January 28

7:30 p.m.

Rosemary pushed through Elizabeth's front door, her hands and body shaking with fear for what she had just witnessed in her home. Elizabeth, who was busy in the kitchen, threw a look over her shoulder in surprise.

"Rosemary? What ever has happened? You look like you've seen a ghost."

She shook her head as she dropped the kitten to the floor and pushed the door latch down, effectively locking the door from any outside intruders.

"You are scaring me. What's happened?" Elizabeth approached her with worry in her eyes.

Just then a pounding came at the door causing Rosemary to practically jump across the room for cover.

Elizabeth gave her a curious look and went to the door.

"Don't answer that." She hissed from behind a chair across the room.

"What? Why?"

"Just don't. Trust me." She crouched behind the chair and motioned for Elizabeth to join her. Elizabeth looked back at the door, obviously conflicted on whether to join her or answer the door. Finally, she scurried to Rosemary's side.

"Do you want to tell me what's going on?" Elizabeth whispered as she scooted closer.

"Well, it's just that—"

"Ladies? Are you home?" Carson's voice carried through the door causing both of them to audibly sigh. She stretched her neck, willing the tension to drain from her neck and shoulders now that help was here. Surely this stress was not good for the baby.

"Coming." Elizabeth got up and walked to the door where she let Carson in while Rosemary picked herself up off the ground and brushed at her skirt. Carson gave them both a curious look when he finally was invited inside.

"I was just checking in with you two to make sure you are okay." He looked back and forth between the two of them, obviously sensing that there was something aloof.

"Go ahead, tell him what's going on, Rosemary." Elizabeth nudged her with her elbow.

Her eyes widened. Should she tell him? She sure didn't want to appear like a lunatic. Everyone would think she had just been forgetful or perhaps to stressed and misplaced her own thimble… but in reality, something was not right and she knew it.

Carson settled in at the table per Elizabeth's request. "So, what's bothering you?" He asked in comforting voice.

She fingered the thimble in her pocket and took the seat next to him. "Well…"

She looked back and forth from Carson to Elizabeth. Would they believe her?

"Yes? Go on." He encouraged as he leaned towards her, his elbows on the table. Even Elizabeth leaned forward from her spot across the table.

Well, dash it all, she might as well spill what she knew. She took a deep breath and then proceeded to recount the story of how she had felt off entering the house, and the misplacement of the thimble as well as the way Sidney was acting so jittery. She expected them to laugh her out of town, but instead both Carson and Elizabeth's faces were serious.

"I'll take a look around." Carson said, pushing off the table and rising to his feet.

Ten minutes later, Carson came back to the front of the house, a troubled look on his face. "Everything seems just as fit as a fiddle, nothing missing or out of place that I can see, but I did discover something…"

Both the women held on his every word.

"Footprints on your back porch."

"Oh," Elizabeth exhaled, "but couldn't they have been Lee's?" She gripped onto Rosemary's arm and seemed to be quite nervous.

"No. It's fresh— the prints in the mud. Couldn't have been more than a few hours old. Whoever was here was here not that long ago. We are going to need to keep an eye on the place."

A good thirty minutes later, Rosemary sat by the stove, cradling a cup of hot blackberry tea with Sidney at her feet. Carson and Gowen pushed through the front door and walked into Elizabeth's parlor, both of them wearing serious expressions. Carson had his hands on his hips.

"Those sure are fresh prints." Gowen lifted the glass on the lantern he was holding and blew out the flame before setting it by the front door. He pushed his hands into his pocket and walked towards the stove where she was sitting. Elizabeth closed the door behind them and scuttled to Rosemary's side.

"You've been gone all day?" Gowen asked.

"Well, I finished up sewing at eleven then I went to Mary's house to deliver her dress. I met Elizabeth and at school house and we walked home together."

"Do you pass anyone on the way?" Gowen questioned, his gaze intense.

