Timebound(115)

Katherine answered “No” at the exact moment that I answered “Yes.”

“He’s my assistant,” I said, giving Katherine an angry glance. “I’m a reporter covering the fair for the Rochester Worker’s Gazette. Your wife told me that you were kind enough to bring me back here when I fainted on the Midway. Thank you.”

“Good,” Holmes said. “That’s exactly what he told me.”

Even though I’m not a big fan of droopy mustaches, I could see why Holmes had found it easy to charm women. His eyes were almost hypnotic, and there were friendly crinkles—smile lines, my dad called them—around the edges.

I pulled my gaze away from Holmes to glance down at Kiernan. His face was pale and his dark eyes were wide and anxious. He mouthed the words “I’m sorry” silently, and I shook my head and gave him a look of sympathy. This wasn’t his fault.

Holmes was still smiling when I looked up. He nodded toward Katherine. “And who might this good lady be?”

“My mother,” I said. “She’s traveling with me.”

Katherine took her cue and stepped forward slightly, apparently deciding, as I had, that our best chance was to act as though the otherwise pleasant man on the landing wasn’t holding a pistol. “Yes, sir,” she said. “You have our deepest gratitude. I don’t know what might have happened to my daughter if you hadn’t…”

“No trouble at all, madam. In fact, it was my very real pleasure. Now if you and your ‘daughter’ wouldn’t mind taking a few steps back?” He gestured with the gun and we backed up silently. He then reached down and hefted Kiernan under his arm, carrying him up the stairs to the second floor where we stood.

“I’d be delighted to stand here and chat with you lovely ladies,” Holmes said as he reached the top step, “but I’ve had to leave my… wife to handle a rather distraught business associate and she’s really not very good at these types of situations. So I’m going to ask you to return to your room, and we’ll continue this discussion at our leisure later this evening.”

He motioned again with the gun, and Katherine and I began to back toward the corridor.

“I think we’ll move much more quickly if you turn around,” he said.

We hesitated briefly, then reversed course, retracing our steps down the hallway. A few turns later, we were again in front of the door with the bolt on the outside.

Holmes tossed Kiernan at my feet as if he were a sack of potatoes and then held the door open as we filed inside.

“Please make yourselves comfortable. I promise I’ll return just as quickly as I can.”

Still smiling, he closed the door and slammed the bolt.

The tiny bit of daylight that had shown through the small window earlier was now gone. I could feel Kiernan’s small body shaking next to me, but I couldn’t tell in the dark whether he was crying. I knelt down on the floor and pulled him toward me, as much for my own comfort as his.

“I’m sorry, Miss Kate,” he said. “I shoulda stayed in the alley.”

Katherine gave a little huff as she sat on the bed, making it clear that he’d get no argument from her on that point.

“No, Kiernan,” I said firmly, giving Katherine a dirty look, even though I knew she couldn’t see it. “You were amazing—I can’t believe you managed to grab my things right under Holmes’s nose and bring help. But how did you find Katherine? I don’t even think I’d have recognized her.”

He shrugged. “It’s just disguises. You get used to ’em on the Midway. She walks the same an’ sounds the same. I seen her aroun’ lotsa times this year. An’ she always had on a bracelet like the one you’re wearin’. The one you said was your special sign.”

“You’re incredibly observant for an eight-year-old,” I said. “Are sure you aren’t a grown-up in disguise?”

It was a lame attempt at humor, but he obliged me with a little laugh. I gave him a big hug and kiss on the forehead. “You saved my life, you know.”

“I wouldn’t be so quick to jump to that conclusion,” Katherine said, “given our current predicament.”

She then removed something from the pocket of her skirt. The glowing interface of a CHRONOS diary popped up a few seconds after she opened it.

“What are you doing?” I asked.

“I’m calling HQ for an emergency extraction. They can come in through the third-floor stable point and—”

“No,” I said, snatching the diary.

“Do you have any better ideas?” she countered, attempting to grab the diary back from me. “Holmes will return eventually and I don’t think he’s planning an ice-cream social for the evening’s entertainment.”