Kid followed and kept up with the reverend, which wasn't hard. He appeared to be lost in thought and walked so slowly that it wore on Kid's patience. He got to his house eventually though.

As Kid watched, a petite, dark-haired woman met the reverend at the door with a sweet smile. Through the window, Kid saw him pick up a Bible.

At least he didn't seem to be lying about being a reverend or having a wife, but that didn't clear him. It would hardly be the first time a minister had committed a crime.

Robert was keeping Ruth company in her room when he returned. Ruth let him in through the window again.

"How'd it go?" she asked.

"He is who he says he is but nothing really useful. The one I'm truly interested in following is Browne. It'll have to be another day though."

"I reckon I better be getting to Aunt Dorcas', so I can get some sleep and set her mind at ease," Robert said.

"Good night. Kiss Mercy for me," Ruth said.

Robert agreed he would and then she and Kid, alone, got into bed themselves.

"I want to know what Rufus told you about their murders," Ruth said.

"That they were brutally violated, covered in bruises, and their body had slash marks from a knife. They'd been gagged to silence their screams, but the way this place jumps after night, I doubt any screams would have been heard anyway."

She shuddered. He hadn't gone into the gory detail he could have, but that was enough to horrify her. "So we're looking for a man that carries a knife."

"A lot of men carry a knife. That's the problem."

"True, but at least it's something to go on. How can a person be so horrible to another person? I just don't understand it and not sure I want to."

sss

"May. May!" Lucy was calling after they'd finished breakfast that morning. On the 3rd May, Ruth looked up.

"Didn't you hear me?" Lucy asked. "I'm sitting right across from you."

She'd heard her. She'd just forgotten it was her name while she'd been pushing what was supposed to be a buckwheat pancake through the honey on her plate. She and Lucy were the only ones left at the table once again. "Sorry. I was just trying to gather up the courage to finish this."

"I was trying to tell you Tuesday's my day off and now it's your day off too. One of the perks is we can eat real food today."

"Thank the good Lord," she said, looking heavenward. "Just let me grab my shawl and pocketbook."

"You got more religion than any other saloon girl I've ever met," Lucy said, sounding amused. "Why you still believe I don't know."

Ruth went straight to her room. She was glad to finally be able to put on the shawl, but it didn't make up for having this deep décolletage and showing half her shin.

Lucy was ready and waiting in front of her door. She'd added a necklace and shawl to herself.

"That's a pretty necklace," Ruth said. It was a shaped like a figure 8 studded in diamonds with amber stones in the center.

"Thank you, Mr. Kingston gave it to me. Amelia will be jealous. I probably shouldn't have wear it."

"No, if he gave it to you, it's yours," she said, hoping her disapproval didn't show too strongly. "It matches your eyes nicely."

"That's what he said," she said, looking pleased.

She looked down at herself once more. The thought of going out in public dressed like this mortified her. "Can't we change into something more respectable for our outing?"

"Rufus wouldn't let us. It's free advertising for him to be dressed in fancy, revealing clothes."

"This world is completely crazy," she muttered.

"What?"

"Oh, nothing. Let's go before I lose my nerve."

If Lucy thought the comment strange, she didn't say.

Kid was waiting out on the sidewalk for the saloon to open up where Ruth knew he would be.

"Wait a minute. I want to say hello before we take off," she told Lucy.

Lucy went across the street to give them privacy, but she was watching them, so Ruth plastered a fake, flirty smile to her face and sidled up to him like her sole intention was to engage in coquettish behavior.

Kid was unable to tear his eyes away from her seductive smile or the way she knew how to move in just the right way to flaunt what God gave her. If she had wanted to choose a dark path, she would have been good at it. But he wasn't distracted enough to forget his question. "Where do you think you're going?"

"Lucy and I have the day off, but don't worry. I've got the gun with me and I'm going to be on my toes. It'll give you a chance to do your digging without having to worry about me."

Kid had seen her excellent marksmanship before but still he worried. "I don't like this."

"I don't either. I'm going to be on edge the whole time, but I trust God to watch over us and if it draws out the killer, well, that's the faster this is all over. You know how I feel about guns, but I won't hesitate to shoot if it means protecting Lucy's life or my own."

They were also leaving before anyone had even gotten here to see where they were going, which had to count for something. Maybe they wouldn't run into any trouble. "Be careful," he whispered urgently in her ear.

