surprising, considering how people had been displaced after the war. With the papers inside in neat order, she put the folder back where it had been found.
Returning to the desk, she stared at the mess. Daniel must have been in a hurry to leave things in such disarray. She stacked the papers together, then leaned to pull closer the wooden box at the corner of the desk. “All right, let’s get this filed away.”
As she placed the correspondence into the bottom drawer, the files fell backward and she reached her hand in to pull them forward again. Her fingers collided with an envelope wedged against the side. “What’s this?” she murmured, tugging. The envelope stayed put. Pushing the chair back, she dropped to her knees and peered into the shadows. With a yank, she pulled the drawer out farther and tilted it enough to slip her fingers behind the paper. The edge held tight. She frowned and pulled hard. The envelope tore, and the drawer landed with a bang on the floor of the office.
“Miss Thornton, are you all right?” Caleb called out.
A flash of gold caught her eye as a coin rolled from the torn end of the envelope.
“Fine,” she replied, rising on her knees to look over the desk. “I just dropped something.” Dismissing the clerk, she sat down and peered into the torn packet. “What in the world?” she whispered, and picked up the coin.
Skimming her finger beneath the fluted edge, she studied its markings. A Mexican coin, from the looks of it. One side was engraved with an eagle, its wings outstretched, and on the other side was the image of Maximilian, Emperor of Mexico. “How interesting,” she said, wondering where her brother had picked up such a keepsake. Maybe he received it in change and thought it was odd enough to keep.
Turning it over, she could feel the significant weight of the metal. Then, for no other reason except it belonged to her brother, she slipped it inside the cloth of the sling before she returned to the desk. Once seated, Mary Rose shoved the drawer back in place and picked up the envelope, noticing it wasn’t addressed. “You must have gotten busy and forgotten,” she said with a sad smile.
Pressing it open, Mary Rose peeked inside, expecting to find correspondence. Instead, folded in half were several pages ripped from a ledger book. With her shake, they fell onto the desk. Stunned, she unfolded the sheets.
The columns contained odd amounts of cash payments. Written across the margin of the paper in Daniel’s bold hand were the words “Find out what this is about.” What could it mean? She sat back and stared. An uneasy feeling stole across her shoulders. Dampening her dry lips, she slipped the papers back into the envelope and placed them on the desk.
Across the way, Caleb was shifting boxes, his back to her. Would he know? Mary Rose opened her mouth to call out, then thought better of it. No. Until she found out what this meant, it might be better to keep it a secret. She looked around for some place it could be kept hidden. Deep down, she knew these papers couldn’t fall into the hands of the sheriff or his friend the marshal, not until she had answers. But, where to hide them?
Her eyes roved over the room, searching for some secret place as she tapped her fingers upon the desk. Nothing seemed to come to mind. Maybe she needed to remove them from the office. A knock on the door caused her to jump and glance up. Seeing Caleb at the door, she gave a weak smile and rose while, at the same time and without drawing attention to her action, she pulled a fresh piece of paper over the pages before motioning for him to enter.
“I hate to bother you, Miss Thornton, but you wanted to see this.” He stepped forward and handed her a file. “The company copies of the invoices from the wagon.”
“Oh, yes. Yes, of course.” She shook her head. “I’m sorry, my mind...”
“It’s quite understandable.” He nodded. His gaze ran over the desk.
Mary Rose placed the file on top of the stationery.
“You’re finding things without trouble?” he asked.
“Yes, thank you. I…” She looked away and paused. “It’s just a lot to take in.”
“Well, if you need me, I’ll be right outside.”
She held her breath until he left, then made a great pretense of looking at the invoices. It had to have been