Whenever the bell rang, he turned toward the entrance.
At first, she assumed he was waiting for someone.
Then he asked whether Gideon Hale still lived in the mountains.
Elena said yes.
The stranger looked relieved.
But when she asked his name, he seemed frightened.
He eventually said Matthew.
Then asked whether Gideon had changed much.
Elena had answered carefully.
She knew Gideon well enough to recognize that he valued privacy, and she had no reason to disclose details of his routines to a stranger.
The man smiled sadly when she described the rancher as quiet but kind.
Then he removed the silver watch.
“He told me you would recognize it,” Elena said.
Gideon's fingers tightened.
“Did he say where he'd been?”
“No. I asked.”
“What did he answer?”
Elena looked uncomfortable.
“He said there were places where a man could lose years without meaning to.”
Gideon closed his eyes.
She continued.
“He said he'd been hurt. That somebody found him far from home. And that when he finally remembered enough to return, he discovered that people in Cedar Hollow had been receiving letters he never wrote.”
Gideon's eyes opened.
“What letters?”
Elena shook her head.
“He didn't explain.”
For a moment, Gideon looked confused.
Then suspicion appeared.
He remembered the search.
Elias Rusk.
The letters Rusk occasionally claimed to receive from trappers who'd searched the northern valleys.
The warnings that Matthew couldn't have survived.
And the way the cattle broker always seemed to know when Gideon planned another expedition.
Gideon stared toward the fire.
“Rusk controlled the freight office in those days.”
Elena nodded.
“He still has interests in it.”
Gideon's expression hardened.
“He knew every wagon coming into Cedar Hollow. Every supply shipment. Every ranch hand looking for work.”
He stood.
Then began pacing.
Elena watched him carefully.
“Gideon?”
He stopped.
“Rusk told me the north pass was buried beyond recovery.”
She waited.
“He said the search party found Matthew's coat near the ravine.”
Elena nodded.
Gideon looked toward the watch.
“But I never saw him find it.”
His voice changed.
“I was searching the eastern ridge that morning. Rusk brought the coat back himself.”
For ten years, Gideon had accepted that memory without question.
The coat was real.
The storm was real.
And Matthew had disappeared.
But if his brother was alive, the discovery of the coat no longer proved what Rusk claimed it proved.
Elena took a slow breath.