Incredible Winston Browne by Sean Dietrich

Author:Sean Dietrich
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: HarperCollins
Published: 2021-03-02T00:00:00+00:00

Neither Hide nor Hair

Maria had used horse clippers to shave Ada’s head in the motor lodge bathroom. Brown hair littered the floor like two cats had been fighting. Ada had been totally silent since they caught her. The young woman had not spoken to them since they caught her trying to slice the tires of their Dodge with a pocketknife. She hadn’t said a single word.

The young woman was stronger than Maria thought she’d be. Even after they told her Johanna had given up information about the child. And Maria took it as her personal mission to break her. Though this seemed impossible. Between these women, only one had killed two men. And it wasn’t Maria.

Ada wore a faint, disinterested smile. When the young woman finished removing Ada’s hair, she told the young woman to sweep it up. Ada did not protest. She simply crouched onto her hands and knees and scooped up piles of her own hair and placed them into a wastebasket. She was not crying; she didn’t even seem ashamed.

“Finish cleaning up and get to bed,” Maria told her. “It’s late, and I’m tired.”

Ada scraped the last of the hair from the tile with her hands. Maria sat on the bed, trying not to nod off. She peered through the room window to see Heinrich and Karl fast asleep in the car. Heinrich’s head was pressed against the passenger window. Karl had a hat placed over his face.

Ada crawled into the other bed. Maria watched her carefully, wondering what her father had seen in this young woman. She wasn’t that pretty. She was just a plain temple woman. Maria couldn’t understand men. Give them a little power and they lost their grip on reality, surrendered their good judgment, and became like fools. Every last one of them.

Maria clicked off the light in the room. She stayed awake until she heard sounds of sleep coming from Ada’s bed. Sleep gnawed at Sister Maria like a hungry animal. They had been combing obscure Floridian places, looking for shreds of who knew what to find Ada’s bastard child. And why? She couldn’t find the reason for it all. Men in power. Heaven forbid anyone insult a man’s pride.

She slept hard. And long. When she awoke the next morning, it was to the sound of birds chirping. At first she didn’t think much about it. Then it occurred to her that this was unusual, birds in a motel room.

She opened her eyes to see the room brimming with daylight. The door to the room was swinging open with each gentle gust of wind.

Ada was gone. And she’d left only her hair behind her.

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