Children played beside snow-covered fences.
The general store stood open.
And the church bell rang across the little town.
It was an ordinary winter afternoon.
Yet Clara knew that nothing would be ordinary after they entered the courthouse.
Daniel carried the survey.
Samuel carried the ledger.
Edgar Vale walked between them, looking twenty years older than he had a week earlier.
Clara held the letters.
They entered the county clerk's office just before closing.
The clerk, a thin man with spectacles and an ink-stained collar, looked up in surprise.
"Mr. Thorne?"
Samuel nodded.
"We need to speak with the sheriff."
The clerk frowned.
"What's happened?"
Samuel placed the original survey on the counter.
"Something that should have been reported twenty-seven years ago."
The clerk unfolded the document.
His expression changed.
He looked at the seal.
Then at the signatures.
Then at Samuel.
"Where did you get this?"
Samuel answered quietly.
"From my mother's trunk."
The clerk stared.
Then he hurried toward the rear office.
Within minutes, the sheriff arrived.
He was an older man with a gray mustache and a deeply lined face.
He examined the survey.
Read the letters.
Looked through the ledger.
Then turned toward Edgar.
"Is this true?"
The old man lowered his head.
"Yes."
The sheriff stared at him.
"All of it?"
Edgar swallowed.
"Enough of it that I need to make a full statement."
The sheriff slowly removed his spectacles.
He looked toward Samuel.
Then Daniel.
Then Clara.
Finally, he said, "Close the door."
The investigation lasted months.
At first, Blackwood treated the matter as gossip.
Then as scandal.
Then as something far more serious.
Surveyors arrived from the county seat.
Legal representatives examined the original claim.
Old records were retrieved from dusty cabinets.
Witnesses were questioned.
The underground chambers were mapped.
The hidden passages were inspected.
And the names of Gideon Thorne, Nathaniel Bennett, and Edgar Vale became subjects of uncomfortable public discussion.
Clara endured cruel remarks about her father.
Samuel endured accusations about his family.
Daniel faced skepticism from people who believed he had come to seize property that no longer rightfully belonged to his family.
But none of them withdrew their testimony.
Edgar Vale eventually admitted his full involvement.
He confessed to helping imprison Thomas Whitcomb.
He admitted concealing the original ownership records.
He described the forged survey.
He acknowledged payments made to local officials.
And he identified the men who had helped transport copper through the hidden tunnel.
The legal process was slow.
The evidence was old.
Some witnesses had died.
Others refused to cooperate.
But the documents were real.
And the original survey could not easily be dismissed.
Samuel attended every hearing he was asked to attend.
Clara sat beside him.
Sometimes, people stared.
Sometimes, they whispered.
Once, a man outside the courthouse muttered that Samuel ought to be ashamed of his father's name.