Chapter 9
“Silas died bringing this to me.”
Jedodiah stared at her.
Then nodded.
They searched the floor.
Near the stove, Matilda noticed one plank with no visible nails.
Jedodiah wedged his knife beneath it.
The board lifted.
Underneath was an iron ring.
He pulled.
A hidden trapdoor opened.
Cold black air rose from below.
Stone steps disappeared underground.
Jedodiah lit a lantern.
“Stay behind me.”
They descended.
The chamber below was not a mine.
It was a vault.
Wooden crates lined the walls.
Documents sat sealed inside metal boxes.
A desk stood beneath twenty years of dust.
On it rested a leather-bound ledger.
Matilda opened it.
Names.
Payments.
Land claims.
Judges.
Sheriffs.
Politicians.
Bribes stretching back decades.
Jedodiah stared over her shoulder.
“This could hang half the powerful men in Colorado.”
Matilda's hands trembled.
Then she noticed another envelope.
Across its front, faded but unmistakable, someone had written:
FOR MY DAUGHTER MATILDA.
Her knees nearly gave way.
She tore it open.
Inside was a letter.
My dearest little girl,
If you are reading this, then I failed to live long enough to hold you.
Matilda stopped.
Tears blurred the words.
Jedodiah stood silently beside her.
She continued.
I have made enemies because I refused to let men steal what belongs to ordinary families. They believe this is about silver. Let them believe it.
Matilda looked toward the crates.
She read further.
The true treasure of Black Ridge is not beneath the mountain.
It is proof.
Proof that men who built fortunes from stolen claims murdered those who opposed them.
If anything happens to me, the evidence belongs to you.
Not the mine.
Not the silver.
The truth.
Matilda's hands shook.
Then she reached the final paragraph.
And there is one more truth your mother must never tell you unless it becomes necessary.
Matilda stopped breathing.
Footsteps sounded overhead.
Jedodiah extinguished the lantern.
Voices entered the cabin.
Abigail.
“Find the trapdoor!”
Matilda clutched the letter.
Jedodiah whispered, “We need another way out.”
A faint draft touched Matilda's cheek.
She turned.
At the rear of the vault was a narrow tunnel.
They hurried toward it.
Behind them, the trapdoor opened.
Lantern light spilled down the stairs.
“There!” Abigail screamed.
Jedodiah pushed Matilda into the tunnel.
They ran bent beneath the low stone ceiling.
Gunfire cracked behind them.
The passage climbed sharply.
Matilda's lungs burned.
Finally Jedodiah shoved against a wooden barrier.
It burst outward.