PREVIOUSLY FROM THE TIME TRAVELER’S WIFE...
Only a moment later, Lois’ world turned upside down as she stared down at the small Polaroid snap shot in her hands. Everything she’d believed about the reality of her existence lay shattered around her. She’d have sworn such a thing was not possible, but in her hand was absolute proof that it was.
She knew where she had seen Charlie King before. Ten years ago. Her guardian angel. And he hadn’t changed a bit - right down to the style of his glasses, the cut of his hair and his leather jacket. Regardless of how impossible it might seem, Charlie King was traveling through time.AND NOW...
* * * * * * * * *
PART THREE
‘To Have And To Hold’
* * * * * * * * *
Screeching tires and horrified screams woke Clark from a deep sleep. When he couldn’t immediately locate his Superman suit, he decided to go with out it, dashing through the door and up into the sky faster than the average person could bat an eye. Though, why he’d grabbed his glasses, he had no idea. Force of habit when he wasn’t in the suit, no doubt. Still, without anywhere else to put them, he put them on his face as he sped towards the emergency.
Arriving at the Hobbs’ River Bridge, he spotted a semi-trailer that had crashed through the railings and was now dangling over the edge of the river. The truck began tipping forward, as if in slow motion. Bystanders were screaming.
Darting forward, Clark grabbed the front of the truck and began to lift, only then looking at the driver, smiling to reassure him that there was no need to worry, that Superman had everything under control.
Looking into the shocked eyes of the driver, staring at him in stunned disbelief, caused a tingle to develop in the back of Clark’s mind. Suddenly, it hit him where exactly he was and what he was doing. Still, now that he was here it wasn’t as if he could just return the truck to its precarious position and leave this man to his fate so he carefully set the truck down on solid land before disappearing into the night.
He stepped back into his motel room minutes later, shaking as the impact of what he had just done hit him. It was entirely possible that someone was alive this morning who had originally died. How exactly would that affect the time line?
* * * * * * * * *
The air was invigorating as Lois jogged along her usual path. After yesterday, the exercise was exactly what she needed. A chance to work her body and give her mind time to ponder yesterday evening’s startling revelation.
It was just so unbelievable. As a result, her mind kept trying to find other explanations, ways of dismissing her conclusions or holes in her reasoning.
The biggest reason to doubt all of this, of course, was the flying thing. Her guardian angel had flown - twice. First, when he’d caught her falling out of that tree. Then after they’d confronted the ‘mobsters.’ The idea that he’d flown when he caught her falling out of the tree she could write off as the over-active imagination of a nine year old child. She supposed he could have been walking under the tree when she’d fallen and caught her. But when he’d left her afterwards...
Okay, so maybe the picture of a black streak across the sky wasn’t absolute proof that he had flown out of there. It had been easy to believe when she’d relegated him to the role of ‘guardian angel’. Of course a guardian angel could fly. And, she supposed, a guardian angel might not age. What a guardian angel wouldn’t need was a machine to travel through time.
So that ruled out Charlie being a guardian angel.
On the other hand, why did he always seemed to show up when she needed him? He’d caught her from possibly falling to her death when she was nine. And he’d saved her from possibly being raped on Friday night. Of course, he hadn’t shown up when she’d been in a car accident when she was in high school and she certainly could have used his help then.
But then, did she even believe in guardian angels?
She gave her head a shake. She was going around in circles about this.
Maybe he was a time traveler who came from a distant future where people had learned to fly. Maybe that leather jacket was equipped with some advanced technology that allowed him to fly.
Without conscious thought, she found herself deviating from her normal route.
* * * * * * * * *
Clark was just stepping out of the shower when this headache hit. He held his body, waiting for it to pass the way it had in the past. This time, however, the agony seemed to last longer and take even more out of him. When he finally rose, his joints continued to ache.
* * * * * * * * *
Lois reduced her pace from a jog to a walk, giving her heart time to slow, before coming to a complete stop when she found herself across the street from The Cozy Motel. She stared at the door to room seventeen for a long time, lost in thought.
Should she go to his room, pound on the door and demand answers to her questions? That was what she wanted to do. What the reporter in her screamed at her to do.
She took a step towards the motel before stopping again as she remembered how scared he’d looked whenever she had asked something personal the previous day. He’d been nothing but good to her. He’d saved her twice. And okay, he had a secret. A big secret. Huge. One that eclipsed any other secret she’d ever known. The type of secret that could win her the Pulitzer before she was even out of college. Time travel. A glimpse at a future where mankind could fly.
