Tales of the Scarlet Knight Collection: The Call

by P. T. Dilloway

  “You remember who I am? Or who I was?”

  “Of course I do. Do you?”

  “Yes.” Emma leaned back against the counter. “I don’t know what happened. One moment I was in a warehouse with French and Estima and the next I was waking up in bed, like this. What happened?”

  “Search me. But I’m fairly certain you aren’t going to find any answers around here.”

  “What am I supposed to do?”

  “Put the armor on and find out who did this.”

  “Isn’t someone else wearing the armor?”

  “No, much as I might like that, I’m stuck with you.”

  “Am I the Scarlet Knight in this world too?”

  “I’ve no idea. All I do know is the armor is sitting in the museum basement, where you left it.”

  “That’s good to know.” Emma turned back to the mirror. Even if she did put on the armor, she didn’t know what good that would do. She still didn’t have any idea what was going on and who was responsible for it. Despite the armor’s many properties, it couldn’t solve a mystery like that for her.

  There came a tap on the door. “Emma? Are you all right? Breakfast is going to get cold.”

  “I’ll be there in a minute, Mom,” Emma said.

  ‘“Mom?’”

  “My parents are still alive here. Wherever here is,” Emma said. “I have to take a shower. Go and see if you can find anything out.”

  “What do you think I’ve been doing?”

  “Well keep trying.”

  Marlin grumbled something she couldn’t hear before he disappeared through the ceiling. He would probably fly back to the city to search for clues. This at least gave her some privacy to take her shower. While she washed, she tried to think of what to do next. Marlin was probably right that she should find the armor and try to find a way back home. Yet a part of her didn’t want to do that.

  The sight of her parents at the breakfast table only reinforced her urge to stay. Her parents were still alive here. She and Becky were sisters. She was engaged to Dan. All of these things seemed too good to pass up so she could return to her world, where she had little to look forward to except loneliness and pain.

  Over breakfast, her mother said, “When you see Daniel today, remind him the rehearsal is at seven o’clock. We don’t want to keep Reverend Mitchell waiting.”

  Her father muttered something under his breath. Emma nodded and then said, “I’ll tell him.”

  “Becky said she would give me a ride into the city, so I’ll meet you and Daniel there,” Mom said. “I’ll bring your dress for the dinner.”

  “OK, Mom.”

  “Now, the two of you should get moving or you’ll be late.”

  “Yes, dear,” Daddy said. He patted Emma’s arm. “Better hurry and get ready, kiddo.”

  “OK, Daddy.” She hurried back to the bedroom to find something to wear for work. Like the day before, it was difficult to find something appropriate. It seemed she didn’t own any actual business suits. The best she could find was a white blouse and a black skirt that barely covered her panties.

  When she came back out, her mother waited for her. Just like when Emma had gone off to school, Mom had a brown bag for her. “Here you go, baby. Have a good day.” She kissed Emma’s cheek and then sent her on her way.

  Emma found Daddy in the car. For the first time in her memory she rode in the passenger’s seat next to him. She wondered if they carpooled like this all the time or if this were a special occasion. “So how’s my little girl?” he asked. “Still feeling nervous?”

  “Yes.”

  “It’ll probably get worse before it gets better. But it’s worth it, trust me.”

  “I know.” Since the night her parents had died, she had thought about what she would say to her parents if they were still alive. Yet here was her father right next to her in the car and she couldn’t think of anything to say. “Daddy?”

  “What is it, kiddo?”

  “I just want you to know…I love you.”

  “I love you too, sweetheart.” He took one hand off the wheel to pat her shoulder. “I must have done something right in another life to get this lucky.”

  “Oh, Daddy.”

  “Whatever happens, I want you to know I’m proud of you.”

  “Thanks.”

  Silence hung over them for a minute as they sat at a stoplight. Her father reached over to turn on the radio; a Vivaldi symphony flooded the silence. As she listened closely, Emma picked out the cello amongst the other instruments. She wondered if this were one of Mom’s performances. This reminded her of what Becky had said at lunch the day before. “Daddy, do you think after the wedding Mom should go back to work?”

  “That would be nice, but the doctors say she shouldn’t play much anymore. It aggravates the arthritis in her fingers.” Her father sighed. “Makes me glad you decided to get married. It’s really helped her take her mind off the cello.”

  “Couldn’t she get a teaching job? It would be better than her sitting around an empty house, right?”

  “Maybe, but we can’t force her to do anything.”

  “I guess.”

  He patted her shoulder again. “Don’t you worry about her. Your mother can take care of herself. You just focus on this wedding.”

  “I’ll try.”

  For the rest of the drive they talked about mundane things like the weather, traffic, and local politics. Though these weren’t the things Emma had rehearsed in her head, she was glad to be able to have a normal, grown-up conversation with her father. By the time he dropped her off at the Plaine Museum, she knew she never wanted to leave this world.

  ***

  Though her fever had nearly broken the day before, Veronica had still not woken up for more than a few minutes. For those few minutes Marie had taken her to the bathroom and then given her a little water before she escorted Veronica back to bed. The little girl seemed better, but still she slept all through the night; every now and then she would mumble or turn over but not wake.