She flashed him one more flirtatious look over her shoulder. "Ain't I always?" And was off to rejoin Lucy before he could reply to that loaded question.

"You must like him to talk to him on your own time," Lucy remarked.

"He's a nice man. The sort you can trust."

"I'm not sure there's a man alive you can trust. Especially the ones who come to us."

"Well, it pays to be cautious right now. That's for sure. But Robert, the man who followed me here, is a good sort too. And neither were here when the murders started happening. You can go to either of them for help if you ever feel you need to."

"Good to know, I guess."

Main Street, where so many stores were, was practically deserted. Peculiar for a city this size in the middle of the day. It wasn't deserted enough though.

"It's disgraceful that people like those are allowed to go just anywhere they please," a young woman remarked to her chaperone.

"Judge not, that ye be not judged" is what she wanted to say. These women didn't know a thing about her or Lucy. They didn't know that she'd hardly met a prostitute who didn't long to be doing something else. She followed Lucy's lead though and just ignored them.

It wasn't just an isolated incident. Most people didn't say anything, but their cutting expressions and the wide berth they gave said it for them. She'd made a few enemies during her ministry because she was a woman leading revivals and because she was a faith healer, so she had thick skin, but she'd never been so openly snubbed by so many before a word even fell out of her mouth.

"You get used to it after awhile," Lucy said.

She'd never get used to running around half dressed, but she was more angry than embarrassed now at seeing what quick and harsh judgments people made. She knew what she was preaching on at her next revival.

Ruth's hair stood up on end. She had the distinct feeling they were being watched by more than just the occasional lecherous man or the just plain curious. She looked back to see. Nobody or at least nobody suspicious or that she recognized. "Where are we going?"

"To the river. I like to watch the boats. I hope you don't mind."

"No. Fine with me. I'm just happy to be getting some fresh air."

"A streetwalker," Lucy said, gesturing towards a woman on the corner. The woman looked to be of German decent by her fair features and dress. She was burnt red from standing the sun, but still she stood with the midday sun beating down. She looked painfully thin and dirty. "Let's go to the other side."

"Why?" She knew why though. There was a hierarchy even among painted ladies, but the way she saw it, every soul was just as scarlet and lost without the Savior to wash them clean. Ruth paid Lucy's protests no heed and went up to the streetwalker.

"God loves you." She placed a bill in her hand with no conditions attached. She just wanted to remind her that God remembered her and cared about her. That He would never pretend not to see her.

The mask fell away for a nanosecond to reveal gratefulness. "Danke," she said.

"Why did you give that woman money?" Lucy asked when she rejoined her.

Ruth shrugged. "She looked hungry. I can't stand to see people hungry."

"There are hungry people more worthy than her and look, she ain't going hungry tonight anyway. She's going to get work from that soldier she's talking with."

Soldier was said with almost as much distaste as she had said streetwalker. "What's wrong with soldiers?"

"They carry disease. Officers might be okay but not a common soldier. Didn't you know that?"

"No." She didn't see why they'd carry anymore disease than any other freewilling man, but than thankfully she'd never had occasion to find out. "People are people to me no matter their occupation."

Lucy softened. "I wish everyone thought that way. About not looking down on people, I mean. I still wouldn't entertain a soldier. You are odd."

They'd finally reached the river. Lucy looked transported like she was imagining herself on one of the steamboats going far down the river and outrunning her past.

Ruth hated to interrupt her escape, so she watched the boats too. She saw the ferry that had allowed her and Kid to cross the river with their wagon. They'd forded and ferried their wagon across more rivers than she could count and she hated it every time. She didn't seem to get on well with the water since her seasickness and that time she'd almost drowned in a river. She always prayed hard to overcome her fear while crossing though. "Why has a city this big not built a bridge yet?"

Just watching the boats chug down the river was making her nauseous. She'd boated on the river as a child and swam in it often enough too, but that didn't seem to help her now.

"See that cornerstone?" Lucy asked, pointing out said stone.

"Yeah."

"They started to build one last year after years of just talking about it, but contractors can never be depended to finish anything in a timely fashion, can they? And this year, well, I'm sure you've noticed the lack of prosperity as we walked down here."

"It's not just Louisville. It's hard everywhere. Or at least it was where I came from and from what the papers are saying," she added.

