The Robber Princess

Chapter 19. The Case Begins to Ravel

Chapter 19

"Hunny, what's wrawng?" asked Jake, alarmed at Angelica's quaking and hyperventilating. He had seen her afraid several times in their brief acquaintance but never like this.

"Il faut partir, maintenant, vite!" whispered Angelica frantically, forgetting herself momentarily. "Must go ... 'e must not see me." She shrunk against Jake, trying to obscure herself completely from Folkering's view in case he looked in her direction. "Mon Dieu, mondieu mondieu mondieu ..."

"Who mussn't see yeh? Where??"

"I tell you at 'ome. Pleeze, 'ide me, and we go now?"

"Awright awright, we'll go. Can yeh stand?" Angelica nodded and pulled Jake toward the exit, giving Folkering as wide a berth as she could. When they reached the parking lot, she sprinted to the car, got in as quickly as she could, and slunk down into the passenger seat. "Drive slowly," she said, remembering what Regina had taught her the day they had fled Rochevaux Palace. Jake slowly drove the car out of the lot and on to the road.

"Eez someone following us?" asked Angelica.

Jake looked out the rearview mirror. Although there were other cars on the road, none of them appeared unduly interested in his. "Ah don' think so," he replied. "You wanna tell me what that was awl 'bout?"

The relief that she was not being pursued helped alleviate Angelica's brief panic. She could not tell Jake whom she actually had seen without revealing her connection to Regina and blowing her cover. Somewhat calmer, she was able to think of a plausible story.

"You will not believe ziss," she said, still slunk down in the passenger's seat, "but ze man 'oo kidnapped me in Rome, I saw 'im at ze Barn-Stom-ping."

"Oh, Loword," exclaimed Jake. "You meanteh say he tracked you from Rome awl the way here?"

"I don't know 'ow, but yes, 'e 'ave must done zat."

Jake reached down and caressed Angelica's hair. She could feel his disappointment over his expectation for the evening not coming to pass. "Will you be safe at the ranch?" he asked.

"I don't sink so," she answered. "Eef ze man 'as found me from Rome to 'ere, and to ze dance-cing, I am certaine zat 'e finds me at ze ranch all-so."

"Whaddawe do?"

Angelica could only think of one thing, and it hurt her also that her special milestone with Jake would not happen that night. "I must leave Amérique now, tonight." Jake did not answer, instead began breathing irregularly. Angelica could tell that he was trying to make sense of this profound disappointment. "Eet eez maybe only several days. You can leave wiss me?"

Clearly relieved, Jake began to breath normally again. "Yeah, of course. Ah love you, and if you need to git outta Dodge, we'll go. Wheredja have in mind? ... Where do you want to go?"

"Not emport-tant where."

"Tell yeh what: We'll run home and pack and hightail it to the airport. Ah think we can still git a flight to Houston at this hour. Then we'll catch the first plane outta the country. Sound like a plan?"

"Oh-kay. Sank you, Zhake. And I am so sorry zat we cannot do ze man-and-woman tonight. I wanted zat." She could not reach Jake's hand so she put hers on his leg. They said nothing the rest of the way to the ranch. Although he had been stoicly graceful in his disappointment, Jake was very tense and obviously more upset than he was letting on.

Upon reaching his house, they packed quickly and were soon on the road again, heading back to Midland International. Jake had the butler drive so he could search potential destinations on the way. "We missed London already and ah don't think we'll make the one to Frankfurt."