Chapter 17 - The False Survey
Crane held Harlan Voss inside Caleb Boone’s burned cabin.
Only the stone chimney remained from the night Elias’s parents died.
Crane had chosen the location deliberately.
Everything with him was theater disguised as paperwork.
Elias rode into the clearing alone.
At least that was what Crane believed.
Sani and Jonah waited nearly a mile away.
Tavan knew nothing about the plan.
Elias wanted it that way.
Crane emerged.
Two gunmen stood behind him.
Voss sat against the chimney with his hands tied.
His face was bruised but he remained conscious.
“You came,” Crane said.
“You keep inviting me.”
“The survey.”
Elias lifted the metal cylinder.
“Voss first.”
Crane laughed.
“You are in no position to negotiate.”
“Then shoot him and see whether I open this.”
Crane’s smile faded.
Voss looked toward Elias.
“Don’t give it to him.”
Crane struck him across the face.
Elias’s hand moved toward his revolver.
Both gunmen raised rifles.
“Careful,” Crane said.
Elias stayed still.
Crane walked forward.
“You have become troublesome very quickly.”
“Family talent.”
“Your father was worse.”
“You mean Caleb?”
“I mean Silas.”
Elias stared.
Crane smiled.
“He raised you. Surely that counts for something.”
“Not enough to let you hang him.”
“Silas will hang himself.”
“For forgery you paid him to commit.”
“Can you prove that?”
“Yes.”
Crane’s confidence flickered.
Elias continued.
“The Voss ledger. Ruth’s receipts. Mary Whitcomb’s statement. The original survey.”
Crane looked at the cylinder.
“Which becomes less inconvenient in approximately one minute.”
Elias held it out.
“Untie Voss.”
Crane nodded.
One gunman cut Voss’s hands free.
Voss stood painfully.
“Walk.”
Voss approached Elias.
When they crossed, he whispered, “That better not be real.”
Elias almost smiled.
Crane heard.
“What?”
“Nothing.”
Crane snatched the cylinder.
He opened it.
Removed the survey.
Studied the seals.
The signatures.
Caleb’s handwriting.
A perfect tracing.
Elias had even rubbed the paper with ash and saddle oil to age it.
Crane smiled.
“Finally.”
Then he tore it in half.
Again.
Again.
He dropped the pieces into the campfire.
Elias watched without reacting.
Crane stared.
That was the mistake.
“You wanted me angry.”
Crane’s smile vanished.
Elias said, “You destroyed the wrong paper.”
Crane looked toward the flames.
Then at Elias.
Voss laughed.
Slowly at first.
Then harder.
Crane pulled his pistol.
Elias fired first.
Not at Crane.
At the lantern hanging from the wagon.
Glass shattered.
Darkness swallowed the clearing.
Voss tackled one gunman.
Elias rolled from the saddle, screaming as his broken leg struck the ground.
A shot cracked overhead.
Sani and Jonah rode in.
“Drop it!” Jonah shouted.
Crane fled into the trees.
Again.
But this time Voss’s gunman grabbed him.
“Boss?”
Voss stood over the second man.
“Let him go.”
The gunman hesitated.
“Voss?”
“Crane hired you.”
The man looked shocked.
Voss pointed.
“He doesn’t pay men who fail.”
The gunman understood.
He lowered the rifle.
Crane disappeared.
Sani started after him.
Elias shouted, “No!”
Sani stopped.
“He escapes.”
“Let him.”
Jonah stared.
“Why?”
Elias pulled himself upright against the cabin wall.
“Because Commissioner Hale arrives tomorrow.”
Voss smiled despite his bruised face.
“And Crane will do what frightened men always do.”
“What?”
“Run to the records he thinks can save him.”
Elias looked toward Fort Garrett.
Crane had destroyed the false survey.
The original was already being carried by courier to Commissioner Hale under armed escort.
But Crane did not know that.
He would assume it remained somewhere near Elias.
Unless he found another way to discredit it.
Voss’s face suddenly changed.
“The land office.”
“What?”
“Crane kept duplicate filing books.”
“Where?”
“Basement of the Fort Garrett courthouse.”
Jonah understood.
“He’ll burn them.”
Voss nodded.
“If the official filing record disappears, he can argue Caleb’s survey was never submitted.”
Elias felt sick.
They had saved the original evidence.
But evidence without a chain of record could still be attacked.
Sani looked at Elias.
“You cannot ride again.”
Elias nodded.
“Agreed.”
Everyone looked surprised.
Elias pointed toward Jonah.
“He can.”
Jonah’s face fell.
“Me?”
“You wanted to fix what you did.”
“Yes.”
“Here’s your chance.”
Jonah mounted.
Voss called after him.
“Crane will kill you.”
Jonah looked back.
“So will Elias if I fail.”
Elias smiled coldly.
“Probably not.”
“Comforting.”
Jonah kicked his horse toward Fort Garrett.
Elias watched him disappear.
Then Voss sat beside him.
“For what it’s worth, Boone…”
Elias looked over.
“I didn’t know Crane poisoned your mother.”
“Do you expect forgiveness?”
“No.”
“Good.”
Voss looked at the remains of Caleb’s cabin.
“I expect a courtroom.”
Elias nodded.
“For once, we agree.”
In the distance, thunder rolled.
Not weather.
Blasting powder.
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The railroad crew had resumed work.
And somewhere between Cedar Basin and Fort Garrett, Everett Crane was running toward the last records capable of proving everything.
