Mercer already knew about Nathan. Of course he did. In a town this size, news moved faster than horses. Someone had seen Nathan at the livery, or at the saloon where he'd presumably gone for dinner last night, or simply on the road this morning. And Mercer had received the information before breakfast. Which meant the thirty days was not thirty days. The real clock was how long it took Mercer to find a way to remove Nathan from the board.
She went back to setting fence posts, moving faster now, her mind working the problem from every angle.
Nathan got back from Stillwater Junction by mid-afternoon. She heard the horse in the yard and came out from the barn where she'd been mending tack, to find him dismounting with a dust-covered coat and an expression she couldn't read.
"Did you reach him?" she asked.
"Sent the wire." He pulled off his gloves. "Hart's office confirmed receipt within twenty minutes. He'll send a reply by end of day tomorrow."
"Mercer's man was here this morning."
Nathan's expression didn't change, but something sharpened in his eyes. "How early?"
"Just after sunrise. He knew you were involved."
"I expected that." He rolled his gloves together and tucked them in his coat pocket. "Did he threaten you directly?"
"He was careful not to. Mercer's smart enough to know that direct threats leave marks." She met his eyes. "He mentioned that outside interference in a legal matter would be dealt with. He was talking about you."
Nathan nodded slowly. He wasn't alarmed, she noticed; he was cataloging, processing the information and filing it into whatever structure he kept in his head.
"He's going to push harder," Nathan said.