They found Evelyn Mercer in a small house outside Vicksburg.
Luke knew before the door opened that she was there. Some things didn't need explaining.
Thomas knocked.
An elderly voice answered. "Come in."
Luke stepped through the doorway.
The woman sitting beside the window looked toward him. For several seconds she simply stared. Then she whispered: "Sam's boy."
Luke couldn't speak.
Evelyn smiled sadly. "I knew you'd come."
Luke approached slowly. "You knew my father?"
"I loved him."
The words struck him harder than he expected.
"My father loved you?"
Evelyn nodded. "Not the way you think." She smiled faintly. "Sam was seventeen years old when I met him. He was just a boy."
Luke sat across from her. "Then what happened?"
Evelyn looked toward Thomas. "Tell him."
Thomas shook his head. "You should."
She nodded. "You're right."
Her hands trembled. "William Garrison wasn't always William Garrison."
Luke already knew. "He was my brother," Evelyn continued.
Luke looked at Thomas. "And Thomas is your son."
"Yes." "Then who was Thomas's father?"
Evelyn looked down. "William."
Luke's stomach tightened. "So Patterson and Thomas are brothers?"
Evelyn nodded. "yes."
Luke sat back. The family connections were becoming impossible to ignore.
"Why did William want Thomas dead?"
"He didn't."
Luke frowned.
"He threatened me," Evelyn said. "He threatened to take Thomas."
"Why?"
"Because Thomas knew too much."
"About McCrory?"
Evelyn looked at him sharply. "Who told you that name?"
"The river."
She smiled. "Your father would have liked that answer."
Luke leaned forward. "What happened at the landing?"
Evelyn took a slow breath. "McCrory discovered that William was using the river company to move more than liquor."
Luke waited. "What?"
"People." The word landed like a stone.
Luke stared. "People?"
"Men who couldn't pay debts. Women escaping abusive husbands. Children whose families had nowhere else to go."
Thomas spoke quietly. "My mother helped them escape."
Luke looked at Evelyn. "You were running people through the river?"
"Some."
"Why?"
"Because William had become dangerous."
Luke's mind raced.
"And McCrory?"
"He found out."
Evelyn looked toward the window. "McCrory threatened to expose William."
"What happened?"
"William killed him."
Luke closed his eyes. "And my father witnessed it."
"Yes."
"What did Sam do?"
"He tried to help me."
"Why?"
"Because William knew I had the ledger."
Luke's eyes opened. "The ledger."
Evelyn nodded. "Your father's ledger wasn't about moonshine."
Luke felt a chill. "What was it?"
"Names."
"Whose names?"
"Everyone William had threatened, bribed, paid, or betrayed."
Luke thought of the ledger he'd found. The one that had seemed to explain everything. But perhaps it had only been the beginning. "Where is the original?"
Evelyn looked at him. "Your father hid it."
"Where?"
She smiled sadly. "That's what I came here to tell you."
Luke leaned forward. "Where?"
Evelyn reached beneath her chair. She pulled out a small cloth bundle. Inside was a brass key.
Luke stared.
The same initials were engraved across it.
E.M.C.
Thomas looked at him.
"That key opens the place where your father hid the original ledger."
Luke's heart began pounding.
"Where?"
Evelyn's eyes met his. "Under the river."
Silence.
Luke stared at her. "That's impossible."
"No." She shook her head.
"Your father knew the river better than anyone."
She handed him the key. "He didn't bury the ledger." "He hid it."
"Where?"
Evelyn smiled. "At the Night Landing."
Luke looked at Thomas.
Thomas nodded.
"The old landing wasn't destroyed."
Luke's blood ran cold. "It's still there?"
"Underwater," Thomas said.
Luke stood. "Then we go tonight."
Evelyn caught his hand. "No."
Luke looked down at her.
"You don't understand."
"I understand perfectly."
Her eyes filled with tears. "That's what Sam said."
Luke froze. "What?"
"He said the same thing."
"When?"
"The last time I saw him."
Luke's throat tightened.
"What did he say?"
Evelyn looked toward the river. "He told me that one day, his son would come looking for the truth."
She squeezed Luke's hand. "And when he did..."Her voice broke."...I was supposed to stop him."
Luke stared. "Why?"
Evelyn looked directly into his eyes. "Because the original ledger doesn't just contain William Garrison's secrets."
She paused. "It contains Sam McCall's."
The room fell silent.
Outside, thunder rolled across the Mississippi. And somewhere beneath the darkening river...the Night Landing waited