Chapter 9
Clay drove the several blocks from his apartment to the depot and got there shortly after ten. Too early, but he couldn’t wait any longer. Not that his presence would make the train run any faster, but at least he was in a familiar, comfortable place to wait. His apartment seemed so empty lately, not anything like home at all.
Finally, he heard the familiar tone as the train approached the first grade crossing in town. The Amtrak locos had a subtly different voice than the freight engines, and he knew the sounds of them all. Sudden uncertainty hit him. He backed away from the edge of the platform to fade into the shadows outside of the cone of wan light stretching from the lobby doors.
The train rolled in, cut the air to the brakes with a hiss, and slid to a gentle halt, the t
