A Second Chance

The Penultimate Peril Part Two

ASHLYN'S P.O.V

"Ashlyn, Violet, Klaus and Sunny Baudelaire." The man smiled. "You look just like your mother" He turned to Violet.

"I'm sorry, do we know you?" I asked.

"Somebody shot the manager and he fell into the pond!" A woman shouted from her window. "I saw it while I was bird-watching!"

"Those concierges shot the manager! I saw it while I was ironing my cummerbund!" Vice-principal Nero called.

"We didn't do anything. It was an accident." Violet insisted.

"They don't know that." I told her.

"What can we do?" Klaus asked.

"You can get in my taxi." Man said.

"Excuse me?" Sunny frowned.

"Sometimes when I'm in a dangerous situation, such as a public place where I'm being accused of a murder that I didn't commit, I find it useful to get away quickly in a taxi." The man explained.

"Where's Kit? She was supposed to meet us." I questioned.

"She sent me to help you. But I can only help you if you get in this taxi right now." The man answered.

"Baudelaires!" Justice Strauss called from the hotel entrance. "I heard there was trouble, so I found these friendly police officers." She started coming towards us.

"We should leave before those officers reach us. They don't look friendly and I'm on the lam." The man hurried.

"So are we. Maybe leaving isn't such a bad idea." Klaus shrugged.

"If we leave, we miss the chance to put Count Olaf in jail." Violet sighed.

"And we can't live on the run forever." I said.

"It's not hard. You just have to evade the authorities, fake your death in an unreliable newspaper, and spend the rest of your days hiding out in a series of anonymous, interchangeable motels." The man told us.

"Sounds like a lonely life." I sympathised.

"It is, but you'd be safe. I promise." The man said.

"Baudelaires? Baudelaires, is everything all right?" Justice asked when she reached us. We looked at each other.

"Sorry." I mouthed to man and went over to Justice Strauss.

"I heard there was a harpoon gun and one of the managers." Justice told us.

"It was an accident." I began.

"It was Count Olaf." Violet added.

"Well, you won't have to worry about him for long. Come with me. You'll be safe. I promise." Justice Strauss reassured.

"We should say goodbye to the man in the taxi." Klaus suggested. We looked over to where the man had been stood but found he had already left.

"I guess he couldn't stay." I muttered.

"Come, come." Justice Strauss ushered us back inside the hotel lobby.

"There you are, Baudelaires!" Mr Poe exclaimed coming over to us with one of the managers. "After you shot the manager, I went inside and found the manager. Wait that can't be right."

"No trust me. It can." The manager said before walking off.

"Those are the children I saw from my window!" A woman declared.

"I recognise them from the newspaper! The murdered a man named Count Olaf in a village!" A man exclaimed.

"I recognise them from my village, where they murdered Count Olaf!" An elder from the Village of Fowl Devotees added.