Upon a Midnight Clear (Legend, Colorado 2)

With interest, Kathryn began to go through more of the papers. There was a book that showed that Cole was paying for a retirement home in Denver, and the names of the tenants were things like Diamond Sue and Tricky Jane. There were huge bills for the repair of the houses of Legend.

"Seen all you want?"

Kathryn nearly jumped out of her skin when she heard Cole's voice, then spun on her heel to see him sitting in a chair in the far corner of the room, at least half a dozen ledgers on his lap.

"I… I came for a bottle of ink," she said, and even to herself she sounded as though she had something to hide.

"I rarely keep ink in the safe," he said, one eyebrow raised..

"I didn't mean to pry," she said as she put the papers she held back onto the cabinet below the safe. She knew she should leave now. She should forget the ink and leave, but instead she looked at him. "What are all these documents? Why don't you sell Legend to the inhabitants? Why do you have to be such a, a…"

"Despot?"

He was laughing at her, but she didn't care; she wasn't going to back down. When he took a while to answer, she knew he was trying to decide whether or not to trust her.

"I'm sure you won't believe me, but I'm doing this town afavor." Standing, he walked across the room to reach above her head and put the ledgers back into the safe. "The mines are playing out. Colorado is no longer in a silver boom, and most of the towns that were near here when I was a kid are now ghost towns. And the people who put their money into them have lost everything."

As he turned his back on her and walked to his desk, she tried to put together what he had just told her, and when she did understand, she gave a little laugh. "Am I to believe that you are retaining sole ownership of this town out of some altruistic motive? When the mines do give out, every person in this town can walk away without losing a penny because you've allowed no one to buy any property? Is that what I'm to believe?"

When Cole looked at her his eyes were cold. "It doesn't matter to me what you believe. But what I have just told you is the truth."

"And I guess there is nothing in this for you," she said, one corner of her mouth tilted up in a smile of disbelief. "You don't get riches beyond belief? You don't get power to control a town full of people? To make their decisions for them? To—"

"Power?" he half shouted at her. "You think that running a place like Legend is power? Have you actually looked at this place? There are more whorehouses than there are businesses."

"But that's because you won't allow decent people into this place. You encourage only the lowest people to come here."

He advanced on her. "That's exactly right, and have you ever stopped to ask why I encourage such decadence as this?"

Kathryn was backing toward the door, and he was moving closer to her, leaning over her.

"Have you ever asked yourself why my own family moved to Denver, yet I stay here alone? I'll tell you why, Mrs. High and Mighty de Longe. It's because there is no future for this town. My father wanted to close the place down; he said it made him ill."

"Then why not bring in some decent people? Why not allow—"

Her back was against the door, and he was so close to her now that she could see the tiny flecks of black that were in his blue eyes. And she could feel his breath on her skin.

Abruptly, he turned away and walked to the center of the room, then stood there looking down at his desk. Kathryn knew this was her opportunity to escape, but instead she took a breath and said, "Why?"

He didn't answer for a while, and when he did his voice was soft and low. "My family has made a lot of money from this town, enough to keep us for generations if we have any sense. A few years back when my father found out the mines wouldn't last much longer, he could have sold every inch of land to anyone who wanted it, then left here forever."

"But he didn't," Kathryn said. "No, you didn't. You stayed behind to run the town.''

He turned back to her. "Yes, I stayed behind. I had Zachary so I wasn't totally alone, and my grandmother had long ago fenced off this part of town so we could have some semblance of life that didn't involve liquor and bets being wagered." He gave her a little half smile. "But I haven't done so well with my son. He's grown up knowing more about a roulette table than about…"

"The Bible?" Kathryn supplied.

"Exactly," Cole answered, then gave her a genuine smile.

Kathryn moved away from the door and went to the safe, where she picked up a handful of papers. "So what are these?"

"Just a bit of management," he said, taking the papers from her, as though he were embarrassed at her seeing his good deeds. When he'd put the papers away and closed the safe, he walked away from her, and his gesture was a dismissal, but Kathryn didn't move.

"Why have you done this?" she asked. "I can understand why you didn't sell the land, but the rest of this is not something I can comprehend. The people of Legend are adults; you are not their father or their guardian. You don't have a right to decide their futures for them."

"A right?" he asked, turning back to her, his face angry. "I have an obligation to them. I have—" Halting, he put his hand over his face. "That's right, Mrs. de Longe. I have no right. I am rich, therefore I am bad. Isn't that what you believe? Isn't that what everyone believes? Now, would you please leave so I can get back to my work of duping poor innocent people out of their hard-earned money?"

When Katbryn just stood there without moving, he barked, "Go!" and she had to work to keep herself from running away as though she were a schoolgirl. Calmly, she opened the door and left the office.