Locked. They went out the front before we got here. How long between when I saw the light and when I knocked on your door, she said. You knocked fast. Roberto said, "Maybe less." So, whoever it was had seen or heard her coming and moved fast and quiet and knowing where the door was, which meant someone who had been here before or had scoped the barn in daylight, Martha pushed herself to her feet and looked at the barn and tried to think.
Mr. Boon left this morning for the county seat she cemented. Is that something people in town would know? Roberto and Miguel exchanged a look. Word gets around, Miguel said carefully.
Martha nodded. Someone had waited for Silas to leave. Someone had known the layout of the barn and known about the sled and nor guessed that she kept her work materials under it when she was mid-repair. That last part was either very good intelligence or very good luck and she did not believe in luck when it came to Walter Crane. We need to ride for Mr.
Boon, she said. It's 2:00 in the morning. Roberto said, I know what time it is. She said Crane's man just took the most important piece of documentation I have. If I can't get it back before Crane has time to destroy it or alter it, I lose months of work and Henry loses.
She stopped. She breathed. I lose everything I've been building. The Delgato brothers looked at each other again. This look was different from the last one.
It was the look of two men who had just decided something. All right, Miguel said. You can't ride in the dark on. Roberto started. I know that road, Miguel said.
I've ridden it at night before. I'll take the gray. She's steady. He was already moving toward the stalls. Martha caught his arm as he passed her.
Tell him what happened, she said. Tell him about the notebook and tell him. Tell him it was Henry's. He'll know why it matters. Miguel nodded.