The River Widow(67)

Adah stared into the pollen-filled air before her. Making escape plans had helped her keep panic at bay. “I told you that when I next came back here, I’d have a plan . . . I don’t know if I should tell you or not . . .”

“Tell me.”

“I don’t want the Branches to find out you had anything to do with my leaving. I don’t want them to know you’re the one holding the letters. If you have to use them, you can turn them over only with a promise of anonymity.”

“I’m not afraid of the Branches for myself, only for you.”

Adah breathed deeply. “Okay, I’ll tell you. I could use some advice anyway.” She paused. “So last night they made Daisy sleep in the barn, and I couldn’t sleep at all. Then a plan came to me, Jack,” she said and turned to face him. “I have to create a distraction, a big and unexpected distraction.” She gulped.

“And . . . ?”

“I’m thinking . . . I can do something to the still. Maybe . . . blow it up.”

Jack’s eyebrows flew skyward.

“I know,” Adah said. She’d even mouthed a few words of prayer, asking for divine guidance. She’d heard it said that everything was the will of God. Often when she was out in the fields, she laid her palms flat on the earth, feeling its lingering warmth, letting it seep into her. She had never before been in such need of help. But she’d received no answers to her prayers so far. “I know it’s a crime, but I have to fight criminals with something as deep and dark as the crimes they commit. I’m thinking I’ll slip away after supper one night and light the fire, then sabotage the still so that it explodes. If the sound’s loud, as I expect it will be, people will come, and the Branches will be terrified of discovery. They’ll hightail it to the still to get rid of any remaining evidence. Then I’ll make my escape.”

“What of Mabel?” Jack asked.

“That’s the part I’m unclear on. I’m not sure she’ll go outside to help. But I’m certain she’ll do something. She might call on the telephone for help, but I don’t know. If she does, people could find evidence of the still, and it would be difficult for the police to ignore it. But I don’t have any idea how to explode a still.”

“I’ve heard of stills exploding while they’re being operated, but Jesse or Buck or both of them would be there if it’s running. When they’re away, you could try to start it up yourself and trigger an explosion, but you would have to know what you’re doing, or you risk doing it wrong.” He drew in a deep breath, brow furrowed. “Do you realize that someone could get hurt or even killed? Do you realize that it could cause a fire, and the fire could get out of hand and spread to the house and the woods and even to other farms? If you’re caught, you could go to jail for the rest of your life. The Branches could say that you started the fire, and you would be wanted for arson even if they don’t report you for kidnapping.”

Adah tried to ignore her shame. It had been awful to admit to herself that she was capable of enacting such a plan, but it was another thing altogether to see the heartlessness of it revealed in Jack’s eyes.

Jack stood up. “You can’t do this, Adah,” he said.

Adah sucked in a tight breath. “All of my life people have been telling me things I can’t do, and yet I do them.”

He took a few steps away, then turned. “You’re being reckless, careless. I understand you’re under pressure, but this is not the best plan.”

“It’s the only plan.”

Jack hinged his hands on his hips as he continued to pace. “You could be killed.”

“I’m very aware of that . . . although I think it’s unlikely.”

Jack finally stood still. He looked helpless and furious about his helplessness. “Don’t do it.”

“I have to.”

A burst of anger entered his eyes as he stared at her. Then he reached down and picked up a small wayward tree branch off the ground.

Adah’s breath halted.

But he flung the branch into the yard and then simply stood, breathing deeply. Jack would never hit a woman. He was no Branch man.

They remained that way, Jack standing and Adah sitting, through a long, suffering silence, and Adah had to pull her eyes away. But she finally pushed herself to face him. She feared a look of condemnation, but his anger had quickly been replaced by concern. Emanating from him was a sad combination of intelligence, awareness, and love, closing in on desperation.

“I know it’s not an ideal plan, but it’s all I have.” Adah’s hands were shaking so much she slipped them under her thighs and pressed them still. “I’ll have to hope that my threat to turn over the letters is enough for them to let me get away with blowing up the still and taking Daisy. I can move around and live on my own. I’ve done it before. But I’ve never had the law on my tail. I know I’m taking huge chances, but there’s no other way.”

“They’re two of the most heinous crimes: kidnapping and arson.”

Adah was hoping for bravado, but her voice sounded hollow and weak. “I know. But I can blow up the still after we’ve had a hard rain and everything is damp. That’ll lessen the chance that the fire spreads.”

His voice barely above a whisper, he said, “There has to be another way. You have to come up with something safer. Don’t fight the Branches.”