Not a neighbor.
Thomas came from the barn.
The rider stopped near the porch.
He was a thin man in a dusty black coat, perhaps fifty years old.
Anna recognized the badge pinned beneath his coat before she recognized anything else.
A county deputy.
Fear moved through her before she understood why.
The man dismounted.
"Thomas Reed?"
"Yes."
"I'm Deputy Harris from Carbon County."
Thomas wiped his hands on his trousers.
"What can I do for you?"
The deputy removed a folded paper.
"I'm looking for a woman named Anna Miller."
The sheet slipped from Anna's hands.
One wet shirt fell into the dirt.
Thomas glanced toward her.
Anna could barely breathe.
The deputy followed his gaze.
"Miss Miller?"
Anna forced herself forward.
"Yes."
He studied her.
"I have questions regarding money reported stolen in Missouri."
The world seemed to narrow around her.
"What money?"
"Nine hundred and forty dollars from Whitmore Mercantile in St. Joseph."
Anna stared.
Thomas looked at her.
She saw the question in his face.
That hurt more than the deputy's words.
The deputy continued.
"Charles Whitmore states the money disappeared shortly before you left Missouri."
Anna's hands became cold.
Charles.
Of course.
Even hundreds of miles away, he had managed to reach into her life.
"I stole nothing."
"I'm not arresting you."
"Then why are you here?"
"Whitmore arrived in Willow Creek this morning asking local authorities to help locate you. Says he intends to swear a formal complaint."
Anna's knees weakened.
Thomas stepped closer.
"On what evidence?"
Deputy Harris looked at him.
"And you are?"
"Her employer."
The answer surprised Anna.
Not stranger.
Not woman staying at my house.
Employer.
The deputy looked back at her.
"Whitmore says you knew where cash was kept and left town the same week it disappeared."
"That is not evidence."
"No, ma'am. It isn't."
That calmed her slightly.
"Why would he say I took it?"
"That's what I came to ask."
Anna looked toward the laundry.
For a long moment, she could not speak.
Then she said, "Because Charles Whitmore is a coward."
The deputy's eyebrows rose.
Thomas remained silent.
Anna picked up the dirty shirt with shaking hands.
"I was engaged to him."
Deputy Harris glanced at Thomas.
Anna continued.
"My father owed money to the Whitmore family. Charles and I were supposed to marry in autumn."
"What happened?"
"My father died."
Her voice tightened.
"The farm was sold to pay creditors. There was no inheritance. Charles's mother decided a woman without land was no longer suitable for her son."
Thomas's jaw hardened.
Anna almost smiled bitterly.
"Charles agreed."
"When did you leave Missouri?"
"April third."
The deputy unfolded his paper.
"Whitmore says the money was discovered missing April fifth."
Anna looked at him.
"Then I could not have taken it."
"Could you have taken it before leaving?"
"No."
"Can anyone prove where you were?"
"I stayed at the St. Joseph Women's Boarding Home the final night. Then I boarded the westbound morning train."
"Ticket?"
Anna shook her head.
"I gave it to the conductor."
The deputy nodded.
"Rail company may have records."
Anna suddenly remembered something.
"My baggage."