Part 1: Opening

The baby was wrapped in a man’s coat.

It lay in a wooden basket on the front porch of Samuel Hayes’s ranch, barely making a sound despite the bitter November wind sweeping across the plains.

Samuel had been awake since before sunrise, repairing a broken fence when he heard a faint cry near the front door. At first, he thought it was a stray kitten. But when he opened the door, he froze.

A newborn child stared up at him.

Beside the basket was a folded piece of paper, weighted down by a silver pocket watch.

Samuel picked it up and unfolded the note.

There were only seven words written in hurried black ink:

“Your wife knows who I am.”

He read it twice.

Then a third time.

His wife, Eleanor, had been asleep upstairs when he left the house. They had been married for eleven years, and as far as Samuel knew, she had never given birth to a child.

He looked down at the baby again.

A little boy.

His tiny fingers curled around the edge of the blanket, and a thin red mark circled his left wrist, as though someone had recently removed a tight band from it.

Samuel carried the basket inside.

“Eleanor!”

His voice echoed through the house.

She appeared at the top of the stairs, still wearing her nightdress. “What’s happened?”

“Come down here.”

She hurried toward him, but the moment her eyes fell on the baby, her face went completely pale.

Samuel noticed.

“What is it?”

Eleanor didn’t answer. She walked closer, staring at the child’s face as if she had just seen a ghost.

Then she noticed the silver pocket watch.

Her hand flew to her mouth.

“Where did you get that?”

“It was beside him.”

Eleanor reached for the watch but stopped before touching it.

Samuel turned it over. Engraved on the back were two initials: E.H.

His wife’s initials.

“Do you know this child?” he asked.

She shook her head too quickly.

“No.”

“Then why do you look like you’ve seen the devil?”

“Samuel, please. Just take him to town. Find the sheriff. Don’t ask questions.”

He stared at her.

“You want me to hand a newborn baby to the sheriff without finding out who left him on our porch?”

“Yes.”

“Why?”

Eleanor’s eyes filled with tears, but she refused to explain.

Samuel had seen his wife frightened before. Once, when a horse had nearly trampled her. Another time, when a stranger had threatened them outside the church.

But this was different.

She wasn’t afraid of what might happen.

She was afraid of what Samuel might discover.

He unfolded the note again and placed it on the table.

“Someone left this child here and said you know who they are. So I’m asking you one more time. Who is this baby?”

Eleanor looked at the boy.

For several seconds, she seemed unable to breathe.

Then she whispered, “I thought he was dead.”

Samuel felt the room grow cold.

“Who?”

Before she could answer, three hard knocks struck the front door.

A man’s voice came from outside.

“Samuel Hayes! Open up. I’m here for the child.”

Samuel reached for the rifle beside the fireplace.

Eleanor grabbed his sleeve.

“Don’t let him see the baby.”

“Why?”

Her next words stopped him completely.

“Because that man is supposed to be buried six feet underground.”