Chapter 24 - Tavan’s Broken Promise
Tavan called a council at Cedar Basin.
Elias did not attend the first day.
It was not his council.
That decision earned him more respect than forcing himself into it would have.
On the second day, Tavan asked him to speak regarding the Boone trust.
Elias explained Commissioner Hale’s ruling.
He did not promise land.
He did not promise justice.
He explained what the process could and could not do.
Several people were angry.
Rightly.
One older man asked:
“Why should another paper fix what the first paper damaged?”
Elias answered:
“It may not.”
Silence.
He continued.
“But Crane used false paper because courts listen to paper. We can either wish that were different or use the true ones until something changes.”
Tavan translated some legal terms when Elias stumbled.
Afterward they walked toward the forest.
The same forest.
Elias recognized the trail.
His stomach tightened.
Tavan noticed.
“The pit is west.”
“I remember.”
“You want to see it?”
“No.”
Then:
“Yes.”
They walked slowly because Elias still used a cane.
The pit remained open.
Leaves had collected at the bottom.
Elias stood at the rim.
Twenty-nine seconds in a hole had broken open thirty-three years of identity.
He almost laughed at the absurdity.
Tavan said, “I should have stopped the chase sooner.”
“Yes.”
“I believed fear would make you listen.”
“It usually makes people run.”
“I know that now.”
Elias looked at him.
“You knew it then.”
Tavan accepted the correction.
“Yes.”
Elias sat beside the pit.
“Why did Mara make you promise not to bring me back?”
“She knew me.”
“That sounds familiar.”
Tavan smiled sadly.
“She knew I would see you as something lost.”
“And?”
“You were not an object to recover.”
Elias looked at the bracelet around his wrist.
It barely fit, so he had attached it to a leather cord.
Tavan continued.
“She said if I found you as a grown man, I must not tell you where you belonged.”
“Did you follow that?”
“No.”
“You chased me.”
“Yes.”
“You called me Mara’s son before I asked.”
“Yes.”
“You wanted me here.”
“Yes.”
Elias appreciated the confession.
Tavan looked toward the trees.
“I broke my promise because I was afraid.”
“Of losing Cedar Basin?”
“That.”
He paused.
“And of dying before you knew my name.”
The honesty hurt differently.
Tavan was in his fifties.
Strong.
But not immortal.
Elias imagined carrying grief for three decades.
Mara gone.
Caleb gone.
A nephew alive somewhere but unreachable by promise.
“I don’t know what I am supposed to call you.”
Tavan looked at him.
“Tavan works.”
“Not Uncle?”
“Only if it happens naturally.”
Elias nodded.
They stood.
Before leaving, Elias picked up a fallen branch.
“What are you doing?”
“Marking the pit.”
He drove the branch into the earth beside it.
“So nobody else falls.”
Tavan watched.
“Simple solution.”
“Could’ve used it earlier.”
Tavan laughed.
Then his face grew serious.
“There is news.”
Elias groaned.
“Please don’t say secret.”
“Not secret.”
“Good.”
“Hale’s office found another deed.”
“What deed?”
“Caleb’s cabin parcel.”
Elias waited.
“It includes sixty acres beside the northern pine trail.”
“The pit?”
“Yes.”
Elias stared.
“So technically…”
“The ground you fell into may belong to you.”
Elias burst out laughing.
Tavan looked confused.
Elias laughed until his side hurt.
“What?”
“After all this…”
He wiped his eyes.
“The first piece of land I discover I actually own is a hole.”
Tavan finally laughed too.
When they returned to camp, Jonah waited with a telegram.
Elias’s amusement vanished.
“What now?”
Jonah handed it over.
EVERETT CRANE REQUESTS MEETING WITH ELIAS BOONE BEFORE PLEA HEARING.
CLAIMS HE HAS EVIDENCE REGARDING RUTH BOONE’S DEATH.
Elias read it twice.
Ruth had died after a long illness.
At home.
In Kansas.
Nothing mysterious.
Nothing suspicious.
At least that was what Elias believed.
Tavan saw his face.
“What?”
Elias folded the telegram.
“Crane found one last place to put a knife.”
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And despite everything he had learned about manipulation, Elias knew he would go.
Because some questions were too cruel to ignore.
