Chapter 16 - The Deed Nobody Wanted.
For a full minute, no one spoke after Elias read the deed.
Clara stood beneath the smoke-stained ceiling of the bedroom she had tended for weeks and stared at a legal sentence that had changed the meaning of every wall around her.
Blackthorn House belonged to Daniel Vale.
If Daniel was legally dead, it belonged to Clara.
Daniel was alive.
That should have simplified the matter.
It did not.
"I do not want it."
Clara's answer came before anyone asked what she intended to do.
Silas stared at her.
"You understand what that document says?"
"Perfectly."
"The land alone is worth a fortune."
"It was bought with money taken from other people."
Clara looked toward her father.
"I do not want a fortune built from the same theft that ruined our family."
Daniel's eyes filled with something like pride and sorrow at once.
"The deed was not meant as a gift."
"Then what was it?"
"Restitution."
Daniel touched the edge of the paper.
"Gideon knew the western land purchases had been funded with diverted company money."
Elias frowned.
"How much of Blackthorn was purchased that way?"
"More than the house."
Daniel's voice turned grim.
"Nearly all the southern timber acreage."
Silas looked away.
Elias noticed.
"You knew."
Silas gave a tired nod.
"Not the full amount."
"That phrase has protected you often."
"Not anymore."
Sheriff Cole entered with Charles Weller behind him.
The attorney looked as if he had not slept.
He carried a leather folio and avoided everyone's eyes.
Clara held up the deed.
"Is this valid?"
Weller examined the seal, signatures, and witness marks.
His face changed as he read.
"It appears authentic."
"Appears?"
"A deed this old should have been recorded at the county office."
"Was it?"
Weller hesitated.
"Not under Daniel Vale's name."
Silas seized on the answer.
"Then it is worthless."
Weller shook his head.
"Not necessarily."
"You told me unrecorded transfers could be challenged."
"Challenged is not the same as worthless."
Clara looked between them.
"You discussed this kind of deed before?"
Weller's silence was answer enough.
Elias's expression hardened.
"Charles."
Weller rubbed one hand across his face.
"Silas asked me years ago what would happen if an unrecorded deed surfaced after Gideon's death."
Clara turned toward Silas.
"You knew the deed existed."
"I knew Gideon had threatened to sign one."
"And you tried to gain guardianship of Elias before it appeared."
Silas looked at the damaged floor.
"Yes."
Elias laughed once, without amusement.
"Every explanation you give makes the last one worse."
Weller placed the deed on the table.
"There is another problem."
Clara almost smiled from exhaustion.
"Of course there is."
"If Daniel Vale is alive, he must establish his identity legally."
Daniel nodded.
"I can."
"Then creditors, former partners, and the Mercer company may challenge the transfer."
"Let them."
Clara looked at her father.
"The truth should survive daylight if it is worth anything."
Before Weller could answer, Sheriff Cole handed Elias a telegram.
"This arrived from Ashbury."
Elias opened it.
His expression became unreadable.
Clara stepped closer.
"What?"
He handed her the message.
MILES HARLAN MERCER HAS APPEARED AT COUNTY COURT WITH COUNSEL.
CLAIMS LAWFUL INTEREST IN MERCER ESTATE.
REQUESTS IMMEDIATE HEARING.
Clara stared at it.
"He ran from the sheriff and then walked into court?"
Cole's jaw tightened.
"Under guard."
"Why would he surrender?"
Elias looked at the deed.
"Because he believes the law can still give him what fire and poison could not."
Silas shook his head.
"No."
Everyone turned.
"Miles does not care about Blackthorn."
"He committed half a dozen crimes around it."
Clara's patience was gone.
Silas pointed at the deed.
"He cares about the railroad shares attached to Gideon's estate."
Elias frowned.
"Those shares were left to me."
"Most of them."
Silas looked sick.
"There was a codicil."
Elias went still.
"What codicil?"
"Gideon signed it before he died."
"Naming Miles?"
Silas nodded.
"One-third of his personal rail holdings."
Clara stared at him.
"And you hid it."
"Gideon told me to destroy it the next morning."
"Did you?"
"I thought I did."
Elias's eyes narrowed.
"Miles has it."
Silas looked toward the window.
"Apparently."
The next morning, they traveled to Ashbury.
Elias rode in a padded carriage with Clara beside him.
Daniel sat opposite them.
Silas rode under deputy supervision.
Ruth followed with Jonah's old coat folded in her lap, still adjusting to the fact that Jonah Reed no longer existed.
The courthouse steps were crowded when they arrived.
Word had spread through three counties that the Mercer family was fighting over Blackthorn, a hidden heir, and a woman once believed to be the daughter of a thief.
Clara hated the staring.
Elias noticed.
"You can wait inside."
"No."
"You do not owe these people a performance."
"Neither do you."
She looked at his crutches.
"Yet here we are."
Inside the courtroom, Miles sat beside a Richmond attorney.
His wrists were cuffed.
He wore a clean black suit.
He looked almost exactly like Doctor Pike again.
Almost.
When Clara entered, he smiled.
When Elias entered, the smile disappeared.
The judge called the room to order.
Miles's attorney stood.
"My client will establish that Gideon Mercer legally recognized him as a beneficiary before death."
He placed a sealed document on the clerk's table.
Weller examined it.
Silas examined it.
Elias read it last.
Then he looked at Miles.
"It is real."
A murmur spread through the courtroom.
Clara felt the next blow coming.
Elias continued.
"My father did leave Miles one-third of his railroad shares."
May you like
Miles leaned back in his chair.
For the first time since the fire, he looked victorious.
