She turned another page.
Then her expression changed.
A letter from Clara described the company's efforts to obtain her signature on a broad release of the family's remaining interests.
She had refused.
Another document claimed she signed that release several months later.
Amily stared.
Her mother had been living in Missouri by then.
The signature looked strange.
Too stiff.
The letters formed differently from the handwriting she'd recognized since childhood.
She placed the two pages beside each other.
“Harlon.”
He looked up.
“That's not her signature.”
He examined them.
Then nodded slowly.
“It deserves professional examination.”
Amily stared at the suspicious release.
For years, she'd believed her mother left Colorado because she had been ashamed of her past.
Now she could see a different story.
Clara had refused to surrender a disputed inheritance.
She had protected the evidence.
And when powerful men made remaining in Colorado dangerous, she had taken her daughter east.
The realization brought tears to Amily's eyes.
“She wasn't running because she was weak.”
Harlon looked toward her.
“No.”
“She was protecting me.”
He nodded.
“Yes.”
Amily covered her mouth.
For a long moment, she couldn't speak.
Then she reached for the next document.
It was the engineering report.
The date immediately caught Harlon's attention.
He froze.
Amily noticed.
“What?”
He didn't answer.
His eyes moved across the page.
Then stopped beside a familiar name.
Thomas Boone.
Amily felt cold.
Harlon took the report from her hands.
His fingers trembled.
The document described unstable ground above the old hauling road.
It referred to a water channel within the hillside.
It recommended delaying construction until additional stabilization work was completed.
At the bottom were several signatures.
One belonged to Thomas.
Another to the supervising engineer.
And beneath them appeared a handwritten instruction directing the project to continue despite the warnings.
The instruction bore Silas Vale's initials.
Harlon stared.
For several seconds, he didn't breathe.
Then he whispered, “He knew.”
Amily looked toward him.
“Harlon.”
His hands tightened around the paper.
“He knew the hillside wasn't safe.”
She rose slowly.
Harlon continued.
“Thomas told them.”
His voice broke.
“My father warned them. Thomas warned them. The men working the road knew.”
He looked toward the window.
“And Vale sent them up there anyway.”
Amily approached.
“Harlon, listen—”
“He called it an accident.”
His voice rose.