Eleanor Whitaker did not cry when Silas Montgomery caught her stealing corn.
She simply stood between the tall stalks, three ears pressed against her stomach, and looked directly at the rifle in his hand.
“Go ahead,” she whispered.
“Call the sheriff.
Lord knows I’ve got nothing left to lose.”
That was the moment everything changed.
Eleanor had not eaten a real meal in four days.
Two weeks earlier, she had buried her mother, spending every coin she owned on a small plot in Harland County.
Then the boarding house threw her out.
For two nights, she slept in an abandoned barn until hunger drove her into Silas Montgomery’s field.
