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Half an hour after they docked, he and Ben made it off the ferry and jumped on the Market Street cable car that took them into the city.
Where they promptly got lost.
They wandered street after street and saw things the people back home would have a hard time believing took place outside their little community.
They hurried through unsavory sections of the city and managed to finally find a hotel that didn’t want a laughable amount of money to stay at. They checked in to a small one-bed room not much larger than that tiny room in the back of the livery stable.
“Well, at least we’ll stay dry.”
“That’s about all you can say for it,” Ben said, crossing the room to the window and looking out. “The sooner we find Betsey and Samuel and can get out of here, the better I’ll feel.”
“Me, too.” Aaron sat down on the bed and rolled his shoulder. It still hurt like hell but was healing. “We need to find someone who can tell us where the theaters in town are. Harrison told me the name of the one he owned but I can’t remember the name of it to save my life.”
Ben turned to face him. “You can’t even remember what letter it started with?”
“No, not a single thing. I don’t even remember if it was one word or two.” He looked at the bed. “At least the bed’s big enough for both of us because I sure as hell ain’t sleeping on this floor.” They both looked down at it. The rug looked as if it hadn’t been cleaned since it was made, the edges frayed and worn. The wood flooring was dusty and there were a few spider webs clinging to the corner.
He looked toward the door and blew out a breath. “What do you want to do first? Find something to eat? Ask around about the theaters? Or sleep without your guts swaying back and forth?”
Ben chuckled. “I dread the ride home already. I’ll take a horse and a good worn-in saddle over a train any day.”
They settled on resting and reluctantly shared the bed. It was near dark when they stirred and Aaron’s stomach felt like it wasready to gnaw a hole in his backbone by the time they left their room to find food.
Since they still had to buy train tickets to get back home they opted for the cheapest thing they could find to eat, which happened to be served at a boarding house three blocks over. They filled their empty bellies and headed out into the street when no one at the boarding house could tell them anything about the theaters in town and spent the rest of the evening stopping random strangers and asking for any bit of information they had.
When the streets started to clear out and the lights in the windows started to be extinguished, they headed back to the hotel just as lost as they were when they started out.
“It’s going to take forever to find them at this rate.”
“I know.” Aaron sat down on the bed and kicked off his boots, staring at the wall, his thoughts on Betsey and Samuel and where they were. Were they scared? Hurt? Hungry? He sighed and laid down, staring up at the ceiling as more questions filled his mind and knew sleep wouldn’t find him anytime soon.
Eight days.Eight long agonizing, endless days. That’s how long it took for fate to finally start working in their favor.
Aaron stared at the circular in his hand, his eyes scanning the page quickly, the words, The Garden Theater, in bold print along the top causing the first smile to crease his lips since they’d stepped off the ferry.
The circular had been nailed to a post on some random street in some random part of the city and he wasn’t even sure what made him look over at it but the moment he saw it, saw Betsey’s picture on it, his heart had skipped a beat, relief filling him clean to his soul as he read the theater’s name. That relief fell away when he read the byline.
The Garden Theater presents, the Nightingale, Elisabeth McBride.
He read the name three times, his eyes darting from Betsey’s face back to the name, his thoughts going in ten different directions before Ben snatched the paper from his hand.
“That son of a bitch gave her his name.”
Aaron nodded, staring down the street but seeing nothing. Did Harrison give Betsey his last name for stage purposes or was it more than that? He looked at Ben. “Do you suppose that bastard married her?”
Ben snorted. “Hell, no. Betsey would have clawed his eyes out had he tried.”
Yeah, she would have. The uneasy feeling in his gut started to vanish when another thought hit him and his stomach rolled. “Not if he had leverage.”
It took a few moments for Ben to get it, his jaw clenching before he said, “Samuel.”
“If he threatened her, or threatened to hurt Samuel, she would have done it.”
Fire filled his gut as he started down the street. He had no clue where The Garden Theater was but when he found it—when he found Harrison McBride—he wasn’t leaving until one of them was in jail.
Chapter Nineteen
If there wasone good thing to come out of her ordeal, it was this. Betsey took another bow, the roar of applause deafening. She starred out at those looking back at her and smiled.
