He was certain.
"The total misrepresentation is $174," Hart said, capping his pen. "On a claimed debt of $430, that represents roughly forty percent of the amount Mercer is demanding that Henry never actually owed. In addition, the $200 collection cost he filed last week is entirely fabricated. There is no legal basis for that claim under territorial law, and I can demonstrate it in ten minutes in front of any judge who reads the statute."
"So we have a strong case," Margaret said.
"You have a strong case," Hart agreed. "But I want to be direct with you about the risk. Mercer has an experienced attorney, and he has relationships in this county that may extend to the bench. I cannot guarantee which judge we get, and I cannot guarantee that a judge without integrity will rule on the merits." He looked at her steadily. "What I can tell you is that the documentation you have built is solid enough that any ruling against you would be transparently wrong, and that opens the door to appeal at the territorial level."
"An appeal takes time and money. Let's focus on winning the first hearing," Margaret said.
Hart almost smiled. "My preferred approach as well."
Nathan walked Hart out to the bunkhouse—she had offered it for the duration—and Margaret stayed at the table for a few minutes after they left, looking at the row of ledgers and the neat stacks of Hart's documents and the list of nine discrepancies in her own handwriting. She had not let herself feel hope in eight months. Hope was a resource she couldn't afford to spend when survival required everything she had. But something was sitting in her chest tonight that felt dangerously close to it, and she sat with it carefully, the way you sit with an injured bird, holding it still, not gripping.
She heard the back door open, and Nathan came back in alone.
"He's confident," he said. "He didn't want to say it in front of you in case it affected your caution, but he told me outside that your ledger work is the cleanest documentation of financial fraud he's seen in twelve years of property law."
She didn't answer immediately.
"He also said," Nathan continued, "that Mercer must have severely underestimated you."