Amos Redd entered Red Hollow on a Sunday.
He chose church time deliberately.
Most businesses were closed.
Most families were gathered in one building.
And nearly everyone who mattered would see him arrive.
He rode a black horse down Main Street wearing a charcoal coat and polished boots.
Nothing about him resembled the monster Annabeth remembered.
That was the terrible part.
He looked respectable.
His hair was neatly combed.
His face was clean-shaven except for a trimmed mustache.
He tipped his hat to two women outside the church.
One smiled before recognizing the tension around her.
Annabeth stood beside Mrs. Bellamy near the church steps.
The moment she saw Amos, her body remembered before her mind did.
Her stomach clenched.
Her hands went numb.
The street vanished.
She was seventeen again.
Her stepfather’s kitchen.
Amos lifting her chin.
“Pretty enough when cleaned.”
Annabeth stepped backward.
Elias immediately moved beside her.
He did not touch her.
He simply stood there.
Amos dismounted.
His gaze passed over the crowd.
Then stopped on Annabeth.
A slow smile appeared.
“There you are.”
Elias’s voice was low.
“Careful.”
Amos ignored him.
“Annabeth, darling, you’ve caused considerable trouble.”
She felt everyone watching.
Her instinct screamed at her to lower her eyes.
She did not.
“I’m not your darling.”
Amos smiled wider.
“Still temperamental.”
Sheriff Reed stepped into the street.
“Mr. Redd?”
“Sheriff.”
“You’re wanted for questioning.”
“Regarding my wife?”
Annabeth’s breath caught.
Elias stepped forward.
Reed stopped him with one hand.
“Regarding multiple missing women.”
Amos appeared almost amused.
“I’m a marriage agent.”
“You’re named in several complaints.”
“Complaints by abandoned women?”
Annabeth’s face burned.
Amos looked at her.
“My poor girl. Did Mercer tell you about his dead daughter?”
Elias became completely still.
Annabeth said, “Don’t.”
Amos’s smile sharpened.
“He did, didn’t he?”
Sheriff Reed said, “That’s enough.”
But Amos continued.
“Did he tell you she died because he dragged her across three counties in winter looking for me?”
Elias’s face went pale.
Annabeth turned toward him.
Amos saw it.
“Oh. He left that out.”
“Shut your mouth,” Elias said.
Amos chuckled.
“Lily survived me. She might have survived the fever too if her father hadn’t kept moving her from town to town chasing revenge.”
Elias crossed the street so fast Reed barely caught him.
“Elias!”
Two men restrained him.
Amos did not move.
That was his talent.
He knew how to make other people appear dangerous.
Annabeth recognized it.
She had seen him do it to women.
Push.
Smile.
Push again.
Then point when they finally reacted.
“Look how unstable she is.”
“Look how violent.”
“Look how unreasonable.”
Annabeth stepped into the street.
“Elias.”
He looked at her.
“Don’t give him what he wants.”
Amos’s smile faded slightly.
Elias stopped fighting.
Sheriff Reed released him.
Annabeth faced Amos.
“You forged my signature.”
“No.”
“I never married you.”
“We have witnesses.”
“One was your broker. The other was a corrupt deputy.”
“Strong accusation.”
“Truth doesn’t weaken because you dislike it.”
A murmur moved through the crowd.
Amos studied her more carefully.
This was not the girl he remembered.
That bothered him.
Good.
Reed held out handcuffs.
“You can answer the rest at my office.”
Amos sighed.
“Sheriff, before you embarrass yourself, perhaps examine your authority.”
He handed Reed a sealed document.
Reed read it.
His expression changed.
“What?” Elias asked.
Reed looked furious.
“Territorial judge issued an order recognizing the marriage certificate pending review.”
Annabeth went cold.
Amos smiled.
“My wife is legally required to return to my household.”
“No,” Annabeth whispered.
Reed looked at her.
“I’m not handing you over.”
Amos’s eyes hardened.
“You’re defying a judge?”
“I’m questioning the validity of a document produced through fraud.”
“Dangerous position.”
“So is trafficking women.”
The town square became silent.
Amos’s polite mask slipped.
Only for a second.
But Annabeth saw it.
So did Elias.
Amos mounted again.
“You have until tomorrow morning, Sheriff.”
“To do what?”
“To obey the law.”
He looked at Annabeth.
“And you have until sunrise to stop pretending these people can protect you.”
He rode away.
That night Red Hollow divided.
Some believed Annabeth.
Others believed paper.
The newspaper editor argued that no respectable court would recognize an unsigned marriage.
The bank manager claimed it was none of the town’s business.
Two ranchers worried Amos had powerful connections.
Mrs. Bellamy called them cowards loudly enough to be heard across the street.
Sheriff Reed sent a rider to the county seat to verify the judge’s order.
Elias stayed near Annabeth.
She finally turned on him.
“Was Amos telling the truth about Lily?”
Elias stopped.
They stood behind the boardinghouse.
“Yes.”
Annabeth’s heart sank.
“How much?”
“After I got Lily back, she was terrified he would return.”
“So you moved.”
“First to Red Hollow. Then north.”
“In winter.”
“Yes.”
“Why?”
“I heard Amos had been seen in Montana.”
