things they should take with them while everyone was distracted with some of their victims one day. He’d hoped then to give it to her on their escape, but he now hoped it would reassure her of his love until they could be together again.”
Allie pulled the necklace back, closed the wings over the picture, and then slipped it back over her neck as she said, “Stella argued with him, begging him to leave with her, but he was determined to stay behind, he said to protect her as best he could. In the end, she had to go without him.”
She tucked the necklace back under her blouse. “They had gathered a little money over the few weeks before the escape, keeping some of the cash from their victims when they could. Stella used it to buy a bus ticket to Kelowna, hoping it was far enough away and big enough to hide in.”
“How far is Kelowna from Vancouver?” Tybo asked with a frown.
“About four and a half hours,” Lucian answered, which was probably good because Allie had no idea herself.
“But it is not very big,” Mortimer said quietly.
“It has over a hundred thousand people,” Tricia pointed out. “Not exactly a small town.”
“Calgary has over a million and would only have been another six hours on the bus,” Lucian responded. “She would have done better to go there right away.”
“Yes, she should have,” Allie agreed. “Stella wasn’t in Kelowna more than a couple days before she spotted one of the rogues from Vancouver.”
“Oh, no,” Sam said unhappily. “Did they catch her?”
Allie smiled slightly at the woman, appreciating her concern for her friend. “No. Fortunately, Stella spotted them in the market before they spotted her. She managed to slip away unseen. But it scared her. They’d tracked her from Vancouver somehow, and the only way she could think they’d managed that was because she took the bus. Stella had used cash for her ticket, and suspected that they’d questioned the people at the ticket counter, and the ticket seller had remembered her and told them her destination.”
“That is more than possible,” Magnus murmured when she paused. “Stella was a pretty woman.”
Much to her surprise, Allie felt a jolt of jealousy slide through her at his words. Which was ridiculous. She hardly knew the man. And Stella was dead, for heaven’s sake. Pushing away emotions she didn’t understand, Allie continued. “Stella had started to make a home for herself and the baby there in Kelowna, but after the scare in the market, she was afraid to return to it. So, she left everything behind and hitchhiked to Calgary.”
“And moved in across the street from you,” Magnus said thoughtfully. “How did she end up there?”
Allie hesitated, struggling with what to tell them. But finally she simply told them what she’d been told. “Stella said the last driver she hitched a ride with was the owner of the town house. She said he was a sweet grandfatherly type and they talked a lot during the hours she rode with him, and then as they neared Calgary he started asking where he should drop her off and she admitted she didn’t have anywhere to stay yet. Since it was late at night, he kindly offered to let her use his spare bedroom for the night and promised to help her find more permanent lodgings the next day. Stella accepted the offer and was extremely grateful right up until they got to the house and he turned, as she put it, into a dirty old bastard who expected her to blow him for the use of the bed.”
“Man,” Tybo groaned. “She couldn’t catch a break, could she?”
“It would seem not,” Tricia said sadly.
Allie didn’t comment on that. “Stella said once she set him straight, he changed his tune. She said she thought he even felt guilty for his behavior because he admitted that he actually lived in a house across the city and the town house was a rental property that was presently without tenants. He offered it to her as a temporary solution until she could find a job and apartment of her own.”
“Well, that was lucky,” Tricia said, brightening.
“Yes. Lucky . . . and a total lie,” Allie said grimly, and then allowed, “Well, probably not a total lie. I suspect the dirty old bastard part was true. Stella’s voice was pretty bitter when she said it. But I’m thinking he didn’t suddenly turn over a new leaf and become the kindly old benefactor