“Small town.”
“She never told people that.”
Harrow looked away.
Elias’s heart hammered.
“Miriam investigated Red Willow?”
No answer.
“You knew.”
Harrow started toward his horse.
Elias grabbed his arm.
Harrow turned sharply.
“Let go.”
“What happened to her?”
“Accident.”
“How do you know?”
“Everyone knows.”
“What happened?”
Harrow shoved Elias.
Pain tore through his healing side.
Elias nearly fell.
He recovered.
Harrow mounted.
“I offered you a future.”
Elias stared.
“You just gave me another witness.”
“What?”
“Myself.”
Harrow’s face hardened.
“Heard you say what?”
“That you knew something only Miriam and I knew.”
“That proves nothing.”
“No.”
Elias nodded.
“But it makes me ask better questions.”
Harrow rode away.
Elias did exactly that.
He searched Miriam’s belongings.
Daniel’s papers.
Old letters.
Nothing.
Then he visited Miriam’s younger sister in Benson.
Anna Cole listened.
“Oregon?”
“Yes.”
She laughed sadly.
“That wasn’t secret.”
Elias’s hope collapsed.
“She told you?”
“Yes.”
“Who else?”
Anna thought.
Then:
“Victor Harrow.”
Elias froze.
“What?”
“At dinner.”
“When?”
“Week before Miriam died.”
Elias sat slowly.
“What dinner?”
“You were away.”
He had been on a cattle drive.
Anna continued.
“Harrow came to the house.”
“Why?”
“I thought land business.”
“What happened?”
“They argued.”
“About what?”
“I couldn’t hear.”
“Miriam told him Oregon?”
“After.”
Anna’s eyes narrowed as memory returned.
“She said, ‘I’d rather sell everything and move to Oregon than let you buy silence.’”
Elias stopped breathing.
“What?”
Anna looked frightened by her own memory.
“I didn’t understand.”
“Why didn’t you tell me?”
“She died.”
“Yes.”
“You were destroyed.”
“That’s not an answer.”
Anna cried.
“I thought she was talking about the ranch.”
Elias looked away.
Not proof of murder.
Again.
But proof Miriam confronted Harrow.
The case widened beyond land.
Judge Ward refused to let speculation about Miriam’s death enter the land hearing without direct evidence.
Elias was furious.
Mara agreed with the judge.
He stared at her.
“You’re supposed to be on my side.”
“I am.”
“Feels strange.”
“You want truth or revenge?”
“Both.”
“Choose truth first.”
He hated when she sounded like his conscience.
The hearing began in Prescott in November 1886.
The room overflowed.
Ranchers.
Reporters.