Bang!
I freeze and look at Logan.
“That sounds like somebody’s in there,” I say.
114
“Stay here.” Logan puts his hand on my arm.
“Are you kidding me? Of course I’m not gonna stay back…”
I push past him to look inside the liquor room. Mr. Bingley is safe in his bed, relaxed as can be, and?—
Cell Number One is wide open.
I clutch Logan’s hand.
“What the fuck…” He rubs his eyes and then looks again.
I walk closer to the jail cell.
“Oh, my.”
A blooming cactus flower is growing right in the center of the cement floor.
Logan drops his drink in the doorway, and it splatters everywhere.
I turn my head. And that’s when I see her. Through the large round window behind my desk?—
A white form is heading toward the sky.
She stops briefly, and I swear she waves at us. I wave back and she’s gone from view.
Logan and I don’t speak for over a minute.
“Holy shit,” he finally says. “That was weird, right? Did we just see Jane Austen’s ghost? And why did it all kind of make sense?”
“People are going to go crazy when they come back inside and see this.”
“So let’s get out of here.”
I grab his shirt in my fists and kiss him. “You’re such a romantic underneath it all.”
“With you I am. I’m not sure about the rest of it.” He looks toward the hallway. “Did you hear that?”
Stomping feet echo louder and louder.
“They’re coming back inside,” he says.
“But everyone’s supposed to go to the square for the fireworks.”
“They must have decided to stop back for drinks first.” He takes my arm. “Let’s sneak out. We’ll hide out in my cottage for the night until the town calms down.”
I look around, wishing for the millionth time in my life that this room had a side door. My eyes land on the round window over my desk.
Logan helps me unlock the pane from its rusty hinges, and he pushes me out the opening to the burnt-out brushy lawn and climbs out right behind me. I hear a weird jingling in my purse as I hit the ground, but before I can figure out what it is, Logan grabs my hand.
“Let’s cut through the ranch. It’s a lot faster.”