Damn! Why had he had to be so good to her? Maybe Linda had the right idea. Go for the jugular no matter how many friends had to be destroyed along the way. And Charlie was a friend. Could she really expose her friend for a secret he obviously wanted to keep?
A reporter was supposed to be impartial. Not get involved with her stories. No one would blame her for publishing this story, splashing it across the front page of the Ink and Quill, seeing it syndicated in papers all across the country. After the fact, they would applaud her, invite her to speak on talk shows, cover her in awards, feature her story in every magazine. She’d go down in history together with Woodward and Bernstein, Norcross and Judd.
She began marching across the parking lot towards room seventeen of the Cozy Motel when she suddenly stopped once again.
But... what about Charlie? What would it do to him if she exposed him in that fashion? She didn’t know why he didn’t want anyone to know, but he obviously didn’t.
She closed her eyes. Damn! She couldn’t do it. She couldn’t betray a friend, not even to get the biggest story she was likely to see in her lifetime.
She turned away from the motel, from the story, from the Pulitzer, and began to walk back the way she’d come.
“Lois?”
Lois spun around at the sound of a surprised voice saying her name.
“Charlie,” she responded, feeling her heart rate suddenly speed up. Nerves. It was just nerves. Seeing him when she wasn’t expecting it.
She suddenly became aware of the easy grace of his movements as he walked towards her. And being allowed to simply watch him as he approached, she realized something else. Molly was only partially right. Handsome didn’t even begin to describe Charlie King. He was... He was... He was whatever came after handsome.
“What are you doing here?” he asked as he closed the distance between them.
“Oh, you know,” Lois said dismissively, gesturing to her jogging clothes. “Just out for a morning jog. Yep. That’s it. Got to get the old cardiovascular system pumping. Need to stay in shape for running down those stories.” She began to jog on the spot as if to illustrate her point. She was over-compensating. She knew that. She just couldn’t quite seem to stop herself.
“I guess,” Charlie responded, looking slightly skeptical.
“So this is where you’re staying?” she half asked, half said. “It looks...” She hesitated as together both she and Charlie looked over at the decrepit old building. “...cozy.”
Charlie’s eyes shot back to hers as the corners of his mouth crept into a smile.
She couldn’t help smiling in return.
“I bet it’s been a while since someone described it that way,” Charlie said, clearly amused.
For a moment, she just stood there, staring into his eyes. Eyes that were so familiar to her - and she finally understood why. Eyes that she’d seen in her dreams most of her life. Eyes that she knew and trusted. And, now that she was no longer a nine year old child, eyes that were sexy as hell. A new kind of electricity slowly charged the air around them until it seemed to practically crackle. It took Lois by surprise and she felt herself moving closer, drawn in by... she hardly knew what.
Suddenly, Charlie took a step back, breaking the moment. “I... uhh... that is to say... uhh...” He took another step back, seeming to struggle for words.
“You know, I’m glad I ran into you like this,” Lois suddenly said when it became obvious that he was trying to make his escape. She didn’t want him to leave. Not now. Not yet. Not when she had so many questions.
What if he climbed back into his time machine and she never saw him again? No, she couldn’t let him go. Not while there were so many unanswered questions - including the new one about what had just happened between them. Because he’d been there, too. Getting as lost in her eyes as she’d been in his - until he’d backed away from what had been happening between them.
“Why’s that?” he asked cautiously.
She suddenly felt as if she were dealing with a skittish cat. She’d known an alley cat like that once. It had taken her weeks to persuade it to come close enough so that she could pet it. She knew instinctively that keeping him from scampering off was bound to require just as delicate a touch. Not her normal style, of course. But bull-in-a-china-shop was likely to send him running a hundred years into the future. “I wanted to thank you for your help yesterday,” she said softly, glancing up at him through her eyelashes.
It seemed to work, because his nervous energy evaporated. “It wasn’t a problem, Lois. So did you go to the hospital to get that blood work done?”
“Actually, I went to see my doctor and you were right. She found GHB in my system.”
He pulled in a sharp breath and for a moment, his eyes seemed to blaze with anger. Then the look faded behind a more controlled mask of concern. “So what are you going to do now?” he asked.
