Make that definitely.
This time the knife arced around from the side.
He was too close to dodge, so she dropped flat to get below the swing.Nothing sliced her, so she must have been fast enough, but his forward momentum sent him flying over the top of her and skidding across the ground.
Light flooded the area as other neighbors flung open their doors.
Mrs.Reed screamed.“What have you done?”
Nora pushed up as the woman ran past her.
Adler rolled over, exposing a face screwed into pure agony.His hands clutched the hilt of the knife embedded in his stomach as he writhed.Mrs.Reed fell to her knees next to Adler, her hysterical cries calling Nora a crazed murderess.
All around Nora, voices shouted.
Someone ran out the open gate as women surrounded Mrs.Reed.The looks of accusation and fear they directed at Nora made no sense.
“He attacked me!I was defending myself!”
They knew her.She would never intentionally hurt someone otherwise.
“Lies!My brother came out to help you, and you attacked him!”Mrs.Reed broke into racking sobs that belonged on a stage, for they were no more genuine here than they were there.
“He was trying to kill me!”
The women on either side of Mrs.Reed exchanged glances.
“That’s what her mother said when she attacked that man, remember?”
“She isn’t mad too, is she?”
“Madness runs in the family.It was only a matter of time.”
Nora went cold.This was the show Adler had been talking about.A staged public display of insanity.Was he even really hurt by the knife?The blood sure looked real.And his face was ashen and contorted.
“Nora?What’s happened?”Father’s voice trembled behind her.
Mrs.Reed rose to her feet and staggered toward Nora.“Your daughter just stabbed my brother.”
“But I didn’t!He was attacking me and fell on the knife.I’m not crazy.He wanted to kill me.”She looked around, but everywhere she looked, doubt, pity, and fear met her.She turned to Father.He would know.He would understand.“He’s Winston, and she’s Ursula!”
“Listen to her.She’s even imagining us as different people.”Mrs.Reed drew their neighbors in with her lies.
Father wrapped Nora in a protective hold when Mrs.Reed strode closer, shaking an accusatory finger.
“I knew you were mad when I saw you this morning.Talking to the air and claiming there was someone out your window when there clearly was no one there.And now this!There was no one out here but you.You were yelling at the air, claiming someone was trying to kill you.You were fighting the air with a knife and those”—Mrs.Reed waved her hand at the remaining knitting needle in Nora’s hand—“sticks.Adam only wanted to help you, to calm you down.And you stabbed him!”She turned into the nearest neighbor as another round of racking sobs shook her body.
“That’s not what happened!”A glance around revealed not one person except Father believed her.She tried again.“That’s not whathappened.”Her words died on a whisper, taking with them the hope of ever being believed.
Father hugged her tight.“We’ll get to the bottom of this.Don’t you worry.We’ll sort out the truth.”
Except when the police arrived, they didn’t believe her either.Nora’s knitting needles, the steak knife, Mrs.Reed’s testimony, and Nora’s own declaration of Adler being Winston and Mrs.Reed being Ursula condemned her.Before the police carted her off in handcuffs, Mrs.Reed stopped them.
In a move that appeared magnanimous to the naive, Mrs.Reed proclaimed her forgiveness in a loud voice, but when she leaned in to give Nora a compassionate hug, she whispered, “Your torture has just begun, Eleonora.I’ll see you soon at Longview.”
Chapter Thirty-One
TRACKING DOWNGRAHAM TOOKEZEKIELall over Cincinnati—from Graham’s home, where Mrs.Linville was again not expecting him until late, to over a dozen of Graham’s favorite musical haunts.When Ezekiel finally found him at New Theatre in Over-the-Rhine, the time was nearing supper and well past when he’d thought he’d be back at Nora’s side.
