A TWIST OF FATE
Chapter Seventy-Seven
"See you tomorrow, Joe," called out
Jack.
"Yes. Yes, Jack. What have you left to
do now?" Joe appeared from the kitchen, clutching some papers.
"Just some last minute bits." He
finished wiping his hands on a rag. "Then I think I am done." Jack
glanced round. He was certainly satisfied with his work.
"It is a good job done, Jack. I am well
pleased. I guess you will want your money tomorrow, eh?"
"Yes, please Joe. That is, if you are
happy."
"Oh, my dear Jack. I am happy." Joe
slapped him on the back and turned to admire the work.
"I may be able to get you some more work
if you want it. I have the contacts."
"Thanks, but I think I will be moving
on. Things to see and do."
"With your pretty new friend?" He
smiled.
"Maybe," Jack said mysteriously.
"You never know, eh, Joe?"
Joe roared with laughter at this, taking Jack
by surprise.
"I will see you tomorrow, Jack.
Tomorrow."
Jack strolled out into the early evening. It
was pleasant, but he could feel the approach of autumn. Soon, they would be
gone from New York. During lunch, he had tried to raise the subject, but Rose
was in no mood to discuss plans. That man had certainly scared her; although by
the end of lunch she was feeling better and insisted that she would be fine to
go home alone.
He passed a newspaper stand. Remembering what
he said to Rose about not being so careful as they had been, he decided to buy
a paper, as he had not bought one for two days.
Walking down the road a little way from the
stand, he scanned the front page. Nothing. He flicked over to page two. There
he froze momentarily, unable to believe what he saw before him. The headlines
were there:
Search for Millionaire’s Wife Switches to New
York.
The letters swam before Jack’s eyes.
There was a photograph of Rose.
There was a smaller caption: Rose Hockley
Still Missing
"God, Rose," his mind called out
loudly and a cold feeling crept over him. An icy feeling that seemed to sweep
over him like a wave. Rose. She had gone home alone. He had mocked her
suggestion the man in the suit was watching her. How could he have been so
careless? They had been so happy the last few days. The thought of Cal Hockley
had been far away. How could he have been so stupid?
Jack cursed under his breath and started to
run as fast as he could towards the apartment without pausing to read the rest
of the story.
Out of breath and panicking, he ran across
the road, almost being hit by a motorcar. Without a second glance he tore up
the stairs shouting her name.
"Rose? Rose?"
The door was open and Jack crashed through
it. No one was in the lounge.
"Rose?" he called again with a tone
of desperation in his voice. The apartment seemed undisturbed. One of his
fears, that the apartment would be trashed as she was dragged out of it, seemed
unfounded.
"She’s not here. What’s the problem,
Jack?" called out a puzzled Fabri, emerging from the kitchen, a glass of
milk in his hand.
"Where is she?" cried Jack. Fabri
was alarmed by Jack’s manner; he was white but dripping with sweat from where
he had run.
"Hey, Jack. What’s wrong?" Fabri
caught his arm.
"It’s Cal. Do you know where she
is?" he demanded.
"She went to the market with Maria. I
don’t understand, Jack. Is Cal here?" Fabri was confused.
"Look." Jack thrust the paper at
Fabri. "I need to go and find them."
"Are they in any danger?" Fabri was
trying to take the article in.
"I’m not taking any chances. Are you
coming with me?"
Fabri threw the paper down. "I’m with
you, Jack."
Locking the door behind them, they hurried
down the stairs. Fabri led the way, as he had an idea of where they were.
Jack explained in short breaths about the man
at lunchtime. "If he has harmed her, I swear I will kill him, Fabri."
Fabri was worried for his own wife as well as
Rose. He caught Jack’s arm again.
"Let’s not be hasty, Jack. Let’s find
out what has happened first."
They were soon at the market, which was a
couple of blocks away. As it was the end of the day, people were leaving;
stalls were being closed up for the night. Jack wove desperately through the
people, looking for them.
Ahead, he caught sight of a figure in brown.
Jack dodged roughly past two old ladies to get a better view. The man in the
brown suit was ahead and walking briskly away from Jack. Jack’s temper flared,
fanned with fear and desperation.
"Hey, you!" he yelled, and before
Fabri could keep up with him, Jack ran towards the departing figure.
"Hey, you!" he shouted again. The
man turned round just as Jack caught up with him. Jack stopped dead in his
tracks, just stopping himself from grabbing the man's arm. Halting so suddenly,
Fabri almost ran into him.
"I’m...I’m sorry," stammered Jack
to the man he had never seen before. "I...I thought you were someone
else."
The man gave Jack a dirty look and carried on
his way.
"Jack, that was too close. You’d better
calm down," Fabri suggested. "Otherwise, you might do something
you’ll later regret."
Jack bent over to catch his breath.
"Where are they, Fabri? I have to find
her," he cried softly.
"If you carry on like that, you will
just draw attention to yourself. You don’t want that. Listen, Jack, they are
here somewhere, and we will find them. OK?"
Jack nodded, gasping.
"There they are!" pointed Fabri to
the girls in the distance.
Jack ran to them. They were laughing and
carrying parcels. Rose stopped laughing when she saw the state of Jack.
"What’s happened?" she demanded.
"Are you OK?" gasped Jack.
"I’m fine. What’s wrong?" She was
worried now. Jack was pale and his hair was damp and matted. She had never seen
him like this. She felt cold. What did this mean?
"I saw in the paper tonight. They are
looking for you here in New York. We have to go back to Fabri’s now. There is a
photograph of you."
Rose also turned white and clutched her
throat.
"No, he can’t have found us. He
can’t," she cried.
"He hasn’t found us yet." Jack put
a protective arm around her shoulders and kissed her head. Holding her face
close to his he whispered to her.
"He hasn’t found us yet, Rose. It only
said he was coming here. We have time to get away. You are safe with me, Rose.
I promised you, didn’t I?"
She nodded her head, too choked now to speak,
tears in her eyes.
"Come on, we’ll all go back and decided
what to do now."