A Time of Shadows (Out of Time #8)
Page 4
“And the thirteenth watch? Did he tell you where it was?”
Charlotte nodded.
That sent a silent shockwave through the room.
“Where?”
“I don’t know.”
Simon sighed. “Charlotte—”
“I mean, he told me, but I don’t understand what it means.”
“What did he say?” Elizabeth asked.
Charlotte scrunched up her forehead as she tried to remember. “WP-9368.”
The shockwave of revelation dissipated.
“WP…?” Simon said.
“9368.”
“What does that mean?” Simon asked.
Charlotte shook her head. “I don’t know. I told you.”
“Are you sure you didn’t forget something? Did he give you a name or a place? Anything?”
Charlotte huffed a breath in exasperation, much like her father. “I told you.”
Simon sighed and stood back up.
“I asked what it meant and he said when I needed to know, I’d know,” Charlotte said. “He talks like that sometimes. Twisty.”
Elizabeth patted Charlotte’s arm, her own fond memories of Teddy returning. “That’s a good description.”
Charlotte beamed at the compliment.
“Why would he tell our child and not us?” Simon asked no one in particular.
“Maybe he did,” Jack said. “We don’t know what he told future you. You might even know what it means.”
Simon nodded thoughtfully. “For all the good that does us.”
“I’m sorry,” Charlotte said.
Simon knelt back down next to her and squeezed her shoulder. “Nothing to be sorry for. Without you we’d have nothing to go on at all. You’ve done very well.”
Jack leaned back in his chair, laced his hands behind his head and stuck his long legs out in front of him. “Now, we just have to figure out what it means.”
“If it’s all right,” Travers said, “I’d like the Crosses to sink their teeth into that. I think they’re best suited for it. No one we trust knows Mr. Fiske’s mind better than they do. I do, however, have need of your particular expertise in a related matter.”
Jack sat back up. “Does it involve women?”
Simon snorted.
Travers blushed and then smiled slightly. “A sixty year old man, as luck would have it.”
“Well, that’s disappointing,” Jack said. “But if I can help, I will.”
“Good. We’ll talk about it later?” Travers asked as he stood.
Jack cast a quick glance at Simon and Elizabeth who nodded their agreement.
“I’m sorry to drag you all into this,” Travers said, his eyes darting toward Charlotte. “But I really didn’t have a choice. There’s one analyst I’m sure I can still trust. I’ll have him see what he can make of our mysterious number. In the meantime, if you can try to remember everything you can about Mr. Fiske. Maybe something will fall into place?”
Simon nodded and looked to Elizabeth. “We’ll do our best.”
“You, too, Charlotte,” Travers added.
She nodded solemnly.
“And,” he continued, “let’s hope we can find the watch before they do. I shudder to think what might happen if it were to fall into the wrong hands.”
“The apocalypse?” Jack offered.
Travers didn’t smile. “Or worse.”
~~~
“I don’t even know where to start,” Elizabeth said as she tucked her legs underneath her and settled into the couch.
Simon sighed heavily and sat forward in his chair. Elizabeth saw his eyes dart toward the door to the bedroom of their hotel suite. Again.
“She’s fine,” Elizabeth assured him. She had just finished her first tucking in. Charlotte was pretty tuckered and Elizabeth didn’t blame her.
Simon frowned and nodded. She could see him try to refocus his mind on the task at hand. Poor Simon. He was a natural born worrier and now he had two people to worry about. And he was so adorable when he worried, when he wasn’t being a complete ass about it.
Elizabeth leaned forward and touched his leg. “Really.”
He nodded, but there was a slight embarrassed blush in it. Just when she thought he couldn’t get any cuter. Her “aww” smile made him frown and clear his throat.
“I didn’t have much interaction with Teddy one on one,” Simon said. “He far preferred your company.”
“He is a man,” Jack offered, winning an eye roll from Simon and wiggly eyebrows from Elizabeth. He winked in return.
Teddy was hardly the average man though, in any respect. He was brilliant, shy, awkward and deeply kind. And unpredictable. His mind worked in ways they couldn’t hope to understand. How could they possibly figure out where he’d hidden the thirteenth watch? It could be anywhere and anywhen. Literally.
“Well,” Jack said, “what do you remember about him?”
All eyes turned on Elizabeth. She thought for a moment. She could see him in her mind, offering her a peanut from the little brown bag he always carried.
“He liked peanuts.”
“That’s helpful,” Simon said.
Elizabeth made a sour face and tried to think. She had been alone with him several times, including most of the night just before the earthquake when Simon had been in jail at City Hall. But, she was ashamed to realize, she knew very little about him. He’d talked but seldom about himself. She’d done most of the talking, mostly about herself and Simon. Which was natural considering they were there fighting for their lives, but it was a little shameful to realize how much he must have learned about her and how little she learned about him. She was so focused on her own problems, she didn’t even ask if he had any. And now it was too late.
“What’s wrong?” Simon asked.
Elizabeth hadn’t realized she was frowning until she had to consciously relax and felt the muscles in her face slack.
