Chapter 20
Dawn had stretched its first foray into the night when Florentine awoke, cold and cramped inside a stable that stank of horses. No amount of lye could disguise the stench of manure. It rankled in her nostrils and made her eyes water. She coughed and choked, until she was awake enough to crawl to the door and push it open.
She turned, hoping against hope that Drew was with her and cried when she saw she was alone. Using the doorframe as a crutch, she pulled herself to her feet, staggered for balance, and lurched out into the rear yard of the Garden Arms Hotel.
The kitchen door was wide open, spilling yellow light and a hubbub of voices into the morning. Florentine walked the short distance as if to the gallows, her heart quaking with the message she had to impart, and the magn
