"No, numbers only tell on you."
The next afternoon, Hannah went back through every suspicious transaction from the previous 5 years.
She made a list.
At dusk, Nathan came in carrying snow on his shoulders.
She did not look up.
"Wash your hands."
He stopped.
"What?"
"Then come here."
Something in her voice made him obey.
When he sat down, she pushed a sheet across the table.
Seven questionable cattle sales, three duplicated freight charges, two grazing leases with altered amounts, and one name appearing beside nearly every one of them.
Nathan read it.
His face hardened.
"Calvin Mercer."
Hannah nodded.
"You know him well."
"Everybody knows Mercer."
"That wasn't my question."
Nathan leaned back.
"He brokers livestock, arranges freight, buys notes, knows the men at the county office."
"Do you trust him?"
Nathan looked at the paper again.
"I did."
Hannah gathered the receipts and tied them with string.
"Then I think we've found the first person worth asking harder questions."
Nathan watched her knot the bundle.
Outside, the wind moved along the eaves.
Inside, Hannah placed Calvin Mercer's name at the top of a fresh page and underlined it once.
Nathan said nothing, but he pulled his chair closer to the table.
Three days later, Samuel and Peter Whitaker rode through the Black Pine gate just after noon.
Hannah saw them from the kitchen window.
Samuel was in front on the bay gelding that had once belonged to their father.
Peter followed on a smaller sorrel, shoulders hunched against the cold.
Neither man looked comfortable.
Hannah dried her hands on a flour-sack towel.
Nathan was outside near the barn with Ben Shaw and two ranch hands, working on a broken gate hinge.
Samuel dismounted first.
Peter stayed in the saddle a moment longer.
Nathan looked toward the house.
Their eyes met through the window.
He did not move.
He waited.
That helped more than Hannah wanted it to.
She stepped outside.
The wind carried the smell of snow from the hills.
Samuel removed his hat.
"Hannah."
"Samuel."
Peter finally climbed down.
"Afternoon."
Hannah nodded once.
She did not invite them inside.
Samuel looked past her at the house, the barn, the corral.
"Place is bigger than I figured."
Hannah folded her arms.
"Did you ride 12 miles to admire the fences?"
Samuel's mouth tightened.
"We came to talk."
"Then talk."
Peter shifted his weight.
Samuel glanced toward Nathan.
Nathan had gone back to the hinge.
He was close enough to hear if voices rose, but far enough away not to crowd them.
Samuel cleared his throat.
"You've had time to cool off."
Hannah almost smiled.
"Have I?"
"We all said things."
"I remember who said what."
Peter looked down.
Samuel pushed on.
"The ranch is still your home."
"No."
"Hannah."
"No."
The word came out quiet.
Samuel's face reddened.
"We're your brothers."
That did not seem to trouble you much on the road.
Peter finally spoke.
"Things have been bad."
Hannah looked at him.