“What happened to her?”
He shrugged again and went back to his desk.
“Is she dead?” Julia pressed.
He sat down and shuffled through the papers. “Listen, that’s all I know. Like I said, your father didn’t talk about her much. I think it was too hard for him.” He put his cap back on and picked up a pencil, his face guarded again. “Now, if you don’t mind, I’ve got work to do.”
Julia dug her fingernails into her palms, struggling to stay calm. He wasn’t telling her everything, and she had no idea why. They were talking about her house, her parents, her sister. She had a right to know what happened. Frustration and anger built up like steam inside her head. She got up, snatched the papers from his desk, and held them out of his reach.
“I don’t believe you,” she said. “If my parents didn’t want anyone to know about my sister, why would my father tell you she was up in the attic? He must have trusted you. With all of it.”
He frowned. “I don’t know. It was a long time ago. Maybe he needed to get it off his chest.”
“Did you go to the police? Did you try to get her out of there?” He shook his head.
“Why not?”
“By the time your father told me, it was . . .” He shifted in his chair.
“It was what?”
“It was too late.”
“Too late for what?”
He clenched his jaw, his temples working in and out. “You’re asking questions I don’t have the answers to.”
It was all she could do not to throw the papers at him. “I don’t understand why you’re lying,” she said. “My parents are dead. So who are you protecting?”
“I’m not protecting anyone.”
“Did my sister die up there? Did she escape? I need to know what happened!”
“I told you, I don’t know anything else. I made it my business not to know.”
She dropped the papers on the desk, sadness and disgust welling up in her eyes. Several of them slid into his lap, but he made no move to retrieve them. She went to door and glared back at him. “Then you’re just as guilty as my parents,” she said, and walked out.
CHAPTER 31
LILLY
“I can’t take this much longer,” Lilly said to Cole. “What is Mr. Barlow going to do to us for stealing Pepper?”
They were sitting on the sofa, locked inside their sleeper car on the rail lot where Pepper killed Merrick, roustabouts and strongmen guarding the windows and doors. It had been nearly fifteen hours since Viktor forced them back to the train by gunpoint, and she couldn’t stop thinking about the three birds in the big top during the tornado. Three birds, three deaths. Merrick was dead, so who was next? Her and Cole?
“I don’t know,” Cole said. “If he was going to call the cops and have us arrested, he would have done it by now. Knowing him, he’s coming up with his own punishment.”
Lilly hugged her daughter to her chest and kissed the top of her head, tears burning her eyes. “If something happens to us, who will take care of Phoebe?”
Cole put an arm around her. “Try not to worry. I’ll talk to Mr. Barlow. Maybe he’ll let us work without pay for a few years, or I can take the punishment for both of us. Whatever happens, you’re not going to be separated from our little girl, I promise.”
Lilly closed her eyes and buried her nose into Phoebe’s silky hair. What had they done? Not only had they failed to save Pepper, but they had put their daughter’s future in danger too.
Just then, the pounding chug of an approaching locomotive thudded outside. A short train passed by the windows of their car, and iron brakes caught and screeched, caught and screeched. Cole got up and pushed aside the curtain to look out. “My God,” he said in a quiet voice.
“What is it?” Lilly set Phoebe on the sofa and went to the window.
On the other side of a second of tracks, a crowd of townies had gathered around the train depot. Men, women, and children filled every available spot, perched on top of lone boxcars, sitting inside open car doors, standing on water tower stairs and overturned barrels. The adults jostled one another for prime viewing space while children held balloons and ate popcorn and cotton candy, or played tag in front of the platform. A half-dozen men set up cameras.
“That bastard got the word out all right,” Cole said. “He must have made an announcement during this afternoon’s show.”
“Do you think he sold tickets?” Lilly said.
“No, it’s a publicity stunt.”
Lilly buried her face in her hands. “Poor Pepper.”
Cole pulled her to him and they both grew quiet.
When Lilly could speak around the lump in her throat, she looked up and said, “How do you think he’s going to do it?”
Cole jerked his chin toward the window to indicate the locomotive that had just pulled in. “With that.”
Lilly drew away from him and looked out. The locomotive sat on the tracks several hundred feet away, situated halfway between the Barlow Brothers’ train and the depot. Only one railcar sat behind the engine—a derrick car mounted with an industrial crane used for lifting railway carriages on and off the tracks.
“I don’t understand,” Lilly said. “How—”
Before she could finish her question, keys rattled in their door. The handle turned and Viktor walked in with Mr. Barlow’s men.
“Let’s go,” he snarled at Cole and Lilly.
“Where?” Cole said.
“Mr. Barlow wants you to witness the execution,” he said.
“How can you go along with this?” Lilly cried. “Pepper was only trying to protect JoJo! Even Glory understands that!”
“Merrick saved my life,” Viktor said. “That bull killed him.”
“Do you really think Merrick took you out of that asylum because he cared?” she said. “He did it to make money off you, the same way he made money off me.”
“Shut up and let’s go,” Viktor said.
“No,” Lilly said. “I can’t. I won’t.”
“I’ll go,” Cole said. “Let her stay here with Phoebe.”
With that, one of Mr. Barlow’s men rushed Cole and wrestled his arm behind his back. On the sofa, Phoebe began to wail.
“What the hell?” Cole said. He grimaced and struggled to get away.
“Mr. Barlow wants you both there,” Viktor said.
The other man made a move to grab Lilly.
“Leave her alone!” Cole shouted.
Lilly moved away from the strongman and put up her hands. “All right, all right. I’ll come,” she said. “There’s no need for force.” She whisked Phoebe off the sofa and held her close. “Shhh, sweet baby. Mommy’s right here.”
“I said I’d cooperate,” Cole said. “Now let me go.”
The man released Cole but stayed beside him, ready to grab him again if necessary. Cole rubbed his arm and gazed at Lilly, silently warning her to go along with whatever they said. Lilly stared back, terror and grief twisting in her chest.
Together they followed Viktor out of the sleeper car and along the train, trailed by Mr. Barlow’s men. A thousand horrible thoughts raced through Lilly’s mind, and her legs and arms felt like rubber.