Page 37 of Winterset

“And is that really enough?”

“Sometimes it has to be,” Anna told him, her voice tinged with sorrow.

“I don’t know if it is for me,” Kit said, then turned on his heel and stalked out the door.

* * *

The young man walked across the footbridge, his hands in his pockets. He was whistling. He was eighteen years old, and it had been a good evening. He had spent it in the tavern, laughing and talking with his cronies, and the girl who brought him his drinks had smiled at him with what he definitely thought was an invitation in her eyes. Maybe next time he would stay until closing, and he would talk to her afterward, offer to walk her home….

But tonight he had to get home. It was summer, and tomorrow would be a full day in the fields. Pops would have his hide if he stayed out to the wee hours and came home with a snootful. He didn’t care about the drinking, of course; it was his shirking at work the next day because his head ached and his eyes felt as swollen and red as tomatoes.

He staggered a little as he stepped off the footbridge, and he had to grab for the rail. He snickered at his tipsy state, thinking that perhaps he hadn’t left early enough.

Picking up his tune again, he walked into the stand of trees beyond the footbridge. As he entered the trees, he heard a sound and turned, looking behind him. He could see nothing in the darkness, made deeper by the trees now spreading above him. The moon was no longer full, as it had been the other night, when Estelle Akins had met her death.

A little shiver ran through him as he thought about her. He didn’t know her, but it seemed a shame that anyone had to die like that. He’d heard it had been the Beast, back again after all these years, thirsty for blood.

Of course, he told himself, he wasn’t in any danger, not a healthy, strapping farm lad. He could take care of himself. Still…he would be glad when he got through the trees and reached the edge of his father’s farm on the other side. It wouldn’t be long. It wasn’t as if these were the deep woods.

There was a snap behind, and he started to whirl around just as something slammed into him from behind, knocking him to the ground. His fall knocked the breath out of him, and it was a struggle even to draw air. Something hard rapped against his skull, and pain exploded in his head.

CHAPTER NINE

Anna walked briskly along the path, Con and Alex Moreland on either side of her. She had driven over to Winterset this morning in the trap, but it was far easier and less roundabout to walk to Nick Perkins’ cottage than it was to drive a vehicle, so she and the boys had set out on foot from their house.

They were full of questions, as they always were, asking about this plant or that, and regaling her with stories of the plants and animals that their brother Theo had seen in his travels.

“Do you think that Perkins will let us bring the dog home with us today?” Alex asked as they drew near the footbridge over the stream.

“We’d take very good care of it,” Con added. “We could change his bandages and put on ointment and everything.”

“I don’t know.” Anna smiled at them. “I suppose it will depend on how well the dog is doing. He may not be well enough to be moved, you know.”

They reached the footbridge, and the boys stopped to look over the sides at the stream below it. Anna dawdled a little bit, too, gazing down at the clear water tumbling over the stones. As she reached the end of the footbridge and stepped off, she felt faintly uneasy. She glanced around, not sure why she felt that way. The feeling grew as she took a few more steps, and she paused, her hand going to her stomach.

“Miss Holcomb?”

“Are you all right?”

The twins’ voices came to her as if from a distance, and there was an odd buzzing in her head. She was afraid she was about to faint, and she started toward a large rock just off the path ahead, under one of the trees. But before she could reach it, a wave of pain and fear slammed into her, and she stopped, almost doubling over.

“Miss!” The boys were beside her in an instant, taking her arms and guiding her over to the rock.

In her head it was night, and she could see the rock, paler than the dark around it. She could see the trees and hear the rustle of their leaves. Her mind was muddled except for the fierce welling of panic in her chest. And suddenly the ground was coming up at her, and she was falling, and then there was a burst of terror inside her.

“The Beast,” she murmured.

“What?” Con bent closer to her. “What did you say?”

Anna raised her head. The “vision” was gone, and the pain was receding, leaving her sick and shaken.

“Are you all right? Are you ill?” Alex, too, leaned down to look in her face. “One of us can go back to the house and get Reed or Rafe to take you back to Winterset.”

“I—just give me a moment. I’ll be all right, I think.”

“Are you sure?” Alex straightened and looked around him. Suddenly he stiffened, and he made a strangled noise.

Con and Anna turned toward him and saw him staring ahead. They followed his eyes and saw a man lying just to the side of the path. Anna drew in her breath sharply, her hand flying to her mouth. Con and Alex started forward, and Anna let out a sharp cry.