She shook her head. “Just realizing that I did most of the talking with Teddy. Me, me and a hot-buttered side of me.”
“I find that hard to believe,” Simon said. “You’re the least selfish person I know.”
“You need to meet more people.”
“Elizabeth.”
“I know, I know,” she said, waving off his “there’s no reason to mope” lecture. He was right. It wouldn’t get them anywhere.
“Okay,” she said. “So what do we know? We know where he lived. Where his laboratory was.”
“Yeah,” Jack said, “but you know Travers must have looked there first thing.”
“Yes,” Simon agreed. “I can’t think of any other places that have any significance.”
“Not any that still exist,” Elizabeth added. “What the earthquake didn’t take out, the fires did.”
They sat in silence for a minute, until Jack spoke. “Maybe we’re thinking about this the wrong way?”
Elizabeth perked up. “What do you mean?”
“Travers said that Teddy liked to travel. Maybe it’s not about where you met him, where you interacted in the past…” he continued, his eyes drifting toward the bedroom, “but in the future.”
~~~
Simon keyed open the front door to their home, and despite knowing that the watches were inoperable, he still half-expected the room to be in a shambles, tossed by some unknown shadowy foe. It was, however, exactly as they’d left it yesterday. And so was their investigation. And going nowhere fast.
Although Charlotte had been quite circumspect in what she’d told them so far about the future, she had admitted that their current home would remain their home. Considering it was the only other place they were sure Teddy had traveled to, it seemed as logical a place as any to start looking.
But where? And would it be here now? Or were they too early? If he hid it in Charlotte’s time, they’d be looking for something that wasn’t there yet.
Simon stepped inside first, assuring himself all was well, and was soon followed by Charlotte and Elizabeth
. Charlotte hurried past him.
“Where’s she going?” he asked.
“Bathroom. She said the one on the plane smelled funny.”
Simon chuckled, but it was half-hearted. He’d been in a constant state of alarm since her arrival. As he cast a glance down the hall she’d run toward, he wondered if it would ever go away, this worried pain in his soul. As much as he’d wanted a child, he’d thought he’d have months to prepare, to read books on the subject, to develop his ulcer slowly. Having one arrive so unexpectedly left him completely off balance.
Elizabeth walked into the kitchen. “Want anything?”
“No,” he said as he bent down and picked up the mail from the floor of the foyer. The absurd thought that a letter from Teddy would be there explaining it all flashed through his mind. In spite of himself, he flipped through the envelopes. Nothing, of course. He tossed them onto the table and his gaze returned to the hallway Charlotte had run down.
Had it only been a day since she’d arrived? Having her here felt so natural and yet so strange at the same time.
Elizabeth came out with a glass of water and seeing his expression, set the glass on the table and came to his side. She slipped her arm around his waist and reflexively his arm went about her shoulder.
“Strange, isn’t it?” she said.
“Understatement. And yet, you’ve adjusted to it already. How?”
His remarkable wife, taking life’s upheavals in stride as always, had barely batted an eye at Charlotte’s appearance and had stepped gracefully into her future role as mother to this extraordinary child. But then, that was Elizabeth, wasn’t it? He pulled her in closer to his side.
She shook her head. “Trust me, I’m just as freaked out as you are. It’s strange, but…it’s wonderful, too. Isn’t it?”
He was surprised to hear the question in her voice.
He stared down the hall and then at his wife. He could see so much of her in Charlotte. He hadn’t thought his heart could be fuller than it was already with his love for Elizabeth, and yet it was now. Ten times over.
“Breathtaking.”
Elizabeth nodded and pushed herself up on her toes to give him a quick kiss. “She’s amazing, isn’t she?”
“Who is?”
They both turned to see Charlotte standing at the mouth of the hall.
“You are,” Elizabeth said with a grin. She walked over to her and took her by the arm and led her to the couch in the living room.
Charlotte looked at them both expectantly. She’d been quiet on the plane ride home. And who could blame her? Her parents were in unknown danger and she’d been forced to flee her own home. She was holding up remarkably well under the circumstances, but it was clear that it was all wearing on her.
“I don’t want you to worry,” Elizabeth said as she sat down next to her. “I’m sure your parents are okay. And we’re going to get you back where you belong, but it might take a little while.”
Charlotte nodded.
“We have to help Mr. Travers find the missing watch first,” Simon said. “It’s very important. You understand?”
She nodded again. “Teddy hid it somewhere.”
Simon sat down on the edge of the coffee table. “He did and we need your help to figure out where.” He leaned forward. “You said that he likes to read to you. In your bedroom?”
Charlotte narrowed her eyes in thought. “Sometimes, but he likes the library,” she looking down the hall toward it. “Says books are the best company.”
Simon sat back, surprised. “Books?”
Charlotte nodded.
“Remember Teddy’s library?” Elizabeth asked. “Huge.”
Simon did remember it. It was the sort of library he’d often dreamt of having and meant to someday build, but he never seemed to get around to it. His wasn’t an embarrassment, but it hardly compared.
“To the library then,” Simon said, gesturing grandly for Charlotte to precede him down the hall.
