Chapter 4 - The Locked Cabinet.
Clara did not breathe until the stranger moved away from the cabinet.
The darkness hid his face, but not the quiet confidence of his movements.
He knew the study.
He knew the cabinet.
Most frightening of all, he knew Elias had survived something that had apparently been intended to end differently.
The stranger removed papers from the hidden compartment.
Clara heard the dry slide of envelopes against leather.
Then another match struck.
She caught a glimpse of a dark sleeve and the edge of a white cuff.
No more.
The match touched the corner of one paper.
Clara reacted before thinking.
She pulled the curtain hard.
The brass rod tore free from its bracket and crashed across the desk.
The stranger cursed and dropped the burning paper.
Clara kicked it away from the rug.
He lunged toward her.
She twisted aside, grabbed the wooden box from the cabinet, and ran.
The corridor was dark, but she knew every turn between the study and the servants' stairs.
Behind her, footsteps followed.
She reached the stairs and nearly fell as her skirt caught on the rail.
A hand brushed the back of her apron.
Clara tore free and slammed the narrow door behind her.
She dropped the wooden latch into place.
The person on the other side hit the door once.
Then everything went quiet.
Clara held the box against her chest and waited.
No second blow came.
She climbed the stairs two at a time.
When she reached Elias's room, Ruth opened the door before she knocked.
"What happened?"
Clara entered and locked the door behind her.
Elias was awake, propped against the pillows.
"Someone was in the study."
Ruth's face drained of color.
"Did you see who?"
"No."
Clara set the box on the bed.
"But he wore the Mercer ring on his right hand."
Elias stared at her.
"That is impossible."
"Why?"
He looked toward his own right hand.
A gold signet ring gleamed on his little finger.
"The rings were made for my father and his sons."
Clara waited.
"You are your father's only son."
Elias's expression changed.
"I am now."
The words landed softly.
"I had a brother."
Ruth turned toward him.
Even she seemed surprised.
"You never told me."
"Most people were instructed not to speak his name."
Clara sat near the bed.
"What happened to him?"
"Miles was eight years older than I was."
Elias stared at the box without seeing it.
"He left Blackthorn after a fight with my father when I was thirteen."
"Where did he go?"
"No one knew."
"And the ring?"
"My father said Miles threw it into the river before he left."
Ruth made a small sound.
"Mr. Gideon said many things."
Elias looked at her sharply.
"What does that mean?"
Ruth shook her head.
"Open the box first."
The brass lock was already broken.
Inside were folded legal papers, a portrait miniature, and a sealed envelope marked with Elias's name.
His hands trembled when Clara gave it to him.
The seal belonged to Gideon Mercer.
Elias broke it.
The first line made him stop.
"Read it aloud."
Clara's voice was barely above a whisper.
Elias did.
"My son, if this letter has reached you, then I failed to repair the wrongs I allowed in this house."
He swallowed.
"Trust no Mercer merely because he shares your blood."
Clara's eyes moved to Ruth.
Elias continued.
"Daniel Vale did not steal from me."
Clara's breath caught.
Her father's name seemed to fill the room.
"He discovered money being diverted from the western accounts and tried to stop it."
Elias lowered the page.
Clara could not speak.
For twenty years, Daniel Vale had been remembered in the county as a thief who vanished after taking company funds.
Her mother had died carrying that shame.
Clara had come to Blackthorn under a false name because she believed proof of her father's crime might still exist here.
Instead, she had found a confession of his innocence.
"Keep reading."
Her voice shook.
Elias did.
"I permitted the accusation against Daniel to stand because the truth would have destroyed my family and the railroad contract."
Clara turned away.
Anger rose so quickly that she could hardly see.
"Your father let mine carry it."
Elias's face tightened.
"Yes."
"He let my mother believe her husband was a criminal."
"Yes."
"He let me grow up under that name."
Elias did not defend the dead man.
"Yes."
The honesty made it harder to hate him.
Clara wiped her eyes and faced him again.
"Finish it."
Elias looked at the final lines.
"The man responsible was protected by someone inside Blackthorn."
He frowned.
"I cannot name him here."
Clara stepped closer.
"Why not?"
Elias read on.
"If Pike is still in my confidence when you find this, then I have been a fool twice."
Silence swallowed the room.
Ruth crossed herself.
Clara looked toward the door.
"Pike."
Elias's face had gone cold.
"He knew my father suspected him."
"And he knew about this cabinet."
Elias turned over the page.
There was no more writing.
"The rest is missing."
Clara searched the box.
Under the miniature, she found a narrow strip of paper with numbers written in two columns.
Ruth leaned closer.
"Those look like ledger pages."
Elias nodded.
"Payments."
One name appeared repeatedly.
H. PIKE.
The sums were enormous.
Another name appeared beneath Pike's.
S. MERCER.
Clara felt the trap closing around them.
"Your uncle paid him."
"Or Pike paid my uncle."
Elias looked at the dates.
"These began twelve years ago."
Ruth pointed to the first entry.
"That is the year before Mrs. Mercer died."
Elias looked at her.
"What are you not telling me?"
Ruth's lips pressed together.
Before she could answer, someone knocked.
Three slow knocks.
Doctor Pike's voice came through the door.
"Mr. Mercer, I need to examine you."
Clara hid the papers beneath the mattress.
Ruth moved the wooden box behind the washstand.
Elias nodded toward the lock.
Clara opened the door only halfway.
Pike stood in the corridor.
His coat was dry.
His hair was neat.
But there was a fresh tear at the edge of his right cuff.
Clara had seen that cuff in the study.
Her eyes dropped to his hands.
No ring.
Pike noticed where she was looking.
"Is something wrong?"
Clara met his eyes.
"Not at all."
He entered.
As he passed her, she noticed a faint black smear along his thumb.
Burned paper.
Pike opened his medical case.
"I hear there was some excitement downstairs."
Elias watched him.
"Did you?"
"A fallen curtain rod."
Pike's voice was casual.
"Servants talk."
Ruth stared at him.
Pike removed a small bottle that Clara had never seen before.
"Your fever has improved, but I am concerned about infection."
He drew liquid into a glass dropper.
Clara stepped between him and the bed.
"What is that?"
Pike smiled.
"Medicine."
"What medicine?"
His smile vanished.
"Move."
Elias's voice came from behind her.
"Answer her."
Pike slowly returned the bottle to his case.
"You are both becoming unreasonable."
He closed the latch.
"Perhaps tomorrow's hearing is more necessary than I believed."
He left without examining Elias.
Clara locked the door again.
Ruth waited until his steps faded.
Then the old housekeeper whispered the sentence she had avoided for eleven years.
"Doctor Pike was here the night your mother died."
Elias stared at her.
May you like
Ruth's eyes filled with fear.
"And she was not ill until he arrived."