It had hit St. Louis hard and in Virginia according to her parents. They had written they were going to diversify the crops next year to try and ride it out. She expected that was a major reason for Robert coming west, to ease their financial burden. She had no doubt that it wasn't the draw of the river or to see more of the world. Neither of those things had ever appealed to Robert before. It was more likely he hoped to send money back home and Robert being Robert just didn't want to burden her with the information though she already knew.

She was either going to have to keep walking or lay down somewhere or she was going to be sick. "Mind if we walk?"

"No," Lucy said agreeably.

They passed a woman with a great deal of children. It was plain to see they didn't get to enjoy many jaunts. They all worked hard from the looks of them.

"Look at that poor woman," Lucy said. Despite the pity there, Ruth also heard envy for their honest work and the fact that they had each other.

"Children are a blessing." She ached to hold Mercy. "I admire that she's kept her family together and hasn't had resort to our trade." She'd met many a scarlet lady who was a mother. Good mothers in a way because the only reason they'd become one was that they were keeping their children from starving. It wasn't like a woman raising children alone had many options without family to help. Rescuing women from this life was many times as simple as finding them another option if they weren't under a terrible contract and for those who were, well, sometimes she and Kid had helped those women escape too by hiding them in their wagon.

"Lou had a little boy. Went to live with some distant relative that didn't give a fig for them when she was alive."

"I'm sorry to hear that." And she truly was grieved. It made her resolve to find the killer even stronger. That poor child having to lose his mother like that.

"Well, I don't know about you, but I've worked up an appetite."

"I could eat. I saw a restaurant back there. Their pies smelled wonderful."

"They won't sell to us though. You got to know who will sell to you and who won't."

So she followed Lucy behind a coffeehouse. Again she had that prickly feeling they were being watched, but she saw no one. Lucy rapped a special knock on the door and a few minutes later, the man brought them coffee and muffins. "I'll pay for it," Lucy said generously.

This hadn't been what Ruth had had in mind when Lucy had said they would eat out, but it made sense that most places wouldn't serve them as it'd chase away their more respectable customers and even the ones who did wouldn't let them inside. After 2 days of eating at the saloon, the simple coffee and muffins tasted like manna though.

They'd barely finish the treat when a man spotted them. "Get along, ladies. You ain't going to get any business here. Go back to your own street." He was an officer of the law by the badge he wore.

Ruth burned with indignation. How dare he assume they were soliciting when he saw the coffee cups in their hands. More than that though, she'd come face-to-face with one of the men who didn't care there was a murderer loose as long as he didn't kill anybody socially acceptable.

Weren't they supposed to be protecting all the citizens? While she wasn't sure all of the things the Last Chance Saloon were exactly legal, certainly they weren't moral, the girls had a right to their services. He wasn't looking to debate though by the angry set of his jaw.

They followed his order to return to Pine Street, not eager to be thrown into jail.

They'd just gotten into the shady district when she got that feeling again and she looked. She was sure of it this time. Someone was following them. She'd seen a shadow duck into one of the alleys.

Kid had been right to be worried. Why didn't she listen more often? Overconfidence was a flaw of hers. Trust in the Lord wasn't. "Please, help us, Lord," she prayed.

She looked over at Lucy. "We're being followed. I think it's time to let ourselves get caught."

Lucy nodded while Ruth withdrew her gun. Lucy didn't seem surprised. In fact, she pulled a dagger out that had been hidden down the front of her dress. It was an unusual place to hide it but much easier to access than the knife at her thigh and in the snug clothing they wore it wasn't going anywhere like she worried the pocket knife might. She'd have to consider changing the location.

"Who's there?" Ruth called into the alley. "I have a gun!"

She felt a hand on her shoulder and she whipped around to find the hand belonged to Kid. "Oh, for heaven's sake!" she cried with a mixture of anger and relief. "You scared 10 years off my life. What are you doing sneaking up behind a body like that? Has it been you following us all this time?"

"All this time? No, has someone been following you?" he asked with a trace of alarm.

"I believe so and I think I saw him go in there."

"Stay here, ladies," he said, drawing his own gun out. "I'm going to check it out, but don't put away your weapons."

They couldn't have waited more than 30 seconds for Kid to return but it felt longer.

"Didn't find anybody, but I found something," he said grimly, brandishing a pocketknife.

Finally, something concrete. Perhaps the very knife used to commit the heinous murders. He put it into her hand to examine. The handle had the initials L.T.

"Oh, no. Luther Thomas," she said with a gasp.