Page 70 of If Looks Could Kill
“Don’t make fun of me,” I protested.
He grinned. “Then stop arguing with everything I say.”
Footsteps rounded the corner, and we both tensed. It was just a couple, walking by arm in arm, but I don’t think I breathed until they’d passed.
“Miss Tabitha,” Mike said, “if you please, I came with you because I wanted to.”
“Yes,” I said, “and look what it’s done to you.”
“I am.”
I couldn’t read his expression, much less his cryptic meaning.
“All right,” I said. “I must warn Emma and Carrie. And I’d like to get Pearl’s and my things. I guess this is goodbye to the Salvation Army for both of us.” The sadness of it caught me off guard. I looked up and down the street. “Have you seen any sign of people looking for us?”
He shook his head. “Nothing.”
My head was starting to ache in earnest, thrumming in pain at the spot where I’d hit the wall. “That can’t mean they’re just letting us go.”
“Most likely not,” Mike agreed.
“If I were Mother Rosie,” I said, “what would I be thinking right now? Planning?”
“Plotting revenge?” Mike said. “She may save that for later. Right now she might be trying to figure out how to find a new crib, since this one’s been exposed.”
Save the revenge for later.“But if she doesn’t know where we are…”
“It doesn’t matter,” Mike said simply. “The city is both big and small. She’s got eyes everywhere. Sooner or later, you’re bound to pop up.”
I seized his coat sleeves. “What if we didn’t?” I said. “What if wenever popped up?”
His eyes grew wide. “How do you mean? Go underground?”
Hope glimmered on the horizon. “Catch the first morning train,” I said. “Leave the city.”
He seemed lost in thought.
“It’s the simplest solution,” I said. “By the time she gets to revenge, we’ll be gone.”
He seemed to be debating inwardly. “Go away for a while,” he mused.
“Not for a while,” I said. “Forever.”
“Forever?”
I threw up my hands. “What choice do we have? Freyda’s the only one who lives here.”
He stewed in thought. “So, er, you four young ladies would catch the early train out of town,” he said. “Where would you go?”
“If we can make it to morning in one piece,” I said, “I’ll take them all to my home, some hours north of here. We can figure out the rest from there.”
He nodded.
“Well,” I said, “before I can take anyone anywhere, I’ve got to go back to our apartment. I need my things and my money.”
“Where is your apartment?”
I told him.
