Chapter 7
“Where?”
Silas looked at him.
“Black Ridge.”
The cabin suddenly seemed unnaturally quiet.
Matilda whispered, “This mountain?”
Silas nodded.
“Most of Harrow's claim disappeared through forged deeds after his death. Your mother ran because she knew they'd come after the child next.”
Matilda's knees weakened.
Jedodiah caught her arm.
“Who forged the deeds?” he asked.
Silas looked at Matilda.
“The Thatcher family.”
Matilda stared.
“Abigail?”
“Her father.”
The cruelty.
The wages.
The constant insistence that Matilda was worthless.
Suddenly everything looked different.
“Did Abigail know who I was?”
Silas nodded.
“She recognized you the day you came to Leadville.”
Matilda felt physically sick.
“She kept me there deliberately?”
“To watch you.”
“Why?”
Silas pointed toward the locket.
“Open the back.”
Matilda examined it.
There was a tiny seam.
Jedodiah handed her his knife.
She pressed the blade carefully into the edge.
The backing popped loose.
A folded scrap of paper fell onto her palm.
Matilda unfolded it.
It contained numbers.
Survey coordinates.
Jedodiah leaned closer.
His face changed.
“What?”
He took the paper.
“These coordinates…”
He walked to a shelf and pulled down an old survey map.
After several seconds, he placed one enormous finger on a spot.
Matilda's heart stopped.
The coordinates pointed directly beneath Jedodiah's cabin.
Silas gave a weak laugh.
“Harrow's last claim.”
Jedodiah looked down at the floorboards.
Matilda whispered, “There's silver beneath this house?”
“More than silver,” Silas said.
Before he could explain, a gunshot shattered the window.
Jedodiah threw Matilda to the floor.
Glass exploded across the room.
A second bullet struck the fireplace.
“Stay down!”
Jedodiah grabbed his rifle.
Outside, horses screamed.
A voice echoed through the trees.
“BOON!”
Matilda recognized it.
Abigail Thatcher.
Jedodiah looked through the broken window.
Six armed men surrounded the cabin.
Abigail sat on horseback between them, wrapped in a black fur coat.
Her smile was gone.
“Send the woman outside!”
Jedodiah cocked his rifle.
“No.”
Abigail's eyes narrowed.
“You don't understand what you're protecting.”
“I understand enough.”
“This isn't your fight.”
Jedodiah glanced at Matilda.
Something passed between them.
“No,” he said quietly.
“It is now.”
Abigail raised her voice.
“Matilda! Silas has filled your head with lies!”
Matilda stood despite Jedodiah's warning.
She approached the doorway.
“You knew my mother?”
Abigail's face changed.
Only slightly.
But Matilda saw it.
“You knew,” she whispered.
Abigail said nothing.
“You knew who I was the entire time.”
“You were nobody.”