That remained.
Cole thought Harvey’s wife perhaps.
No.
She lived far away.
Mrs. Keller?
No evidence.
Daniel?
He could have told Cole directly.
Someone inside.
Still.
Before they solved it, Elias came to the ranch himself.
Not secretly.
At noon.
White horse.
Black coat.
No weapon visible.
He stopped in the yard.
Cole walked out.
Lila watched from porch.
Daniel beside her.
Elias dismounted.
For the first time in twelve years, brothers stood facing each other.
Elias smiled.
“Cole.”
Cole said nothing.
“You look older.”
“So do dead men.”
Elias laughed.
“I missed that.”
“No, you didn’t.”
The smile faded.
Cole stepped closer.
“You let me bury you.”
“Yes.”
“Why?”
“Because I needed to disappear.”
“You could’ve told me.”
“You would’ve told Father.”
“He was dead within three years.”
“And by then you had everything.”
There it was.
Inheritance.
Still.
Elias looked toward the house.
Then saw Lila.
His expression changed.
“So that’s her.”
Cole’s body tightened.
“What?”
“The house manager.”
Lila felt cold.
Elias smiled.
“I wondered what she looked like.”
Cole stepped closer.
“How do you know her?”
Elias looked amused.
“Ask her father.”
Lila froze.
No.
Her father.
A man she had not seen since fourteen.
Cole turned toward her.
She looked equally confused.
Elias saw.
“Oh.”
His smile widened.
“She doesn’t know.”
Lila came down the porch steps.
“What about my father?”
Elias looked directly at her.
“Jacob Dawson worked for me.”
Her stomach dropped.
“No.”
“Mexico.”
“No.”
“He still does.”
Lila’s mouth went dry.
Cole watched her.
She shook her head.
“My father left.”
“Yes.”
“He never wrote.”
“No.”
“Why?”
Elias shrugged.
“Ask him.”
Lila stepped closer.
“Where is he?”
Elias looked toward Cole.
“Now we negotiate.”
Cole’s face hardened.
Sheriff Price emerged from the barn.
Elias did not seem surprised.
“Arrest me for what?”
Price held the letter.
“Conspiracy.”
Elias smiled.
“Earl wrote that.”
“Handwriting says otherwise.”
“Handwriting is not conviction.”
True.
But enough for detention.
Elias looked at Lila again.
“Your father is alive.”
Then the sheriff cuffed him.
As he was led away, he said:
“And he’s the reason you got the job.”
Lila stopped breathing.
Cole looked at her.
“What?”
She shook her head.
“I don’t know.”
But suddenly six weeks of her life shifted.
The creek.
General store.
Cole’s offer.
Three times wages.