PART 4 — THE WOMAN WHO KNEW COLUM’S SECRET

The woman standing on Martha Higgins’s porch held a silver locket in one hand and a letter in the other.

Behind Martha, Colum had gone completely still.

For two years, he had believed his sister was ᴅᴇᴀᴅ.

Now a stranger stood before him carrying something that belonged to her.

“Who are you?” he demanded.

The woman swallowed.

“My name is Eleanor Reed.”

Colum gripped the doorframe.

“That’s my sister’s name.”

“I know.”

“Then tell me where she is.”

Eleanor looked down at the letter.

“She’s alive, Colum.”

The words seemed to drain the warmth from the room.

Martha stepped aside, allowing the young woman to enter.

Colum remained standing, but his knees trembled. He had spent months trying to recover the strength to stand again. Yet nothing had prepared him for this moment.

“You’re lying,” he whispered.

Eleanor shook her head.

“I wish I were. It would make explaining everything much easier.”

She placed the silver locket on the table.

Colum recognized it immediately.

He had given it to his sister on her seventeenth birthday. Inside was a tiny pH๏τograph of their mother.

“Where is she?” he asked again.

“At a boardinghouse outside Helena. She’s been ill, but she’s recovering. She sent me to find you.”

Colum lowered himself into a chair.

“Why didn’t she come herself?”

Eleanor hesitated.

“Because she believes Silas Crowe is still looking for her.”

Martha exchanged a glance with Colum.

“Why would Crowe want your sister?” she asked.

Eleanor opened the letter.

“Because Abigail knows what happened to Colum. And she knows who arranged it.”

Colum’s face hardened.

“I already know. Crowe wanted my land.”

“That’s only part of it.”

Eleanor unfolded another sheet.

“Abigail was working in Crowe’s household when she discovered that he had been altering land records. He wasn’t simply buying property. He was changing boundaries, forging signatures, and claiming water rights that belonged to other families.”

She paused.

“Your sister found the original documents.”

Colum stared at her.

“Where?”

“She hid them before Crowe discovered what she knew.”

Martha remembered the note Colum had shown her.

Look beneath the old church bell.

“Is that where the ledger is?” she asked.

Eleanor nodded.

“But there’s something you need to understand. The church was abandoned years ago. Crowe purchased the surrounding land, and he has guards watching the property.”

Colum looked at Martha.

“We have to go.”

Martha folded her arms.

“You can barely cross this room without resting.”

“I can manage.”

“You couldn’t manage the porch yesterday.”

His jaw тιԍнтened.

“I didn’t ask you to stop me.”

“And I didn’t ask you to be foolish.”

Eleanor watched their exchange with surprise.

Then, for the first time, she smiled faintly.

“Abigail said you would argue exactly like this.”

Colum looked at her.

“What else did she say?”

Eleanor picked up the letter.

“She said Martha Higgins was the first person in years who treated you like a man instead of a tragedy.”

Martha looked away, pretending to straighten the curtains.

Colum said nothing.

But his expression changed.

That evening, Eleanor explained everything.

Two years earlier, Abigail had discovered that Crowe intended to take control of the entire valley’s water supply. Several farmers had unknowingly signed agreements surrendering their water rights when they borrowed money.

Colum had been one of the few who refused.

His sister had tried to warn him.

But before she could reveal the evidence, Crowe’s men confronted her.

She escaped, leaving behind the impression that she had died in a winter accident.

For months, she lived under another name, moving between small towns and working wherever she could.

Eventually, she learned that Colum had survived the attack.

But Crowe had convinced the town that he was helpless and that his land was beyond recovery.

Abigail had been too frightened to approach him directly.

Then she heard about Martha.

A widow with a failing farm.

A woman whose brother-in-law had delivered Colum to her door as a cruel joke.

And a woman who, according to Silas Boone, had refused to abandon him.

“Abigail believes Crowe will come after you both now,” Eleanor finished.

Martha glanced toward the window.

“He already has.”

She showed Eleanor the letter Amos had brought.

Eleanor read it carefully.

Then she stopped at the final paragraph.

“There’s another name here.”

“Whose?” Colum asked.

Eleanor pointed to the bottom.

Amos Higgins.

Martha’s expression hardened.

“He was paid to bring Colum here.”

“Yes,” Eleanor replied. “But look at the date.”

The letter had been written before Colum was delivered to Martha’s farm.

Beneath Amos’s name was a payment amount.

Then came a second entry.

A payment for Martha’s mortgage.

Martha felt her stomach тιԍнтen.

“Why would Crowe pay my mortgage?”

Eleanor looked at her.

“Because he intended to own your farm before the end of the summer.”

Colum slowly rose from his chair.

“And once he owned it?”

Eleanor lowered her voice.

“He planned to take the spring beneath your property.”

Silence settled over the cabin.

Martha looked toward the fields outside.

Her farm had never been valuable to anyone.

At least, that was what she had believed.

Now she understood why Crowe wanted it so badly.

And why Amos had delivered Colum to her doorstep.

The next morning, Martha made a decision.

“We’re going to find that ledger.”

Colum looked at her.

“You’re staying here.”

She raised an eyebrow.

“Excuse me?”

“You have no business getting involved in this.”

“That’s an interesting thing to say to the woman whose farm is about to be stolen.”

“I won’t put you in danger.”

Martha gave a short laugh.

“You didn’t put me in danger, Colum. Crowe did. And I’m finished letting other people decide what happens to my property.”

Eleanor nodded.

“She’s right.”

Colum looked between them.

Then he sighed.

“Two stubborn women. That’s what I’ve got.”

Martha smiled.

“Three, if Abigail is anything like you.”

For the first time, Colum laughed openly.

It was a small sound, but it filled the cabin.

Before they could leave, a rider appeared at the gate.

It was Amos.

He looked exhausted.

His shirt was dusty, and his horse was sweating.

Martha stepped onto the porch.

“Come to deliver another present?”

Amos removed his hat.

“No.”

“Then what do you want?”

He glanced toward the house.

“I need to talk to Colum.”

“Say it here.”

Amos swallowed.

“Mr. Crowe knows Abigail is alive.”

Colum appeared behind Martha.

“How?”

Amos looked at the ground.

“Someone followed Eleanor.”

Eleanor went pale.

Amos continued.

“He’s sending men to the old church tomorrow. He intends to burn whatever evidence remains before anyone can recover it.”

Colum gripped the doorframe.

“How do you know this?”

Amos reached into his coat.

He produced a small folded paper.

“Because I was ordered to deliver this.”

Martha opened it.

There were only a few words.

Bring me the key, or the woman disappears.

At the bottom was Crowe’s signature.

Martha looked up.

“Which woman?”

Amos’s face crumpled.

“Abigail.”

Colum stared at him.

Then he asked the question that changed everything.

“Amos, did you know she was alive when you dumped me here?”

Amos closed his eyes.

“No.”

“Did you know Crowe was behind my accident?”

A long silence followed.

Finally, Amos nodded.

Colum stepped toward him.

For a moment, Martha thought he might strike him.

But Colum stopped.

“Then you owe me more than an apology.”

Amos looked up.

“I know.”

“You’re going to help us find the truth.”

Amos nodded.

But before anyone could speak again, a distant bell rang from the direction of town.

Once.

Twice.

Then a third time.

Eleanor rushed to the window.

Her face turned white.

“That’s the church bell.”

Martha looked toward the hills.

Smoke was rising above the trees.

Someone had reached the abandoned church before them.

And they were already destroying the evidence.

To be continued in PART 5…