PART 7 — THE DEAD MAN WHO SENT A MESSAGE

Nobody moved.

The rider remained outside the cabin, his silhouette barely visible through the morning fog.

“Repeat what you said,” Judson ordered.

The man shifted uneasily in his saddle.

“Robert Hale sent me. He says the children must not go to the freight station.”

Daniel stepped toward the door.

“Where is he?”

“I don’t know.”

“Who gave you the message?”

“A man at the eastern crossing.”

“What man?”

“He called himself Elias.”

Daniel exchanged a glance with Judson.

Judson’s expression had changed.

Not to fear.

Something worse.

Recognition.

Josie noticed it immediately.

“You know that name.”

Judson didn’t answer.

“Judson.”

He looked at her.

“I knew a man named Elias once.”

“Who was he?”

“Robert’s closest associate before everything fell apart.”

Daniel’s face tightened.

“You told me Robert trusted only you.”

“I said I was his closest friend. I never said I was his only friend.”

Amos moved toward the window.

“We cannot stay here.”

Judson nodded.

He looked at the rider.

“Tell Elias we’ll meet him at the old chapel before sunset.”

The rider hesitated.

“He said you would say that.”

Judson went still.

“What?”

The man reached inside his coat and produced a sealed envelope.

“He told me to give you this only if you agreed to meet him.”

Judson took the envelope.

The seal bore a symbol Josie had seen before: a small black circle crossed by three lines.

The mark of the Black Ledger.

Judson broke the seal.

Inside was a single sheet of paper.

He read it once.

Then again.

His face became unreadable.

“What does it say?” Josie asked.

Judson folded the letter.

“Nothing useful.”

Daniel stepped forward.

“Let me see it.”

“No.”

The word came too quickly.

Daniel’s hand went to his revolver.

“After seventeen years of secrets, you’re still deciding what the rest of us are allowed to know?”

Judson met his gaze.

“I am deciding whether this information gets you killed before noon.”

“Then tell us enough to make our own decision.”

For several seconds, the two men stared at each other.

Finally, Judson placed the letter on the table.

Josie read it aloud.

Judson,

If you are reading this, then Amos has failed to keep the children hidden, and you have failed to remain out of the past.

Robert is alive.

But the man who survived the crash is no longer the man you remember.

Do not bring the children to the freight station.

Do not trust Samuel Mercer.

And whatever you do, do not let Josie see the second ledger.

You know what happened the last time a Hale child saw it.

—Elias

The room fell silent.

Josie looked up.

“The second ledger?”

Amos sank into a chair.

“Oh, God.”

Daniel turned toward him.

“What do you know?”

Amos rubbed his face.

“Robert kept two ledgers. The first contained the payments and the names of the men involved. The second contained the people those men had threatened, bribed, or forced into silence.”

“Why would that matter to Josie?” Daniel asked.

Amos looked at her.

“Because your mother believed the second ledger could destroy the Black Ledger from within.”

Josie felt a chill.

“What does that have to do with me?”

“Your name was in it.”

“Why?”

Amos hesitated.

“Because someone had arranged for you to disappear long before Robert’s death.”

Josie stared at him.

“You’re saying someone planned to take me?”

“Yes.”

“Who?”

Amos looked toward Judson.

Judson answered quietly.

“Samuel Mercer.”

Daniel slammed his fist against the table.

“Then we go to the chapel. We find Elias. We get the truth.”

“No,” Judson said.

Daniel rounded on him.

“You don’t command me.”

“Then stop acting like a man who thinks courage means walking into an ambush.”

Josie stepped between them.

“Enough.”

Both men fell silent.

She looked at the letter again.

Do not let Josie see the second ledger.

She had spent her entire life being protected from truths that eventually destroyed her anyway.

She would not allow it to happen again.

“We go to the chapel,” she said. “All of us.”

Judson looked at her.

“You don’t know what you’re asking.”

“No. But I’m tired of being the only person in the room who doesn’t know what everyone else is afraid of.”

He studied her for a long moment.

Then he nodded.

“Before sunset.”

The old chapel stood in a clearing between two ridges.

Its roof had partially collapsed, and snow had drifted through the broken windows. A weather-beaten cross leaned above the entrance.

Judson arrived first.

Daniel followed with Amos.

Josie rode behind them, her fingers gripping the saddle.

The place stirred something in her memory.

A bell.

A woman’s voice.

The scent of candle wax.

She had been here before.

She was certain of it.

“Wait,” she whispered.

Judson stopped.

“What is it?”

Josie looked at the chapel doors.

“I remember this place.”

Daniel turned toward her.

“From when?”

“I don’t know. I was very young.”

She slid down from the horse.

Near the entrance, a small flower had been carved into the wooden frame.

The same flower she had found on the trunk in the hidden chamber.

Josie touched it.

A memory surfaced.

Elizabeth kneeling before her.

A blue dress.

A small hand pressed against a cold wooden door.

If anything happens, remember the flower.

Josie gasped.

Judson caught her elbow.

“What did you see?”

“My mother.”

Before he could ask anything else, a bell rang inside the chapel.

Once.

Twice.

Then a third time.

The door opened.

An elderly man stood in the darkness.

His hair was silver, his face deeply lined, and one side of his mouth had been twisted by an old injury.

He looked at Judson.

“You took your time.”

Judson’s face hardened.

“Elias.”

The old man nodded.

Then his eyes moved to Daniel.

“Robert’s son.”

Finally, he looked at Josie.

His expression crumbled.

“Elizabeth’s daughter.”

Josie stepped forward.

“You knew my mother?”

Elias bowed his head.

“I was there the night she brought you here.”

“Why?”

“To hide you.”

“From whom?”

Elias looked toward the mountains.

“From the man who paid your father to betray her.”

Josie froze.

“My father?”

“Not Amos.”

He paused.

“Your real father.”

A terrible silence followed.

Daniel moved beside his sister.

“What are you saying?”

Elias opened the chapel door wider.

“Come inside. There is something you must see.”

Behind him, an oil lamp illuminated a table.

On it lay a black leather book.

A second ledger.

And beside it, a photograph of Robert Hale.

He was older than the man in the photograph Josie carried.

His hair was streaked with gray.

His face was scarred.

But he was unmistakably alive.

Josie reached for the photograph.

On the back were four words.

I AM STILL YOUR FATHER.

Then Elias locked the chapel door.

“We have very little time,” he whispered.

“Because Samuel Mercer knows you’re here.”

Outside, a rifle cocked.

A voice called through the broken window.

“Open the door, Elias.”

Samuel Mercer had arrived.