Red Creek’s steward had kept more than one record of Daniel’s transfer.
When Pike fell ill during the winter, Albert Finch began preparing the estate’s financial papers for a possible sale.
He discovered that Catherine’s payments had continued after Daniel disappeared.
The money was being deposited into an account controlled by a merchant who had never visited the plantation.
Finch realized that somebody expected to profit from Daniel’s recovery even if the carpenter never returned.
The discovery frightened him because his own signature appeared on several receipts.
He considered burning the papers, but the amounts were too large to disappear without notice.
Instead he made copies and sent one to a lawyer in Richmond with a letter asking whether he might face liability.
The lawyer recognized Richard Blackwood’s name and forwarded the question to Isaiah through a cautious intermediary.
Isaiah studied the copies beside Nathaniel.
The records showed that Catherine and Richard had separately funded searches for the same person.
Catherine described Daniel as a witness whose statement was urgently required.
Richard’s agent described him as property whose return would settle an outstanding debt.
Finch had been willing to obey whichever order paid more, but the competing payments left a trail that neither Blackwood could easily deny.
Isaiah asked whether Finch would testify voluntarily.
Finch answered that he might if he could be protected from Pike’s anger.
Isaiah did not promise protection beyond what the law could realistically offer.
He explained the value of preserving the original books and avoiding alterations.
Finch agreed to deposit the ledgers with a neutral attorney until the dispute was resolved.
Daniel learned of the discovery through a letter.
He felt no sympathy for Finch’s anxiety about his reputation.
The steward had treated him as a figure in a column and had threatened to send him back into danger.
Yet the paper now revealed an important fact.
Catherine’s pursuit had been organized and paid for long after she knew Daniel wanted no part of her plans.
His silence had never been the source of the problem.
Her willingness to impose it had been.
Josephine and her two sons reached a town where a church kept records of families separated by sales.
She arrived carrying the only letter she had received from her husband, Aaron, after he was sent to work on a railroad line.
The letter was months old and named a camp that had since moved.
A volunteer searched through notices while Josephine waited with her children.
