“Nicole, speak to me. Are you all right?”
Ashton? No, it must be a dream...but that was all right. Imagining he was here with her would make her last moments on earth very peaceful. She could now die.
Gentle fingers breezed across her face. Warmth filled her. Perhaps it wasn’t a dream after all. She blinked and kept her focus on him. Gradually, his face became clearer, and even in the shadows she could tell he was concerned for her welfare. Her heart sang with happiness.
“Oh, Ashton.” With an unsteady hand, she grasped his arm. “I’m fine, but Angela isn’t. She rolled down the slope.” Nicole motioned her hand in the general direction. “She’s injured and has lost a lot of blood.”
Ashton jumped to his feet and ran to check on her. Nicole struggled to sit, but she forced herself even through the pain throbbing in her head. Joseph lay very still on the ground. A long gash lined his forehead as blood poured from the wound. She scooted away from him, not wanting to even touch him.
“Ashton?” she called out. “Did you find her?”
“Yes. She’s unconscious, but she’s alive.”
Nicole sobbed with gratefulness and wobbled toward him as he carried her up the slope. Two more men ran her way and this time she recognized them. Her father and brother were also here to assist. Relief poured through every inch of her body and she cried.
Her father wrapped his strong arms around her, holding her up. “Oh, Nicole, I was so worried we wouldn’t arrive in time.” He kissed the top of her head.
“How...how did you know we were in danger?”
He nodded in Ashton’s direction. “Mr. Lee felt it.”
“He felt it?”
“Indeed. When Mr. Nickerson and Mr. Larson finally started talking, Mr. Nickerson confessed to blackmailing Mrs. Larson because she was an opium user. Mr. Lee remembered you telling him about Joseph Donnelly and how aggressive he was toward you at the park. Larson and Nickerson mentioned hiring a miscreant to rob the railway.” Her father shrugged. “That was when Mr. Lee felt you were in trouble. He was hell-bent to find you as soon as possible.” He chuckled lightly. “He’s definitely one determined man.”
The fluttering in her heart calmed the pain throbbing in her head slightly. Perhaps Ashton really did care about her. What were the chances he would forgive her now?
When Ashton carried Mrs. Phelps to them, he frowned. “She’s wet. We need to get her home.”
Nicole’s father instructed Gordon to stay with Joseph Donnelly until the police arrived. Her father then hailed a hackney for them to return to Mrs. Phelps’ residence. During the short ride, she explained to her father and Ashton how Mrs. Phelps was involved with the railway robbery.
Her father grumbled and shook his head. “Mrs. Phelps knew better than to do that.”
“I know, Father.” She patted his arm softly as he sat beside her. “But Mr. Nickerson had wronged her family. Revenge was all she could think about.”
“It doesn’t make things right.” He folded his arms.
“It’s remarkable, if you think about it,” Ashton said.
“What is?” Nicole asked.
“Mrs. Phelps thought to do something like that. She suspected Mr. Nickerson was the one responsible for the robberies, yet the man was trying to make me look like the thief. So then what does she do? She makes it look like he was doing it just to get the focus off me.”
“Mr. Nickerson is definitely one crafty man.” Nicole nodded.
“Oh, he is craftier than you think,” her father added. “While we had him and Mr. Larson in a room together—thinking they were the only ones—the truth came out about something else those two fools had done.”
Sadness etched Ashton’s forehead, which confused Nicole. “What else?”
“They killed my father,” Ashton answered in a tight voice.
She gasped and covered her mouth. “Oh, no.”
Ashton nodded. “I knew my father wasn’t a very ethical man. He ruined a lot of people and made many enemies. Apparently, Glynn and Steve were two of them.”
“What will happen to them now?” she asked her father.
“They will stand trial of course, but I’m thinking they will be hanged.” He nodded toward Ashton. “And if that’s the case, Mr. Lee will be sole owner of the railway.”
