Chapter 3 - THE MEN WITH BADGES
Emiline woke screaming.
Her hands clawed at the blankets.
“Josie!”
A chair scraped beside the bed.
“I’m here.”
Josie appeared instantly.
Emiline sat upright.
Pain shot through both feet.
She looked around wildly.
A room.
Wooden walls.
A washstand.
Firelight beneath the door.
Then she saw Lily asleep in a cradle made from a wooden drawer lined with blankets.
Emiline’s breath broke.
“Lily.”
“She’s okay.”
Josie climbed onto the bed.
“Everybody’s okay.”
Emiline pulled her daughter against her.
“How long?”
“Most of the night.”
“Where’s Mr. Thornton?”
“Barn.”
Emiline frowned.
“In this weather?”
Josie hesitated.
“He doesn’t sleep much.”
Emiline remembered the moment on the trail.
You have children?
I did.
She understood.
Downstairs, Silas sat at the kitchen table while Milo Rusk glared at him from a chair near the stove.
Milo’s shoulder had been cleaned and bandaged.
Silas had considered leaving the bullet inside out of principle.
Instead he removed it.
Not because Milo deserved mercy.
Because Silas did not want the man dying before he could testify.
Sam sat across the room pretending to repair a harness strap while watching Milo with murderous concentration.
“You should sleep,” Silas told him.
“So should you.”
Silas almost smiled.
“That sounded twelve years older than you are.”
“I’m ten.”
“Then twelve years would make you twenty-two.”
Sam frowned.
“That’s not what I meant.”
“I know.”
Milo shifted.
“When are you taking me to town?”
“When the storm breaks.”
“You can’t hold me.”
Silas looked at him.
“I can put you back outside.”
Milo shut up.
Sam’s mouth twitched.
The knock came just after sunrise.
Three hard blows.
Silas reached for his rifle.
Sam stood.
“Upstairs.”
“I can help.”
“By making sure your sisters stay there.”
Sam hesitated.
Then obeyed.
Silas approached the window.
Three riders waited outside.
Sheriff Abel Mercer sat in front.
Silas knew Mercer.
Decent man.
Slow to anger.
Too cautious for Silas’s taste.
Beside him rode Deputy Calvin Pike.
The third rider made Silas’s jaw tighten.
August Bell.
The freight owner.
The land board member whose name Milo had whispered.
Silas opened the door but did not lower the rifle.
Mercer dismounted.
“Morning, Silas.”
“Sheriff.”
“Got word you’re holding a man against his will.”
Silas looked past him at Bell.
“Word travels quickly in storms.”
Bell smiled.
“We were worried.”
“About Milo?”
“About everyone.”
Silas’s eyes hardened.
Mercer sighed.
“Can we do this inside?”
Silas stepped aside for Mercer.
Not Bell.
Bell noticed.
“I believe I was invited by the sheriff.”
“You believe wrong.”
Mercer looked uncomfortable.
“Silas.”
“Bell can wait outside.”
The older businessman’s smile disappeared.
“I sit on the territorial land board.”
Silas leaned against the door.
“My kitchen isn’t territorial land.”
Mercer almost smiled.
Bell did not.
“Fine.”
Mercer entered alone.
He saw Milo.
Then the blood.
“What happened?”
“He kidnapped a woman.”
Milo shouted, “Crane did!”
Silas turned.
“Good. Keep practicing.”
Mercer stared.
“Emmett Crane?”
“Yes.”
“Where?”
“Miller’s Canyon.”
Mercer removed his gloves.
“Start over.”
Silas did.
He described the children.
The shoes.
The trail.
Emiline.
Crane.
Milo.
The conversation about the claim.
August Bell.
Mercer stopped him there.
“You heard Bell’s name?”
“Milo said it.”
Mercer looked at Milo.
The prisoner immediately shook his head.
“I was bleeding.”
Silas’s expression hardened.