She bound ahead of them. The excitement of being needed, of having a treasure hunt of sorts, seemed to have brightened her mood.
Once they were all in the library, Simon stood at the far end of the room. “Does Teddy favor anywhere in particular? Is there anywhere he might think is a clever hiding spot?”
Charlotte worried her lower lip. “He likes to sit there,” she said with a shrug, indicating one of the two large armchairs.
Simon crossed to it and felt around the edges of the cushion while Elizabeth knelt down and searched underneath.
“Nothing,” she said, standing back up.
“What else, Charlotte?”
She crossed toward them and sat down, recreating her memories. Her little feet lifted off the ground as she pushed herself back in the large chair. “We come in here and talk for a bit or he’d just be here.”
“Just be here?”
“Sometimes, I just find him sitting in here.”
Simon arched an eyebrow at Elizabeth. It was a little troubling to think he’d just pop in at will. Even for Teddy that was a bit much.
“He said he doesn’t have a home, not a real one, and this is the nicest one he knows.”
Instantly, Simon felt chagrined. “Go on.”
Charlotte tilted her head to the side in a way that was pure Elizabeth and Simon felt his heart stutter at the realization. He clenched his jaw and cleared his throat. This child was going to be the end of him.
After a moment, she pushed herself out of the chair. “We keep our favorite books over here,” she said as she walked over to a seldom used section. It housed his more arcane volumes. Most of them drier than the paper they were written on.
Simon and Elizabeth joined her. They stared at the shelves for a moment before Elizabeth said what he was thinking. “What are we looking for?”
“Something out of the ordinary, I suppose.”
Elizabeth frowned. “This may come as a shock, but I don’t have all of your books memorized.”
“Sadly, neither do I,” Simon admitted. He’d collected thousands over the years. His memories of most had faded from disuse.
“Do we take them all down? Maybe it’s behind one or he hollowed one out?”
Elizabeth ran her fingers along the spines and Simon wished he had an eidetic memory. He only knew one person who truly had one—Teddy.
“Wait a minute,” she said suddenly.
Her finger stopped on the gilded spine of a book entitled Memoirs of the Twentieth Century.
Simon frowned. He couldn’t place the title, but that wasn’t all too surprising given how seldom he used most of these volumes.
“This one,” Elizabeth said, excitement growing in her voice. “Teddy had this book in his library.”
“How could you possibly remember that?”
“It was like a movie. He pulled on it and the secret door to his mad scientist laboratory opened.” Elizabeth’s eyes sparkled. “Do you think…?”
“Pull on it!” Charlotte urged, bouncing on her toes.
Simon nodded.
“Here goes,” Elizabeth said and she slowly tilted back the large book.
They all eagerly anticipated something, but in the end, nothing at all happened.
“Crud,” Charlotte said.
“Charlotte,” Simon scolded reflexively.
“What?”
Elizabeth patted her shoulder. “He’s new.”
Simon frowned at them both and took the book from Elizabeth. His expectations were dashed again when the inside wasn’t hollowed out. There was no secret door, no secret compartment. No secret anything.
Elizabeth peered in the hole on the shelf where the book had been. “Well, that’s a letdown.”
Simon flipped through the pages finding only, well, pages. Until he noticed something as the pages fluttered past. “What’s this?”
He plucked a small note that had been pressed between the pages.
“Oh,” Elizabeth said, the gleam back in her eye. “What does it say?”
“Well, that’s cryptic,” Elizabeth said as she took the note. “What does the little moon mean?”
Simon glanced at it again but had no idea. On the bottom of the note was a drawing of a first quarter moon. “Something to do with an eclipse, perhaps? I don’t know.”
He went through the rest of the book. Nothing more was to be found.
“That seems to be all there is,” he said as he put the book down.
Elizabeth read it again and handed it to an anxious Charlotte. “What does it mean?”
“I haven’t a clue,” Simon said.
Elizabeth laughed. “But we do.”
Simon arched an eyebrow.
Elizabeth took the note from Charlotte. “It’s a clue. Teddy loves puzzles. The watches were just another puzzle for him.”
She read the note again. “In your past….Is he talking about you or me or Charlotte?”
Simon tugged on his ear in thought. “Given the book, I’d say you. You were the first one he shared his “secret” with. You were the only one of us who would know the significance of the book.”
Elizabeth nodded. “Ok, that makes sense. But, go to the place we first met. Twice….”
Simon could practically see the light bulb appear in the air over her head.
“Market Street!”
“You met him there with Harrington at Graham’s speech,” Simon remembered.
“Yes,” Elizabeth said excitedly. “And that’s where we time traveled to. Do you remember when I told you about his giant Tesla coiled machine?”
Simon remembered all too well. It had been one of her most reckless choices and with Elizabeth that was saying something. He kept his feelings about that to himself and merely nodded. “I do.”
“That’s where and when we went. We watched ourselves meeting for the first time. Again.”
“Market Street,” Simon said, trying to remember everything he could about it. They’d been down it dozens of times, but nothing had significance for him. “What about the part with a face?”