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* * *
Lucille was seated in the parlor trying to read and take her mind off of the way things had been between her and Leonard, when she heard a woman scream just outside her window. She turned and looked out it and saw Leonard chasing after a child.
She blinked twice and looked again, thinking she must be hallucinating. Her mind had not been right these last few days. Leonard was leaving home early and returning home late. He’d come in, eat nothing, and go straight into his office where he’d promptly shut the door and lock it, leaving it that way all night long.
Last night, Lucille had been wakened by a bad dream. In her overwhelming desire to feel Leonard’s touch on her bare skin, a comfort she had not realized she’d miss so much until she did not have it, she had gone to his office and tapped lightly, hesitantly upon his door. When he hadn’t answered, she’d tried the knob. It was only then that she’d realized the door was locked, barring her from the room.
She’d let out a silent groan of despair then returned to bed, where she’d taken the next two hours to fall back asleep, and even then it had been a bad sleep. She’d tossed and turned like a ship at sea.
Now, when she looked out the window and saw Leonard still chasing after the child, she realized it was no hallucination. She hurried out of the house to see a crowd of people following after him, Marshal Decker not far behind. His face was red and sweaty, and he was panting. He could not keep up with Leonard by any means.
She started forward, her feet instinctively running after them the way half the town seemed to be. Their house was not located in the town center, but judging by the number of people who were following after them, they must have passed through it at one point.
The child, a girl, screamed at Leonard and turned around swinging. Her fist nearly collided with his jaw but he ducked just in time. She tried to swing again, somehow tangling her feet up together, and fell on her butt. Leonard promptly scooped her up and placed his handcuffs around her wrists as he brought them behind her. She let out another cry, even louder this time, then seemed to just give up and stopped fighting altogether.
“Leonard!” Lucille shouted. “What are you doing?”
Her mouth was hanging open. She could hardly believe this was her husband, the man she’d been pining over just inside their house a moment before. The last time she’d seen Irene, she’d spent an hour lamenting to her on just how much she loved him, just how sorry she was to have hurt him, just how much she wanted him back. But this man who was arresting a child bared no resemblance to that same man.
Leonard looked at her. “This is the girl who’s been breaking into places all over town,” he said.
Lucille looked at him, shocked. “This child?” She looked closer and realized the girl was not quite so young as she’d thought she was at first. Not twelve, but perhaps fifteen or sixteen. No older than that though, but old enough to know better.
“I didn’t do anything!” the girl screamed then burst into tears.
Marshal Decker had finally caught up to them. He was still panting, what felt like the entire town gathering in behind him as he puffed his chest out and tilted his chin into the air. In a haughty voice, he told the girl that she was under arrest and demanded to search her pockets. When she refused, he searched them anyway.
It was Leonard who said, “Maybe we ought to get her back to the station before we go searching her. I don’t think we need to embarrass her in public any more than she’s already been.”
Decker’s eyes blazed. “Embarrass her?” he yelled then burst into laughter. “She’s embarrassed herself by being a thief.” Then he yanked hard on her arm, making her stumble again, and without her hands free to brace herself, she fell flat on her face.
The people in the crowd began to laugh, and Lucille felt a sudden pang of sorrow for the girl. She shot Leonard a look, trying to tell him to do something, but he already was. He helped the girl back on her feet.
“If I undo these handcuffs,” he said to her, “do you promise not to run?”
She nodded, unable to wipe the tears from her face.
Decker’s face burned a bright red. “Don’t you dare unlock those cuffs!” he snarled. Leonard unlocked them anyway but kept one hand steady on her arm, ready to grab a hold of her should she try to run again. She went willingly enough with him, however.
Decker kept pace with them this time, his hands full of the few items he’d taken from the girl’s pockets. He stopped midstride, his eyes bulging from their sockets. “Oh my Lord!” he shouted and looked at the girl with fresh delight.
Leonard paused slightly and looked at him curiously. The girl looked back at him with disdain.
“Do you know what this is?” Decker asked excitedly, holding up something in his hand.
Leonard said, “Let’s get her to the station before we start talking about—”
Decker cut him off. “This is a ring that was taken off a female victim from one of the Beauty Bandits’ robberies!” He looked again at the sixteen-year-old girl and smiled widely. “I’ve just caught a Beauty Bandit.”
Lucille looked at the girl, whom she’d never seen before, then at the ring Decker was holding in his hand. She recognized it as belonging to a snobby rich lady with a fur coat and diamonds who had spoken to one of the train stewards like he was little better than mud. Irene had taken the ring off her. It was an unusual shape—like an elongated heart—a bright, clear yellow diamond at the center of it.
The girl looked directly at Lucille as if begging her for help, but Lucille didn’t know what to say. The last she’d seen that ring, Irene had it. She’d meant to sell it and give the money to a church in Indiana they’d read about that was in danger of losing their land.
Lucille bit her bottom lip as Leonard shot her a look, then she hurried to find Irene as Leonard led the girl away.
* * *