“You remembered it clearly last night.”
“I was out of my mind.”
“Convenient.”
Mercer moved toward Milo.
“Did Emmett Crane abduct Mrs. Hale?”
Milo looked toward the window.
Bell’s silhouette was visible outside.
“No.”
Silas stared at him.
Mercer frowned.
“Then why were you in the canyon with her?”
“She came with us.”
A voice sounded from the stairs.
“No, I did not.”
Everyone turned.
Emiline stood wrapped in one of Silas’s wool coats.
Josie supported her.
Bandages covered both feet.
Her face remained bruised, but her eyes were steady.
Milo looked away.
Mercer removed his hat.
“Ma’am.”
“Sheriff.”
“You Emiline Hale?”
“Yes.”
“Can you tell me what happened?”
“I can.”
She walked to the table.
Each step hurt.
Silas could tell.
She did not show Milo.
“Mr. Crane came to our camp after sunset,” Emiline said. “He asked where we were going. Asked whether I had a husband. Asked whether the children’s father was dead.”
Mercer wrote.
“Did you tell him?”
“I told him enough to make him leave.”
“What happened later?”
“I woke before dawn because Lily was fussing. I went to the creek to wash a cloth.”
Her hands tightened.
“Someone grabbed me from behind.”
Milo stared at the floor.
“I kicked. I screamed. A hand covered my mouth. They dragged me away.”
“Could you identify them?”
“Crane and him.”
She pointed at Milo.
“Did they say what they wanted?”
“At first, money.”
“And later?”
“My signature.”
Mercer stopped writing.
“On what?”
“A transfer deed.”
Silas watched the sheriff’s face.
“What land?”
Emiline answered.
“My late husband’s homestead claim north of Cold Water Springs.”
Outside, Bell’s horse moved.
Silas glanced toward the window.
Mercer noticed.
“Why would Crane care about your claim?”
Emiline looked directly at the sheriff.
“I think the man waiting outside can answer that.”
The room went still.
Mercer’s jaw tightened.
“You’re making a serious accusation.”
“No.”
Emiline’s voice remained calm.
“I’m asking a serious question.”
Silas saw something almost like approval cross Mercer’s face.
Then horses sounded outside.
More than one.
Silas reached the window.
Five riders approached.
Bell turned toward them.
At their center rode Emmett Crane.
Silas’s hand tightened around the rifle.
Mercer swore.
Crane dismounted as though arriving for church.
No visible injury except a torn coat.
He walked toward the porch smiling.
“Sheriff.”
Mercer stepped outside.
Silas followed.
Emiline stayed in the doorway.
Crane saw her.
For one second, his smile vanished.
Then returned.
“Well.”
Emiline’s face went white.
Silas moved slightly in front of her.
Crane noticed.
“Mrs. Hale. Glad to see you survived.”
“You sound disappointed.”
Bell stepped forward.
“That’s enough.”
Silas looked at him.
“Interesting choice of words.”
Mercer raised his hand.
“Nobody talks except me.”
Crane removed his gloves.
“Fair enough.”
Mercer stared at him.
“You accused of abducting Mrs. Hale.”
Crane actually laughed.
“That what she’s calling it?”
Emiline stepped onto the porch.
Silas wanted to stop her.
He did not.
“What would you call dragging me barefoot through snow?”
Crane smiled without warmth.
“A family dispute.”
Emiline stared at him.
“I have never seen you before yesterday.”
Crane reached inside his coat.
Silas raised his rifle.
Crane stopped.
“Paper.”
“Slow.”
He withdrew a folded document.
Mercer took it.
Read.
His expression changed.
“What is it?” Silas asked.
Mercer did not answer immediately.
Crane did.
“A guardianship order.”
Emiline laughed in disbelief.
“Guardianship over whom?”
“You.”
Silence.
Crane continued.
“Filed by your late husband’s brother.”
Emiline’s face changed.
