Chapter 10 - THE TRIAL THAT SHOOK CLEMENS RIDGE
The arrests changed everything.
Henry Voss was no longer untouchable.
Sheriff Reed was removed from office.
Mrs. Peton was dismissed from the asylum.
And the county began investigating the illegal placement of orphaned children.
The documents from Blackwater Creek exposed years of fraud.
Witnesses came forward.
Former employees testified.
Families who had lost land demanded answers.
The trial lasted six weeks.
Samuel attended every day.
Eleanor sat beside him.
Laya stayed with Martha.
They refused to bring the little girl into the courtroom unless absolutely necessary.
She had already endured enough.
The evidence was overwhelming.
Elijah Morrison's journal.
The original land deeds.
Financial records.
Witness testimony.
And the testimony of the man who had driven the wagon the night of the fire.
He admitted Voss had ordered the attack.
He claimed he never intended to kill anyone.
The courtroom fell silent.
Samuel stared at him.
“You left a three-year-old child in the wreckage.”
The man looked down.
“I thought she was dead.”
Samuel's jaw tightened.
“You didn't check.”
The man began crying.
Samuel felt no satisfaction.
Only grief.
Voss was convicted.
So was Reed.
Mrs. Peton faced charges for her role in the unlawful placements and the kidnapping.
The county asylum was placed under new management.
And Laya's inheritance was restored.
She became the legal owner of the Blackwater silver tract.
A fortune.
More land than Samuel had ever dreamed of owning.
But when the magistrate explained it, Samuel simply nodded.
“Put it in trust.”
The magistrate looked surprised.
“You don't want control?”
Samuel shook his head.
“It belongs to her.”
That evening, Eleanor found him standing beneath the cottonwood tree at his ranch.
Abigail's grave lay nearby.
Samuel looked toward the sunset.
“She'd have loved Laya.”
Eleanor stood beside him.
“I'm sure she would.”
He swallowed.
“I used to think loving someone meant being afraid of losing them.”
Eleanor looked at him.
“And now?”
Samuel smiled faintly.
“Now I think it means being grateful they're here.”
She reached for his hand.
May you like
He held it.
And for the first time, neither pulled away.
