The Revenant by Sonia Gensler Read Free Book Online Page A

Ella.”
    Alice held up a finger. “But they’d been at odds before she died.”
    “He was a wild boy,” said Fannie with a sniff. “Hardly civilized at all. I’m sure he wouldn’t have thought twice about holding Ella under the water when he caught her looking elsewhere.”
    Larkin’s eyes widened. “He had a temper, but Cale never would have hurt her.”
    “Then why,” asked Alice, “did he leave the same night she died?”
    “Maybe because Ella drove him mad with her flirting and moodiness?” Eli’s voice was harsh.
    “Ella was not a flirt!” Lucy spoke for the first time, her eyes flashing. “She loved to have fun, and Cale couldn’t bear her liking anyone’s company but his own.”
    Fannie stared at Eli, one eyebrow arched. “How interesting to hear you condemn Ella as a flirt when you were in love with her yourself at one time.”
    At those words, each head snapped toward Eli, including my own. His jaw tightened. Then he took a breath and looked directly at Fannie.
    “I won’t deny that,” he said. “The same was true for every boy at the male seminary. What does that have to do with anything, Miss Bell?”
    I cleared my throat, suddenly eager to break their locked gaze. “What if it wasn’t murder? Could it not also be that she … killed herself?”
    All of them turned to stare at me.
    “No,” said Lucy flatly. “Ella loved life too much. Cale Hawkins had something to do with her death, and he should be punished for it.”
    “Cale tried to stop her going to the river,” said Larkin, “or at least that’s what the telegram said. Right, Eli?”
    Eli stared at the ground, his mouth a thin line.
    “What telegram was this?” I asked.
    Larkin glanced at Eli in expectation, then shook his head at his friend’s continued silence. “Eli got a telegram from Cale the day after Ella’s body was found.” Larkin spoke slowly to me, as though I were addled in the wits. “It said he tried to stop her, he was sorry, and that he was going to Texas and never coming back.”
    “Yes, but we’ve never seen this telegram, have we?” Alice turned to Eli. “Why didn’t you show us?”
    Eli did not raise his head. “I showed it to the sheriff. It was no one else’s business.”
    “When you consider Cale’s words,” I said, “it sounds like she may have done it deliberately.”
    “I’ll never believe it,” hissed Lucy.
    “That telegram doesn’t prove she threw herself into the river,” Larkin said. “Maybe it was an accident and Cale couldn’t save her. We’ll never know.”
    The group fell into uncomfortable silence. Fannie glanced back and forth between Eli, who still stared sullenly at the ground, and Lucy Sharp, who seemed near to tears. Which one would Fannie choose to torment? Why didn’t someone speak? Remembering why I’d come to town in the first place, I brushed the tree bark from my skirt and cleared my throat again.
    “I must post a letter,” I said briskly. “As soon as I return, we’ll make our way back to the seminary.”
    “Have you written to your beau, Miss McClure?” Fannie’s eyes sparkled with mischief. “You must tell us all about him. Do you have a photograph?”
    They all turned to look at me, curiosity written plain on their faces. If anyone had bothered to offer me an ice cream earlier, I would have thrown it at Fannie.
    “I’ve not written to a beau,” I snapped. “You should mind your own business, Fannie.”
    The others smirked, but Fannie’s mouth tightened in fury. I would surely pay for my words in the classroom on Monday. Why didn’t I just lie and say I did have a beau?
    Drat them all.
    I clutched my skirts and stalked away. Once free of them, I calmed myself by taking in the details of my surroundings. Men in suits and hats walked purposefully under the awnings of the finer shops, packages in hand. A lady strolled with a baby carriage, two small children skipping behind her. But in the alleys and doorways of the less genteel stores,