Early Dawn Read Online Free PDF Page A

“Perhaps over lunch, we can keep him entertained so you can enjoy your meal for a change.”
    Helen laughed and flashed a grateful smile. “That would be fabulous . He’s getting very restless, and I’m running out of ideas to keep him distracted.”
    “I’m getting restless, too,” Eden sympathized. “According to The Little Giant Cyclopedia of Ready Reference , modern-day trains travel at an average speed of just a little over forty-eight miles an hour, but this one definitely isn’t.”
    The brunette laughed again as she set Timothy off her lap and vacated her seat. “If only we were traveling that fast. We would have reached Denver sometime early this morning.”
    “Instead we won’t be arriving until late tonight.” Eden smoothed her silk skirt. “My traveling costume will be hopelessly stale and wrinkled when we finally reach our destination. After we get to Denver, we have to take another train south from there to No Name.”
    “It’s all these steep grades,” Dory inserted. “No train on earth can consistently travel at forty-eight miles per hour up all these inclines.”
    Just as Eden turned to collect her reticule, the passenger car lurched violently. The sound of tearing metal filled her ears as she was thrown against the back of the seat in front of her. The impact snapped her forward at the waist, and she barely managed to catch herself from becoming airborne. Her blasted hat, securely anchored to her head with pins, went flying, taking some of her hair with it. Concerned for her mother, Eden groped for Dory’s elbow.
    “Timothy, are you all right?” Helen cried from behind them. “Did you bump your head?”
    “Dear God!” a man somewhere at the back of the car shouted. “We must have hit another train!”
    “Or there’s some sort of debris on the tracks,” another man grumped. “I swear, as much as I paid for my fare, you’d think I’d get better service.”
    “Mother, are you hurt?” Eden asked, helping Dory to regain her balance.
    Dory collected herself with brisk efficiency, righting her plumed hat and tugging on the cuffs of her leg-o’- mutton sleeves to straighten her velvet traveling jacket. “My goodness, what a fright! I’m fine, dear, just fine.” Dory cast a worried glance at the crying toddler behind them. “Is little Timothy okay?”
    Bent over her son, Helen replied, “He’s got a goose egg on his forehead, but I don’t think any serious damage was done.”
    “I wonder what on earth we hit,” Dory mused aloud.
    Eden was about to reply when a distant popping sound came from outside the train.
    “Oh, sweet Jesus, have mercy,” a woman across the aisle bleated. “It’s a holdup! We’ll all be killed!”
    Helen grabbed her towheaded son into her arms. “Perhaps it’s only a mechanical malfunction.”
    Eden had been around weapons too often to believe that. The muted popping sounds were gunfire, no question about it. The train was about to be robbed.
    Eden quickly switched places with her mother.
    “What are you doing?” Dory cried.
    Eden knew better than to confess that she wanted to be in the aisle seat in case the situation became violent. Dory was older and frailer. Eden would recover from a physical injury far more quickly. “I just want to see what’s happening.” As she spoke, Eden sat down, spread a lace handkerchief over her lap, and began unfastening the diamond pin from her bodice. “Remove your jewelry, Mama. If it’s a robbery, they’ll want all our valuables. If we cooperate, we should be fine.”
    Dory clucked her tongue. “Not my wedding band, surely. It’s not worth much, and it has a great deal of sentimental value to me.”
    “Tuck it inside your bodice and give me everything else then,” Eden replied. In a louder voice, she addressed the other passengers. “If you want to survive this spot of trouble without any mishap, bundle all your jewelry and money in a handkerchief and stand ready to hand it over without