Blood drained from her face. "I didn't do this," Anna said before he'd uttered a word.

"It sure looks like you did," he said none too kindly, "but save your explanations for your family. They're the ones who need to hear it."

She closed her mouth but glared daggers as she followed him back into the house.

Anna sat down while Kid gathered them. He knocked on Clyde's door and her parents' door. "There's an important matter to discuss."

There were murmurs of complaint and mumbled questions of 'it can't wait?', but they promised to come.

He woke Ruth up last, not eager to tell her the news. He put a hand on her shoulder. "Ruth? Ruth?"

She looked up at him bleary-eyed. She caught his troubled expression right off the bat. "You found out who's behind it."

"I'm afraid so and this time I caught her red-handed."

"Anna?" she asked as she visibly winced, the thought paining her.

"She's waiting to tell us her side of things."

Ruth quickly threw her dress on, not bothering with her corset and leaving her hair in a braid.

Clyde had went and got Robert, who had been patrolling out around the barn. Mary had gotten Anna a blanket for modesty's sake and because she had been shivering.

"Do you want to tell them or should I?" Kid asked.

Anna gave an irritated sigh. "I will." She purposely looked away from him and at her family instead, who were standing, afraid to sit down. "I heard something outside, so I went to the window to see what it was. I didn't see anybody, but I did see a scarecrow made to look like Ruth. I didn't want her to see it, so I thought I'd get it down myself and then the avenging angel here spotted me and assumed I was putting it up."

They all looked confused and unsure of how to respond, all but Kid who immediately returned, "Are you trying to say that someone not from this house was able to get hold of Ruth's dress to put on the scarecrow? Who else would have been able to get into her room and get it unnoticed? And why were you so scared when I caught you?"

"I don't know who did it or how they got it, but I was getting it down. I wasn't putting it up," she insisted. Her arms were folded in front of her defensively. "And why wouldn't I be scared with somebody sneaking up on me when the person who hung it is plainly threatening to do violence to my sister."

"Are you denying that you're not eager to see her gone?" he asked.

"No, I mean yes. You can't think I would do those awful things." Guilt crossed her features. "I'm not saying I didn't want this witch stuff behind us and if that meant you two leaving a little early, I wouldn't have minded, but I wouldn't go this far."

"It's true that Kid saw you messing with the scarecrow?" James asked quietly.

"Yes, but—"

"Why didn't you come tell your mother or me and let us handle it?" he asked, interrupting her.

"I don't know. I just reacted."

"How did he or she get past Robert when they were toting a scarecrow?" James continued.

Anna was getting more distressed. "I don't know. Maybe they came from the woods. Robert can't be everywhere."

"It's a possibility," Robert agreed.

"Anna, it's the dress that concerns me," James said. "I know Mary or myself didn't get her dress. I have a hard time picturing Robert or Clyde chancing seeing Ruth's unmentionables while they dug through her clothes." The thought garnering looks of revulsion from her brothers that confirmed that theory. "That leaves you."

Tears gathered in the corners of Anna's eyes.

"You are 17 years old. Almost 18. What I ought to do is turn you out of this house," James said. "Instead, I want you confined to your room. There won't be any of this courting Samuel stuff since you obviously can't be trusted away from our sight yet."

Kid looked around, and judging from the expressions he saw, no one was in doubt of her guilt now though they were all obviously pained by it. Ruth was the exception. She still looked reluctant to believe it, wanting to believe Anna, but neither did she have the same confidence that it couldn't be her sister as she'd had before.

"Anna—" Ruth began.

Anna cut her off sharply. "Don't go playing the compassionate martyr. It's clear I've already been declared guilty. If that's what ya'll want, fine, but don't be surprised when something else dreadful happens."

sss

Mary was nervous if the burned biscuits and unnecessary rattling around the kitchen was any kind of sign. Although he imagined none of them had slept well after the night they'd had. He was the first one at the table.

"Ruth'll be along in a few minutes. Where's Mr. McKenzie?" he asked.

"He said he had to go out and think, but I know where he's really gone. Out to drink and that worries me more than usual, circumstances being what they are," she said, handing him one of the biscuits with an apologetic look.

"I like a bit of a burnt taste," he said generously, using lots of butter and jam to hide the flavor. He gave a short, silent blessing since he was the only one eating at the moment. "There's a saloon around here?" Kid asked.

"No, he set up a still somewhere or one of his buddies did. He's an old hand at it, but I still worry he's going to make some bad liquor one of these days and Lord only knows what'll happen to him then."

"I'll find him for you," he offered after he finished the biscuit with a couple of quick bites and washed it down with coffee, which thankfully had survived her distracted cooking.

