Chapter 3 - The Dead Man's NameThe tunnel smelled like damp earth and smoke.
Sadie followed Gideon through darkness while the storm raged above them.
Every few minutes, the distant sound of gunfire reminded her that people were hunting them.
She had thought Judd wanted her dead.
Now she realized that wasn't the whole truth.
He wanted something she knew.
Something buried.
Something worth killing for.
They stopped after nearly an hour.
Gideon pushed aside a wooden door.
Beyond it was a hidden chamber carved into the mountain.
There were supplies.
Blankets.
Lanterns.
Boxes of ammunition.
A table.
And maps.
Hundreds of maps.
Sadie stared.
“You live like this?”
“I live alone.”
“That wasn't my question.”
“It was the answer.”
Gideon lit a lantern.
The room brightened.
Sadie saw another wall covered in names.
Some were crossed out.
Some had dates beside them.
She stepped closer.
“What is this?”
“Men who worked Black Hollow.”
Sadie looked down the list.
Then she saw it.
Harlan Cole.
Her breath caught.
Next to his name was a date.
Eight years ago.
But unlike the others, his name wasn't crossed out.
Sadie turned.
“You said he died.”
“He did.”
“Then why isn't his name crossed out?”
Gideon stared at the wall.
“That is what I've been trying to figure out for eight years.”
Sadie looked again.
“What is North Ridge?”
“An abandoned logging camp.”
“Near Black Hollow?”
“Yes.”
“Then the ledger—”
“Wasn't about the mine.”
Gideon pointed to the map.
“It was about transport.”
“Transport of what?”
He pulled a page from the table.
“Gold.”
Sadie shook her head.
“Black Hollow was a silver mine.”
“Officially.”
She stared at him.
“What was it really?”
“Something bigger.”
He unfolded another map.
There were roads marked through the mountains.
Routes connecting Black Hollow to the railroad.
Then the ranch.
Then the county courthouse.
Then a town sixty miles west.
Sadie felt sick.
“Judd has been moving gold through the county.”
“For years.”
“Why?”
“Because stolen gold can't be traced if nobody admits the mine produced it.”
Sadie stepped back.
“How much?”
Gideon pointed to a figure.
Sadie stared.
Millions.
Her knees weakened.
Judd had been stealing from somewhere.
Not ordinary theft.
Something enormous.
Gideon looked at her.
“You knew.”
“I knew he was hiding something.”
“You knew about the mine.”
“I found the ledger.”
“Who helped you?”
Sadie looked at him.
“I told you.”
“You opened a locked office.”
“Yes.”
“You knew exactly where to search.”
Sadie remained silent.
Gideon's eyes narrowed.
“You had help.”
“No.”
“Then how?”
“Because Judd left a key.”
Gideon went still.
“He gave you a key?”
“No.”
“Then why did he leave one?”
“I don't know.”
Gideon paced.
“He wanted you to find it.”
Sadie frowned.
“Why would he?”
“To see what you'd do.”
She remembered the night.
The key sitting inside Judd's coat.
Almost deliberately visible.
She had thought she was clever.
Maybe that was exactly what he wanted.
Gideon stopped.
“Where's the ledger?”
Sadie swallowed.
“I hid it.”
“Where?”
“At the ranch.”
“Where?”
“Inside the old stove.”
Gideon stared at her.
“The ranch is being watched.”
“I know.”
“So we can't go back.”
Sadie suddenly remembered another detail.
“Wait.”
“What?”
“There was a second book.”
Gideon turned.
“What second book?”
“The ledger I found wasn't complete.”
“How do you know?”
“Because there were missing pages.”
“How many?”
“Twenty-three.”
“Why do you remember that?”
“Because I counted them.”
Gideon stared.
Then he opened a drawer.
Inside was a single torn page.
He laid it on the table.
Sadie recognized the handwriting immediately.
Not hers.
Judd's.
It contained a list of names.
At the bottom was one sentence.
When Sadie finds the first book, bring her to North Ridge.
Sadie's blood ran cold.
“I never told Judd I found it.”
Gideon stared at the page.
“He expected you to.”
“That doesn't make sense.”
“It does if the whole thing was a trap.”
Sadie backed away.
“A trap for me?”
“No.”
Gideon looked at the wall.
“A trap for whoever found her.”
Silence.
Then something scraped against the tunnel door.
Gideon raised his rifle.
“Stay here.”
Sadie shook her head.
“No.”
“Sadie.”
“No more hiding.”
The sound came again.
Gideon moved toward the door.
He waited.
Then opened it.
Nothing.
Only darkness.
He stepped outside.
Sadie followed.
“Gideon.”
He raised one hand.
A body lay in the snow.
Male.
Face down.
Gideon crouched.
He turned the man over.
Sadie covered her mouth.
It was one of Judd's men.
A knife wound cut across his throat.
Gideon searched his coat.
Found a piece of paper.
Then stopped.
“What?”
He handed it to Sadie.
It contained only one line.
SHE IS NOT THE ONE JUDD IS AFRAID OF.
Sadie stared.
“What does that mean?”
Gideon turned the paper over.
A name had been written on the back.
Sadie's father's name.
Elias Bennett.
She stopped breathing.
“My father?”
Gideon looked at her.
“You said he was dead.”
“He is.”
The answer came too quickly.
Gideon heard it.
“So did Judd.”
Sadie looked up.
“What are you saying?”
Gideon folded the paper.
“I think your father is alive.”
“No.”
“You're sure?”
“Yes.”
“How?”
“Because I saw him die.”
“When?”
Sadie swallowed.
“When I was thirteen.”
She remembered blood.
Snow.
Her father lying beside the river.
She had spent years believing that memory.
But suddenly, for the first time, she wondered whether it had been a memory at all.
“What if I was wrong?” she whispered.
Gideon looked toward the mountains.
“Then someone has spent eight years making sure you stayed wrong.”
A distant bell rang.
Sadie frowned.
“What is that?”
Gideon's face hardened.
“Mine alarm.”
“But Black Hollow is abandoned.”
“Exactly.”
The bell rang again.
Then a third time.
Gideon grabbed his rifle.
“Someone just entered the mine.”
Sadie looked at him.
“Who?”
May you like
He stared at the darkness beyond the trees.
“I think we're about to find out.”
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