Hobart’s jaw tightened. “I know that look. I’ve seen it directed at me. Amelia knows that look, too.”

Molly asked, “C-can a person still be arrested or hanged for something that happened so long ago?”

Hobart studied Molly’s face for so long Wyatt wanted to grab Molly and drag her away from the woman.

Finally, Hobart said, “Have you heard the term statute of limitations?”

Wyatt looked around the table.

“Statute means law, I think,” Win said.

“Yes, there are laws that limit how long a person can be arrested for crimes,” Hobart explained. “Different crimes have different lengths of time, and most states and territories have their own limits. If you rob a bank and they don’t catch you for seven years, you got away with it. If someone realizes you did it up until that time—if that’s the statute of limitations in your area—they can still arrest you.”

“S-so what number of years is it for killing someone?” Molly had taken food onto her plate, but Wyatt noticed she hadn’t touched it.

Hobart looked at Molly, then Win, then back to Molly. She said quietly, “There is no statute of limitations on murder.”

Molly asked no further questions. And she didn’t eat a bite.

“I thought I was going to be sick.” Win rested her head on Kevin’s shoulder. She shook, deep inside, her soul trembling. To have said out loud the deepest secret of her life. “I still don’t feel steady. B-but it was right to talk to her, wasn’t it?”

She and Kevin had returned to the ramrod’s house where they’d taken up residence. Now they lay together, Kevin holding her close. A very present help in times of trouble. There was a psalm that spoke of God being a present help in times of trouble. Win thought it described her husband right now, too.

She prayed to God and clung to her husband and trembled.

“I think . . .” Kevin was silent for far too long. “I think one of the reasons you’ve never spoken of it is because you saw no way to prove what you suspected. It would just be a young woman who’d listened to gossip back in St. Louis. Your pa is a wealthy man. It would put you in a terrible position to have spoken of your worries under those circumstances. But now, with Hobart here investigating, it was right and good that you spoke up.”

Win snuggled closer. Kevin had such strength, and she leaned into every bit of it.

She whispered, “Did you see how Molly reacted when Hobart talked about there not being a statute of limitations on murder?”