They rode until dusk.
Isaiah eventually turned into an abandoned mining settlement hidden beneath low hills.
Most of the buildings had collapsed.
One stone structure remained intact.
Inside waited an elderly Mexican American man named Rafael Mendoza.
He aimed a shotgun at Isaiah until he saw Clara.
Then the weapon lowered.
"You found her."
Clara looked from one man to the other.
"You knew about me?"
Rafael gave Isaiah a hard look.
"I knew someone was carrying Thomas Bennett's ledger."
"You knew Thomas?"
"I printed half the documents that almost got us all killed."
Rafael had once owned the Mesilla Gazette.
Twelve years earlier, his newspaper had accused Everett Carrow of manipulating land auctions.
Two weeks later, the press burned.
Rafael's insurance company refused his claim.
The bank called his mortgage.
Carrow purchased the building three months later.
"Carrow doesn't always need bullets," Rafael said.
"Sometimes ink is cheaper."
Clara placed the ledger on the table.
Rafael's expression changed the moment he saw it.
"Thomas kept it."
"Under his desk."
Rafael carefully opened the cover.
He turned several pages.
Then stopped.
"This isn't all of it."
Clara looked at Isaiah.
"What?"
Rafael pointed to numbers written beside several accounts.
"Thomas used two ledgers."
"How do you know?"
"Because I helped him create the code."
The book Clara had carried contained payments.
The missing book contained names.
County officials.
Bank employees.
Surveyors.
Witnesses.
The first ledger proved land had moved illegally.
The second proved who had been paid to make it happen.
Without both, Everett Carrow could blame mistakes on dead clerks.
"Where is the second ledger?" Clara asked.
Rafael looked at Isaiah.
Isaiah said nothing.
Clara immediately understood.
"You know."
"I know where Thomas intended to hide it."
"Where?"
Isaiah hesitated.
"The old Bennett ranch."
Clara stared at him.
"My father's property?"
"Yes."
"No."
Rafael closed the ledger.
"Clara."
"My father bought that ranch before Thomas and I were married."
Neither man answered.
Something cold moved through her.
"What?"
Rafael turned the ledger around.
He opened it near the middle.
A name appeared in brown ink.
BENNETT, CHARLES.
Clara's father.
Below it was the description of the ranch where she had grown up.
Four hundred and twenty acres.
One well.
One orchard.
One farmhouse.