalisa touched the edge.
“They used him.”
Caleb said softly, “I'm sorry.”
She looked at him.
“For five years you thought he was one of the men who killed Mary.”
“Yes.”
“And now?”
“Now I think he died because he was trying to stop the man who killed her.”
Kalisa folded the photograph carefully.
A sound came from the ridge.
A rider.
Sheriff Pike.
Cole immediately reached for his weapon.
Pike raised both hands.
“I came alone.”
“Why?” Cole asked.
Pike dismounted.
“To confess.”
Silence.
Pike looked at Caleb.
“Reeves paid me after Mary died.”
“For what?”
“To alter the incident report.”
Caleb's jaw tightened.
“What did you change?”
“Time of death.”
Caleb frowned.
“Why?”
Pike swallowed.
“Because the official story said Mary died during the afternoon raid.”
“Yes.”
“She didn't.”
Caleb went cold.
Pike continued.
“Price told me privately he believed she died several hours later.”
Kalisa whispered, “After the raid ended.”
“Yes.”
Caleb stared.
That changed everything.
If Mary died later, the chaotic attack could not automatically explain her death.
“Why change it?”
“Reeves said the territory needed a simple story or there would be war.”
Caleb stepped closer.
“And you believed him?”
“I wanted his money.”
At least Pike no longer hid behind morality.
Caleb asked, “Where was Mary during those hours?”
“I don't know.”
Pike looked at the burned records.
“But Silas does.”
They returned to the clinic.
Silas was conscious.
Caleb sat beside the bed.
“What happened after Mary ran from your roadblock?”
Silas looked toward the guard.
“Close the door.”
Cole did.
Silas stared at Caleb.
“I followed her.”
“To where?”
“Dry Creek station.”
“That was abandoned.”
“She met someone there.”
“Who?”
“Nantan.”
Kalisa stepped forward.
“My brother was alive?”
Silas nodded.
“For another hour.”
Her face changed.
Everything she thought she knew had shifted.
Silas continued.
“Nantan had escaped whoever shot him the first time. He found Mary.”
“What happened?”
“They planned to ride to Fort Lyman together.”
“Then?”
“Reeves arrived.”
Caleb's hands clenched.
Silas looked at him.
“And Reeves was not alone.”
“Who was with him?”
Silas swallowed.
“Someone you trusted even more than him.”
Caleb felt cold.
Silas whispered the name.
“Your father-in-law.”
Mary's father.
Samuel Ames.
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