Her father arranged for the baby to be removed from the household and placed with another family.
The child was not stillborn, as the family announced.
Augusta had signed a birth attendance record, and Elias Voss had collected the infant from the back door three days later.
“I was young, and they threatened my work if I questioned the arrangement,” Augusta said.
“I believed the child would be cared for.”
“Do you know where he went?” Caleb asked.
“No.”
“Then why does Eleanor keep the locket?”
“It was Clara’s last possession.”
Augusta looked down at her hands.
“She asked me to place it with her son.”
“And did you?”
“Voss took it before I could.”
Caleb remembered the portrait he had glimpsed in Eleanor’s sitting room.
It was not a keepsake of a mother’s face but a piece of evidence tied to a child’s disappearance.
“Could the boy have grown up under another name?” Amos asked.
“Almost certainly.”
“Could Eleanor be using the story to force Voss to cooperate?”
“Possibly.”
Caleb touched the notation beside his name.
“Then why do they need me?”
Sarah considered the question.
“Perhaps because you saw something in her room that nobody else can confirm.”
“I saw the locket.”
“And you saw her keep it beside the ledger.”
“I also heard her say she would make sure nobody believed me.”
Sarah looked at him.
“That matters, Caleb.”
“But we have to give you a safe way to decide whether you want to tell it.”
Chapter Sixteen: Ruth Makes a Choice
At Hawthorne, Ruth’s workday began with a kettle that refused to boil and ended with a summons she had long expected.
Eleanor called her into the sitting room at dusk.
The mistress sat by the window with her back straight and a handkerchief pressed into her palm.
A bassinet stood against the wall, empty beneath a white cover.
“Where is your brother?” Eleanor asked.
Ruth had practiced her answer while carrying dishes, yet the words felt dangerous when spoken aloud.
“He was sent to Red Cedar, ma’am.”
“He is not there.”
“I don’t know where he is.”
Eleanor’s eyes narrowed.
“Someone has been helping him.”
“I don’t know who.”
“If he does not return, the colonel will blame him for the trouble with the child.”
Ruth stared at the bassinet.
“What trouble?”
“That’s none of your concern.”
“Then why are you asking me about it?”
The question escaped before Ruth could stop it.
