The River Widow(75)

Then the body was found, which convinced them even more of her guilt. But despite their influence and family history in the area, they hadn’t been able to manipulate the police into charging her with a crime. So the Branches had let loose Drucker on her, but what had he really accomplished? Sure, he had scared her, and she’d lost sleep over simply knowing he was out there and making threats. But he’d never taken her in for questioning, and she hadn’t heard anything more about the exhumation of Les’s body, either. Drucker hadn’t really done anything, and it appeared as though she was going to get away with murder.

So, after getting all of the farm and failing to get her charged, why were the Branches still keeping her around? Why?

Now that she’d spent so much more time with them, an obvious answer struck her squarely in the chest. The Branches held lifelong grudges for even the most minor disagreements. And they always got revenge for any perceived wrongs. Convinced as they were that she’d killed their son, they would never want Adah to simply walk away and start a new life. In that case, she would still be alive and free, and Les’s death would remained unavenged.

Adah pulled in a deep aching breath. Over the time she’d been with the Branches, they’d learned a great deal more about her , too. They’d seen how much she loved Daisy and wanted to protect her. Had they seen that as her weakness and exploited it? Had some of the harshest treatment of Daisy been the slightest bit exaggerated? She filed through all the assorted memories of what seemed like excessive meanness toward Daisy that had gotten worse. They had kept up the pressure on Daisy while at the same time keeping Drucker pushing and prodding Adah.

Why?

Adah clutched her dress. Perhaps so she’d do exactly what she was planning to do.

She remembered the day Jesse had trailed her and Daisy to town, and it hit her then that one of the Branches always kept close by whenever she and Daisy were together, especially when they were outside. Why, they’d even given her a chance at making a run for it on the night Mabel had made Daisy sleep in the barn. They could have been tempting her to make a hasty move. Daisy was already out of the house. And Adah had gone to her in the middle of the night and had thought of snatching Daisy up and making a run for it. And one of the Branches had been watching from the window.

Oh, dear Lord, Adah thought as she stopped walking. The Branches had hatched an elaborate plan. They hadn’t succeeded in nailing Les’s death on her, but they’d seen an opportunity to catch her committing a different crime and make her pay. They had deliberately made life in their house as miserable as possible for both Daisy and her, knowing that the cruelty would spur Adah into action. They meant to avenge Lester’s death, would never let it go, and she had fallen into their trap. They had only to wait it out and bring her to her limits, and then call the police when she tried to escape with Daisy. Or they’d call Drucker. It wasn’t far-fetched to imagine that they’d probably made arrangements with some ticket agents who were friends or had been bribed to report it immediately should she and Daisy ever appear at the train or bus station. And they’d had Esther Heiser providing information and assistance to them, whether she knew it or not. Adah had almost confessed her kidnapping idea to Esther. She had revealed too much. And what of Drucker? Had he come up with nothing to help the Branches, thereby making them more determined than ever to exact revenge on their own?

All along she’d been playing into their hands, and she’d been right about one thing. There was too much risk for them in staging another accidental death on their property, just as she’d thought. So they’d come up with another plan. Everything they’d done over the last few months had been staged so that she would eventually kidnap Daisy. And get arrested and convicted for it. That—her life in prison—would amount to some justice in their view.

Adah looked at the teeming fields around her awash in sunlight, the smell of grass and loam in the air, porcelain blue heavens above. A lovely day to bear witness to what she now knew had been waged against her.

A war. One she’d probably never had any chance of winning, and she wasn’t winning. Jack had been right. She couldn’t fight the Branches. Instead she had been taking steady steps directly into the intricate ambush the Branches had set up. They knew she loved Daisy, that she would do anything for the girl, that she was Adah’s Achilles’ heel. They knew they could drive her to try kidnapping Daisy and then make sure she was caught.

Only then did she realize she’d left the cleaning pail behind, along with all of her plans and dreams.





Chapter Twenty-Four

As she slowly walked onward, the realization of what she must do sank into her just as rainwater slowly seeped into the earth.

She had to stop. She had to give up.

Her chances of a successful escape had always been as far away as the sea.

They had beaten her; they had won. They would have Daisy, and although the thought of it was so devastating Adah had to gulp hard to recapture her breath and blink away the little white lights swimming before her eyes, it was the truth. The Branches’ hatred of Adah and what she had been doing had made it harder on Daisy, the girl’s mistreatment carried out to extremes in order to make Adah feel compelled to snatch her away.

The truth didn’t change the fact that the Branches were willing to commit acts of cruelty to get their way, even toward their own flesh and blood—an innocent child. But perhaps if Adah gave up, the Branches would stop being so harsh toward Daisy. What kind of people would sacrifice a little girl’s happiness in order to get revenge? Adah was still worried they would continue to hurt Daisy. But there was now a glimmer of hope that perhaps, with Adah out of the picture, they would grow to love her and treat her kindly. Or at least humanely.