Chapter 3 - The Empty Bedroom
Clara’s scream carried all the way to the church.
Thomas climbed through the open window and dropped into the alley.
A child’s shoe lay beside the rain barrel.
It belonged to Annie Rose.
Gideon pointed toward the northern road.
A gray wagon was disappearing beyond the mill.
Thomas took the nearest horse without asking who owned it.
Clara rode behind Gideon because there was no time to question whether he could be trusted.
The wagon cut through the lower pasture and headed toward South Creek.
Thomas gained on it near the abandoned sawmill.
The driver fired one shot over his shoulder.
Thomas’s horse stumbled but stayed upright.
Clara saw a small hand appear beneath the wagon cover.
“Papa!” Annie Rose shouted.
Thomas forced his horse alongside the wagon.
He seized the rear rail and pulled himself across while both vehicles raced over frozen ground.
The driver struck him with the butt of the pistol.
Thomas nearly fell beneath the wheels.
He caught the man’s coat and dragged him backward.
The wagon veered into a ditch.
Clara jumped down before it fully stopped.
She found Annie Rose tied beneath a blanket, frightened but unharmed.
Thomas pinned the driver against the wheel.
“Who sent you?”
The man laughed through a split lip.
“You should ask your wife.”
Clara stiffened.
The kidnapper looked directly at her.
“Her father didn’t hide those letters to protect anyone.”
Gideon struck the man before he could say more.
Thomas turned on him.
“Why did you do that?”
“He was reaching for the gun.”
The pistol was three feet away.
Thomas saw it.
So did Clara.
Gideon knew they had seen it.
The kidnapper used the moment to roll under the wagon and run into the trees.
Thomas pursued him, but the man vanished among the cottonwoods.
They returned to town with Annie Rose wrapped in Thomas’s coat.
The sheriff listened, took notes, and looked uncomfortable when Silas Vale’s name was mentioned.
“You’re digging into dead men’s business,” Sheriff Doyle said.
“Dead men can still leave living criminals behind,” Clara replied.
That night, Thomas moved his family to the ranch.
He checked every window twice.
Annie Rose slept between her parents.
Near midnight, Clara woke to the sound of paper sliding beneath the bedroom door.
Thomas picked it up.
The note contained one sentence.
May you like
Ask Clara what happened the night Annie died.
