The Thirteen Hallows Read Online Free PDF Page B

interesting coincidence…but Judith Walker didn’t believe in coincidence. For her, everything was wrapped up in fate. This woman had rescued her for a reason. She reached out and rested her fingers lightly on the back of Sarah’s hand, startling her. “We’ll take a taxi to the station. I know there’s a train to Bath soon. Then it’s only a short walk from the Bath Spa station to my house. You’ll come with me, won’t you.”
    The blue-eyed woman nodded.

     
    SARAH MILLER was confused. The events of the last two hours were already sliding and fading in her consciousness, the details blurring like an old dream.
    She wasn’t entirely sure how she had ended up sitting in the back of a train beside a virtual stranger. Sarah glanced sidelong at the woman. She was…sixty? Seventy? It was hard to tell. With her silver hair brushed straight back off her forehead, tied in a tight bun, wisps of stray hairs curling around her delicate ears and onto her high-boned cheeks, she enjoyed an ageless beauty reserved for those people who never worked a day of hard labor.
    Sarah wondered why she had come to this stranger’s assistance.
    Even though she had been taking classes in self-defense—one of her friends told her it was a good place to meet sober men—she’d never actually used any of her training. Weeks earlier, she’d crossed the street to avoid having to walk past five shaven-headed teenagers kicking an Indian boy outside a fish-and-chips shop. Sarah was someone who purposely avoided conflicts.
    “Are you okay?” the elderly woman asked suddenly.
    Sarah blinked. “Sorry?”
    “You were staring at me, but you seemed to be miles away.”
    “I’m sorry. I was just wondering…”
    The woman continued to look at her, saying nothing.
    “I’ve never done anything like this before.”
    “You’re a very brave young woman.”
    Sarah shrugged. “It was nothing.”
    “Don’t denigrate what you did. Few would have had the courage to come to a stranger’s assistance. You’re an extremely brave woman.”
    Sarah smiled at the compliment. And they remained content with their own silent thoughts for the rest of the ride.
    When the train stopped in Bath Spa station, Judith linked her hand in Sarah’s as they walked up Dorchester Street and turned right across the bridge on the river Avon.
    “I’ve never been to Bath before.”
    “I’ve lived here most of my life,” Judith said.
    At the bottom of Lyncombe Hill, she turned right onto St. Mark’s Road. “I’m just up here on the left,” she said. Pushing open the squealing wrought-iron gate, she immediately noticed that her front door was open. Judith felt the coffee sour in her stomach, knowing instinctively what she was going to find inside. She clenched Sarah’s hand, establishing contact once again, meeting and holding her bright eyes. She knew people found it very difficult to refuse something when there was actual physical contact. “You will come in?”
    Sarah started to shake her head. “Really, I can’t. I must be getting back to the office. My boss is a bit of a prick. Don’t want to get fired for taking a four-hour lunch,” she said with a smile, but even as she was speaking, she was walking up the path toward the house.
    “You must give me your boss’s phone number,” Judith said softly. “I will call him and commend your actions. People win awards for doing less than you’ve done.”
    “That really won’t be necessary….”
    “I insist,” the old woman said firmly.
    Sarah found herself nodding. A word of recommendation to old man Hinkle would not do her any harm.
    Judith smiled. “Good, then that’s settled. Now, let’s have some nice tea, and then I promise I’ll send you back to work.” She had her key in her hand as she approached the door but purposely fumbled with her purse to give the young woman an opportunity to see the open door before her.
    “Do you live alone?” Sarah asked suddenly.
    “No, I have a cat.” Judith