“You took Lily with you?”
“For part of the journey.”
Annabeth closed her eyes.
“Elias.”
“I know.”
“Was she sick?”
“Not when we started.”
“But she became sick.”
“Yes.”
“And you kept traveling?”
His face was full of shame.
“Two days longer than I should have.”
Annabeth looked away.
“Why?”
“Because I thought if I caught Amos, she would finally feel safe.”
“And instead?”
“She got fever.”
His voice broke.
“I brought her back here. Doctor said the illness might have happened anyway.”
“But you blame yourself.”
“Yes.”
Annabeth struggled.
She had defended him earlier.
Now the truth felt heavier.
“Why didn’t you tell me?”
“Because I’m ashamed.”
“That isn’t an answer.”
“It’s the only one I have.”
She stepped back.
“You told me Amos’s guilt wasn’t yours.”
“I believed that for you.”
“But not yourself.”
“No.”
Annabeth stared at him.
He looked smaller somehow.
Not physically.
Human.
Flawed.
A man who had made a terrible choice out of love and grief.
She did not know whether to comfort him or strike him.
So she did neither.
“I need space.”
Elias nodded.
“All right.”
He walked away.
Annabeth hated him slightly for respecting that too.
At dawn, the rider returned.
The judge’s order was real.
But so was something else.
The judge who signed it had resigned three months earlier.
Fraud.
Sheriff Reed smiled for the first time in days.
“Now we arrest him.”
But Amos had vanished.
So had Deputy Hale.
And Whitcomb.
The auctioneer was found unconscious behind the saloon, badly beaten.
When he woke, he begged for protection.
“Redd’ll kill me.”
“Why?” Reed asked.
“Because I kept records.”
“What records?”
The man began crying.
“Sales.”
Annabeth felt sick.
The ledgers were hidden beneath floorboards in the auction barn.
Sheriff Reed organized a group to retrieve them.
Elias volunteered.
Annabeth did too.
“No,” Elias said automatically.
She stared at him.
He immediately corrected himself.
“I mean—it’s dangerous.”
“So is staying.”
“I know.”
“I’m going.”
He nodded reluctantly.
The barn looked smaller when Annabeth returned.
Not less ugly.
Just smaller.
The platform remained.
The sign still hung crookedly.
She stood beneath it.
For a moment she heard laughter again.
Then Elias approached.
“You all right?”
“No.”
“Want to leave?”
“No.”
That answer mattered.
They found the floorboard near the auctioneer’s office.
Beneath it were three ledgers.
Names.
Payments.
Routes.
Destinations.
Dozens of women.
Annabeth opened the first.
Her hands shook.
Then she saw her name.
Clay, Annabeth — Missouri origin — 19 — resistant — no surviving parent — transfer approved by V.C.
Vernon Clay.
Her stepfather.
Beside the entry:
Reserved: A. Redd
Annabeth could not move.
Elias read over her shoulder.
His face darkened.
“He planned this.”
“All of it.”
“You were never supposed to marry a farmer.”
“No.”
The auction had not been an accident.
She had been placed there because Amos expected to claim her afterward.
But Elias arrived first.
Three dollars had disrupted a two-year plan.
Suddenly a gunshot shattered the window.
“Down!”
Elias tackled Annabeth behind a desk.
More shots tore through the barn.
Sheriff Reed returned fire.
Men shouted outside.
Annabeth pressed against the floor.
Smoke and dust filled the office.
Elias leaned over her.
“Stay here.”
“Don’t—”
He ran.
Annabeth heard horses.
Another shot.
Then silence.
She crawled toward the broken window.
Outside, Whitcomb lay wounded near the fence.
Deputy Hale galloped away.
Amos was nowhere visible.
Sheriff Reed swore.
“He was here.”
“How do you know?” Annabeth asked.
Whitcomb laughed weakly from the ground.
“Because he wanted the girl.”
Elias grabbed him by the shirt.
“Where is he?”
Whitcomb coughed.
“Close.”
Reed pulled Elias away.
“Let him breathe.”
Whitcomb looked toward Annabeth.
“Redd doesn’t forgive humiliation.”
“What does he want with me?”
“You know too much.”
“That’s not all.”
Whitcomb smiled through blood.
“No.”
“What else?”
“You look like her.”
Annabeth froze.
“Who?”
Whitcomb’s smile widened.
“His wife.”
The barn went silent.
Elias stared.
Annabeth whispered, “He had a wife?”
“Had.”
“What happened?”
Whitcomb closed his eyes.
“She ran.”
Annabeth’s stomach turned.
“Where?”
“Never found her.”
Reed said, “Name.”
Whitcomb laughed once.
“Margaret.”
Annabeth’s knees nearly gave out.
“My mother’s name was Margaret.”
Elias caught her elbow.
Whitcomb opened his eyes.
Then looked at her properly.
Recognition changed his face.
“Oh.”
Annabeth could barely speak.
“What?”
Whitcomb whispered, “That’s why.”
“Why what?”
“Why Amos wanted you.”
Annabeth shook him.
“Tell me.”
“Your mother wasn’t Vernon Clay’s wife first.”
The world stopped.
Whitcomb coughed blood.
“She was Amos Redd’s.”