Chapter 7 - Silas Boone’s Lie
They found Silas at the Broken Spur saloon.
Caleb entered first.
Kalisa remained outside.
Half the room went quiet when Caleb crossed toward the back table.
Silas looked up from his whiskey.
“You look terrible.”
“You shot at me.”
Silas's hand stopped.
“No idea what you're talking about.”
Caleb dropped the chipped horseshoe nail onto the table.
“Your gelding leaves a distinctive track.”
Silas laughed once.
“A hundred horses—”
“I watched Thomas shoe him.”
Silas's eyes changed.
Caleb sat opposite him.
“You knew Mary.”
“Everybody knew Mary.”
“You knew about San Aurelio.”
Silas went pale.
“Who told you?”
“Tokala.”
The glass trembled in Silas's hand.
That was answer enough.
Caleb leaned closer.
“Why did you burn the chapel?”
“I didn't.”
“Then who did?”
Silas looked toward the saloon door.
Caleb followed his glance.
Two of Hargrove's men stood near the bar.
Listening.
Silas whispered, “Not here.”
“Where?”
“Old slaughter pen. Midnight.”
“If this is a trick—”
“It isn't.”
Silas stood and walked away.
At midnight Caleb waited behind the abandoned slaughter shed.
Kalisa watched from the ridge.
Silas arrived alone.
“You bring the woman?”
“No.”
A lie.
Silas looked nervous.
“What did you find at the chapel?”
“Enough.”
“Then you know Mary was helping Tokala.”
“I know she was investigating Hargrove.”
Silas closed his eyes.
“You shouldn't have come back into this.”
“I never left it.”
“No. You buried her and stopped asking questions. That was leaving it.”
Caleb grabbed him.
“Tell me.”
Silas's voice broke.
“I was supposed to scare her.”
Caleb went still.
“Who told you?”
Silas said nothing.
Caleb shoved him against the wall.
“Who?”
“Hargrove.”
The name hung between them.
“What happened?”
Silas breathed hard.
“Mary had documents. Reeves wanted them. We were supposed to stop her wagon near Mason Creek.”
“We?”
“Me, Voss, three others.”
“Dressed as Apache?”
Silas looked away.
Caleb nearly struck him.
“Answer me.”
“Yes.”
The word barely came out.
Caleb stepped back as though the world had moved.
“So the raid was fake.”
“No.”
Silas's answer surprised him.
“What?”
“The attack on the settlement north of Mason Creek was real.”
“Tokala?”
“I don't know. Maybe men from his band. Maybe not. Everything was chaos.”
Silas rubbed his face.
“Reeves had been stirring both sides for months. Stealing horses, firing on camps, planting signs. Then real killings started. After that nobody knew who was striking who.”
Caleb felt sick.
“And Mary?”
“We blocked her road. She recognized me.”
“What happened?”
“She ran.”
“Did you shoot her?”
“No.”
“Who did?”
Silas's eyes filled with terror.
“I didn't see.”
Caleb grabbed him again.
“That's a lie.”
“I swear.”
“Then why did you help bury her?”
“Because Reeves told me if I spoke, my wife and boy would disappear.”
Caleb released him.
Silas's wife had died two years ago.
His son lived in Colorado.
“You had five years.”
“I was a coward five years.”
A twig snapped in the darkness.
Kalisa shouted from the ridge.
“Caleb!”
Gunfire erupted.
Silas shoved Caleb down.
A bullet struck the shed wall.
Kalisa fired toward the darkness.
Hoofbeats thundered away.
Silas lay on the ground.
He was alive.
The bullet had grazed his shoulder.
Caleb dragged him behind cover.
Silas clutched Caleb's sleeve.
“There is one thing I never told Reeves.”
“What?”
“Mary gave me something before she ran.”
Caleb stared.
“What?”
“A packet.”
“Where is it?”
Silas shook his head.
“I hid it.”
“Where?”
Silas looked toward town.
“In the place Reeves would never search.”
Caleb leaned closer.
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Silas whispered:
“Under Mary's grave.”
