Lydia looked at her injured ankle and asked whether it would heal.
Catherine answered that the doctor expected it to.
There was a long silence.
Finally Catherine said, “I believed his story because believing was easier than questioning him.” Lydia replied, “It was easier for you.
It wasn’t easier for the people he took.” Catherine accepted the correction without defending herself.
“I know,” she said.
“I want to help make the record right, even if you never forgive me.” Lydia looked toward Sarah leaving the courthouse and answered, “Start with her, then keep going.”
Chapter 32: The Road to the Eastern House
Evidence from Celia Morton and the tollkeeper led Alden to a property near the county line registered under a company controlled by Fane.
Local authorities were slow to act, but an independent magistrate agreed to examine the site after receiving sworn statements from multiple witnesses.
He traveled with officers who had been briefed that the property might contain kidnapped travelers.
Elijah wanted to accompany them, but Alden advised him to remain where his family could find him.
Lydia insisted on going because she recognized the house from the map.
Rebecca followed to ensure that someone outside the law officers could identify her if trouble arose.
The house appeared ordinary from the road, with a vegetable garden and a barn under repair.
Inside, the visitors found locked rooms, bedding too small for adults, and personal objects stored beneath shelves.
Two people remained there: a woman named Helen Mason and a teenage boy called Daniel Price, both held under documents they said were false.
The officers secured the building while Alden recorded their statements.
Lydia knelt beside Helen, who recognized her from a previous holding house.
They held each other’s hands for several moments without speaking.
The reunion was neither joyful nor simple, because both knew others had been moved away.
Helen described the last wagon leaving three nights before.
She remembered a little girl with a blue ribbon and a man whose wrist had been bound because he tried to protect her.
Lydia compared the description with her list and identified two possible names.
She refused to claim certainty where none existed.
Daniel Price said he had heard guards discuss a transfer south toward Petersburg.
The magistrate sent messengers along the road, but Lydia understood that the wagons had a head start.
She asked that the rescued people be allowed to choose where they would stay rather than being handed to strangers who promised custody.
Alden supported the request and arranged contact with their families.