She shrugged. “I’m not entirely sure. I want to know who did this... and why. But I’m a little lost about what my next step should be.”
His eyes registered something. “Wait here,” he suddenly said before turning back to the door to his room.
* * * * * * * * *
Clark wasn’t entirely sure how it had happened, why he was unexpectedly sitting in a coffee shop eating a donut while Lois sat on the other side of the table, reading Serena Judd’s article about the young woman who’d died from unknown causes.
He shouldn’t be here. He did know that. But when she’d mentioned being uncertain about her next step, he’d immediately found himself going to get the article for her. When, after her first brief perusal of the article, she’d grabbed his arm and insisted that they find somewhere to sit down so that she could read the article more thoroughly, he’d been unable to resist.
“So you think the same thing happened to this girl that happened to me?” Lois finally asked, looking up from the article.
“I don’t know. But the circumstances are...” He struggled to find the right word.
“...interesting,” Lois completed for him.
He smiled and nodded. “That’s as good a word for it as anything.”
“So... what do you think? Talk to the coroner?”
His eyebrows rose even as his eyes registered admiration for her idea. “Good idea. Depending on whether or not he still has a good sample of her blood to test it could be a great idea.”
“Did you check to see if they’ve done the coroner’s inquest yet?”
“There wasn’t a follow up story in the Daily Planet on it.”
“Then one hasn’t been done. Serena Judd is too good a reporter not to be on top of that,” she said.
He smiled when he realized she had echoed his thoughts the evening before.
She stared at him thoughtfully for a moment before speaking again. “Listen, Charlie, I know you’re not planning to stay around here for long.”
For a moment, he felt startled. What did she know?
“You told Molly and me as much at the house the other day,” she added quickly.
He relaxed.
“But while you’re here... Would you work with me on this?”
He opened his mouth to tell her that it was impossible, but she spoke again before he could.
“Please?” she asked, her hand coming to lightly rest on his.
He glanced down, startled by the heat such an innocent touch could send through his body.
“I need to know who did this to me. To her,” she added, gesturing to the article with her free hand. “And you seem to know more about this type of drug abuse than I do.”
He glanced back into her eyes and nodded helplessly. Could he honestly be expected to deny this woman anything?
“Thanks, Charlie,” she replied softly.
“Hey, turn that up,” someone said, startling them both.
Clark looked around to see someone pointing to a television playing high in the corner of the coffee shop. He froze when he saw the image on the screen. The middle-aged man from the truck incident this morning was holding a pile of photos. The camera focused in on the top one for a moment. It was a photo of a dashboard from a truck, the top of a dark head sticking slightly above it.
When the man flipped to a second, photo, taken immediately after the first one, the head higher in relation to the dashboard, Clark was suddenly having difficulty breathing.
* * * * * * * * *
Lois saw Charlie’s reaction before turning to look at the television just as someone turned up the volume.
“...was starting to tip over the edge of the bridge when there he was. He flew in and grabbed the front of the truck, picked it up and set it safely back on the bridge.”
“Then what happened?”
“He flew off. Didn’t even stick around so I could thank him. I took these pictures of him. You can see there how he had dark hair.” The man continued to flip through photos, as if he’d had the finger depressed on the shutter release button, taking picture after picture in rapid succession.
Lois snuck a quick peek at Charlie who sat staring at the screen, looking white as a ghost. She turned to look back at the television as the pictures continued. It was obvious that the head was coming up. Hair, eyebrows, the rims of glasses, very familiar glasses... Lois felt the blood pounding through her veins.
“Unfortunately, at this point,” the man continued, “I ran out of film. But that’s a man out there. He looked up and smiled at me before carrying the truck over to set it on the bridge.”
The camera turned towards the interviewer. “And there you have it, Colby. To recap, the driver of the truck that crashed through the side of Hobbs’ Bridge in the early hours of the morning claims that a man, dark hair and glasses, caught the truck just before it plunged him into a murky grave and setting it back on the bridge before disappearing into the night. His story was confirmed by at least half a dozen bystanders.”
Lois turned to look at Charlie who, although he no longer looked as if he was about to pass out, still looked scared - very scared.
“That is so stupid,” Lois said, injecting as much disbelief as she could into her voice.
“What?” Charlie asked, finally dragging his eyes away from the television.
