Cole knew the land surrounding his cabin better than most men knew the rooms of their own homes.
That was the only reason Jeb Robinson survived the first ten minutes.
Cole slipped through the cellar hatch beneath the pantry while Anna remained behind the stone stove where bullets could not reach her.
He emerged behind the woodshed.
Snow swallowed the sound of his boots.
Three men stood among the trees.
Jeb.
The heavyset miner from Oakhaven.
And the man in the black coat.
No fourth rider.
Cole moved uphill without being seen.
Jeb shouted again.
“Last chance, Mercer!”
Cole answered from somewhere to Jeb’s left.
“You had your last chance in town.”
All three men spun.
Cole fired into a pine branch above them.
Snow crashed down.
The miner cursed.
The shotgun man fired blindly.
Cole had already moved.
“I’m not worth dying over!” Anna shouted from the cabin.
Cole’s stomach tightened.
Jeb laughed.
“You hear that? Even she knows!”
Anna’s voice came again.
“I wasn’t talking to Cole!”
Silence.
Even Cole paused.
Then the miner shouted something foul and rushed toward the cabin.
Cole fired.
The bullet struck the snow inches ahead of the man’s boots.
He stopped.
“Next one doesn’t miss.”
The miner retreated.
Jeb screamed, “He won’t shoot! He’s bluffing!”
Cole called, “Ask the tree.”
The man in the black coat apparently possessed more sense than Jeb.
He began backing toward the horses.
“This ain’t worth it.”
Jeb grabbed him.
“You took my money.”
“You paid me to collect a contract, not get buried in frozen dirt.”
He pulled free.
The argument gave Cole time to circle behind them.
He stepped from the trees with his rifle leveled.
“Drop the guns.”
The miner obeyed immediately.
Jeb turned.
Cole’s rifle pointed at his chest.
Jeb’s face twisted.
“She belongs to me.”
“No.”
“I got papers.”
“You’ve got paper.”
“Same thing.”
“Not where I’m standing.”
Jeb slowly removed his revolver.
For one dangerous instant Cole thought he would raise it.
Then the man in black said, “Don’t.”
Jeb threw the weapon down.
Cole marched them toward the stable.
“You’re taking our horses?” Jeb demanded.
“One.”
“You leave us here, we’ll freeze.”
“Oakhaven’s six hours on foot.”
“In this snow?”
Cole stared at him.
“You were willing to drag Anna through it.”
Jeb shut his mouth.
Cole took one horse and removed the ammunition from their weapons.
“You can collect these tomorrow.”
The man in black looked almost amused.
“You planning to kill us if we return?”
“No.”
“Then what keeps us away?”
Cole chambered a cartridge.
The amusement vanished.
“That.”
He watched until the three men disappeared south through the trees.
Anna emerged from the cabin.
Her face was pale.
“You let them go.”
“Yes.”
“They’ll come back.”
“Maybe.”
“Why not turn them over to the sheriff?”
“Oakhaven sheriff watched Jeb threaten us.”
Anna nodded bitterly.
“Sheriff Tobias.”
“You know him?”
“He knew Victor Hale.”
That changed everything.
Cole looked at her.
“How well?”
Anna hesitated.
“Hale used to send him letters.”
“What kind?”
“I don’t know.”
“Think.”
“I cleaned Hale’s office.”
“Did you see anything?”
“Ledgers.”
Cole waited.
Anna’s face slowly changed.
“There was a book.”
“What book?”
“Names. Women. Amounts.”
“Contracts?”
“I think.”
“Where?”
“In Hale’s Denver office.”
Cole’s pulse quickened.
If Hale had been operating a fraudulent labor scheme—and paying officials to protect it—Anna might not be the only victim.
“How many names?”
“Dozens.”
Cole looked toward the trail where Jeb had vanished.
Suddenly the pursuit made more sense.
Maybe they did not merely want Anna.
Maybe they feared what she knew.
“Did Hale know you saw it?”
“I don’t think so.”
“Jeb?”
“I told him once.”
Cole closed his eyes.
“When?”
“He was drunk. He kept saying nobody would care what happened to me. I told him someday someone would find Hale’s ledger.”
Cole exhaled.
“And after that?”
“He hit me.”
“Anything else?”
“He started trying to sell me.”
There it was.
Cole looked toward the distant mountains.
Jeb was not trying to collect property.
He was trying to deliver a witness.
“We’re leaving.”
Anna stiffened.
“Where?”
“Denver.”
Her face drained.
“No.”
“We need that ledger.”
“No.”
“It could free you legally.”
“I don’t care about legally.”
“It could free others.”
Anna turned away.
Cole immediately regretted saying it.
He had no right to make her responsible for everyone Victor Hale had harmed.
“Forget I said that.”
She looked back.
“What?”
“You heard me.”
“But you’re right.”
“Doesn’t matter.”
“Yes, it does.”
“No. You don’t owe anybody a rescue because you survived.”
Anna stared at him.
That sentence struck somewhere deep.
Cole continued.
“If we go to Denver, we go because you choose it.”
“What would you choose?”
“I’d burn Hale’s office to the ground.”
