Caleb's breathing changed when her fingers pressed his skin, but he held still. "You should have left when Reed told you," he said. "So Boon could shoot me beside the road. " "So you would not be caught in this? " Clara tied the bandage and met his eyes. "I was caught in it before you arrived. " His hand closed gently around her wrist. Neither moved.
A hard knock struck the front door. Caleb released her and reached for his gun. "Who is it? " "Deputy Miller. " "Sheriff needs you. " Caleb opened the door only after Clara recognized Miller's voice. The young deputy stood outside, breath smoking in the cold. Sheriff Reed had disappeared.
So had every copied statement from his locked desk. Caleb took his coat and ordered Clara to bar the door behind him. An hour later, Clara heard Caleb's three knock signal. She unlocked the door. Silas Boon pushed Caleb's bloodied body across the threshold and aimed a revolver at her chest.
Boon kicked the door shut behind him. "Give me the ledger page. " Clara kept her eyes on Caleb. Blood ran from his hairline, but his chest still rose. His right hand lay near his belt, two fingers tapping once against the floor. He was awake.
"I burned it," she said. Boon pressed the revolver beneath her chin. "You were never good at lying. " The sheriff searched your desk, Clara said. "Why would he help you? " A thin smile pulled at Boon's mouth. Reed has been helping me for 8 years.
Your deputy found the trail after his brother's barn burned. That circle meant Caleb was next. Caleb's fingers stopped moving. Clara drew one slow breath. "The page is in the bedroom quilt. " Boon pushed her toward the room.
The brass key waited in her pocket. She unlocked the door and stepped aside. Boon entered first, keeping his weapon pointed backward at Caleb. Clara dropped low, drove her shoulder against Boon's back, and slammed the door between them. The key turned.
Boon fired through the wood. The bullet crossed the kitchen and shattered the lamp. Clara crawled through darkness, caught Caleb beneath the arms, and dragged him toward the rear door. Behind them, Boon struck the bedroom door with his boot. "The stable," Caleb whispered.
Cold air cut across Clara's face as they stumbled outside. She had almost reached the horse pen when Sheriff Reed stepped from behind the cottonwood tree with a shotgun. "I told you to leave town," he said. The bedroom door broke open inside the house. Boon emerged, limping, his revolver raised.
"Shoot them. " Reed's gun remained fixed on Clara, yet sweat shone along his forehead despite the cold. A voice came from the darkness beyond the pen. "Drop it, Sheriff. " Deputy Miller stood beside two ranchers, all three holding rifles. Miller had followed Reed from town after finding mud from Caleb's yard on the sheriff's boots. Reed swung his shotgun toward them.