Chapter 3 - The Coffin Beneath the GallowsThe dead man's escape revealed that someone had planned everything long before Ariel arrived.
Ariel barely had time to understand what had happened.
The crowd exploded into chaos.
People screamed.
Horses reared.
Deputies drew their guns.
Smoke rolled across the gallows platform.
Briggs shouted orders.
"Find him!"
Ariel was shoved backward.
Then someone grabbed her wrist.
She screamed.
Gerard.
He pulled her beneath the gallows.
"Move!"
"But you're alive!"
"For now."
They disappeared into the opening beneath the wooden platform.
Ariel stumbled down rough steps.
The darkness swallowed them.
Behind them came shouting.
"They went underground!"
Gerard slammed a heavy wooden door shut.
"Quiet."
Ariel pressed a hand over her mouth.
Footsteps thundered above.
Gerard leaned against the wall.
Blood darkened his shoulder.
"You were shot."
"Graze."
"You almost died."
"So did you."
"I was your wife for less than an hour."
"You've had a busy marriage."
Despite herself, Ariel nearly laughed.
Then she noticed the strange room around them.
There were wooden crates.
Lanterns.
Old mining tools.
And six pine coffins.
Ariel's face went pale.
"What is this place?"
Gerard followed her gaze.
"The county morgue."
"Under the gallows?"
"Briggs keeps prisoners' bodies here before they are buried."
Ariel looked closer.
One coffin was open.
Inside lay a man.
Deputy Wilson.
The supposed victim Gerard had murdered.
Ariel stepped toward him.
"He's dead."
"Yes."
She stared at the wound.
"Shot in the chest."
Gerard shook his head.
"Look at his hands."
Ariel leaned closer.
There were red stains around his fingertips.
"Blood?"
"Not his."
Gerard pointed to the victim's fingernails.
Gold dust clung beneath them.
Ariel's breath caught.
"Black Ridge."
"Exactly."
Gerard opened another coffin.
Deputy Harris.
Same gold dust.
Ariel stepped backward.
"The sheriff claimed you killed them."
"I found them trying to steal from my valley."
"And then?"
"They attacked me."
He paused.
"I didn't kill them."
"Who did?"
Gerard's face became grim.
"Briggs."
Ariel looked toward the ceiling.
"Why stage your execution?"
"Because dead men don't testify."
She understood.
"But you escaped."
"Someone helped me."
"Who?"
Gerard didn't answer.
Ariel felt a chill.
"What?"
"That's the problem."
He pulled a folded paper from inside his boot.
"This was hidden inside Wilson's coat."
Ariel unfolded it.
It was a list of names.
Merchants.
Miners.
Lawmen.
Politicians.
Next to several names were numbers.
Large numbers.
"What is this?"
"Bribes."
Her stomach twisted.
At the bottom was a name that made her blood freeze.
Arthur Pendleton.
Ariel stared at it.
"No."
Gerard watched her.
"You knew him?"
"He was my fiancé."
"He wasn't just your fiancé."
"What are you saying?"
Gerard took the paper.
"Arthur was working for Briggs."
Ariel shook her head.
"He wrote me for two years."
"Why?"
"I don't know."
Gerard's expression softened slightly.
"You weren't supposed to come here."
"Then why did he send for me?"
"That's what we're going to find out."
Suddenly, a metallic sound echoed from the tunnel.
Gerard's head snapped toward the door.
Someone was coming.
Ariel whispered.
"More deputies?"
Gerard pulled a revolver.
"No."
"Then who?"
The footsteps stopped outside.
A key entered the lock.
Gerard raised his gun.
The door opened.
A woman stepped inside.
She was dressed in black.
Her face was hidden beneath a veil.
She looked at Ariel.
Then at Gerard.
"You're late," she whispered.
Gerard lowered his gun.
"Who are you?"
The woman removed her veil.
Ariel recognized her instantly.
Ruby, the owner of the Rusty Nail Saloon.
She tossed a leather satchel to Gerard.
"Arthur Pendleton wanted her brought here."
Ariel stared.
"You knew Arthur?"
Ruby nodded.
"He told me something about you three nights before he died."
"What?"
Ruby looked directly into Ariel's eyes.
"He said, 'When she arrives, Briggs will kill her unless Gerard marries her.'"
Ariel's skin prickled.
"He knew?"
Ruby nodded.
"And there's more."
She reached inside the satchel.
"A letter."
Ariel took it.
The handwriting was Arthur's.
Her hands shook as she opened it.
Only one sentence had been written.
Ariel, I am sorry I used you. But you are the only woman Briggs cannot easily murder.
Ariel stared.
Then the floor above them creaked.
Ruby looked toward the ceiling.
"He's here."
"Who?"
Ruby whispered:
"Briggs."
The sheriff's voice echoed through the tunnel.
"I know you're down there, Mountain Devil."
Gerard raised his gun.
Ruby grabbed Ariel's hand.
"You have ten seconds."
"Ten seconds for what?"
"To choose whether you trust the husband you married to save yourself..."
May you like
Ruby pointed toward a second tunnel.
"...or the dead man who sent you here to begin with."
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