A small metal plate hung beneath the lock.
PROPERTY TRANSFER PENDING.
Norah’s heart sank.
“Pending what?”
She looked closer.
There was another name.
Dry Willow Settlement.
Caleb stared.
“That’s impossible.”
“No.”
Norah’s voice was barely audible.
“It’s not impossible.”
She remembered the auction.
The contract.
The clerk.
The debt.
Mercer’s words.
Your rescuer was buying replacement water pipe.
Then another memory surfaced.
Mercer had smiled when Caleb spent his savings.
He hadn’t looked surprised.
He had looked satisfied.
Norah stood.
“He wanted you broke.”
Caleb stared at her.
“Why?”
“Because you’re the last person standing between him and Dry Willow.”
They returned at sunset.
The settlement was strangely quiet.
Too quiet.
Ruth Danner met them outside the cookhouse.
“Caleb.”
He stopped.
“What happened?”
She looked at Norah.
Then back at him.
“Three men came through.”
“When?”
“An hour ago.”
“What did they want?”
“They asked about you.”
Caleb’s hand moved toward his pistol.
“Where are they?”
“Gone.”
Norah noticed something on Ruth’s face.
Fear.
But not fear for herself.
Fear for someone else.
“Ruth,” Norah said gently.
“What?”
“You know something.”
Ruth looked away.
“I know more than I should.”
Caleb stepped closer.
“Tell us.”
Ruth sighed.
“Mercer has been buying land around Dry Willow for years.”
“We knew that.”
“No.”
Ruth’s voice trembled.
“You didn’t.”
She looked toward the settlement.
“Every time a ranch failed because of drought, Mercer offered to buy it.”
Caleb said nothing.
“Every time someone couldn’t pay him, he took another piece.”
She swallowed.
“Your ranch is the last large property he doesn’t own.”
Caleb’s face hardened.
“And the water?”
Ruth looked at Norah.
“That’s why.”
Norah understood.
The water wasn’t merely water.
It was property.
Whoever controlled the spring controlled the settlement.
Mercer didn’t need to kill Dry Willow.
He only needed to let it become thirsty.
Then he could buy everything.
Norah whispered, “But why the auction?”
Ruth looked confused.
“What auction?”
“The woman Mercer sold this morning.”
Ruth stared at Norah.
Then at Caleb.
“He didn’t sell you.”
Norah’s blood ran cold.
“What?”
Ruth stepped closer.
“Mercer had no legal claim over you.”
Norah shook her head.
“I had a labor debt.”
“To whom?”
“Mercer.”
Ruth’s eyes filled with pity.
“No.”
Norah felt the world tilt.
“The debt wasn’t yours.”
Caleb stepped between them.
“Explain.”
Ruth looked at him.
“Mercer bought the debt from a man who died last winter.”
Norah’s heart pounded.
“Who?”
Ruth whispered the name.
“Jonas Bell.”
Everything inside Norah went still.
Her father’s name.
Again.
Always her father’s name.
“No.”
Ruth nodded.
“Your father owed Mercer money.”
“For what?”
Ruth hesitated.
“For the water.”
Norah backed away.
“My father died twelve years ago.”
“Yes.”
“Then how could he owe him?”