“What passes for news these days.” She gestured to the television. “They take some pictures of the dashboard of a truck and concoct a story about a flying man. What’s next? Little green men arriving from outer space?” Her words had the desired effect. He relaxed back into his seat.
“I think that movie has already been made,” he joked back, his voice losing some of its edge.
Lois grinned, even as she added incredible strength to her list of things she now knew about this man. Given that she now felt as if she’d crossed over into a world where the impossible was indeed possible, it wasn’t such a stretch to believe he could have superhuman strength.
* * * * * * * * *
The trip to the coroner’s office had been spectacularly useless. Or maybe it hadn’t been completely useless. They’d learned that the coroner didn’t work on Sunday and so they would have to come back the next day.
“Nice of Molly to let us borrow her car,” Clark said as both he and Lois climbed inside.
“Yeah. Molly’s pretty special.” A small frown appeared between Lois’ eyebrows.
“What?”
“Nothing. I guess I’m just sort of worried about her.”
“Is she in some sort of trouble? Anything I can do?”
Lois smiled at him, reaching over to affectionately squeeze his forearm. “No. Unfortunately. A matter of the heart.”
Clark nodded his understanding. He knew all about that, didn’t he?
Lois let out a breath, directing her mind back on the task at hand. “If only it wasn’t Sunday,” she said in frustration.
Clark tilted his head to the side. “Sunday, hey?” he said thoughtfully.
“What?”
“Well... I’m just wondering, but... Is it possible the Devils are playing today?”
Lois’ face instantly lit up. “Why, Mr. King, I do believe they are? You wouldn’t be asking me out to a football game, would you?”
“Would you accept?” he responded, enjoying her excitement.
“That depends. This wouldn’t be a date, would it?”
She was teasing. He knew that. But her words had him swallowing hard. There was nothing he would like more. Not that it would be wise. No. Definitely not wise at all. Forcing himself to push the longing in his heart aside, he made himself keep up her light-hearted banter. “You mean like where I meet your parents and we make out behind the local Dairy Freeze?”
Lois laughed.
“So... how about it?” Clark continued. “We can blend in with the crowds, maybe get a chance to do a little snooping around.”
“You’re on,” Lois responded, starting up the engine. “I just need to make a quick trip back to my dorm. Need to change into something that will make me stand out a little less.”
Clark wasn’t entirely sure that Lois wouldn’t stand out wearing a jeans and a t-shirt in a room full of supermodels, but he didn’t respond as she pulled the car onto the street.
* * * * * * * * *
Lois nervously stepped out of the dorm, looking around for Charlie. In order to blend in with the crowds at the ball game, she’d put on a thick turtleneck sweater and an over-sized university sweatshirt with her jeans. The whole operation should have only taken moments. Yet she had found herself standing in front of a mirror, looking at herself from different angles.
She’d quit the moment she realized what she was doing. Grabbing a hat and a pair of gloves, she headed for the door. What Charlie thought of her in this outfit wasn’t important, after all. It wasn’t as if he were her boyfriend or something. And he was obviously a lot older than she was - even if he was the sexiest man she thought she’d ever met.
Besides, he was traveling in time - for what reason, she had no idea. Just a sight-seer perhaps. Well, whatever the reason he would, undoubtedly, be leaving soon to go back to where he came from. That made these feelings pointless. Less than pointless, actually. Dangerous was a more accurate description.
Still, it was hard not to respond emotionally to a man as good-looking as Charlie who was also so sweet and smart and... Well, it would be hard not to notice the affection in his eyes when he looked at her.
Still, for all she knew, she was his great-great grandmother or something.
No. Developing feelings for this gorgeous time-traveler was definitely not something she was going to do.
Since the football stadium was only a short walk across campus, Charlie had returned Molly’s car while Lois had changed. She slipped on her gloves and slapped her hands together to keep warm as she waited for Charlie’s return.
“Maybe we should have taken the car,” Charlie said, coming up behind her.
She turned, smiling automatically when she saw him.
“You look cold,” he continued, taking her hands and rubbing them between his.
“I’ll be fine once we get moving,” she said as she slid her hands free. Still, she couldn’t seem to stop herself from slipping her arm through his as they began walking. It was just for support, she assured herself. After all, with the new snow, the sidewalk was a little slippery. It was simply the prudent course of action.
For a few minutes, Lois walked silently next to Charlie, just enjoying being with him. When she realized what she was doing, she quickly refocused her mind. “Did I tell you what I learned about GHB?” she asked.
