“Aye,” Edmonds said again, louder and with authority. Lady Mae allowed herself to look at him, at his flushed cheeks, his hair matted wet against his forehead. It was sweltering but that was not all. His voice skittered across the courtroom, and the residents, though taught to disregard anything an assailant had to say, could not help but turn to those next to them and whisper, nudge their spouses in the ribs with elbows. The bustling grew, and Deputy Daniels picked up his gavel. Edmonds narrowed his brows and turned his head toward Lady Mae. He was seething, trapped in the stand like an animal waiting to pounce. “And I’d do it again,” he said in a low, slow voice. “I’d rip their hearts out if I could. They ain’t nothing but a torturer and a fiend.”

He brought his fist up as if he were going to strike at them right then, but the shackles attached to his wrists caught, and his body yanked back against the chair. Deputies Griffin and Worth stood behind him and restrained each shoulder so that Edmonds could not hurt himself. Lady Mae did not look away but instead held her eyes to his, suddenly overcome by the man’s admission.

“What you would or would not do is not the question. Did you knowingly lay your hands upon those two?” asked Deputy Daniels.

“Yes,” Edmonds hissed.

“Are you sure about that, Mr. Edmonds? You sure you didn’t accidentally fall like you said in your statement?”

Edmonds said nothing, but instead tilted his head back. Out of his mouth came a slow laughter. It rose up in the courtroom, bouncing off the chamber’s plaster walls.

“I see. Your behavior will be taken as a guilty plea. As you know, Mr. Edmonds, such an act is punishable by law,” said Deputy Daniels.

“I know it,” he replied, his unwavering eyes still on Lady Mae. “Don’t much matter. Ain’t got nothing to lose anyhow.”

“Well, then. Mr. Edmonds,” Deputy Daniels turned a page in his book, “I must read the following: any resident victimized can and will sentence the perpetrator to a maximum of twenty atonements. Is that something you can understand?”

“Aye,” he said. He nodded slowly once, twice, then over and over again. With each dip of his head, he brought his fist to his forehead as if trying to put his admission back into his brain. But his body betrayed him; every few seconds a high cackle came bubbling out of his throat, and he shook his head like a dog.

“And atonements, by law, may be taken in their entirety or parsed out on a yearly basis,” said Deputy Daniels. “Which do you ask for?”

“Yearly,” Edmonds said. He said it loudly, his head bowed but his mouth turned in Lady Mae’s direction. “Yearly,” he said again.

Lady Mae was struck with a flash of panic—she’d have to see him five times. Four years for her, one for Arbuckle. She’d have to touch him, push into his thin skin. Maybe there would be a Deputy accompanying him, or maybe it would be just the two of them in the depot at the end of the empty road, her hands on his body. Would she want to rip his hair out? Claw at his heart like he had hers? Or would she simply cut too deeply an artery and watch?