She looked at me. “You’ll have to explain how he knows that later.”
I nodded and when she looked away, I met Lock’s eyes and held up four fingers. He grinned a little and guided Seanie with a hand on top of his head toward the ticket counter. I helped Alice and Fred navigate a cart full of luggage, which miraculously was only one bag for each of the boys and two for Alice. She didn’t notice mine was missing until everyone was packed onto the train but Sherlock and me.
Lock walked over to talk to the boys through the train windows the minute Alice exploded on me.
“What do you mean you’re not coming?!”
“I can’t. Not yet. It’ll just look like I’m running from all this police mess.”
She put her hands on her hips. “And?”
“What do you mean, ‘And’? That’s the reason.”
She stared at me, her eyes full of fire, though some of her exhaustion was seeping through. For all that I’d been forced to handle in the past week, Alice, too, had spent long hours at the hospital and police station, trying to keep us safe. ?Together. And there I was ruining all her work.
I glanced over at Lock, who was somehow managing to avoid having his hand slapped by Seanie’s, even with his eyes closed.
“Is it because of that boy?”
Wouldn’t it have been so much easier had that been my reason? Alice probably would’ve approved of that as my reason. But I shook my head.
“You’ve never cared about Mallory and his lot. I don’t buy that you’re starting now.”
I glanced at my brothers then looked straight into her eyes. “Their safety is what matters now.”
“So does yours. And what are you going to do all alone here? What great mission is making you stay?”
“I have to atone for my sins, apparently.”
Alice’s expression dropped. “What do you mean by that?”
I shook my head. “More important, I have to make sure Father atones for his.”
“You don’t need to do anything about your father.”
I wished that were the case. Sadly, I knew better. “There is only one way to make us safe.”
Alice grabbed my arms and stared into my eyes, as if she was trying to read my mind. “Just what do you think you’re saying? The last time you tried something stupid, he almost throttled you. You’re coming with us.”
“I can’t. They’ll probably let him out now. You know there are some who’ve been searching for an excuse to proclaim his innocence. And then he’ll scour the earth for those boys and we’ll never be safe. And he’s not my only problem.”
A little of Alice’s intensity fell away. She was starting to give up. “And if I make you come with me? I can’t let you do this. You know that.”
I pushed her hands from my arms and stepped back. “You can’t stop me.”
She started toward me, but the train signaled that it was ready to leave. Lock walked back toward us. She was stuck.
“You’ll miss your train.”
Alice growled out her frustration and took a step back toward the train, but she pointed a finger at me. “I’ll come back for you. This isn’t over.”
In the end, she got on the train. I waved to my brothers from the platform and yelled out my good-byes. Only Freddie seemed concerned that I wasn’t going with them, but my promise to follow them in a few days made him seem slightly less nervous about the whole thing. I waited on the platform until I couldn’t see the train anymore. Maybe if Alice knew just how much I trusted her to let her take those boys with her, she wouldn’t have been so angry. She had everything most precious to me in the world. She had to keep them safe.
Chapter 26
I told the cab driver to take us to 221 Baker Street, which I thought would be a hint to Sherlock of what was coming, but he seemed to take it as a good sign. Or maybe there was another reason for his sudden lift in mood. I turned away from him after a while. His subtle grins made my heart ache.
Once we reached his house, he said, “I’ll pack a bag and meet you at your place.” It was our second time standing out on the sidewalk that day, and I still didn’t know what to do about him.
That was a lie. Because I knew very well what I could do to make him leave, I just wasn’t sure I could do it. Not in the way I needed to get the job done. He looked at me with such a mix of expressions just then. Pride for saving me once again, for being the reason I was free to walk the streets. Relief? He’d gotten his way when I didn’t leave with my brothers. But something on my face must have clued him in to my own internal struggle, because he fell silent, making no moves toward his house to pack.
I opened my mouth to speak, still unsure what I would say, and then my phone rang. It was Evan.
“Miss Moriarty?”
“Yes. Were you able to find out the status of my father’s—”