“No - what?”
“Well, apparently it’s used as a performance enhancer and to help with muscle definition. So the question becomes... who might have access to this drug?”
“Football players,” Charlie responded immediately. “Okay, well I guess that makes sense - especially given the number of enemies you seem to have made among the Devils. But, Lois, GHB is not difficult to make. It can be made in a homemade lab from easily obtainable items.”
“What? How do you know that?”
He seemed to tense for a moment and she regretted the question. ‘Way to go, Lane,’ she silently told herself. ‘He knows because he’s from the future - and undoubtedly has had access to information that you can only dream of.’
“I heard it somewhere,” he responded uncomfortably.
“Oh,” Lois said, letting that question go. “I guess that pretty much means it could have been made by anyone.”
“Well, not anyone. It had to be made by someone who knows how to make it,” he said with a grin.
She looked at him, eyebrows raised in question.
“And, no, I didn’t make it.”
Lois laughed. “I know that, Charlie.” She strengthened her grip on his arm. “I trust you.” She bumped his hip affectionately.
The look of adoration he gave her in response sent heat flooding through her to settle in her belly. She quickly focused her eyes on where they were going.
“So...” she said, clearing her throat. “What can you tell me about making GHB that might help us catch this bastard?”
“Or bastards.”
“Or bastards,” she agreed.
“Well, let’s see if I can remember. Uhh... You need GBL.”
“GBL?”
“Gamma-Butyrolactone,” he clarified.
“Oh, of course. How silly of me to think that when you started telling me what was in it, I’d actually understand what you were talking about.”
He grinned that amused grin of his that never failed to make her grin as well. “It’s... a paint stripper. Commonly used on antique furniture.”
“Oh, great. You’re telling me I’ve ingested paint stripper for antique furniture.”
“Uhh... it gets better.”
“Better than paint stripper? Hard to imagine. So what could possibly be better than paint stripper?”
“Drain cleaner?”
She stopped and stared at him in stunned silence. “Are you serious?”
“Unfortunately, yes. NaOH, also known as sodium hydroxide or lye - commonly used in drain cleaners as well as various other things.”
“Great,” she mumbled as they resumed walking. “Anything else?”
“That’s basically it. Well, you need other incidentals, of course.”
“Like?”
“PH testing papers, certain types of sauce pans or casserole dishes, a stove-top burner or oven, rubber gloves to avoid chemical burns, some sort of filter if you want to change it from a liquid to a powder. Things like that.”
They walked along in silence for a moment more. “So we’re looking for someone who has antique furniture, plugged up drains and a pool.”
“And likes to cook. But... well, given the fact that he has drain cleaner, his drains are probably no longer clogged,”
“Oh, well. That narrows it down. We’re looking for someone with previously clogged drains.”
Charlie laughed. Then reached up, placing his hand over hers where it rested on her arm. “Don’t worry, Lois. We’ll find him.”
And she believed him. They would find him... or them and they’d never hurt or humiliate another girl ever again.
* * * * * * * * *
Normally, getting tickets to the Devils’ home games at the last minute was all but impossible. Scalpers sold tickets outside the stadium at highly inflated prices. Today was different. Scalpers were desperately trying to dump tickets.
Lois and Clark shared a look of disbelief as scalpers approached and began trying to underbid each other in an effort to make a sale.
“Just don’t think I’m usually this cheap a date,” Lois said when Clark, waving her off, removed his wallet and purchased two tickets from the lowest bidder. “What do you think that was all about?” Lois asked as she and Clark entered the stadium.
“I imagine that after...” His voice dropped to a whisper. “...your story...” They both glanced around to make sure no one had heard. “...the university insisted that the players under suspicion be benched until it was sorted out.”
Lois’ eyebrows rose. “And no one wants to pay for tickets to see us get our asses whipped.”
“That would be my guess.”
Lois rolled her eyes. “Whatever happened to school spirit? Cheering for your team no matter what? You guys are fickle,” she concluded, raising her voice to be heard by those around her who, not having heard the rest of the discussion, had no idea what she was talking about.
Clark laughed. “Come on,” he said, taking her hand and leading her towards a nearby concession booth. “Two dogs,” he told the bored young man behind the counter. “...and...” He turned to Lois. “What do you want to drink with your dog?”
