Page 85 of Winterset

She wound through the trees, trying to remember the precise location where she had felt that slamming fist of fear. She drew in her breath sharply as little prickles of awareness suddenly danced over her skin.

“Do you feel something?” Reed asked.

Anna nodded. “Yes, a little. It’s near here.”

She walked on, and now the fear was sweeping through her like a tide of cold. Her steps grew quicker.

“She was scared,” Anna said, her eyes blank, looking at the area in front of her without really seeing it, focusing on something in her mind. “The fear came before the pain. She—she’s running.” Anna’s voice grew a little breathy. “It’s behind—behind her, and it’s catching up.”

She hurried through the trees, her voice going higher with fear, her breath coming in little pants. “She screams. She wants him—the man she was going to meet. I can’t—can’t get his name. And then—and then—”

Anna came to a dead stop, holding her hands out a little from her sides. “Here. The pain comes here. It’s different—not on the head. Something slams into her from behind, and I can’t—she can’t breathe. She’s fallen, and then it’s on her. She’s paralyzed with fear. And then there’s pain, tearing pain, and a flash of something—a face or something that terrifies her. I can’t really see it well. I just feel what she’s feeling.”

She let out a breath and glanced around her, feeling as if she were returning suddenly to her own place and time. Her hand was in Reed’s, and she was clutching it to her; she realized it with some embarrassment and released him.

“I’m sorry.”

He shook his head, dismissing the need for any apology. “Was that everything you could see?”

“Yes. I didn’t see his face. I never can. But it was different with her. She ran from him, and he didn’t hit her on the head first.”

“It was the first. Perhaps it was unplanned. Or maybe he learned from the first one that he needed to render them unconscious quickly.”

“Or because they were men, he presumed he needed more advantage.”

Reed nodded. “No one but us—and the killer—knows that this is where the murder actually took place. So the constable has not searched the area.”

Anna nodded. “You’re right. We should look around, see if we can see anything. One of her earbobs, perhaps. Penny said she was wearing a set that the man she was meeting had given her.”

“Were they still on her body?”

“I’m not sure. I mentioned them to Estelle’s family, but they had no idea what I was talking about. So I would think that they were missing from the body—or perhaps, in their grief, they didn’t even notice.”

“All right. Let’s begin to look. Starting here, since this is where you think she went down.”

They bent over, searching the ground carefully, walking away from each other and returning in narrow zigzags. After a few minutes, Reed let out a cry of discovery. Anna was instantly at his side.

“What? Did you find anything?”

“Look at that.” Reed pointed at the ground at his feet. Just this side of a small shrub, lying against a small, fallen branch, lay a glitter of gold.

“What is it?” Anna leaned closer, and Reed bent to pick it up.

“A cuff link,” he said, holding it out to her in his palm. “Do you recognize it?”

It was a gold cuff link, with a small onyx set in the center. Anna shook her head indecisively.

“I don’t know. I—it seems as though I have seen it somewhere, but…it’s not really familiar.”

Anna sighed. She had had such hopes of finding out something pertinent, but when they had found something, it hadn’t turned out to be of much use.

Reed saw her expression. “Don’t be downcast. Now we know where the murder really took place, and we know that he lost a cuff link.”

“But it’s scarcely something we can take to the constable,” Anna pointed out. “What would we say? We found this lying in the woods, nowhere near where either body was found? Or that I somehow knew the murder really took place here?”

“No. But we know more than we knew before.” He smiled down at her. “We have a link to the killer.”

“I know. It’s just—I am worried about Kit. After last night…I don’t think he will stop until he has hurt Kit. We must find out who it is. And soon.”