Baccano! - Volume 3 - Chapter 5

EPILOGUE

THE WOMAN IN COVERALLS

After that, the Flying Pussyfoot’s journey continued without incident, and it neared the area in Manhattan in which steam engines weren’t allowed.

At this point, they would be switching the lead car for an electric locomotive and—smokeless and clean—would head for Pennsylvania Station. However…

Waiting for them at the switch point was a veritable horde of police officers.

The train was immediately occupied by the police. Ironically, they did it much more briskly and efficiently than either the black suits or the white suits had.

Subsequently, the surviving black suits and white suits on the train were marched away, and after a two-hour investigation, the passengers were released. Finally, they were told that they would be generously compensated by the train’s sponsor, the Nebula Corporation, on the condition that they were to speak of this incident to no one. For some reason, the government and the corporation didn’t seem to want the incident to become public knowledge.

Rachel’s ticket was half-dyed with blood, but the police and the station employees seemed to accept that the blood was her own.

Ironically, it was an excuse she was able to use precisely because her leg was injured.

They’d finished the first aid treatment for her shot-up leg, and with nothing to do, she was sitting in a chair when a man with a dignified air approached her.

“I hear you helped my wife and daughter. You have my thanks.”

At first, she had no idea what was going on, but apparently, this was the husband of the mother Rachel had saved. In other words, he was Senator Beriam. Even though she was a low-level worker at an information brokerage, she hadn’t picked up on Mrs. Beriam’s identity until after she’d saved her. As she listened to him, thinking she still had a lot to learn, she was abruptly handed a thick paper envelope.

When she looked inside, it held a bundled stack of hundred-dollar bills.

“There. That’s yours.”

“Wha…?!”

Senator Beriam turned his back on Rachel and walked away. He hadn’t even asked her name.

It wasn’t as if she didn’t need the money, but this was just too infuriating. It felt as if he thought she’d done what she did in order to get a reward, and Rachel flung her hand up, preparing to lob the money at his back.

However, someone gently clasped that hand. It was Mrs. Beriam herself.

“My husband’s been very rude to you. Even so, please do take that money from him.”

“You don’t have to apologize.”

“No, it’s all right—he’s clumsy, that’s all. Money’s the only way he knows to express his gratitude. It often causes misunderstandings, but…”

She couldn’t very well throw the money at him after hearing something like that. She wanted to tell her she shouldn’t have married that sort of guy, but she kept the words shut away inside.

“Besides, I really should have been the one to say it first. I truly can’t thank you enough.”

At that, Mary peeked out from behind the woman and thanked Rachel as well. The girl had been very shy earlier, but as she looked at Rachel now, her eyes were shining openly.

“Miss Rachel, really, thank you very much! I’m going to be as good a person as you are!”

On hearing what this slightly precocious girl said, Rachel finally felt uncomfortable. The fact that she’d been stealing a ride made her feel as if she was tricking the girl, and it pricked her conscience.

After that, in the end, she did take the money. Once they reached Pennsylvania Station, she went straight to the ticket window. After giving it a little thought, she took half the money from the envelope and bought as many tickets as she could. Then she took her bushel of tickets and left the station.

She’d already decided how she was going to spend the other half of the money. For now, in order to get her leg treated properly, she set off for a local surgeon’s. The pain was the same as ever, but she walked firmly, as if she’d been set free from something.