The slight contraction around Croft's eyes that meant the situation had moved faster than he'd expected. My employer's attorney may contact Their attorney can contact William Sims in Harlo Creek. His office is above the hardware store. Gideon looked at Croft steadily. Is there anything else?
Croft held his gaze for a moment. He was reading Gideon the way Gideon was reading him. Assessing, calculating, deciding what the landscape was. She's in there, Croft said. Not quite a question.
This is private property, Gideon said. You're welcome to turn your horse around. Another moment. Then Croft looked at the house. A long look, not unfriendly, a look that was doing inventory.
And then he looked back at Gideon. Tell her Fletcher's patience is not unlimited, he said. Tell Fletcher that Montana has very clear laws about trespassing, Gideon said. And that the next time someone leaves a letter under my door, I'll consider it a threat and respond to it accordingly. Croft looked at him for a count of five.
Then he turned around and untied the horse and rode back down the road without hurrying, which was the move of a man who needed to demonstrate that he wasn't retreating even when he was. Gideon stood on the porch until the horse disappeared around the treeine. Then he went inside. Viven was in the kitchen doorway. She'd heard most of it.
The door was not thick. And she was holding Elsie's hand, and her face had the specific expression of someone who has been waiting a long time to know whether something they feared was going to materialize, and has now received an answer that is not resolution, but is something, a breathing space. "Is he gone? " she asked. For now, Fletcher won't stop at one visit. I know.
He came inside and closed the door. That's why Sims is filing with Hartley tomorrow morning. We get the documentation in front of a judge before Fletcher can get his version there, and we make it Hartley's problem. Hartley doesn't like being maneuvered, and he doesn't like men from back east who think their money extends past the Missouri River. She looked at him for a moment.