Only 06 - Winter Fire

canyons and the sweet water and the timeless wind singing to her soul.
    But it’s my land only until I find the silver , she reminded herself. Then my half of the ranch belongs to Case .
    â€œI could,” she agreed.
    Her tone said that she would rather be in chains.
    â€œWhere is the map now?” he asked.
    â€œI don’t know.”
    â€œA secret, huh?”
    â€œNo. I simply don’t know,” she said evenly. “The last time I saw it—and Hal—was years ago in autumn when he went looking for silver.”
    â€œHe never came back?”
    â€œNo.”
    â€œHow did he die?” Case asked.
    â€œI don’t know.”
    â€œBut you’re certain he’s dead?”
    â€œYes.”
    â€œHow?”
    â€œMy brother backtracked Hal and found him dying. Conner buried him where he lay.”
    â€œSeems kind of strange that a man in his prime would just up and die,” Case said neutrally.
    â€œHal was more than three times my age.”
    He gave Sarah a swift sideways look. He tried to imagine someone with her quick tongue and gift of laughter being married to a man old enough to be her grandfather.
    No wonder she doesn’t want to talk about it , he thoughtuneasily. I doubt that a man that old had much patience with girlish ways .
    â€œI’m surprised your brother didn’t bring back the map,” he said after a time.
    â€œHe brought back what we needed to survive—the horse, the overcoat, the supplies, and the weapons.”
    Case pictured the Kennedy cabin in his mind. Ten feet by fourteen. Ill-made. No window glass. No floor but dirt that Sarah drew whimsical designs on when she wasn’t too tired from spinning and cooking and washing and nursing various creatures.
    Without the touches that she brought to the cabin—the herbs drying in one corner, the scented sprigs of juniper tucked in the mattresses, the smell of cornbread and fresh laundry—without them the cabin would have been about as welcoming as a grave.
    â€œMust have been pretty tough for you with a young boy to raise and no man to help out,” Case said.
    â€œConner learned to be a fine hunter. I’m a fair shot myself.”
    â€œWhat about your husband?”
    â€œHal was gone treasure hunting a lot of the time. He expected food on the table when he came back.”
    That wasn’t all her husband had expected. She didn’t think about the rest of it anymore, except sometimes in the middle of the night, when she would wake up cold and sweating with fear.
    â€œHow long did Hal look for silver before he died?” Case asked.
    She shrugged. “All the time I knew him and some years before that, I suppose.”
    â€œThat map must have been worth less than a hill of beans.”
    â€œWhy?”
    â€œHe didn’t find anything.”
    â€œHal drank.”
    The stark words told Case more than anything else Sarah had said about her husband.
    â€œWhen he sobered up,” she said, “he didn’t remember anything that had happened.”
    â€œAre you telling me that you think he found the treasure and then forgot it?”
    â€œYes.”
    â€œA man would have to be pretty damned drunk to forget finding a treasure.”
    â€œWhen Hal was drinking, he was blind, deaf, and dumb as a rock,” she said grimly.
    Case watched her out of the corner of his eye. From what he had gathered in the past weeks, she was no older than twenty, and maybe younger.
    Yet when she talked about her husband, she looked as worn as a widow twice her age.
    â€œIf Hal found the treasure,” he said after a while, “then lost it again, the map won’t do you much good, will it?”
    â€œThere’s no ‘if’ about it. I know Hal found the treasure.”
    The certainty in Sarah’s voice stopped Case. He turned in the saddle and stared at her.
    â€œHow do you know?” he asked bluntly.
    She took off one of her deerskin gloves and dug into the pocket of her pants. After a moment she held out her hand to him.
    Two crudely cut silver reales lay against her palm. Despite the tarnish brought on by age, silver gleamed through the black where someone had polished a part of each coin.
    â€œDo you want to change your mind about taking half the treasure instead of half the ranch?” she asked.
    He looked from the ancient coins to the wild, untouched land surrounding him.
    â€œNo,” he said. “This country