A Widowed Rancher Stopped for a Mother and Daughter in the Rain… She Said ‘Stay Back or I’ll Shoot
Chapter 10
They reached the stone house before dawn.
Thomas’s father remained outside.
He would watch the road.
Thomas, Sarah, and Lucy entered through a broken window.
The cellar was beneath the kitchen.
They found it behind a false wall.
Inside were crates of documents.
And one massive ledger bound in black leather.
Thomas opened it.
Every stolen farm was recorded.
Payments.
Bribes.
Witnesses.
Names of officials.
Then he saw the final page.
Gideon Mercer had planned to seize the entire river valley within the year.
Thomas looked at Sarah.
“We have enough.”
“No.”
She pointed to a second column.
“What is that?”
Thomas read it.
Names of men hired to remove certain witnesses.
One name was familiar.
Nathan Crowe.
Another was worse.
The county magistrate.
If they took the ledger to court, the magistrate could destroy it.
They needed the traveling judge.
But the judge was still days away.
Then they heard a sound above them.
Footsteps.
Thomas extinguished the lantern.
Men entered the house.
Mercer’s voice came from above.
“I know you’re here.”
Sarah held Lucy close.
Thomas whispered.
“There is another exit.”
They moved through the cellar.
The passage opened behind the stone house.
Thomas’s father was waiting.
He fired once.
Mercer’s men scattered.
“Go!”
They ran toward the river.
A bullet struck Thomas’s shoulder.
He stumbled.
Sarah caught him.
“Are you hurt?”
“Not badly.”
Blood ran down his sleeve.
Sarah tore a strip from her dress.
She wrapped his wound.
Thomas looked at her.
“You just ruined your dress.”
“I’ll survive.”
He smiled.
They reached the ferry.
The ferryman refused.
“Mercer owns the ferry.”
Thomas pulled a pistol.
The ferryman raised his hands.
“I don’t want trouble.”
“Neither do I.”
Sarah stepped forward.
She showed him the ledger.
“This isn’t trouble.”
She opened the book.
“This is the truth.”
The ferryman read one page.
His face changed.
“My farm.”
Thomas nodded.
“Your name is here.”
The man looked at the river.
Then at them.
“Get in.”
They crossed before sunrise.
On the opposite bank stood thirty farmers.
They had come after hearing what happened.
Samuel Crow stood among them.
“We’re going with you.”
Thomas looked at the crowd.
“You don’t know what you’re walking into.”
Samuel smiled.
“We’ve been walking into it for years.”
