ESCAPE
Chapter Eleven
"How far is it to the train
station?" Rose had been sitting in the front seat next to Rich for about
five minutes in silence now, and felt the need to break the tension.
"Not too long, I should say." Rich
glanced over at her. He was feeling tense because he wasn’t expecting such a
beauty. True, she was thin and had dark circles under her eyes, but they added
to the innocent effect her lovely features held. "It seems a shame that
someone like you should have to go through such a horrible ordeal," he
finally said to her.
"You’ve never met me before in your
life. How do you know that this isn’t exactly what I deserve?"
"Alice told me that you lost the man you
truly loved, and in your vulnerable state fell into bad hands. You’re breaking
free of your chains and getting back to the life you should have rightfully had
in the first place. Alice never lies, so I know she was telling the truth, and
looking at you I find it hard to believe that a lie has crossed your lips,
either. So, with the assumption that the story is true, I strongly believe that
no one, good or bad, should have to go through all this."
Here he slowed the car until it came to a
halt, parked between two others. "The train station is just a few blocks
away now. Let’s go."
While walking there, Rose asked him,
"Why couldn’t Alice ride to the station with us? Where is she now?"
"It’s likely that Mr. Hockley suspects
that this is one of the places you would go, though he probably doesn’t know
how you would manage to get here. Alice is simply clearing up any loose ends to
insure that you get as far as possible as soon as possible without
getting caught in the meantime."
She looked at him in horror. "But you
don’t understand! Cal saw us running off together! He knows she helped me
escape!"
"Alice won’t let herself get in any
trouble. Trust me. She knows what she’s doing, and after you’re on the train,
I’ll be with her if she needs some back-up. Don’t worry. Alice is a smart kid;
she can handle it."
They found themselves on the platform.
"You’ve got five minutes until your train leaves. Hurry." Rose
thanked him once again, and then he was gone into the large crowd of people
around them.
She was just about to get on the train when
she paused a second to look at the ticket. One way to Santa Monica, California,
it read. From there, she could go to the exact neighborhood the newspaper had
said that Jack lived in. And from there everything would be perfect.
Or would it?
Rose pondered the question for a moment.
"Last call for the nine o’clock
train!" she heard an authoritative voice call.
This was her last chance.
She went to the ticket booth. To her luck,
most of the people at the station had either gotten on one of the departing
trains or were families saying their good-byes. She told the man at the booth
decisively, "I would like to exchange this ticket for one to Philadelphia,
please."