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man?”
    “Patterson Riley. He’s being escorted out of town.”
    “Why?”
    “For his own safety. Riley works with Otis Watson.”
    “The slave catcher?!” For a moment, Belle was so stunned she froze in her steps. “He’s a slave catcher?”
    “Yep.”
    Belle remembered being told that men of all races were known to prey upon runaways, but she hadn’t really believed a man of color would do something so despicable.
    Still unable to fathom such treachery, Belle climbed into the wagon and Daniel set the team on the course home.
    Belle finally asked him, “What will happen to him?”
    “If he makes it out of here in one piece, who knows? Become a traitor somewhere else, more than likely.”
    “What do you mean, if he makes it there in one piece?”
    “Folks up North don’t cotton to traitors, Belle. You saw how angry those folks were. In Cincinnati a few years back, a man was tarred and feathered for aiding catchers. Others have simply disappeared or been found dead floating in a creek.”
    “Did someone around here give him all those bruises?”
    Daniel nodded tightly. “Heard he turned himself in to the law because he feared for his life.”
    Belle could understand why. She’d had no idea such things went on here. How could a man of the race do something so cruel as to send someone back to slavery? Had Riley ever watched a loved one sold? It seemed plain he had not. She had though, and for the first time in a long while Belle let her own dark memories of the auction block rise to the surface of her mind.
    She was silent for so long, Daniel finally asked, “What are you thinking about?”
    “My mother. She was sold away when I was nine.”
    Their eyes held for a few silent moments, then she turned to gaze out over the greening fields bordering the road. Her voice softened. “She screamed and fought, but they dragged her away anyway. I hear those screams in my dreams some nights. It was the first time I ever saw my father cry.”
    Daniel didn’t know what to say. He’d always had his mother near; he couldn’t imagine having her suddenly torn from his life, though he knew it happened regularly to those who were enslaved. “Have you seen her since?”
    “No. She was sold Deep South somewhere. My father tried to find out, but…” Her words trailed off. “She was sold to punish him for attempting to escape. The paddy rollers and their dogs caught him five days out. They beat him until he couldn’t stand, then brought him back in chains. Mama was put on the block the very next morning. He was made to watch, as was I. My mistress said she hoped I’d learn a lesson from it.”
    But the only thing Belle learned that awful day was that at nine your heart could break forever.
    Daniel had been helping on the Road since he was twelve, but he’d rarely gotten to personally know any of the many people his family had helped. The nature of the Road was such that fugitives usually came in the middle of the night and were gone by sunrise. Being born into a staunch abolitionist family, Daniel vehemently denounced slavery whenever the issue was raised; he’d attended rallies, given speeches and been moved by the heart-wrenching narratives offered up by recently escaped slaves at the local antislavery meetings. Hearing Belle’s story touched him in a deeper place, though. Maybe because he had a personal connection to her, having been the one to find her that day on the road; maybe because his mother had taken her in and made her a family member of sorts; or maybe because she’d been so nice to Jojo. Whatever the reason, listening to the pain in her voice further strengthened his resolve to see slavery abolished in his lifetime and to help her make the transition from slave to free as painless as possible.
    Because Daniel had grown so quiet, Belle wondered if she’d spoken out of turn. “If I’m not supposed to talk about those things you should tell me.”
    “No, Belle. It’s okay. Just thinking is