He swallowed.
“I hurt my ankle. Couldn't keep up.”
Harlon stared.
“And they left you?”
Felix nodded.
“Pike said I was slowing them down.”
Amily looked toward the boy.
She remembered him standing beside the others.
He hadn't been the one who grabbed her from the stagecoach.
He hadn't struck her.
But he'd participated.
Now he looked almost like a frightened child.
She felt anger and pity struggling inside her.
Harlon remained stern.
“Why were you chasing Miss Ward?”
Felix closed his eyes.
For several seconds, he didn't answer.
Then he whispered, “The company wanted her bag.”
Amily became still.
“What?”
Felix looked toward her.
“Pike said there might be papers in it. Something from her mother.”
Her fingers tightened around the blanket.
Harlon leaned forward.
“Who told him?”
Felix hesitated.
“Silas Vale.”
The room became quiet.
Then Felix continued.
“Pike said the woman would be on the eastbound stage and we had to bring her to the Blackstone office before she reached Silverpine.”
Amily stared.
“Why?”
The boy shook his head.
“I don't know everything.”
Harlon studied him.
“Tell us what you do know.”
Felix swallowed.
“The boardinghouse letter wasn't supposed to bring her to work. It was supposed to get her into town.”
Amily felt cold.
He continued.
“Vale knew she was coming. He wanted her brought straight to him.”
She looked toward Harlon.
The miner's mark on the envelope.
The stagecoach attack.
The false invitation.
It had all been connected.
Felix looked toward her.
“The woman named Miriam was asking questions.”
Amily leaned forward.
“My cousin?”
He nodded.
“Maybe. I heard she worked in the company office. She found something in the records.”
Harlon's eyes sharpened.
“Where is she?”
Felix hesitated.
Then whispered, “I think they locked her in the old assay building.”
Amily covered her mouth.
Harlon leaned forward.
“Why?”
“Because she wouldn't sign a statement saying the Ward papers were lost.”
For several seconds, nobody spoke.
Then Felix looked toward the window.
His voice trembled.
“And the demolition crew goes to Bellwether Meadow tomorrow.”
Amily's heart stopped.
Harlon became motionless.
“What crew?”
Felix swallowed.
“The company says the old Ward house is unsafe. They're tearing it down before they start the diversion works.”
Amily looked toward the silver key resting beside her mother's letter.
The original papers were hidden inside that house.