He slapped her hard, the sound like the crack of a whip.

Elizabeth and Anna both gasped in horror. Waterson turned on them. “Get out of here. Get out and tell Bates he’s not getting his hands on this, too.”

“I—” Elizabeth began, unwilling to hear her husband insulted like that, but Anna grabbed her arm.

“We need to go,” Anna whispered fiercely.

Persephone rushed over. “Yes, you should go.”

She herded them out onto the street, nervously glancing over her shoulder several times. Elizabeth kept glancing back, too. She wanted to see if Madame Ophelia was all right and if Waterson would pursue them. Madame still stood as if frozen in place, her hand pressed against her burning cheek and her gaze fixed on Waterson, who stared back at her. Elizabeth couldn’t see his face, but she decided she didn’t want to know what emotion it expressed.

A wagon was parked outside the storefront, ready to receive the crates Persephone had packed. They stopped on the sidewalk beside it.

“I’m sorry,” Elizabeth said quite honestly. She was very sorry indeed to leave all that money behind, but she couldn’t figure out a way to get it from Waterson without a fight, which seemed likely since he obviously wouldn’t hesitate to strike a female.

“It’s all right,” Persephone said. “And don’t worry. He won’t really hurt her.”

Elizabeth could have pointed out that he already had, but she bit back the words. “Where are you going when you leave here?”

“I don’t know yet. He’ll decide. We’ll stop at the express office and ship the crates, then catch a train somewhere, I guess.”

“From Penn Station?” It was the only logical place if they wanted to leave New York behind.

“Yes.”

The storefront door opened, and Waterson came out carrying one of the wooden crates. He wasn’t pleased to find them still there.

“Good-bye, Persephone. I wish you luck,” Elizabeth said with what she hoped sounded like sincerity. “Come along, Anna.”

Anna needed no further encouragement.

When they were far enough away that they couldn’t be overheard, Anna whispered, “We were so close!”

“We aren’t finished yet.”

Anna’s eyes widened in surprise. “Are you going to follow them?”

“Eventually. First, I need to find a telephone.”

—

The cavernous main waiting hall of Penn Station was bustling with travelers coming and going from the many trains that arrived here from distant cities or began their journeys here to those cities. Half of the people were either coming or going, and the rest were standing in small groups or alone while they waited for their trains to be called. A few lucky folks had claimed a seat on the cluster of benches at one end of the massive room.