The courtroom changed.
People began whispering angrily.
Montgomery stood.
His attorney pulled him down.
The judge called order.
Then the prosecutor produced the sabotage instruction from the saddlebag.
Montgomery’s lawyer attacked chain of custody.
Fair.
Then the silver spur from the arson route.
Again circumstantial.
Then the final witness entered.
One of the three masked riders.
The youngest.
The man who had fallen in snow.
He had been arrested that morning in Boise after trying to leave the territory.
He wanted leniency.
Montgomery’s composure finally broke.
The rider testified.
Payment offered by Montgomery’s foreman.
Cut fence.
Drive breeding stock into gulch.
Make deaths appear weather-related.
No direct meeting with Montgomery.
Then prosecutor asked:
“Who gave instructions to the foreman?”
The rider looked toward Montgomery.
“I heard them arguing before we left.”
“Who?”
“The foreman and Mr. Montgomery.”
The room erupted again.
The judge suspended the foreclosure.
Not forever.
Pending investigation.
But enough.
More importantly, the prosecutor ordered Montgomery held on commercial fraud charges and conspiracy allegations subject to further hearing.
Montgomery stood.
For the first time since Martha met him, he looked small.
Not physically.
Power had left the room before his body did.
As deputies approached, his eyes found Martha.
“This is your doing.”
Martha shook her head.
“No.”
She nodded toward the ledgers.
“It’s yours.”
He was taken out.
Outside the courthouse, Josiah stood in sunlight.
He looked at Martha.
“We won.”
“Not yet.”
He laughed.
“Of course.”
“The debt still exists in some legitimate amount.”
“Martha.”
“The smokehouse needs rebuilding.”
“Martha.”
“Spring feed—”
He took her hand.
She stopped.
People moved around them.
She looked down at his hand holding hers.
Then up.
Josiah said:
“We did not lose the ranch today.”
Martha softened.
“No.”
“Can we have ten seconds?”
“For what?”
“To be relieved.”
She considered.
“Ten.”
He smiled.
They stood.
Ten seconds.
Then Martha said:
“Time.”
Josiah laughed until he had to bend slightly.
That evening, the Broken Spur crew celebrated with the remaining smoked ham.
Gideon opened whiskey.
Billy was denied whiskey.
Billy complained.
Martha made pie.
Not because victory required pie.
Because she had apples going soft.
Practicality often resembles tradition.
After dinner, men drifted away.
Josiah found Martha outside near the spring.
She sat on a reinforced bench overlooking the pasture.
The breeding heifers grazed in the distance.
Spring grass beginning.
The ranch had survived winter.
Barely.
Josiah sat beside her.
The bench creaked.
Martha looked at him.
“You should have reinforced your side.”
He smiled.
Silence settled.
Then:
“What will you do?”
Martha frowned.
“Tomorrow?”
“After.”
“After what?”
“After the contract.”
Her employment agreement ended May first.