Chapter 17

CHAPTER 17 THREE MOTHS LATER JUNE 10, 1910 AROUND 3:00 P.M. MASSACHUSETTS NORTHERN TRAIN Chuggachuggachuggachugga. Chuggachuggachuggachugga.

The train swayed gently as it sped along the tracks. "Look!" Frederick said, pointing out the window next to Janie. "There it is! Right across the river!" Janie stared out, her heart thumping with excitement. "Beautiful city," said Mr. McBride, who was sitting just across the aisle.

"What a journey this has been," said the tall, bright-eyed woman next to him. She flashed a smile at Janie. Mrs. McBride—Frederick's mother. It turned out she wasn't a spoiled rich lady at all. She was warm and kind. A little bit like Miss Eva. Janie smiled back. Yes, she thought. What a journey. They'd left Seattle more than five days ago. They'd traveled three thousand miles, across the entire country. But Janie's journey started way before this, she knew. Before she began this train trip with Frederick and his family… her family. She lived with the McBrides now. In their grand house in Seattle, overlooking the bay. Some mornings she'd wake up, afraid that all of this was a dream. That she was back on the lumpy mattress on Aunt Barbara's floor. Or in a jail cell. Or in that frozen grave under piles of snow and wood and rocks.

But then she'd open her eyes, and there she'd be in her own sunny bedroom, with the flowered wallpaper and sunlight streaming through the big windows. She'd hear Frederick chattering away with his father and Mrs. McBride humming a pretty song. What a journey. And now here she was, about to arrive in Boston. This trip had been all Mrs. McBride's idea, a way of celebrating Janie's twelfth birthday. "We have to meet this fellow you've told us so much about," Mrs. McBride had said. Dash. Mrs. McBride had gotten Dash's new address from Miss Eva, written to his cousins, and started planning this trip. Janie pictured her old friend now—those flashing eyes, the brown curl that flopped over his forehead. She had so much to tell him! Where would she begin?

With Malvo, of course. He was in jail. Mr. McBride had gone to Spokane himself. He'd brought the stolen jewels to the police and hired a team of detectives to help them track Malvo down. He'd tried to find Aunt Barbara, to let her know Janie was safe. But Aunt Barbara had disappeared. She was probably afraid she'd wind up in jail too. And of course, there was the avalanche. Janie was sure Dash had already heard about the disaster—it made news all around the world. People said it was the deadliest avalanche in American history. And one of the worst train disasters too. Miss Wade had written at least ten articles about it. Now she was writing a whole book! Janie had so many horrific memories, nightmares of being buried alive. Sometimes she heard the echoes of people sobbing from their beds in those days after the disaster. She glanced down at her hands, at the scars on her fingers and knuckles.

But there had been some bright moments too, that Janie never wanted to forget. Like seeing Frederick sitting by her bed when she finally woke up. Meeting Mrs. McBride for the first time, how she'd hugged Janie like they were long-lost friends. And the day after the avalanche, when a little freckled face had appeared next to her bed. "Peekaboo, Janie!" Violet. That cute little pest had come through safe and sound. So had her mother and baby brother. Chuggachuggachuggachugga. Chuggachuggachuggachugga. "There's the station!" Frederick exclaimed. Janie's heart rose. Was she really here? She flashed back to that moment in February after Hammer was arrested. When it came to her—that she could escape. When those four words had popped into her mind. I think I can.