“What do we do now?” Officer Miller asked in a low voice, his hands tightening around the steering wheel as he stared at the villagers blocking the road.
Adrian frowned and remained silent for a moment while Detective Grant surveyed the crowd surrounding the minibus.
Returning Clara to the household was obviously not an option; after seeing the locked woodshed and the chain around her ankle, there was little doubt about what would happen if they left her behind again.
Unfortunately, forcing their way through the crowd was equally dangerous.
Before anyone could settle on a plan, one of the villagers suddenly picked up a rock and hurled it toward the minibus.
The stone struck a side window hard enough to shatter the glass, making everyone inside flinch.
Detective Grant’s expression darkened.
“Open the door.
I’ll try talking to them.” Miller looked reluctant but eventually released the lock, and Grant stepped down from the vehicle.
The villagers immediately crowded closer.
“Give her back!” “The Pike family paid for her!
What right do you have to take her away?” “Where’s Ethan?
Someone find Ethan!
His wife is being taken away!” Grant raised both hands in an attempt to calm them.
“Everyone quiet down and listen to me.
Clara Hayes is not Ethan Pike’s lawful wife.
She was abducted ten years ago when she was fourteen years old, brought here against her will, and sold to this household.
Her parents have finally found her, and we are taking her out of the village.” His explanation had barely ended when the elderly couple from the compound pushed through the crowd.
The man was Walter Pike, Ethan’s father, while the woman beside him was his mother, Martha Pike.
Martha immediately dropped to the ground and began wailing.
“How can officials bully ordinary people like this?
We spent thousands to find a wife for our son, and now you’re taking her away after all these years!” Walter joined in just as loudly.
“You people are trying to destroy our family!” Grant’s face flushed with anger.
“You bought a kidnapped fourteen-year-old girl!
That is not a legitimate marriage, and obstructing police officers while they are carrying out their duties is also illegal.” The warning had almost no effect.
A middle-aged villager pushed forward and looked at Grant with open contempt.
“Illegal according to who?
My wife was bought too, and so were plenty of other women in this village.
Are you planning to arrest everyone here?” Several people around him immediately voiced their agreement.
Grant stared at them in disbelief.
The man continued, apparently convinced that his argument was perfectly reasonable.
“You can’t come here from the city and suddenly tell us everything we’ve always done is illegal.” Inside the minibus, Adrian watched the confrontation with a growing frown.
“Does this village have any local official who can actually control these people?” One of the officers beside him sighed.
“Pine Hollow has gone through four village administrators over the years.
Two resigned, one died in an accident in the mountains, and the current one hasn’t shown up.” That told Adrian almost everything he needed to know.
The law might technically reach Pine Hollow Village, but in practice, the village had spent years functioning according to its own customs, which explained why Grant’s legal warnings meant almost nothing to the people surrounding them.
Still, their ignorance could potentially be useful.
Adrian stood.
The officer beside him looked surprised.
“Attorney Cole, where are you going?” “To see if I can get them to let us leave.” Before the officer could stop him, Adrian made his way to the front and stepped out beside Detective Grant.
Walter Pike was still shouting.
“She isn’t leaving this village!” Grant opened his mouth to respond, but Adrian spoke first.
“She isn’t running away.
Everyone calm down; nobody is stealing anyone.” Grant glanced sideways at him.
Walter folded his arms.
“She’s already sitting inside your vehicle, and you expect me to believe you aren’t taking her away?” Adrian gave him a patient smile.
“You’re misunderstanding the situation.
This is connected to a government registration and welfare procedure.” The villagers fell strangely quiet.
Even Grant looked at Adrian as though he had just started telling a particularly unusual story.
“Welfare?” Walter frowned.
“What does that have to do with her?” Adrian continued with complete confidence.
“Your grandson is old enough to attend school, correct?” Walter hesitated.
“Yes.” “Then he needs proper registration and identification records before he can be enrolled.
The problem is that his mother’s records were never properly transferred or completed after she came here, which complicates the child’s registration as well.
That is one of the things being dealt with today.” Grant’s eyelid twitched.
Adrian continued before anyone had enough time to examine the explanation too carefully.
“Walter, has your grandson already been officially registered?” Walter looked uncertain.
“No.” “Then do you want him to attend school?” Walter seemed about to dismiss the idea, so Adrian immediately added, “Compulsory schooling doesn’t require you to pay tuition, and there are assistance programs for qualifying families.
