Series: In October 1867, a young woman arrived at my Leavenworth infirmary holding a handwritten marriage proposal from a brain-injured Civil War veteran.

Part 1 Sergeant Thomas Finch stared at her face in complete silence, unable to remember her name or the letter he supposedly wrote two years [more…]

I carried Martha Gable’s precious letter over to my consultation desk. The oil lamp cast a warm, steady glow, but my gut churned with a [more…]

The very next morning, the sound of carriage wheels grinding on the gravel path outside jolted me from my morning coffee. Too early for a [more…]

The brothers’ arrival had shattered the fragile peace of the infirmary. Thomas retreated further into himself, his eyes wide and unfocused whenever George and Eli [more…]

The presence of George and Eli Finch turned my infirmary into a contentious boarding house. Their loud conversations about Thomas’s “estate” and “rights” bounced off [more…]

Armed with what I thought was irrefutable evidence, I returned to the infirmary, the surgical ledger clutched tight. But the scene that greeted me stopped [more…]

The atmosphere in the infirmary was suffocating. George and Eli maintained their vigil, eating loudly at odd hours and keeping Thomas locked in his room. [more…]

I stumbled back to the infirmary, my mind racing. Sundown. That was barely a few hours away. Thomas would be gone. The evidence in my [more…]

I returned from the barn, Caleb’s list of forgeries tucked into my pocket alongside Jedidiah Ross’s surgical ledger. The deputy was due any minute. Time [more…]

Silas’s threat to revoke the infirmary’s charter hung heavy in the air, a poisonous cloud. I stood on the infirmary steps, watching the western sky, [more…]