“Do you have diet cream soda?” she asked the guy behind the counter. When he shook his head, she said, “Diet coke.”
“One coke and one diet coke. Do you have cans?”
Once Clark had paid for their food and they were looking for their seats, Clark gestured to the can of diet coke Lois was carrying. “Not opened. No danger of it being drugged.”
“Good idea.”
The crowds were light making it easy enough for them to find their seats.
“Mmm,” Clark moaned, taking a bite of his hotdog.
Lois grinned. “That good, hey?”
“There is nothing... And I mean nothing as good as hotdogs at a ball game.”
“I just hope you know that no matter how much you pay for this date, you’re not getting lucky afterwards.”
Clark glanced over at her, startled, only relaxing when he realized she was teasing him. “Oh, no. You misunderstand, Ms. Lane. The reason I’m paying is to ensure that ‘my’ virtue remains in tact.”
Clark reveled in the sound of her immediate laughter.
“Your virtue is safe with me, Mr. King. But I promise, I’ll keep that technique in mind for future reference.”
* * * * * * * * *
Lois was having such a great time it was easy to forget this was not a real date. She didn’t care that the Devils were two touchdowns behind. She didn’t care that she didn’t understand the rules of the game. She didn’t even care that she didn’t like football. Cheering was the thing. Having Charlie trying to explain what was happening was the thing. Just laughing and being with Charlie was the thing.
When everyone else cheered, so did she. When others yelled about blind officials, so did she. When everyone else jumped to their feet, so did she.
When she got cold, Charlie’s leather jacket appeared around her shoulders. When she finished her soda, Charlie disposed of the empty can. When his arm slid along the back of her chair, she let her head rest against it.
Suddenly, people began rising to their feet, pushing and shoving past each other to reach the aisles.
“Is it over?” Lois asked, disappointed.
Charlie laughed. “It’s half time.”
“Half time?”
Charlie laughed again. “They take a brief break half way through the game and everyone heads out to the bathrooms and to get food.” He glanced around them. She followed his gaze. The stadium wasn’t all that full to begin with. Now they were pretty much alone. “Maybe this would be a good time for us to... you know...”
She looked at him in confusion before his meaning sank in. Damn. How was it she had managed to forget why they had come here today?
He rose to his feet, groaning slightly, his hand going out to rub his lower back.
“Back pain?” she asked.
“I guess,” he said, sounding somewhat confused.
Not that she was, of course. Picking up a truck and setting it on a bridge was bound to result in a few sore muscles.
“Here. Sit down.” She moved to the edge of her seat, turning slightly even as she held his seat down for him.
“What?” he asked, sitting down again.
“Turn,” she said, pushing on his shoulder until he was sitting with his back to her.
Once she was satisfied with his position, she began working the muscles of his lower back. His appreciative moan was like music to her ears.
“What about... you know... snooping around?” he asked.
“Well, there’s going to be a lot of people out there right now, isn’t there?”
“Yeah.”
“So will we really be able to... sneak into anywhere worth getting into?” Her voice was a mere whisper, her mouth next to his ear. She couldn’t help notice with satisfaction the shiver that rippled through his body as her breath tickled him.
“I suppose.”
“So... maybe we’d be better off doing this when everyone starts coming back in for the next half.”
“The second half,” he corrected in a distracted voice.
“The second half,” she responded with a whisper in his ear that again made him tremble. She smiled. She’d just had to see if that would work twice in a row.
Then, without warning, he stiffened.
“Charlie?” she asked, when he abruptly stood, turning to face her
“Someone just recognized you,” he whispered, nodding over her shoulder.
Lois cautiously glanced in the direction he had indicated to see that Frank, the first football player to approach her at Friday’s party, had indeed spotted her. She searched her mind, realizing for the first time that Frank must be Frank LaDuke, one of the players she’d named in her story. And since he was not dressed to play, he must have been benched for this game.
“Come on,” Charlie said, taking her hand and leading her between the seats, away from Frank as quickly as he could without looking too suspicious. After a moment, and in a show of strength that was impressive, he picked her up and moved her in front of him, putting himself between her and Frank.
A quick glance over her shoulder told her that Frank was following, gaining even. It didn’t occur to her that she should just stop and see what Frank wanted. Charlie’s urgency at getting her out of there was infectious - as if he knew something about Frank’s intentions that made him fear for her safety.
TO BE CONTINUED...
ML
