Chapter 23 - Edwin Crane’s Last Lie
Crane ran.
He made it three steps before Cole stopped him.
Caleb wanted to hit him.
Instead he asked one question.
“Why?”
Crane sagged against the wall.
“Because Reeves would kill me.”
“He may already hang for this.”
“No.”
Crane looked at Caleb.
“Not if you knew what I did.”
Silence.
Crane sat.
Then he told the part he had hidden.
After Reeves left Dry Creek the first time, Crane stayed behind.
Nantan was dying.
Mary tried to help him onto her wagon.
Crane attempted to take the black ledger.
Mary struck him with a piece of wood.
Kalisa almost smiled despite herself.
“That sounds like Mary,” Caleb said.
Crane continued.
Nantan gave Mary the saddlebag.
Then Reeves returned.
He and Mary argued.
Reeves demanded the ledger.
Mary said it had already been copied.
Reeves threatened Caleb.
Mary refused.
Then Nantan died.
Tokala closed his eyes.
Crane's voice weakened.
“Reeves rode away again.”
“Why?” Caleb asked.
“He believed Mary no longer had the original.”
“But she did.”
“Yes.”
“What happened after he left?”
Crane stared at the floor.
“I followed Mary.”
Caleb went cold.
“Why?”
“I wanted the deed.”
“What deed?”
“Her mother's parcel.”
“You already planned to forge it.”
“I needed her seal and signature samples.”
Caleb understood.
“You attacked her.”
Crane shook his head violently.
“I grabbed her bag. She fought me. Her horse spooked.”
Caleb's hands tightened.
“She fell?”
“No.”
“She got free. Rode away.”
“Then why did Tokala see you by her body?”
Crane began crying.
Not dramatically.
Like an old structure collapsing.
“Because I followed again.”
Caleb did not move.
Crane whispered, “I found her in the wash.”
“Alive?”
“Yes.”
The room became silent.
“She had been shot.”
Caleb's throat closed.
“By Reeves?”
“I didn't see.”
“What did Mary say?”
Crane wiped his face.
“She asked me for water.”
Caleb looked toward the well outside.
Water.
Always water.
“And you?”
“I gave her some.”
The admission was almost unbearable because it was human.
Crane, who betrayed her, still gave her water.
“What else?”
“She told me to take the ledger.”
Caleb stared.
“Why would she trust you?”
“She didn't.”
Crane shook his head.
“She said, ‘If Reeves finds it on me, everyone loses. If you take it, greed might keep it alive.’”
Caleb almost laughed through tears.
Mary had understood Crane too.
She used his worst quality as protection.
“What happened to the ledger?”
“I hid it in Nantan's saddlebag. Later Silas took the bag.”
That explained everything.
“Mary's ring?”
Crane looked ashamed.
“She gave it to me.”
Caleb stepped forward.
“Why?”
“She said I would need something to prove I had seen her alive after the raid.”
Caleb stared at the ring in his palm.
Not stolen.
Evidence.
Mary had turned even her wedding ring into a witness.
“What were her last words?”
Crane shook his head.
“I left to find help.”
“You left her?”
“I was afraid Reeves would return.”
“Did he?”
“I don't know.”
Tokala spoke.
“I arrived later.”
Caleb turned.
“Was she alive?”
Tokala closed his eyes.
“For a little while.”
Caleb's face collapsed.
“You were with her.”
“Yes.”
“What did she say?”
Tokala looked at him.
“She asked whether the ledger was safe.”
“And?”
“I said I did not know.”
“What else?”
Tokala's voice broke for the first time.
“She said, ‘Tell Caleb I came back.’”
Caleb covered his face.
Mary had died believing he might think she abandoned him.
Five years of resentment against her secrecy dissolved in an instant.
Tokala continued.
“I told her I would.”
Caleb looked at him.
“But you didn't.”
“No.”
“Why?”
“Because you came with Hargrove's men before I could approach.”
The cycle again.
Fear.
Silence.
Assumption.
Caleb turned away.
Then Crane said something none of them expected.
“There was another person at the wash before Tokala.”
“Who?”
Crane looked at Caleb.
“Sheriff Pike.”
Caleb froze.
Pike had changed the time of death.
Now there was a reason more terrible than bribery.
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He had been there.
And he had never told anyone.
