I spare one more glance at the preacher’s wagon. There’s a dead woman inside. Not much older than I am. And she’s all alone. Her husband is off stomping around the camp. Mrs. Joyner has to take care of her own family. There’s no one to keep Mrs. Lowrey company until she can be prepared for burial. Not that she needs company. She’s dead; I know that. But someone should do something.

This has been a terrible day right from the moment I woke, from Major Craven’s injury to Mrs. Lowrey’s death, and I didn’t do a thing to make it better. I froze in panic instead of running from the buffalo. I didn’t check on Mrs. Lowrey right away, even though Mrs. Joyner was terrified for her. I didn’t say anything to Frank Dilley and his gang of ruffians during the buffalo hunt.

Leah Westfall was never like that. Only Lee McCauley is so scared and useless.

We reach the wagon. Mr. Joyner is propped up on his mattress, looking wan and tired. Olive sits at his feet, playing with a doll.

I’m about to leave when Mrs. Joyner says, “Where’s Andy?”

“I thought he was with you,” Mr. Joyner says. “He was bored and whining. I couldn’t sleep. So I told him to go find you.”

Mrs. Joyner looks gut-punched. “I was . . . I couldn’t . . . When did you see him last?”

“Hours ago,” he says. “Around lunchtime.”

It’s like her chest cracks open and all the air rushes out as she cries in anguish.

“He’s got to be around here somewhere, ma’am,” I say. I know it’s rude to interrupt their conversation, but I can’t abide one more bad thing happening today. “I’ll go find him.”

She turns around. “Help me down. I’m coming with you.”

There’s no point arguing, so I help her down again. This time she practically jumps into my arms and hits the ground running.

She scurries around the circle of the camp so fast I can barely keep up, checking every wagon, asking people if they’ve seen her little boy. I follow after her, reaching out with the gold sense for my mother’s locket. But after one complete circuit of the wagons, I have to admit the worst: The locket is not nearby.

A crowd has gathered around the Reverend Lowrey, who is sermonizing about the many virtues of his late wife, but they shift their attention when Mrs. Joyner comes running up. “Has anyone seen Andy?”

Reverend Lowrey immediately offers to pray for the boy.

“We will turn the whole camp outside in,” Mrs. Robichaud promises. “Where he is hiding, we go to find him.”