The Gunslinger Who Came to Bury His Past — Then the Town Gave Him a Reason to Draw Again
CHAPTER 4
Silas Vane sat in a private room above the Silver Bell Saloon.
He wore a dark suit.
Clean boots.
Expensive gloves.
Nothing about him suggested violence.
That was precisely why people feared him.
Calder Boone stood near the window.
“You brought Shaw here.”
Vane poured whiskey.
“I didn’t.”
“You knew he’d come.”
“I knew he would eventually.”
Boone laughed.
“He’s dangerous.”
“So were the others.”
“He’s faster.”
Vane looked at him.
“Then don’t challenge him.”
Boone’s smile disappeared.
“You want him dead.”
“Eventually.”
“Why not now?”
“Because I need him angry.”
Boone frowned.
Vane placed an old photograph on the table.
A young Gabriel stood beside his father.
“Twenty years ago, Elias Shaw discovered something.”
Boone stared at the photograph.
“The land deeds.”
Vane nodded.
“The entire valley was supposed to belong to the railroad.”
“But the deeds were forged.”
“Exactly.”
Boone looked toward the door.
“And Monroe?”
“Samuel Monroe found out.”
“So they killed him.”
Vane smiled.
“And made it look like an outlaw attack.”
Boone looked at Gabriel’s photograph again.
“What about the boy?”
“He survived.”
“Why?”
“Because his father hid the evidence before he died.”
Boone understood.
“Gabriel has it.”
“Maybe.”
Vane took a slow drink.
“That’s why he must believe his father’s killer is still alive.”
Boone smiled.
“You want him hunting ghosts.”
“No.”
Vane’s eyes hardened.
“I want him hunting the wrong man.”
