Chapter 1: The Creature Beneath His Skin 027

“A ranch hand from the northern road says he saw wagons hauling blasting powder toward Saint Agnes.”
Gideon read my hurried translation.
His expression changed instantly.
He spread the survey map across the bed.
The old mine tunnels twisted beneath the northern ridge.
One narrow passage connected the chapel foundation to a drainage chamber.
Another led toward the North Fork spring.
Gideon circled a section with his pencil.
Then he wrote:
If they open the lower gate, water will enter the abandoned galleries.
I waited.
He drew a second line.
If the old retaining wall fails, the flood will reach Coldwater.
Nell stared at the drawing.
“How much water?”
Gideon considered the measurements.
He wrote:
Enough.
That single word frightened me more than any elaborate explanation.
We could not simply accuse Vane of planning a disaster.
We needed evidence.
And we needed to act before anyone destroyed the old drainage works.
Nell proposed riding to the sheriff.
I reminded her that Sheriff Calder had accepted money from Vane for years.
Miriam was preparing a written complaint to the territorial authorities, but assistance from outside the county might not arrive quickly.
So we divided our work.
Nell would find Isaac Moreno, the local newspaper printer who had repeatedly criticized Vane’s mining operations.
She would ask him to send a rider with our evidence toward the territorial marshal’s office.
Meanwhile, Gideon and I would go to Saint Agnes.
Neither Nell nor Miriam liked the idea.
Neither did I.
But my mother’s complete statement might be the only thing capable of stopping Vane.
Before leaving, I made Gideon read one last note.
If we find the evidence, we take it to someone outside Coldwater.