Depending on the circumstances, households can receive educational subsidies and other support.
If the boy studies well, he might even have opportunities outside the village later.” Martha, who had stopped wailing somewhere during the explanation, immediately looked interested.
“They give money?” “There are assistance programs,” Adrian answered smoothly.
The answer was technically vague enough to avoid promising anything specific, although from the way Martha’s expression changed, she had heard exactly what she wanted to hear.
Walter was less easily convinced.
He looked suspiciously at the minibus.
“I still think she should stay here.” Adrian nodded as though considering his concern.
“That can be arranged, but leaving the household-registration problem unresolved could create fines and other administrative complications later.
Those costs can become substantial.” Walter’s expression changed immediately.
“How substantial?” “That depends on the exact violations and what authorities discover when reviewing the records.
I certainly wouldn’t assume it will be cheap.” Adrian deliberately avoided naming an exact figure this time.
The villagers’ imagination would probably do a better job than any number he could provide.
Martha immediately leaned toward her husband.
“If they’re only taking her to fix the paperwork, maybe we should let her go.” Walter remained uncertain.
“When would she come back?” “If everything goes smoothly, the administrative side can be dealt with quickly.” Adrian then looked directly at him.
“Besides, you still have the child here.
You don’t seriously think she would simply abandon her own son and disappear forever, do you?” That argument had an immediate effect.
Several villagers began murmuring among themselves.
“That’s true.” “The boy is still here.” “She wouldn’t leave her child.” “Let them sort out the registration first.” Adrian watched the crowd carefully.
He was not trying to convince them of every detail of his story.
He only needed to give them a less threatening explanation that allowed them to stop resisting without feeling as though they had surrendered.
Once people were frightened or angry enough, they often clung to whatever explanation made the situation easiest to accept.
Detective Grant seemed to realize exactly what Adrian was doing.
His expression became rather complicated.
He leaned slightly toward Adrian and muttered, “Did Westbridge actually teach you this?” Adrian kept smiling at the villagers.
“No.” “Thought so.” Whatever Grant thought of the tactic, it was working.
The crowd had visibly relaxed, while Walter and Martha were no longer screaming about physically stopping the police.
For the first time since the minibus had been surrounded, it looked as though they might actually be able to leave peacefully.
Then a furious voice came from behind the crowd.
“Who the hell is taking my woman?” The villagers immediately turned.
A stocky man in mud-covered work clothes pushed through them, his broad face twisted with anger.
He bore a strong resemblance to Walter, and Adrian knew who he was even before anyone said his name.
Ethan Pike.
He had apparently come directly from the fields.
“Where is she?” Ethan shoved past several villagers and tried to force his way toward the minibus.
“I paid for her!” Detective Grant stepped in front of him.
Ethan shoved him hard enough to make him stumble backward.
Several officers immediately moved forward.
“Captain!” Walter and Martha also grabbed their son.
“Ethan, wait.
It’s a misunderstanding.” “They said they’re taking her to fix the registration.” “And apparently there’s assistance money afterward.” The surrounding villagers began repeating bits and pieces of Adrian’s explanation until Ethan was receiving half a dozen slightly different versions of the same story.
He looked from his parents to Adrian and then toward the police.
His anger did not disappear, but his expression gradually became more calculating.
Finally, he spoke.
“I’m going with her.” Grant frowned.
“What?” “If she’s really only going into town for registration, then there’s no reason I can’t ride along.
I’ll go with her and bring her home.” Grant looked toward Adrian.
Adrian returned the glance.
Neither of them liked the idea, but refusing immediately might reignite the entire crowd.
Once the vehicle was out of Pine Hollow and back under normal police control, however, Ethan’s objections would matter far less.
Grant made his decision.
“Fine.
You can come.” Ethan’s eyes narrowed.
“We’ll be back tonight?” “We’ll deal with everything as quickly as possible.” That answer was enough.
The villagers slowly moved away from the doors, and Ethan climbed aboard.
Everyone inside immediately became tense.
The officers watched him carefully as he walked down the aisle, but Ethan ignored them and continued toward the rear.
Clara saw him approaching.
Her entire body stiffened.
She lowered her head and pressed closer to Martin, her breathing becoming visibly faster.
Martin’s reaction was very different.
He stared at Ethan with an intensity that made Adrian immediately uneasy, and his arms tightened protectively around his daughter.
Grant was about to tell Miller to start driving when Ethan suddenly reached toward Clara.
