Part 2
I felt the first growl through Rook’s jaw before I heard it.
My hand stopped behind his ear. The sound was so low that it could almost have belonged to the machinery beneath the floor, except the dog’s chest had tightened against my shin.
“Leave your hands where he can see them,” Caleb murmured. “Easy.”
I looked at him. “Is he upset with me?”
“No. Keep petting him.”
His answer should have settled me. Instead, I noticed that he hadn’t looked at my face when he gave it.
Up ahead, the man with the magazine touched the side of his jacket. His hand rested briefly beneath his ribs, then came away empty. Caleb’s gaze followed the movement.
The man had neatly combed hair, thin-framed glasses, and the sort of suit people wore when they expected to be listened to. Nothing about him would have held my attention if Caleb hadn’t been studying him.
I learned his name afterward: Adrian Pike.
What Caleb noticed that evening wasn’t his clothing. It was the angle of his shoulders, turned farther back than the seat required. It was the magazine that never changed and the repeated glances at a reflection rather than the view. When I shifted my hand in Rook’s fur, Adrian’s eyes followed the movement in the window.
“Tell me your first name,” Caleb said.
“Erin.”
“Caleb.” He paused while a passenger ahead opened a drink. “Erin, think about the station. Did anybody stay close to you? Walk behind you for a while?”
The station returned in pieces: shoes, bags, the edge of the platform. My own grip on the crutches.
“I don’t know. I wasn’t looking at people.”
“Before that?”
“A medical appointment. Then a cab straight to the terminal.” I swallowed. “I’m going home. That’s all.”
“Keep your eyes on Rook.”
“Why?”
“Because I need you calm.”
I looked down. One of the dog’s ears flicked toward Caleb, but his gaze stayed fixed ahead.
My coat had fallen open. I could see the wide cuff of my brace above the knee, the straps I fastened each morning, the faint scuff where I had caught it against a kitchen cabinet. Those ordinary things looked strangely exposed.
“Is someone following me?”
“I’m checking.”
Caleb’s voice contained no reassurance he couldn’t support. I almost wished he had lied.
Ahead, paper rustled. Adrian closed his magazine, slid it into his case, and stood. He smoothed his jacket with both hands before lifting the case again.
The passage to the café car was in the opposite direction. So were the restrooms serving that section of the train.
He turned toward us.
I kept my fingers moving because Caleb had told me to, although I could no longer feel much beyond the coarse hair under my nails. Rook’s growl deepened.
The man’s shoes appeared in the aisle beside my seat. He stopped close enough that the edge of his case nearly touched the armrest.
I looked up despite myself.
His smile was well practiced. His eyes moved over my braces before meeting mine.
“Those look like hard work,” he said. “Getting around on a train.”
I hadn’t formed an answer when Rook surged across the opening beside me.
The movement was so fast that I pressed back into the seat. The dog’s jaws closed on empty air just short of the man’s leg, with a sound that made everyone nearby turn.
Adrian struck the armrest across the aisle as he stumbled away. His case hit a seat with a dull thud. For an instant, the smile disappeared so completely that I couldn’t understand how it had been on his face at all.
Then his voice rose.
“Did you see that? He nearly bit me!”
A woman several rows ahead lifted her phone. The mother pulled her child onto her lap.
Caleb remained seated.
“He chose not to,” he said.
Adrian stared at him. “Excuse me?”
“You’re still standing. Keep your distance.”
Rook stood across my feet, his head low enough to leave Caleb’s view unobstructed. I could feel him breathing against my brace.
“That dog shouldn’t be on public transportation.” Adrian had recovered some of his smoothness. “I’ll find a conductor who understands that.”
“Then go find one.”
Adrian’s free hand moved toward the left side of his jacket. At the same time, he edged closer.
Caleb’s voice didn’t get louder.
“Your next step is a mistake. Keep that hand out.”
The man stopped.
The car had gone quiet around us. Somewhere farther forward, a pair of headphones leaked a thin, cheerful beat. The sound seemed absurdly loud.
Adrian looked down at Caleb’s jacket, then at the dog. Rook’s lips had drawn back from his teeth. Caleb hadn’t changed position, but his hand rested near his waist, and there was nothing casual about it now.
I watched Adrian make a decision.
His fingers opened. He raised his empty hand a little and let a narrow smile return.
“No need for the performance. I was being friendly.”
Caleb said nothing.
Adrian adjusted his grip on the case and walked away. His pace was quicker than it had been coming toward us. He passed through the doors at the front without looking back.
Only after he disappeared did I realize how little air I had been taking in.
“What was that?” My words came too fast. “Did I know him? Was he—”
“Slow down, Erin.” Caleb touched two fingers to Rook’s shoulder. “Enough.”
The growl stopped. The dog remained in place.
I tried to inhale, failed, and tried again.
“Watch my hand,” Caleb said. He rested it on his knee and opened his fingers slowly, then closed them. I followed the small motion until I could take a full breath without catching halfway through.
“Was he going to hurt me?”
“I don’t know what he intended to do here.” Caleb glanced toward the doors. “But he didn’t come back for conversation.”
The woman with the phone lowered it. Someone muttered that people ought to control their animals. Another passenger told him to be quiet.
I couldn’t make sense of the scene I had just lived through. Five minutes earlier, my problem had been a painful leg and a long trip home. Now a stranger had warned another stranger away from me, and a dog had put himself between us as though there had been a reason I couldn’t see.
Rook pressed his shoulder more firmly against my shin.
“Does he know something?” I whispered.
“He noticed something.” Caleb’s eyes stayed on the door. “That’s different.”
Outside, the train ran alongside a wooded slope. The last low light showed on wet branches before the view narrowed between rock walls.
I was trying to decide whether to ask Caleb to find the conductor himself when the overhead lights went out.
An instant later, the brakes shrieked…
To read the rest of the story – CLICK the NEXT button 👇👇👇