Always in My Dreams by Jo Goodman

Author:Jo Goodman
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: ePublishing Works!
Published: 2014-10-11T04:00:00+00:00

Chapter 10

She wasn't there.

Walker had disembarked as soon the train had arrived in Central Station. The platforms were crowded, as they always were, but Walker situated himself on a bench where he could see all the activity. Anonymous faces didn't escape his attention now. He noticed the young mothers with their children in tow, the harried businessmen adjusting their identical derbies with identical gestures. He watched a woman being pulled along the platform's edge by a pair of small dogs. A flower vendor tried to entice all of them to buy her wares. No one got off Northeast Rail's No. 49 engine or its cars that he did not see.

And Skye was not there.

Walker couldn't believe it. Had he given his intention away in some manner so that she could deliberately thwart him, or had he made some greenhorn mistake that allowed her to go by unnoticed?

He was traveling light and was thankful he'd had the foresight to do that much right. He tossed his valise to a porter and asked for it to be checked at the ticket counter. He'd worry about getting it back later.

Boarding the first car, Walker worked his way through the train, checking the aisles and under the seats. The train was virtually empty. There were only a few stops south of the city before the train would return to the station and go north again. Each of the four passenger cars had less than a half-dozen people in it. None of the faces belonged to Skye Dennehy.

The conductor caught up with Walker as he finished surveying the last car. "Here now, what do you think you're doing?" he asked. He had gray hair, and thick, wiry sideburns filled out his sunken cheeks. His black cap was perched on his head and he had drawn himself up to his full height of five foot seven to confront Walker. "If you're riding with this line, you'll have to purchase a ticket."

"I'm getting off here," Walker said. "And I'm looking for someone. She had a ticket for this car. She got on at Baileyboro."

The conductor nodded. "I know just who you mean," he said. "Lovely young lady with red hair."

Walker let his hopes rise. "Did you see her get off?"

"Of course I did." He rubbed his chin with his thumb and forefinger. "Wouldn't count myself much service to Jay Mac Worth if I didn't notice things like that. She left the train at West Point."

Walker swore softly. "But West Point was only a few stops south of Baileyboro."

"As far as I know, it still is," the conductor said. "And that's where she got off."

"Her baggage?"

"Went with her, I imagine. That's the usual way."

Walker didn't acknowledge the conductor's amusement. He couldn't believe he had been so short sighted as not to have anticipated this outcome. He should have observed the disembarking of all the passengers at every stop. "West Point," he muttered. "Damn." He thrust his hand in his pocket and pulled out some bills. "That's where I want to go.

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