"Or perhaps you were expecting a delivery?" Carson leaned forward from the chair he was settled into on the opposite side of the stove.

She shook her head.

"I don't know what kind of person would break and enter a home just for a thimble." Gowen groused, his forehead wrinkled.

Carson nodded. "It sure doesn't make sense. Could it have been Dewitt Graves coming by for the dress? Perhaps there was a miscommunication?"

She considered it. It could have happened but was not likely.

Gowen took her silence as the answer. "That's probably it. Dewitt stopped by to claim the dress. Hence the foot prints."

"But it is the back door." She refrained from adding 'imbeciles' to her response and took a breath. She just had to get them to believe her. "No caller would go in the back door. It is just not proper."

Carson's eyebrows lifted at that. "You do have a point. Anyone coming from the back is either familiar with the place or is not wanting to be seen from the front."

Gowen cleared his throat. "And you are sure you placed the thimble back in your sewing basket?"

She nodded. They had asked her the same question no less than a dozen times. Did they expect her to change her answer?

Both men sighed and then Carson spoke in a soft voice.

"It looks like we are at an impasse. There is nothing in the home that signals an intruder—"

"My thimble!" She shrieked.

Carson held up his hand, patiently. "Besides this thimble—"

"And what about my cat?"

Both men looked at her confused-like.

"Sidney— she is scared stiff! She wouldn't behave like that unless if there was an intruder, someone who scared her."

"Ah, yes, perhaps the cat's behavior could indicate—" Carson grappled for words.

Gowen stepped forward. "But it is not evidence of breaking and entering. We obviously cannot go out and arrest a fella for breaking and entering until we have some evidence. Solid evidence. A thimble will not suffice."

Carson coughed into his hand and then tossed her a sympathetic look. "But tonight we will do all we can to make sure you womenfolk are safe."

Gowen nodded back to Carson and then shifted uncomfortably.

"I guess we will man the downstairs if you two wouldn't mind occupying the upstairs? To keep appearances right and such." A stain rose on Carson's neck and traveled to his cheeks. She was thankful for his thought to propriety.

She looked at Elizabeth and they both nodded and proceeded to walk up the stairs to the rooms. She paused at the first door upstairs, the guest room.

Elizabeth gripped her arm. "Gather your things and meet me in my room. After the events of today, I wouldn't want you to be on your own."

After ten minutes, she had gathered her items for the night, her hands shaking a mite more than she'd like to admit. She rapped on Elizabeth's door and Elizabeth, clad in her pajamas, opened the door quickly and pulled her in. After washing her face in the basin, and seeing more worry lines there than she cared for, she slipped under the sheets. Elizabeth was already huddled under the covers, her breathing soft but not quite asleep yet.

"Elizabeth?" She questioned after a moment. "Do you believe me? That someone was snooping around the house?"

It was quiet for a moment. Then came Elizabeth's voice. "Of course I do."

Rosemary sighed with relief. Just to know her friend believed her, why, it made all the difference in the world.

"I just don't understand why someone would move your thimble and why he wouldn't steal anything else. It just doesn't make sense." Elizabeth continued. "But don't worry, Carson and Gowen will get to the bottom of it."

Now it was Rosemary's turn to be quiet. She sure hoped they would figure out who had broke into her home. But how would they with hardly any clues?

The thoughts spiraled through her head as she considered every possible angle of the strange incident. She didn't know what to do. Surely, with thoughts like this, she'd be up half the night and cause herself intense mental duress. Then, just as quick as her next thought, she knew what her answer was. If Lee were here, he would hold her tight in his strong arms and lead her in a prayer. Prayer, it always seemed to bring her peace. Prayer was her answer.

She reached out and patted the sheets. "Elizabeth?"

Elizabeth stirred next to her.

She whispered, "Would you pray with me?"

The covers shifted as Elizabeth sat up. "Of course."

They both slipped from the bed and kneeled.

Together their voices resounded: "Our Father, who art in heaven…"