Darline's Arc

Chapter 3 of 13

Darline heard about Lovelock's new operation before she saw it. The whispers started at The Fat Cow three days after her confrontation with Silas. A traveling merchant mentioned flowers blooming early in three different towns along the trade route. By the next morning, two ranchers were talking about Lovelock's roses growing faster than anything they'd seen. Darline wrote it all down, her pencil moving quick across a fresh page. She needed to see what Lovelock had built, and whether it tied back to Silas's unnatural soil. She found the operation two days later, following directions from a supplier who'd stopped at the saloon. Pink roses covered the sprawling beds outside Lovelock's warehouse, their stems thick and their petals layered like pastry. They looked exactly like Silas's flowers—blooming weeks too early, growing twice as fast as normal. Darline started taking notes, measuring the plot with her eyes, counting rows. Then Lovelock stepped out from the warehouse, saw her notebook, and smiled. "You want to know about the soil?" he asked. "Everyone will soon enough. Silas gave me a sample, taught me the method. I'm selling the secret to every settlement on my route." Darline's pencil stopped. If Lovelock spread the burial ground trick across the territory, she wouldn't need to expose Silas—his threat would mean nothing when everyone already knew. She closed her notebook and walked back toward town, her mind working through the new angle. She didn't need to break her silence about Silas anymore. She just needed to wait for Lovelock to do it for her.