“Get off the bus.” Everyone froze.
Ethan grabbed Clara by the wrist.
“I said get off.
Registration my ass.
You’re coming home.” He yanked hard.
Clara cried out as she was pulled partly away from Martin.
Grant reacted immediately.
“Stop him!” Several officers moved at once, but Martin was closer.
The instant he felt Clara being dragged away, ten years of grief and rage seemed to erupt at once.
He lunged forward and bit down hard on Ethan’s hand.
Ethan shouted and instinctively released Clara.
Martin immediately drove his shoulder into the other man’s abdomen.
The movement happened so quickly that even Adrian barely had time to react.
Both men lost their balance and tumbled through the open bus door onto the dirt outside.
“Damn it!” Grant rushed after them.
The villagers immediately surged forward again.
Within seconds, all of the tension Adrian had managed to reduce exploded back into chaos.
Grant reached toward his holster and drew his sidearm.
“Everyone stay back!” Several villagers hesitated.
Others did not.
One man stepped forward, pointed toward his own forehead, and shouted, “Go on, then!
Shoot me!” Someone behind him yelled, “The police are threatening villagers!” The crowd erupted again.
People began striking the side of the minibus with wooden poles, hoes, and whatever else they were holding, while the officers near the doors struggled to keep anyone from climbing inside.
Even the sight of Grant’s firearm was not enough to control them.
Outside, Ethan had already recovered from the fall.
“You old bastard!” He looked around, spotted a sickle in a nearby villager’s hand, snatched it away, and charged toward Martin.
The polished blade flashed in the sunlight.
Martin threw up both hands just in time to catch Ethan’s wrist before the sickle could reach him.
The two men struggled violently, Ethan trying to force the blade downward while Martin used both hands to keep it away.
Then someone in the crowd struck Martin from behind with a wooden club.
His knees buckled.
Ethan fell with him.
The surrounding villagers surged forward, and within seconds both men disappeared beneath a mass of bodies.
There was shouting, cursing, and the dull sound of people striking one another.
Grant’s expression changed.
He raised his weapon toward the sky.
A gunshot cracked through the village.
The effect was immediate.
Every person nearby froze.
For several seconds, there was complete silence.
Grant lowered the smoking weapon toward the ground in front of the crowd.
“That was a warning shot.
Drop whatever you’re holding and back away now!” This time, they listened.
The confidence of the villagers vanished almost instantly, and one after another, sickles, hoes, and wooden poles fell into the dirt.
“Back up!” Grant advanced.
The crowd reluctantly retreated until Martin and Ethan became visible again.
Martin was lying on his side, breathing heavily, while Ethan remained partly over him.
“Move away from each other,” Grant ordered.
Neither man responded immediately.
Then something metallic struck the ground with a faint clatter.
Martin suddenly scrambled backward and forced himself upright.
His face was pale beneath the dirt, his eyes bloodshot, and his breathing came in harsh, uneven bursts.
Ethan did not stand.
Grant frowned.
Then he noticed the blood.
For one terrible second, he assumed Martin had been injured because the front of his clothing was stained dark red, but when Grant checked him, there was no obvious wound.
Adrian had been watching through the bus window.
His expression abruptly changed.
“That isn’t Martin’s blood.” Everyone looked toward Ethan.
The man was still kneeling in the dirt.
His body trembled.
A blood-covered sickle lay beside him.
Ethan slowly tried to straighten, one hand pressed tightly against his abdomen, but the moment he moved, more blood seeped between his fingers.
Whatever had happened during the struggle, the blade had gone into him.
His face had lost all color.
He managed only a couple of unsteady steps before his legs gave way.
Ethan collapsed onto the dirt.
For several seconds, nobody moved.
Grant rushed forward, but one look at the wound told him how serious it was.
The chaotic struggle had ended as suddenly as it had begun, leaving the entire village staring at the man lying motionless on the ground.
Adrian’s eyes shifted toward Martin.
Martin looked just as stunned as everyone else.
A moment earlier, he had been fighting desperately to keep Ethan from dragging his daughter away.
Now Ethan Pike was lying in the dirt, bleeding heavily, and the sickle that had been in his own hand moments earlier lay beside him.
The crowd seemed unable to process what had happened.
Then Martha Pike saw her son.
Her face went white.
A piercing scream tore through the silence.
“Murder!” The word echoed across Pine Hollow Village.