  Sometime in the night Marie had finally fallen asleep. She awoke to someone shaking her. She bolted straight in her chair; she expected to find that awful man from the phone or the Watchmaker or someone from the halfway house there. Instead she saw Veronica in front of her. “Marie?”

  “Yes, sweetheart?”

  “Where am I?”

  “You’re in my home. Do you remember how you got here?”

  Veronica shook her head. She pressed her doll closer to her chest, as if it could protect her. Marie patted the little girl’s head. “You were sick, so I brought you here to make you better again.” Marie waved around the apartment. “I brought you to the future.”

  “You did? So I can see the airplanes and automobiles and skyscrapers?”

  “In time. For now you still need to rest. You’ve been very sick.”

  “Are Mama and Papa going to be here soon?”

  “Not yet. Not until all your germs are gone. You wouldn’t want them to get sick, would you?”

  “No.”

  “Good. Now, are you hungry?”

  “A little.”

  “Go sit on the bed and I’ll bring some breakfast for you and Lucy.”

  “Lucy doesn’t eat. She’s a doll.”

  “Oh, right, I forgot,” Marie said with a smile. She tousled Veronica’s hair and then went over to the “kitchen” so she could get out some of the crackers she had bought. They weren’t much, but they should be enough for Veronica’s fragile stomach at this point.

  Veronica took one cracker from the plate and sniffed at it. She took a cautious nibble of the cracker. She must have decided it was good, because she ate the rest on the plate within a few minutes. After Veronica had eaten, Marie dragged the 13-inch television over. “What’s that?” Veronica asked.

  “This is a television. It’s a magic box that shows you pictures.” Marie turned the television on and went through the channels until she found some cartoons. “See, it’s like a
picture book, only the pictures move.”

  Veronica stared at the TV in awe. She finally gathered the courage to reach out and touch the screen. She felt all along the glass before she asked, “How does the picture get in there?”

  “It’s magic,” Marie said.

  “Mama and Papa will never believe this.”

  Marie only nodded. It was much too soon to tell Veronica that her parents were dead and she would never see them again. She didn’t want to upset the little girl too soon, or else her body might give up its fight against the fever. When Veronica was all better, then Marie would find a gentle way to explain she was Veronica’s mother now.

  After an hour, Marie turned the television off. “Let me show you the rest of the house,” she said. She took Veronica’s hand to lead her into the “living room” where there was only a broken plaid armchair and a CD player. “This box plays any kind of music you want.” She looked through the CDs, but found only heavy metal. She put one in so Veronica could hear it.

  The little girl immediately put her hands to her ears. “That’s music?” she asked.

  “There are many different types of music in the future,” Marie said. She turned the CD player off and then led Veronica into the kitchen. “This is the stove. It’s used for cooking. And this is the refrigerator. It keeps things nice and cold so they don’t spoil.”

  Veronica didn’t show much interest in these inventions. In her time, servants had taken care of all the food preparation. Marie led her into the bathroom. There was an old claw-footed tub with a shower head. Marie turned the water on and Veronica jumped back. “This is indoor plumbing,” Marie said. “The water comes from far away, up the pipes inside the walls, and then into here so you can take a bath whenever you want.”

  Veronica stuck her hand under the faucet, but pulled it back a moment later. “It’s warm!”

  “That’s right. You can take a nice warm bath whenever you want without needing to boil any water.”

  “That’s amazing.”

  “Almost as amazing as this.” Marie flushed the toilet. Veronica gasped as she watched the water swirl down the drain. “This is the toilet. It’s like a chamber pot, except it flushes all that nasty stuff down to pipes below the city.”

  Veronica looked from the toilet back at the bathtub. “Are those the same pipes you bathe with?”

  Marie laughed and shook her head. “No, sweetie. They’re different pipes.”

  “Oh.” Veronica yawned. This had clearly been too much excitement for her.

  “Come on, let’s get you back to bed so you can rest.”

  “All right.” Veronica took Marie’s hand. They trudged back over to the bed. As she fell asleep, Veronica asked, “Marie, will I be all better soon? I want Mama and Papa to see this.”

  “Soon, sweetheart. Very soon.” She bent down to kiss Veronica’s forehead. The little girl smiled as she fell asleep.

  ***

  As soon as she walked through the door of her office, Emma realized she’d made a mistake. This wasn’t her office, not anymore. Behind it now sat Ian MacGregor, who looked as she’d seen him before he’d taken his own life after he realized the terrible things he’d done as the Black Dragoon. He looked up from a stack of papers and smiled at her. “Something I can do for you, Miss Earl?”

  “Oh, um—”

  “I suppose you want your paycheck before the wedding.”

  “Yes, sir.”

  He opened a drawer and then pulled out an envelope. “Here it is, lass.”

  She took the envelope from him. “Thank you.”

  “If anyone but my wife calls, tell them I’m in a meeting, will you? I need to get these reports done for the director this afternoon.”

  “Yes, sir.”

  “Are those requisitions ready for me to sign yet?”

  “Not yet, sir.”

  “Just shout when they are.”

  “Yes, sir.”

