His eyes widened.
“You found it.”
“Yes.”
He looked down.
“I thought nobody knew.”
“Your father knew.”
Edwin went pale.
“That’s impossible.”
“He searched the room after you left.”
Edwin stared at the table.
“That means…”
“What?”
Edwin looked at Ruth.
“He knew Talbot had hidden something there.”
Jonah leaned forward.
“What?”
“A key.”
Ruth’s heartbeat quickened.
“We found only paper.”
“Then he got it first.”
“What did the key open?”
Edwin’s eyes met hers.
“A deposit box.”
“Where?”
“Pierce Bank.”
Ruth almost laughed.
“Your father’s bank.”
“He assumed nobody would look there.”
Jonah said, “What’s inside?”
Edwin looked toward the window.
“The records that can destroy him.”
The problem was getting them.
Silas Pierce controlled the bank.
The sheriff owed him money.
Two deputies had cousins employed there.
Jonah wanted to involve a territorial judge.
Edwin argued there was no time.
“The box will be empty by tomorrow.”
Ruth asked, “Does your father know which box?”
Edwin hesitated.
“No.”
“Then why rush?”
“Because he knows I’m here.”
“He knows you came to this ranch?”
“I escaped two of his men ten miles south.”
Jonah’s expression hardened.
“Then yes. We rush.”
Ruth looked at both men.
“No.”
They turned.
She folded her arms.
“We do not break into a bank.”
Edwin said, “I didn’t suggest—”
“You were about to.”
He closed his mouth.
Jonah almost smiled.
Ruth continued.
“We need someone with legal access.”
“The county clerk?” Jonah asked.
“Too close to Pierce.”
“Judge Carter?”
“Cheyenne.”
Edwin suddenly looked at Ruth.
“Mrs. Keller.”
She frowned.
“What?”
“Deposit box rules require two witnesses if the registered holder is deceased.”
“Talbot is dead.”
“Yes.”
“Who is beneficiary?”
Edwin looked embarrassed.
“Room nine.”
Ruth stared.
“That is not a person.”
“He listed the boardinghouse address.”
Jonah frowned.
“Then ownership may fall to the estate.”
Ruth’s mind moved faster.
“Mrs. Keller received Talbot’s mail.”
“Yes.”
“She may have correspondence establishing custodial possession.”
Edwin stared.
“When did you learn law?”
“I worked in a boardinghouse.”
He looked confused.
Jonah smiled faintly.
“She listened.”
Ruth looked at him.
Their eyes held for a second.
Something warm passed between them.
Then she returned to Edwin.
“At dawn we go to Mrs. Keller.”
Ruth did not sleep.
Neither did Jonah.
Edwin took the spare room downstairs.
Ruth stood in the upstairs hallway near dawn.
Jonah emerged from his room.
He stopped.
“You all right?”
“No.”
“Want to talk?”
“I don’t know.”
He waited.
She looked at him.
“Did seeing him bother you?”