Judge Ross lowered the shotgun.
“Come inside.”
They spent the next three hours at his dining table.
Josephine showed him the deed.
Her mother’s affidavit.
The letter.
Judge Ross read everything twice.
Then he removed his spectacles.
“This is serious.”
Josephine almost laughed.
“I had gathered.”
Ross looked at her.
“Pike filed a transfer six months ago.”
“My mother said it was forged.”
“This appears to prove it.”
Harlan stood near the window.
Ross continued.
“But more importantly, Miriam’s affidavit names witnesses.”
“Who?”
“A clerk in St. Louis. A surveyor. And…”
He paused.
“Your father.”
Josephine closed her eyes.
Of course.
“What did he do?”
Ross handed her the paper.
Her mother wrote that Josephine’s father had initially admitted signing Miriam’s name because Pike threatened to expose gambling debts.
Later he denied everything.
Josephine felt empty.
“He helped them.”
“Yes.”
“Did he help kill her?”
Ross shook his head.
“This does not say.”
Harlan spoke.
“I don’t think he knew Pike would go that far.”
Josephine looked at him.
“You’re defending him?”
“No.”
“Good.”
Harlan nodded.
“I’m only separating what we know from what we don’t.”
The distinction mattered.
Josephine hated that it mattered.
By morning, Judge Ross had sent messages to the county sheriff and territorial land office.
Pike arrived shortly after sunrise.
He was furious.
He brought a lawyer.
And Josephine’s father.
The sight of him nearly broke her.
Silas Vale looked older than he had the day before.
His expensive city coat was muddy.
His eyes avoided hers.
“Josephine.”
She stood.
He moved toward her.
Harlan shifted.
Josephine raised one hand.
Harlan stopped.
Her father noticed.
So did she.
Josephine faced Silas alone.
“You sold me.”
His face twisted.
“I was trying to protect you.”
“No.”
“Pike was going to—”
“You accepted horses.”
“I needed to move quickly.”
Josephine laughed bitterly.
“Harlan says the same thing.”
Harlan looked down.
Silas seized on it.
“Then you see.”
“No.”
Josephine’s voice hardened.
“He admits what he did.”
Silas stared.
“He does not ask me to call it kindness simply because he was frightened.”
Her father’s face flushed.
“I am your father.”
“Yes.”
“Then show some respect.”
Josephine felt decades of obedience rise like an old reflex.
Then her mother’s words returned.
Take up room.
Josephine straightened.
“Respect is not the same as silence.”
Silas glanced toward the others.
“This is not the place.”
“It became the place when you brought strangers into my mother’s property.”
Pike stepped forward.
“That property is disputed.”
Judge Ross entered from the adjoining office.
“Not for long.”
Pike’s lawyer protested.
Ross ignored him.