  She backed out of the room. Only then did she see the name plaque on the desk outside the door with her name on it. Apparently she was Ian’s secretary here. She sat down at the desk and saw a pair of photographs. One showed her and her parents, who looked about the same as they did now, except in the photo they all wore tacky Christmas sweaters. She and her mom leaned close together so they looked the same height while her father was a little off to the side. The other photo was of her in a very tiny pink bikini. Dan, clad only in a Speedo, had an arm around her shoulder. They were on a beach, both of them with huge grins. Emma smiled at this image and wondered where they had been. She thought of what Becky had said and figured it was probably a beach in South America, Rio de Janeiro perhaps?

  She set the picture down and then opened her paycheck. It was about a fifth of what she made as director of the geology department—Ian’s job once again. No wonder this Emma still lived at home with her parents; she could hardly afford a flat in the Trenches on this.

  Why was she a secretary? Hadn’t she gone to college? She was only twenty-one; maybe she hadn’t finished her degree yet. In that case, shouldn’t she only work here part-time?

  With another sigh she stuffed the check into her purse. She did an inventory of the desk and found the requisitions Ian had mentioned. She set to work on them. It wasn’t much of an intellectual challenge, just a lot of drudgery. She gained new appreciation for her secretary Leslie, and how difficult it must be to come in and do this every day.

  The phone calls made things far more difficult. It seemed every five minutes someone would call: colleagues, donors, salespeople, and one wrong number who asked for the police department. She dealt with these calls as best she could; she told each one Ian was in a meeting and could not be disturbed.

  The next time the phone rang, Emma was tempted not to pick it up. They could always leave a voice mail for Ian. She shook her head and reminded herself this was her job now, whether she liked it or not. She smiled as she heard Dan’s voice on the other end.

  “Hey, babe,” he said. “You free for lunch today?”

  “Sure.”

  “Meet me down in the cafeteria about noon if you can.”

  “All right.”

  “Later, babe.”

  Dan hung up the phone. Emma sighed again and then looked at the picture on her desk. She couldn’t wait until she could meet Dan in person. From the clock on the wall, she saw it was still two hours until noon.

  Ian stuck his head out of his office. “Do you have those requisitions, Miss Earl?”

  “Just about, Dr. MacGregor.”

  “Bring them in when you’re done.”

  “Yes, sir.”

  Ian nodded curtly to her as she deposited the reports on his desk a few minutes later. She hurried out of the room, back to her desk. With nothing else to do, she decided to do some research. She loaded the computer’s Internet browser and then typed her name into the search engine. A few hits came up, one of which was a list of high school graduates from seven years ago. So she had graduated high school at fourteen like before. Another hit came up for Northwestern three years ago, which indicated she had graduated from there as well with a degree in anthropology instead of geology.

  That was all that related to her. So she had graduated high school early and earned her bachelor’s degree, but she must not have finished her doctorate. That was why Ian still addressed her as “Miss Earl” and why she was only a secretary instead of director of the department or even a researcher. Still, with a bachelor’s degree she should have been able to do something more than secretarial work.

  She was still thinking about this when she saw it was noon. She tapped on Ian’s door and then stuck her head inside. “I’m going to lunch now, sir.”

  “Of course, lass. Have fun.”

  “Thank you.”

  She hurried down to the cafeteria. Even though he was dressed in far more clothes than the picture on her desk, Emma still recognized Dan against a back wall. He was more muscular than the one she knew and also sported a well-trimmed goatee,
but his smile was still warm enough to melt her heart in an instant.

  He had a cup of coffee and a sandwich in front of him. “Hey, babe,” he said. He motioned for her to sit down. “How are things up in geology?”

  “Fine.”

  “That old prick giving you any problems?”

  “Who?”

  “That Scottish guy. MacIntosh—”

  “MacGregor.”

  “Right, him. He been giving you any shit about the wedding?”

  “No, of course not. He hardly mentioned it.”

  “He’s going to be so pissed when he loses you.”

  “We’ll only be gone a little while on the honeymoon, won’t we?”

  “Sure, but once I get you knocked up, you’re not going to want to stick around this dump.”

  “Knocked up?”

  He smiled at her. “I’m just yanking your chain. When did you get so serious?”

  “It must be the wedding jitters.”

  “Yeah, I guess. Your mom’s got to micromanage everything. Her and Becky.”

  “It’s not that bad.”

  “Come on, babe, just two days ago you were bawling on the phone about those two.”

  “I was?”

  “Don’t you remember? You were saying they kept picking apart everything we wanted to do.”

  “Oh, that.” Emma looked down at the table and felt her face turn warm. “I guess that was a little stress.”

  “Yeah, maybe.”

  “Oh, speaking of the wedding, Mom said to be there for the rehearsal at seven o’clock.”

  “As if I’d forget that.” He leaned across the table to kiss her on the cheek. “I can’t wait until all this wedding shit is done. Then we can get on with the rest of our lives.”

  “I can’t wait for that either,” she said with a contented sigh.

  Chapter 14

  Daddy picked her up out front of the museum at six o’clock. “How was your day?” he asked. “Lot of excitement at the old museum?”

  “Not really. It was kind of boring.”