Josie did not remember climbing onto the wagon.
She remembered Silas shouting instructions.
She remembered Wyatt trying to reassure her.
She remembered Sheriff Cobb saying Clara and Ruth had disappeared sometime after the younger children walked to the neighboring Mercer farm for milk.
But all of it seemed to happen somewhere far away.
Only one thought felt real.
My girls.
Clara was twelve.
Sharp-tongued, clever Clara, who noticed everything and trusted almost no one.
Ruth was eight.
Small and soft-hearted, terrified of thunderstorms and convinced every injured creature could be saved.
Someone had taken them.
Josie's hands clenched until her fingernails cut her palms.
Silas rode beside the wagon.
"Josie."
She looked at him.
"We'll find them."
"Don't promise things you can't promise."
His jaw tightened.
"Fair enough."
They reached the cabin shortly before noon.
The kitchen was chaos.
Seth was sobbing.
Pearl wailed in Levi's arms.
Amos stood near the door clutching a fireplace poker.
Their neighbor, Mrs. Mercer, kept repeating that she had only looked away for twenty minutes.
Josie gathered the children against her.
"Tell me everything."
Levi spoke first.
"Clara said she'd stay because Ruth tore her dress."
"When did you leave?"
"Maybe nine."
"Anybody around?"
"I saw a rider near the ridge."
Silas turned.
"What horse?"
"Bay. White front foot."
Silas's expression darkened.
"You know it?" Josie asked.
"Maybe."
He crouched near the door.
The broken-circle paper had been pinned with a blacksmith nail.
Silas smelled it.
"Coal oil."
He walked toward the northern fence.
Josie followed.
"You staying here."
She stared at him.
"No."
"Tracks are rough."
"I don't care."
"You have five children here."
"And two somewhere out there."
Silas looked toward Wyatt.
The boy immediately said, "I'll stay with them."
Josie shook her head.
"Wyatt—"
"Mama. Go."
There was fear in his eyes.
But also determination.
"I'll protect them."
Josie kissed his forehead.
Then she looked at Silas.
"Get me a horse."
He did.
They followed the tracks north.
Josie had not ridden much since Pearl's birth.
Her body protested every mile.
Her broad thighs ached.
Her lower back burned.
Silas asked twice if she needed to stop.
She refused.
They climbed toward a narrow canyon above the Dalton tract.
The horse tracks became clearer.
One animal.
Three riders.
"Both girls on one horse?" Josie asked.
"Probably."
"Then they can't be far."
"Unless another horse was waiting."
She hated the calmness of his answers.
But she understood why he gave them.
Silas refused to comfort her with lies.
By late afternoon they reached an abandoned prospector's shack.
Silas raised one hand.
Josie stopped.
Smoke drifted from the chimney.
He dismounted.
She followed.
"Stay behind me."
"For once, I'll listen."
He drew his revolver.
They approached silently.
A man's voice came from inside.
"Your mama should've left when she had the chance."
Josie's heart exploded.
She rushed toward the door.
Silas grabbed her.
"Wait."
"That's my daughter."
"I know."
He pointed toward the rear of the cabin.
A second horse stood tied beneath the trees.
More than one man.
Silas moved around the building.
Josie remained near the front, shaking.
Then she heard Ruth crying.
"Mama!"
Everything inside Josie snapped.
She charged.
Her shoulder hit the door.
The wood flew inward.
A thin man near the stove whirled around.
Clara and Ruth sat tied together in the corner.
"Mom!"
The man reached for a pistol.
Josie did not think.
She grabbed the iron kettle from the stove.
It was heavy.
Scalding water sloshed across her hand.
She swung anyway.
The kettle struck the man's wrist.
His pistol dropped.
He screamed.
Josie hit him again.
This time in the shoulder.
He crashed against the table.
Another man burst from the back room.
Then Silas came through the rear door.
The second kidnapper froze.
Silas's revolver rested against his chest.
"Don't."
The man didn't.
The entire fight lasted perhaps ten seconds.
To Josie, it felt like an hour.
She dropped the kettle and ran to her daughters.
Clara buried her face against Josie's chest.
Ruth screamed and sobbed.
Josie wrapped both girls in her thick arms.
"I'm here. Mama's here."
Silas tied the kidnappers.
One was named Virgil Kane.
The other, Daniel Pike.
Both were known as occasional mine laborers.
Silas searched them.
In Kane's pocket he found twelve dollars and a note.
KEEP THEM UNTIL WEDNESDAY. NO HARM. SHE WILL SIGN.
No signature.
But the paper came from Oak Haven Bank.
