Chapter 12
“What network?”
“The men who stole Black Ridge.”
Elias lit a lamp.
“In the beginning, it was simple claim fraud. Prospectors disappeared. Deeds changed hands. Witnesses were paid. Men who refused to cooperate had convenient accidents.”
Jedodiah's jaw tightened.
“M/u/rder.”
“Yes.”
Matilda went pale.
“How many?”
Elias looked away.
“More than I could prove.”
He opened another ledger.
“By 1855, Thatcher's father controlled nearly every profitable operation between Leadville and the southern ridge. But silver wasn't the greatest source of his power.”
“What was?”
“Land.”
Elias spread a map across the table.
Dozens of red marks covered it.
“Railroads were coming. Towns were expanding. Water rights became more valuable than ore. Thatcher's people stole farms, springs, grazing routes, and timber claims from anyone too poor to fight them.”
Matilda thought of Abigail's boarding house.
Of her expensive dresses.
Of the way she had spoken about “ordinary people.”
“So my father—your supposed d/e/@/th—was part of this?”
Elias's expression hardened.
“No.”
“Then why did Mother's letter say she was protecting me from you?”
He was silent.
That silence frightened Matilda more than any answer.
“Tell me.”
Elias sat down.
“Because your mother learned that I planned to expose them.”
“That doesn't explain it.”
“No.”
He looked directly at her.
“What explains it is what I became while trying.”
Jedodiah remained still.
Elias continued.
“When your mother met me, I believed justice meant dragging every guilty man into daylight. Then people began disappearing. Witnesses were threatened. Our friends were followed.”
His fingers curled.
“I stopped thinking like a husband.”
He paused.
“I started thinking like a man at war.”
Matilda's heart thudded.
“What did you do?”
“I threatened Thatcher.”
“With what?”
“With everything I had.”
“No.”
Matilda leaned forward.
“What did you do?”
Elias finally answered.
“I told him that if anything happened to your mother or you, I would bring enough dynamite into his largest mine to bury his fortune under a mountain.”
Jedodiah's eyes narrowed.
Matilda stared.
“You threatened to k/i/ll men?”
“I threatened worse than I intended because I wanted him afraid.”
Her voice went cold.
“And Mother heard you.”
“Yes.”
“She thought you had become like them.”
“Yes.”
Matilda stepped backward.
The room felt smaller.
Elias spoke quickly.
“I never did it.”
“But you were willing to frighten her with it.”
“I was foolish.”
“You were dangerous.”
“Yes.”
Again, he refused to defend himself.
That made her anger harder to hold.