“Ezra?”
Bell spoke for the first time.
“Ezra Hale petitioned the territorial court in Santa Fe three months ago. Claimed you were mentally unfit after Daniel’s death.”
Emiline looked stunned.
“My husband’s brother hasn’t spoken to me in two years.”
Bell shrugged.
“Apparently he has concerns.”
Mercer looked at the paper again.
Silas saw the trap.
If the document was genuine, Crane could claim he had been transporting Emiline under authority.
If forged, someone had gone to considerable trouble.
“Where is Ezra?” Emiline demanded.
Crane smiled.
“Santa Fe.”
“Then why were my children left alone?”
Crane’s smile weakened.
“They were supposed to be collected.”
“By whom?”
“No idea.”
“Liar.”
Crane looked at Silas.
“You planning to let an unstable woman speak to me that way?”
Silas stepped forward.
“Try that sentence again.”
Mercer moved between them.
“Enough.”
Bell pointed toward Milo.
“Sheriff, whatever confusion exists, Mr. Rusk is being held unlawfully.”
Milo suddenly found courage.
“I want out.”
Mercer looked from Milo to Emiline.
Then to Crane.
Silas saw the conflict.
Law required evidence.
But paper could lie.
So could men.
Mercer folded the document.
“Milo comes with me.”
Silas’s jaw tightened.
“Sheriff.”
“In custody.”
That changed everything.
Milo’s face fell.
“You said—”
Mercer looked at him.
“I said you’re coming with me.”
Crane watched silently.
Mercer continued.
“Crane too.”
Crane’s smile vanished.
“On what charge?”
“Material witness until I verify this paper.”
Bell stepped forward.
“You can’t hold him for carrying out a lawful order.”
Mercer looked at Bell.
“I can ask him to come voluntarily.”
“And if I don’t?” Crane asked.
Mercer’s expression hardened.
“Then I become less polite.”
For a moment nobody moved.
Then Crane smiled.
“Fine.”
Silas did not trust it.
Not for one second.
Mercer mounted.
Milo was tied behind Deputy Pike.
Crane rode beside Bell.
Before leaving, Crane looked toward Emiline.
Then toward the upstairs window.
Josie stood behind the glass holding Lily.
Crane smiled.
Emiline saw it.
Silas saw her see it.
Her fear became fury.
After the riders disappeared, she turned to Silas.
“He’s coming back.”
“Yes.”
“How do you know?”
“Because he looked at your children.”
Emiline folded her arms against the cold.
“What do we do?”
Silas looked toward the barn.
“First, we stop waiting for other men to decide whether you’re telling the truth.”
She studied him.
“What does that mean?”
“It means we find out whether that guardianship order is real.”
“And the land?”
“We find out why Crane wants it.”
Sam appeared behind them.
“And us?”
Silas looked at him.
“You stay close.”
Sam’s chin lifted.
“I can shoot.”
“No.”
“I can.”
“I know.”
Sam blinked.
Silas continued.
“That doesn’t mean you should have to.”
Emiline’s eyes softened.
Then a gunshot sounded far across the valley.
All three turned.
Another followed.
Then another.
From the road to Cold Water Springs.
Silas grabbed his rifle.
Ten minutes later, Deputy Calvin Pike came galloping out of the snow alone.
Blood covered one side of his coat.
He nearly fell from the saddle.
Silas caught him.
“Where’s Mercer?”
Pike gasped.
“Crane.”
Emiline’s face went white.
“What happened?”
Pike gripped Silas’s arm.
“Bell had men waiting at the bridge.”
Silas felt the world narrow.
“Milo?”
“Dead.”
“Mercer?”
Pike swallowed.
“Taken.”
Silas looked toward the road.
Crane had not run.
He had removed the witness and taken the sheriff.
May you like
And now the only thing standing between him and five children was a grieving rancher who had spent five years believing he had nothing left to lose.
He had been wrong.
