Chapter 60 - The Unsealed Covenant
With a steady hand, I twisted the threaded cap of the brass cylinder. It was sealed with brittle, dried beeswax that cracked and flaked away under my thumbs. Slowly, I slid the rolled parchment from its metal casing.
The paper was parchment vellum, thick and yellowed, smelling of ancient dust, cedar, and dried ink. I smoothed it out across the mahogany table between us, weighing down the corners with a silver paperweight and Julian’s empty glass.
Julian leaned forward, his spectacles perched on his nose, squinting at the archaic, elegant handwriting.
"It is a land covenant," Julian murmured, his finger tracing the faded calligraphy. "Dated August 14, 1894. Signed by Donald Mercer and..." He stopped, his brow furrowing deeply. "...and Thomas Vance."
I stiffened. "Vance? As in the Sheriff's grandfather?"
"No," Julian said, his voice dropping into a harsh, stunned whisper as he read further down the parchment. "Not the Sheriff's grandfather. Thomas Vance was the surveyor who disappeared during the construction of the river flume. The man Donald Mercer claimed ran off to California with fifty thousand dollars of railroad bonds."
I read the lines beneath Julian's finger. The words struck me like a physical blow to the chest:
May you like
*'...in consideration of silence regarding the true survey of the Mercer boundary, and the unfortunate occurrence at the flume works, I, Donald Mercer, do hereby convey the entirety of the subterranean mineral rights and western timber tract to Thomas Vance and his legal heirs, to be executed upon the extinction of the legitimate male line of the Mercer family.'*
My breath hitched. The legitimate male line. Richard was in federal custody, his rights forfeited by fraud. Tyler was facing twenty years for attempted murder and arson. By law, by blood, and by statute... the legitimate male line of the Mercer family had just been legally extinguished.
