Graves found Miriam’s brother at the market before he found Daniel.
He did not bring armed men into the town, which made his arrival more unsettling rather than less.
He asked to speak to Miriam privately and said he had information about Eleanor.
Miriam refused to confirm whether Daniel was nearby.
She asked why a man acting under Catherine’s orders should be trusted with a baby’s whereabouts.
Graves answered that Catherine had stopped paying him and Richard had offered twice as much for the same task.
Miriam said money was not a reason to believe him.
Graves admitted it was not.
He explained that he had served with Richard years earlier and had seen the Colonel destroy a subordinate’s career to hide a mistake.
Graves had joined the search expecting a domestic dispute, but he now feared the child would be harmed.
He could not absolve himself of carrying Catherine’s threats, and he did not try.
He offered to turn over the orders he had received if Miriam would show him a safe way to withdraw from the pursuit.
Miriam asked him to leave the documents with a local attorney and make a written statement of how he obtained them.
Graves agreed, though he warned that Richard could accuse him of theft.
The attorney, Isaiah Mercer, examined the papers and saw two incompatible instructions.
Catherine ordered Daniel returned alive so he could sign a statement blaming himself for Eleanor’s disappearance.
Richard ordered the captain to find Daniel and bring him to a remote hunting lodge before any public hearing.
One paper promised a reward for cooperation.
The other offered additional money if Daniel did not survive the journey.
Isaiah told Graves that his own testimony would matter more than the documents if the Colonel denied signing them.
Graves turned pale.
He had carried threats as part of his work, but until that moment he had avoided naming the act those threats were meant to enable.
He agreed to remain in town long enough to give a fuller account.
When Daniel learned what Graves had surrendered, he felt no sudden gratitude.
The captain had helped powerful people control his movements.
A truthful statement did not erase the earlier harm.
Still, the documents gave Miriam an option they had not possessed before.
They could warn the families sheltering Eleanor without revealing where Daniel slept.
Daniel asked that the warning go out immediately.
Isaiah Mercer had spent much of his legal career helping free Black families protect papers that proved their status.
