“I’ll keep an eye on her,” he said. “When I find her, I’ll put her in her room and keep her there.”
“Thank you.” She paused just beyond the back door to clasp his hand. “You are a good man, Harper.”
“Without you and Quentin, I wouldn’t be a man at all.”
He squeezed her hand and let it fall. “Tell me what I need to do.”
Within an hour she had laid out the bare bones of the situation to a fretful Mrs. Daugherty, including an account of the bizarre appearance of a wolf, and asked her to take the buggy into town to glean any news or gossip about Dr. Bolkonsky, May’s father, or the aftermath of the siege on the Haven. Whatever the people of Silverado Springs might think of Johanna and the Haven’s residents, they wouldn’t hold Mrs. Daugherty accountable.
While Harper went in search of Irene, Johanna told Oscar that May had gone away for a little while, and that he mustn’t worry. Lewis was in his room, but responded to her brief explanation with peculiar blankness.
She hadn’t time to do more with him. She took Lewis’s gun from her office, kissed her father on the forehead, and asked for Oscar’s help in saddling Daisy.
The mare carried her at a willing canter to the meeting place Bolkonsky’s henchman had described, but it was deserted. If Bolkonsky had been waiting, he’d either given up or been told of his plan’s failure. With any luck—more than she deserved—he knew no more of May’s whereabouts than Johanna did.
Avoiding the roads that would take her close to Silverado Springs, Johanna returned to the Haven. Harper came running to meet her.
“I think you’d better come with me right away,” he said grimly.
She dismounted and followed him to the vineyard. The tableau that greeted her froze her in her tracks.
Irene was on her knees in the dirt, weeping hysterically. Lewis stood over her, holding a kitchen knife between his shaking hands. His head jerked up at Johanna’s approach.
“Stay away!” he warned. He pointed the knife at Irene.
Johanna held up her hands. “Lewis. Put the knife down.”
“Evil!” Lewis shouted. “All is evil. Don’t you see? First the devil wolf, and now this Jezebel, who has betrayed us all.”
“No!” Irene shrieked. “Please—”
It was possible, in spite of the day’s many disasters, for things to get worse. Johanna recognized that Lewis had reached the limits of his tolerance. He was on the verge of submitting to total madness, and there was nothing she could do to help him.
“You cannot hurt her, Lewis,” she said urgently. “No more than you could hurt Quentin.”
“I failed!” Lewis cried. “The beast is loose, because of me! I must rid the world of this whore of Babylon, who let them take the child—yes, I heard everything!” The knife began to dip, and he snapped it toward the sky. “She is like all the daughters of Eve, in league with Satan. Just like, like—”
“Irene is not the enemy,” Johanna said. “Another man has taken May. We must find a way to get her back. That is all that matters.”
“No! Evil must be wiped out, lest it swallow us all.” He swung the knife in a wild arc. “I failed before—failed—but this time—”
” ‘Let he who is without sin,'” Johanna quoted, ” ‘cast the first stone.’ Are you without sin, Reverend?”
Lewis gasped, mouth working. “Without sin?” He fell to his knees. “She betrayed me. My Hetty. She lay with another man, and I sent her away. I sent her out to die.” Water ran from his eyes and nose. ” ‘Thou hypocrite, first cast out the beam out of thine own eye!'” He pressed the point of the knife against his own chest.
Harper bolted toward him. Johanna dashed to Irene and dragged her away. With a cry, Lewis allowed Harper to wrench the knife from his hand. He fell prone upon the earth, his arms clasped over his head.
Johanna half-carried Irene back to the house and returned to the vineyard. Harper knelt beside Lewis, whose sobs had hushed to ordinary weeping. The madness was gone from his face.