"My name is Callan Draice," I said. "I've traveled through more towns than I care to count, and I've never encountered a lawful judgment that allows a deputy to suspend women upside down because their husbands are disappointed."
The red-mustached deputy laughed.
"You some kind of lawyer?"
"No."
"Then get back on your horse."
I looked toward the rope.
"Lower them."
His smile disappeared.
"Excuse me?"
"Lower the women."
He moved his hand closer to his gun.
I didn't reach for mine.
Instead, I took one slow step toward him and spoke clearly enough for everyone beneath the tree to hear.
"If one of those women dies while you're standing here enjoying yourself, every man who helped put her up there is going to have to explain his part in it. You can threaten me afterward. Right now, lower them."
The deputy's expression changed.
For a moment, I thought he might draw.
Then the older woman spoke.
Her voice was strained but unmistakably steady.
"We have children."
The words caught me completely off guard.
I turned.
She lifted her head as much as she could.
"We are not barren."
The deputy spun toward her.
"Shut your mouth!"
The younger woman began crying.
"They took our babies!"
Nobody moved.
I looked from one woman to the other.
"What did you say?"
The older woman's eyes locked onto mine.
"Our husbands sold them."
The deputy's face drained of color.
Then the younger woman forced out the words that changed everything.
"He helped them."
She pointed toward the man wearing the silver badge.
"That man took our children."
For several seconds, the clearing was silent except for the horses shifting near the fence.
I turned slowly toward the deputy.
He was no longer looking at me.
He was looking at the younger woman as though he wanted to silence her before she said anything else.
That was the moment I knew I had ridden into something far worse than a cruel local punishment.
But I still didn't know how much worse.
"Get them down," I said again.
The deputy opened his mouth.
I didn't let him speak.
"Now."
A tall man standing beside the cart finally moved. He looked toward the deputy, then toward me, and seemed to make a decision.
"I'll get the ladder."
The deputy wheeled around.
"You stay where you are!"
The man stopped.
I looked directly at him.
"What's your name?"
He swallowed.
"Just a ranch hand."
"All right, ranch hand. You heard what these women said. You know how long they've been hanging. Are you going to keep watching?"
His face flushed.
Then he walked toward the wagon.
The deputy shouted something, but the man ignored him.