Despite everything, Anna smiled.
“That doesn’t get the ledger.”
“No.”
“And probably gets you hanged.”
“Probably.”
“You say that word too much.”
They stayed another day.
The following evening Anna found Cole repairing a harness.
“I want to go.”
He looked up.
“To Denver?”
“Yes.”
“You certain?”
“No.”
“That wasn’t the question.”
She breathed slowly.
“Yes.”
They left before sunrise.
The journey took eight days.
Cole avoided Oakhaven.
They descended through narrow valleys and crossed frozen streams, sleeping beneath canvas when no settlement appeared.
On the third night Anna woke screaming.
Cole stayed beside the dying fire without touching her.
“You’re here,” he said.
She fought for breath.
“You’re in the mountains. With me. Nobody else.”
Gradually she returned.
“I’m sorry.”
“Stop apologizing for being alive.”
She laughed weakly.
“You make everything sound simple.”
“It usually is. Doesn’t mean it’s easy.”
On the fifth day they reached a ranch owned by an elderly widow named Martha Bell.
Martha studied Anna once and apparently understood more than either of them wanted to explain.
“You two married?”
Anna choked on her coffee.
Cole said, “No.”
“Engaged?”
“No.”
“Related?”
“No.”
Martha looked disappointed.
“Well, that wastes three guesses.”
Anna hid a smile.
Martha let them sleep in the bunkhouse and fed them until Cole suspected she intended to fatten them for market.
Before they left, Martha pulled Anna aside.
Cole pretended not to listen.
“If that big miserable-looking man ever treats you poorly, come here.”
“He doesn’t.”
“Good.”
“He paid twenty dollars for me.”
Martha’s head snapped toward Cole.
Cole nearly dropped the saddle.
Anna laughed for the first time without restraint.
After she explained, Martha slapped Cole’s arm hard enough to hurt.
“For heaven’s sake, girl, lead with the explanation.”
They continued south.
Something changed after Martha’s ranch.
Anna began asking Cole questions.
What was his favorite season?
Autumn.
Favorite food?
Venison stew.
Favorite place?
The ridge above his cabin after first snow.
Had he ever been married?
No.
Why?
He glanced at her.
“Too many questions.”
“That means the answer is interesting.”
“It means I like quiet.”
“You live alone in the mountains.”
“Exactly.”
Anna smiled.
Cole asked, “What about you?”
“Favorite season?”
“Yes.”
“Spring.”
“Food?”
“Peach pie.”
“Place?”
She thought.
“I don’t have one yet.”
Cole looked forward.
Yet.
The word stayed with him.
Denver appeared on the horizon under a gray February sky.
Anna became quieter with every mile.
By the time they reached the crowded streets, she was trembling.
Cole found a boardinghouse near the rail yards.
“One room?” the clerk asked.
“Two.”
Anna looked relieved.
Then ashamed of being relieved.
Cole noticed both.
“You lock your door,” he told her.
“I know.”
“If anybody knocks—”
“I ask who.”
“If they say Cole?”
“I still don’t open unless I recognize your voice.”
“Good.”
She paused.
“You sound like a nervous father.”
Cole frowned.
“That insult?”
“Maybe.”
The following morning they approached Hale Employment Services.
The sign remained above the entrance.
But the office was empty.
A shopkeeper next door told them Hale had left three months earlier.
“Where?”
“No idea.”
Cole asked, “Did he leave papers?”
“City marshal came and took some.”
Anna stiffened.
“Which marshal?”
“Deputy federal man. Name of Barrett, I think.”
Hope appeared.
They found Deputy U.S. Marshal Samuel Barrett at a government office on Blake Street.
Barrett was fifty, tired, and skeptical.
He listened without interrupting.
Then he opened a drawer.
From it he removed a ledger.
Anna stopped breathing.
“That’s it.”
“You’re sure?” Barrett asked.
“Yes.”
He opened the book.
Names filled the pages.
Next to them were sums, locations, transfers, and initials.
Barrett looked at Cole.
“We’ve been trying to understand this for months.”
Anna stepped closer.
One set of initials appeared repeatedly.
T.T.
Cole knew before she spoke.
“Tobias,” Anna whispered.
The Oakhaven sheriff.
Another name appeared.
J. Robinson.
Jeb.
Barrett’s expression changed.
“You understand what this means?”
Anna shook her head.
“It means your contract is worthless. More than that, it means Hale’s operation may involve kidnapping, coercion, fraudulent debt, and bribery across three territories.”
Cole asked, “Where’s Hale?”
Barrett closed the ledger.
“Missing.”
A gunshot shattered the office window.
Barrett dropped.
Anna screamed.
Cole dragged her behind the desk.
A second shot struck the wall.
Barrett pressed one hand against his shoulder.
Blood ran between his fingers.
Cole crawled toward the window.
Across the street a man disappeared into an alley.
Cole caught only a glimpse.
Black coat.
The man from Jeb’s group.
Barrett grimaced.
“So much for missing.”
Anna looked at the ledger.
Then at the window.
Cole understood.
Victor Hale knew they were in Denver.
And now he knew Anna had found the evidence.