Nathan’s eyes narrowed.
“You killed Mercer.”
“Prove it.”
Rusk looked at the captain.
“This man entered Copper Ridge using invalid federal papers, incited citizens against lawful authority, and assaulted officers.”
I stepped forward.
“He saved me from being whipped!”
Rusk looked almost bored.
“Local matter.”
Nathan laughed.
That caught everyone’s attention.
Rusk frowned.
“What?”
Nathan looked at the cavalry captain.
“Captain, did Rusk tell you why he needed forty soldiers?”
“To apprehend an armed fugitive and suppress an uprising.”
“Did he mention Victor Caldwell?”
The captain hesitated.
“No.”
Nathan nodded.
“Did he mention three men believed dead have just been recovered alive from an illegal mine?”
The captain stared.
Rusk’s hand moved toward his gun.
Nathan noticed.
So did I.
Then Samuel spoke.
“Captain.”
His voice was weak.
But the street was silent.
“I have something you should see.”
He reached inside his torn shirt.
Rusk drew.
Nathan moved.
A gunshot shattered the night.
Rusk staggered.
His revolver fell.
For one terrible instant, I thought Nathan had shot him.
Nathan’s gun was still holstered.
Rusk collapsed.
Behind him stood Victor Caldwell.
Smoke curled from Victor’s revolver.
Everyone stared.
Victor looked terrible.
Coat torn.
Hair wild.
Blood on one sleeve.
Rusk stared upward.
“You fool.”
Victor’s hand shook.
“You were going to hang everything on me.”
Rusk smiled through blood.
“You deserve it.”
Victor shot him again.
This time the cavalry seized Victor.
He did not resist.
As soldiers dragged him away, he looked toward me.
“I only wanted what was mine.”
I held Samuel’s deed beneath my coat.
“No.”
I looked at the town behind me.
“You wanted what belonged to everyone else.”
By morning, Copper Ridge belonged to itself again.
At least that was what we believed.
Rusk was dead.
Victor was in irons.
Samuel and the other prisoners were under a doctor’s care.
Nathan’s commission had indeed been temporarily suspended—but the cavalry captain discovered that the suspension order carried Rusk’s forged authorization.
Nathan was reinstated within weeks.
Victor Caldwell was transported to San Antonio to face federal charges.
Sheriff Rusk’s ledgers exposed a network stretching across three counties.
Copper Ridge celebrated.
People shook Samuel’s hand.
Martha baked enough pies to feed a regiment.
Jonah rang the church bell until the preacher threatened to shoot him.
And three weeks later, Samuel finally walked home beside me.
He stopped outside our rented room.
The landlord was waiting.
Samuel looked at me.
“Why is he smiling?”
“I don’t trust it either.”
The landlord removed his hat.
“Mrs. Hale. Mr. Hale.”
He handed Samuel an envelope.
Samuel opened it.
Then started laughing.
“What?”
He gave it to me.
The building had been constructed on land included within the Cedar claim.
Technically, our landlord had been collecting rent from us on our own property.
I laughed until I cried.
Samuel wrapped his arms around me.
“You know what this means?”
“No rent?”
“That too.”
He kissed my temple.
“But I promised you something.”
