Wages.
Her own funds.
The arrangement had never been what Clara’s parents believed.
It had never been what the agency apparently allowed her to believe.
Mara had hired someone.
Not purchased a bride.
Clara kept reading.
The final paragraph made her breathing change.
There is one more thing. If Nathan has not discovered it by the time you arrive, look beneath the loose floorboard under the window in this room. Do not tell him until you have read what is there. I pray I am wrong about what I found. If I am not, it may explain why our cattle have been disappearing, why the bank suddenly changed the terms of our note, and why a man named Silas Vale has been so interested in buying our north pasture.
Clara lowered the page.
Silas Vale.
That name had not been mentioned once.
She looked toward the window.
A loose floorboard.
The light outside was fading.
Children’s voices drifted from below.
Nathan was somewhere near the barn.
Clara knelt.
Ran her fingers along the boards.
One shifted.
Her pulse jumped.
She used the edge of her grandmother’s Bible to lift it.
Beneath lay a narrow tin box.
Clara froze.
This was no longer a marriage letter.
She opened the box.
Inside were six papers.
Receipts.
A copy of a bank notice.
A hand-drawn map.
And three letters signed by Silas Vale.
Clara read the first.
He had offered to purchase north pasture access.
The second threatened foreclosure through a bank in Cheyenne.
The third was not addressed to Mara.
It was addressed to someone named Harlan Pike.
Cole is close to breaking. Keep pressure on feed credit through winter. If the woman fails before spring, he’ll sell.
Clara’s skin went cold.
If the woman fails.
Mara.
Clara read the line again.
There was no proof of murder.
No poison.
No explicit crime beyond financial pressure.
But somebody had been waiting for Mara to die.
And Mara had known enough to hide evidence from her husband.
Footsteps came down the hall.
Clara shoved the papers back into the tin box.
The door opened.
Ethan stood there.
He saw her on the floor.
Saw the raised board.
Saw the box.
His face changed.
“You found it.”
Clara stared.
“You knew?”
He stepped inside and shut the door.
“Mama told me not to tell Pa.”
Clara’s heart thudded.
“When?”