He admitted moving cattle.
Earl paid him.
Silas Harker received them.
He knew nothing about the bathhouse.
At least he claimed.
“Why steal so little?” Lila asked.
Harvey looked confused.
“What?”
“Forty-three animals in seven months.”
He laughed.
Cole’s expression changed.
“What?”
Harvey looked at Lila.
“Lady, you counted the books?”
“Yes.”
“Then you counted what they wanted you to.”
Cold moved through her.
“How many?”
Harvey looked toward Cole.
Then down.
“Hundreds.”
Silence.
Daniel swore.
Lila’s mind raced.
“How hide hundreds?”
Harvey refused.
Cole leaned forward.
Lila put one hand on his arm.
He stopped.
That alone made Harvey stare.
Lila spoke.
“You are afraid of Earl.”
No answer.
“Not Cole.”
Harvey almost smiled bitterly.
“Everybody’s afraid of Bennett.”
“No.”
Lila looked at him.
“You know Cole won’t kill you while you’re useful.”
Cole raised an eyebrow.
She ignored him.
“Earl?”
Harvey’s face changed.
There.
“Yes.”
“Why?”
“He’s not the one.”
Cole went still.
“Who?”
Harvey looked toward the window.
“I can’t.”
Lila leaned closer.
“You already betrayed them by being caught.”
His eyes closed.
“They’ll kill my wife.”
Cole frowned.
“You’re married?”
“Secret.”
“Where?”
“San Angelo.”
Lila understood.
Leverage.
Harvey whispered:
“They own her debt.”
“Who?”
Silence.
Then:
“Bennett.”
Cole stood.
“What?”
Harvey looked at him.
“Not you.”
Lila felt the room shift.
“Who?”
Harvey swallowed.
“Your brother.”
Cole became completely still.
Daniel whispered:
“Elias?”
Lila looked at Cole.
He had never mentioned a brother.
Harvey stared down.
“Elias Bennett.”
Cole’s voice came from very far away.
“He died.”
Harvey shook his head.
“No, sir.”
Again.
Another dead man alive.
Lila’s heart tightened.
“When?”
Cole asked.
“Twelve years.”
“Where?”
“Mexico.”
Cole’s face emptied.
Daniel sat heavily.
He knew the history.
Lila did not.
Cole looked toward the door.
Then at Harvey.
“What does he want?”
Harvey laughed weakly.
“Everything.”
Elias Bennett had been Cole’s younger brother.
Two years between them.
Elias was charming.
Cole was not.
Elias gambled.
Cole worked.
Their father preferred Cole.
Their mother preferred Elias.
Then came the inheritance dispute.
Their father left Bennett Ranch primarily to Cole because Elias had accumulated enormous gambling debts.
Elias challenged the will.
Lost.
Months later he supposedly died in a border town after a saloon fire.