The current grabbed her and pulled her along. It was fierce, just here. She was swept under the bridge, the water chuckling against the old brick pylons. Ahead, there was a bend in the river and she could see Winnifred’s head emerge as she swept around the bend. Perhaps the current would float her up against the far bank...
Adele swam swiftly, trying to close the distance between them. Slowly, she worked her way closer. As Winnifred floundered, her head dunking into the water and out, Adele grasped her arm and hung on. “Don’t struggle,” she told the girl.
It was a waste of breath. Panic had a grip on Winnifred. Her eyes were enormous as she flailed and splashed and tried to save herself.
Adele switched to German. “For the love of God, stop fighting me! Let me save you!”
Winnifred felt the grip on her arm, and Adele’s efforts to keep her head above water and turned to her. She began to babble…and her German was pure, with a Berlin accent.
Adele shuddered as the girl implored Adele to save her, to not let her drown, that she was afraid, so afraid…
Adele got her on her back and a hand under her chin and towed her, swimming with one arm. She cut diagonally across the current, which took longer, but would preserve the little strength she had left.
When her fingers dug into mud, instead of water, she got her feet beneath her and felt nearly-solid ground beneath her. She pulled Winnifred up to the bank, put the girl’s hands on top of one another on the grass there, then leaned on them with her own, to anchor her while she pushed up on her hands and got herself out of the water.
Streaming water, breathing hard, she bent and picked up Winnifred’s wrists. She paused for a moment, gathering her strength, then hauled the girl from the water.
As soon as Winnifred felt solid ground beneath her, she began to struggle, trying to loosen Adele’s grip on her wrists and pull away. She was still trying to escape.
Adele was too weak. The girl yanked and her fingers slid from Winnifred’s wrists, but that threw her back into the water. Adele fell to her knees, threw herself forward and grabbed Winnifred’s arm as she tried to grab at the weeds on the bank.
“Just stop it,” she told the girl in German, her tone irritable.
“They will kill me,” Winnifred said, her eyes enormous. “You don’t know them. The doctor…”
A metallic squeal sounded from nearby. Adele looked over her shoulder, in time to see one of the new-fangled automobiles pull up on the road running parallel with the river. Daniel and Melville both emerged from the automobile and sprinted toward them.
Adele turned back to Winnifred, who watched them with horror building in her eyes. “Where you’re going, no one will be able to reach you,” Adele told her.
“Here, let me get her out,” Daniel said, bending over to grip Winnifred’s wrist.
Adele let go gratefully.
The feel of a stronger grip on her arm sent Winnifred into another great panic. She struggled and squirmed as Daniel hauled her from the water, then tried to get a grip on her.
Melville reached them and added his strength. The two of them contained her, but that did not stop the girl from babbling and screaming.
Adele was suddenly tired of it. She got between the two men. “Winnifred! Listen to me!” She used German, and a snappy tone.
Winnifred glanced at her. That was all Adele needed. She leaned back, then punched the girl in the temple with all her might.
Winnifred sagged between the two men. Adele didn’t know if she was still conscious or if she had managed to knock her out, but it didn’t matter. She was no longer struggling.
They lowered her to the grass and Melville looked at Adele and raised his brow.
“That is the prescribed treatment for a hysterical person one is attempting to rescue from drowning,” Adele said.
“I see,” Melville said.
Adele lowered herself to her knees beside the three. “Melville…the chaperone…she’s part of this. She was directing the girl.”
Melville lifted his head sharply, then rolled his eyes. “Of course.”
“Hurry,” Daniel urged him. “I’ll take care of this one.”
Melville sprinted for the car. Adele watched the spindly thing with its carriage wheels and upholstered seats turn about on the road and roll back toward the Rowing Club grounds once more.
Then she turned back to Winnifred who laid upon the grass, near-insensible. This close to the girl, Adele could see that she wasn’t as young as she had taken her to be. “She looks older than eighteen,” she said softly.
“So would you, if you’d nearly drowned.”
Something in Daniel’s tone made Adele look up at him. “You can’t swim, either,” she accused him.
He appeared to be on the verge of protesting, then his shoulder relaxed. “No, I can’t,” he admitted.
Adele let her shoulder bump his. “Well, I can.”
“Yes, I see that now.” He looked down at Winnifred. “Who is she? Why did she run from you?”
“She’s German,” Adele said. “So is the chaperone. I don’t know what happened to the real Winnifred, but this woman isn’t her. She has been passing herself off as Winnifred to gain access to…well, everyone and anyone. Who would suspect a debutante? She danced with lords, military officers, high ranking government officials, who all probably thought she was charming and enjoyed boasting about the importance of their work.”
Daniel shuddered. “And I thought she was exactly that—an empty-headed debutante.”
“So did I,” Adele said grimly. “She was good. She was very, very good. I’ve been trailing her for four weeks and I didn’t suspect a thing. She knew all the protocols, ranks,