The same blue-lined stationery Reed used for loan notices.
Josie stared at it.
"That's enough."
"Maybe."
"Maybe?"
"Reed will say it was stolen."
"I'll make him admit it."
Silas looked at her.
"How?"
"I haven't decided."
For the first time in two days, Clara spoke.
"There's something else."
Josie turned.
"What?"
Clara pointed toward the back room.
"They kept asking me where Papa hid his journal."
Silas's eyes narrowed.
"What journal?"
"I don't know. They said Papa found something and wrote down where it was."
Josie looked at Silas.
"Arthur didn't keep a journal."
Clara wiped her face.
"Maybe he did."
They searched the shack.
Nothing.
Then Ruth whispered, "The scary man said Mr. Reed would be mad."
Everyone froze.
Silas crouched in front of her.
"Which scary man?"
"The one who came before."
"What did he look like?"
Ruth sniffled.
"Gray coat. Gold watch."
Josie's stomach turned.
Clement Reed always wore a gray coat.
And a gold watch.
"When?"
"After they brought us. He yelled at them."
"What did he say?"
Ruth struggled to remember.
"He said... find the book before Boone finds the hole."
Silas stood.
"The hole."
Josie thought of Arthur's map.
The ravine.
The X.
They returned home after dark.
Sheriff Cobb took custody of Kane and Pike.
Josie did not trust him completely, but Silas warned him that if either prisoner disappeared, territorial marshals in Denver would hear about it.
Cobb believed him.
After the children slept, Josie spread Arthur's papers across the table.
Silas sat opposite her.
"What hole?"
He studied the map.
"Old prospect shaft maybe."
"There isn't one on our land."
"One you know about."
They searched until midnight.
Nothing.
Josie finally leaned back, exhausted.
"Arthur and I weren't happy at the end."
Silas stayed silent.
She stared at the dead man's receipts.
"He gambled because he always thought one lucky break would fix everything. We'd fight. He'd swear he'd stop. Then he'd disappear after payday."
"You don't have to explain him to me."
"I know."
She swallowed.
"But sometimes I wonder whether I should've been kinder."
Silas looked at her.
"Would kindness have stopped him gambling?"
"No."
"Then don't carry his choices."
The words hit harder than she expected.
Josie looked away.
"Your mother."
He became very still.
"You said someone should have helped her."
Silas stared toward the fire.
"My father died when I was eleven."
Josie waited.
"Debt collectors came."
His voice was almost emotionless.
"Took the cabin. Took the mule. Took our stove in December."
"My God."
"Town said the law was the law."
"What happened?"
"My mother worked laundry until her hands split. I trapped rabbits."
He rubbed his beard.
"My little sister got sick."
Josie understood before he finished.
"She died?"
"January."
Silence filled the cabin.
Silas continued.
"Mother made it till spring."
Josie reached across the table.
Her hand covered his.
He did not pull away.
For a long moment they said nothing.
Then Pearl began crying from the bedroom.
Josie stood.
As she lifted the baby, something fell from the blanket.
A small leather book.
Josie froze.
She picked it up.
Arthur Dalton's initials were stamped into the cover.
A.D.
Her hands shook.
"Where did this come from?"
She opened the book.
Pages of figures.
Mining notes.
Maps.
And near the back, a sentence underlined three times.
REED KNOWS ABOUT THE VEIN.
Silas came beside her.
Josie turned the page.
Arthur had written:
Found high-grade silver beneath north ravine. Enough to clear every debt ten times over. Reed offered $400 for land. Refused. He knows I have not filed mineral claim separately. If anything happens, Josie must file before Reed does.
Josie's knees weakened.
Silas caught her elbow.
She kept reading.
A final entry.
Three days before Arthur's death.
Reed threatened me today. Said men die underground every week and widows sign papers easily.
Josie looked up.
Silas's face had gone cold.
"Arthur's death wasn't an accident."
"We don't know that."
"You believe it."
"Yes."
The word landed heavily.
Then hoofbeats sounded outside.
Silas extinguished the lamp.
Josie clutched Pearl.
Someone rode past the cabin.
Slowly.
Once.
Twice.
Then a gunshot shattered the front window.
Silas shoved Josie to the floor.
The bullet buried itself in the wall exactly where Arthur's journal had been lying seconds earlier.
A voice shouted from the darkness.
"Burn the book, Widow Dalton!"
Then the rider disappeared into the night.
Silas picked up the journal.
"Tomorrow we file your claim."
Josie stared through the shattered window.
"No."
Silas looked at her.
She took Pearl back into her arms.
"Tomorrow we destroy Clement Reed."