Isaac considered the situation. “I just don’t want Addie in harm’s way. She’s already gone through far too much. If something goes wrong...”
“It won’t,” the man assured. “We’re going to put police officers in the uniform of orderlies. They will be positioned in every possible place to afford Miss Bryant the best protection. We’ll even put one here in the room—perhaps two.”
“It still sounds too risky.”
“You know very well, Dr. Hanson, that Miss Bryant’s brothers are after the necklace and any other gold she mighthave. They aren’t going to kill her before she has given them that.”
“Maybe not, but if they manage to get in here and take her, they’ll beat her again.” The color had drained from Addie’s face, and Isaac felt bad for discussing the matter in front of her. “Why don’t we go somewhere else to talk about this.”
Addie grasped his hand. “No, please. I want to know what’s happening. I want to put an end to this here and now. I can be the bait.”
“I don’t like the idea.” Isaac squeezed her hand.
“But in a few days, I’ll be leaving the hospital.”
“As my wife,” Isaac replied. “You know that everything is arranged for us to marry.”
“I do, but if we can capture my brothers here at the hospital, then they won’t be able to follow me to wherever I go to live. We cannot put your family in danger. I would never forgive myself if something happened to those beautiful girls.”
“I hadn’t considered that.” Isaac had arranged with his sister and her husband for Addie to move in as his wife until they could find a place of their own. However, he had figured on the Bryant brothers already being safely put away in jail.
“This is probably the only way to tempt them out of hiding,” the detective said. “We’ll all but give them a key to the hospital and draw them a map to where she is. I honestly think they’ll find themselves too tempted to leave it alone. Especially once we stress that Miss Bryant is soon to be married. Perhaps we can even say that she plans to leave the area. The more desperate they feel, the more mistakes they’ll make. I assure you that we will capture them this time.”
Addie nodded. “We must do it this way, Isaac. We must.”
“Very well. When?”
“I’ll see to it that the article is in the paper tomorrow. Do you have a photograph of yourself, Miss Bryant? For the newspaper?”
“Mr. Fisher does. You could get one from him.”
He nodded and left without another word. He definitely came across as a man of no nonsense. Isaac had to admit the man seemed more than capable of getting the job done. But then, so had the others.
He looked to Addie. “Are you sure about this?”
“I am. This has to end. I had hoped the police could catch them with Esther but after hearing about her peril, I can’t abide putting anyone else through that.”
Isaac let go his hold and took a seat on the bed beside Addie. “I agree it has to end. I don’t want you to live your life in fear.”
She smiled. “Strangely enough I feel at peace. I have some fear at the thought of how this will play out but not of what might happen to me. I think I finally see the power of God’s influence over my heart and mind. I’ve been so afraid most of my life. So sure that God didn’t really care because He hadn’t kept me from harm. But through all of this, I feel His presence more than any other time. I know He’s with us, Isaac. Before now, I couldn’t have said that.”
“I’m glad you know that He’s here. I suppose I should be glad that the circumstances have brought you to a deeper faith, but if it were up to me, you would never have had to suffer.”
“And I would probably never have come to see the truth. You once told me that the affairs of our days were in placeto bring God glory. The good, the bad, the sorrowful, and the joyful. All to His glory.”
Isaac nodded. “Yes, all to His glory.”
She touched her hand to his cheek. “So then this is as well. To His glory.”
23
Well, would you look at this,” Hiram said, holding up the newspaper.
He and Shep had barely headed out for breakfast when the newspaper boy on the street started calling attention to the story about a local heiress. Hiram normally wouldn’t have wasted the money for a paper, but he saw the photograph of his sister.
“What’s it say? Did she die?” Shep asked.
Hiram waited until after the waitress poured them coffee and left. “It says she’s an heiress with a vast amount of money, including a gold-nugget necklace worth over one hundred thousand dollars.” He pointed his finger at the middle of Shep’s chest. “Didn’t I tell you?”
