Elias said:
“Forgery isn’t civilization.”
Colson looked toward him.
“Land belongs to men capable of using it.”
“There were families sitting on valleys they could not develop.”
“So you took it.”
“We improved it.”
Elias stepped closer.
“You ruined my father.”
Colson’s face remained calm.
“Your father refused opportunity.”
“He confused stubbornness with virtue.”
That sentence nearly ended the conversation.
Elias moved.
Claire caught his arm.
He looked at her.
She shook her head.
Not because Colson deserved restraint.
Because Colson had come expecting violence.
Maybe hoping for it.
Colson smiled.
“Your wife has better judgment.”
Claire said:
“I’m not his wife.”
Elias looked at her.
Colson laughed softly.
“No?”
Claire continued:
“Not yet.”
Silence.
Elias stared.
Claire turned toward him only briefly.
Then back to Colson.
“But that is none of your concern.”
Colson’s expression hardened.
He reached inside his coat.
Elias’s hand moved instantly toward his belt.
Colson’s men shifted.
Claire stepped between them.
Colson slowly removed an envelope.
“Offer.”
Elias did not take it.
Colson dropped it on the porch.
“For every document.”
“For the ridge.”
“For her silence.”
Claire stared.
Colson continued.
“Enough money for both of you to disappear.”
Elias said:
“How much?”
Claire looked at him sharply.
Colson smiled.
“Fifty thousand.”
Claire’s face went cold.
Elias nodded slowly.
Then said:
“My father died with three dollars in a tobacco tin.”
Colson’s smile faded.
“You could have offered him fifty thousand.”
“You didn’t.”
“You took what he had.”
Elias kicked the envelope into the mud.
“Now get off my land.”
Colson looked at the money sinking into water.
Then at Elias.
“You think papers beat power?”
Elias answered:
“No.”
“But copies do.”
Colson froze.
Just enough.
Claire saw it.
Elias continued:
“Three sets.”
“Three directions.”
“One man gets hurt, two still arrive.”
Colson’s composure cracked.
Only slightly.
But enough.
He returned to the carriage.
Before climbing in, he looked toward Claire.
“Your husband made the same mistake.”
Claire’s face went white.
Colson smiled.
Then left.
Elias watched until the carriage disappeared.
Claire turned toward him.
“Not yet?”
Elias looked at her.
She flushed.
“That came out wrong.”
“No.”