"Would you?" she said with a sigh of relief. She switched to concern, "You didn't get enough to eat, did you?"

"I'm not all that hungry right now. I'll get me something else when I get back."

"I know that feeling," she said more to herself than Kid.

Ruth was still doing her morning Bible study in her room. She saw him bundling up out of the corner of her eye. "Where you going?"

"Your momma's worried about your daddy, so I volunteered to go find him. You never told me your father drinks."

"It was never a huge problem growing up. He was very good at hiding it. Still is, I reckon. I never saw him drunk. He would just disappear for a day or two. I stumbled across a jug of his once when I was about 10 and I raised such Cain about it, thinking it was some strange, lowdown drunk that had left it in the barn, that he was a lot more careful about it after that. None of us youngens ever ran across one again." She closed her Bible and stood up. "Maybe I should go with you."

"I think it'd be better if I went and talked to him. I know I ain't his favorite person, but this is something I can relate to."

She didn't disagree, but she told him, "You're libel to get turned around out in the woods. The trees can get pretty dense once you get up on the mountain and if you ain't familiar with the area."

"I got a pretty good internal compass, but you can send out a search party if I ain't back in a few hours," he said, kissing her goodbye.

The foliage was as thick as Ruth had claimed, but he could smell the yeasty, unpleasant smell of fermenting alcohol long before he saw or even heard them. When he came upon them James and 2 other men were sprawled out under the trees. The friends were all but passed out, but James still looked lucid.

"Look, fellows, it's my son-in-law come to fetch me home probably," James said.

"Mary's worried about you. You should be with your family right now." He felt like a hypocrite as he certainly hadn't stuck around during the tragedy in his own family, not that he thought it would've made a bit of difference if he had.

James barely acknowledged his words. "It ain't safe to drink anywhere. I can't do it at home because the women of my family don't approve of it and ain't shy about letting me know. If you want any, you better get some while you can. My momma seems to know when a new still is in the woods and where it is before the birds do. We've lost more copper pots that way. If ever there was a job that required locating and destroying stills, Momma'd be your man or woman in this case."

He'd certainly drunk enough to free his tongue. Kid had never heard him string so many words together. He tried again. "Why don't you come back with me? This ain't the way to handle things."

"My youngest daughter burned down my barn, killed my chickens, and hung up a scarecrow made to look like Ruth. Should I be dancing a jig instead?"

"No, sir, but when the hangover's gone, the problem's still there, ain't it?"

He grunted and then his mood changed to a more somber one. "I tried to raise my girls right."

"I'm sure you did, but people have to make their own choices in the end."

He continued as if he hadn't even heard him. "I was a little too free with Ruth, I think. I should've insisted she not spend so much time with me. Made her into an independent and headstrong eccentric like me instead of a genteel lady like her mother and sisters. Now she's roaming all over dangerous territories telling people things they don't want to hear. Married a man with more vices than me. And Anna must be jealous of all that. My sweet, little Anna, who I thought wouldn't hurt a fly, who's practically afraid of her own shadow." His eyes looked a little wet.

"Say what you like about me, but you watch what you say about Ruth. You may be her father, but I'm her husband. That lady may be more independent and outgoing than the average female, but believe you me, she's just as genteel if not more so than any lady I've ever known and she's certainly got the biggest heart. And if you could see her out in her element, you would know you'd raised her to be the woman God intended her to be."

A begrudging respect shone in his eyes. He liked that Kid had stood up to him to defend Ruth. Then he actually smiled. "Maybe Ruth could've done worse. Don't worry about it. I don't like most of her life choices, but I love the girl exactly like she is. I love all my girls exactly like they are."

Kid held a hand out to him to help him up off the ground. "Maybe we'll surprise Ruth yet by becoming friends."

He accepted it and got to his feet. "Lord knows it'd be a surprise alright." His hand bent downward for a moment as he scratched his eyebrow, a gesture used to give him some time to collect his words. "I want to thank you for seeing that Ruth was kept safe during all this. I know it couldn't have been easy finding out it was her sister and then worrying about how everyone was going to take it. I know we must all seem like pretty unreasonable people to you and what with you just befriending Mary."

"I had my suspicions for awhile, but I hoped it wasn't," Kid told him.

"I appreciate that and I appreciate that you kept it to yourself until you was sure. I just pray it's not too late to get Anna straightened out."

"I hope you're, uh, clear minded enough to know where you're going. I think I got turned around and Ruth would never let me hear the end of it if I got lost out here."

He chuckled. "You're right about that. Lucky for you I am."