Timebound(118)
I heard a scuffling sound from inside, but it could very easily have been a mouse and I didn’t have time to stop and investigate. “If there’s anyone in there, the door is open,” I whispered. “Holmes has a gun, though, so be careful.”
I didn’t wait for an answer, just turned right at the main corridor, and then tried the next left. Thankfully, that one did lead me to the stairs.
I paused at the top of the open stairwell to listen. The muted noise of an argument drifted upward, but it didn’t sound like the man from the bank.
“… not leaving you here with…” That voice was clearly Minnie. I couldn’t make out the entire response, but the other voice was low and calm, and I was pretty sure it was Holmes. I picked up the phrase “back at the flat,” and “business” as I moved slowly down the stairs, but that was all I heard.
When I hit the second floor, I took off quickly through the hallway. No wrong turns this time and the gas lamps were easier to travel by than the dim light of the CHRONOS key. It was still a confusing maze of twists and turns, but I reached the room a few minutes later. I unbolted the door, and a very relieved-looking Katherine and Kiernan rushed out.
As we hurried back toward the stairway, I took all of the cash that I could find at the bottom of the handbag and crammed it down the front of Kiernan’s shirt. It was at least ten times the salary we’d agreed upon and he started to protest.
“You’ve earned it, kiddo. And,” I said softly, “if we get separated, you may still have a job to do. Get Katherine back to the Wooded Island—the spot near the cabin.”
“I know how to get back to the Expo, Kate,” Katherine said. “I’ve spent plenty of time here.”
“Yes, but I’ll wager you don’t know the back ways as well as he does. And based on what I’ve seen, he’s friends with half the people who work at the Expo. I’m willing to bet they’d help him—no questions asked.
“Kiernan,” I added, “take every back alley you know and keep an eye out for the guy you were following earlier. The pudgy one. He’s still looking for Katherine, probably on the Midway.”
“What about you?” he asked.
“I’ll be okay—I can jump straight home from here—but I won’t see either of you again for a long while.”
Katherine had just turned a corner. I held Kiernan’s arm to keep him back so that she couldn’t hear our next exchange.
“If you get out, you don’t come back, okay? I’ll be fine.” I tapped the medallion hanging from my neck and spoke quickly. “Is yours at the cabin?”
He nodded, and after a moment’s hesitation, I slipped the spare medallion around his neck and tucked it into his shirt. “Never take it off, okay? Never. Prudence is going to demand your dad’s key at some point, and I think there’s a good chance you won’t remember any of this if she does. You might not even remember why you don’t trust her, and I really don’t think that’s fair, do you?”
His eyes were solemn. “No, Miss Kate. I don’ think that’s a bit fair.” The chain was very long on him, well below his waist, and he rearranged it as we turned the corner, wedging it into the waistband of his trousers.
I again had the eerie feeling that I was being watched and spun around to look back down the hallway we’d just left. But there was no one in the corridor—just the flickering shadows from the gas lamps.
Katherine, who was now approaching the stairwell, looked back impatiently over her shoulder. I turned back to Kiernan, putting my finger to my lips and flashing my eyes toward Katherine, hoping he’d understand both that he needed to be quiet and that she didn’t need to know about our little exchange. He nodded and gave me a little smile.
There were no voices in the stairwell. A few lights were still burning in the pharmacy, but Holmes’s office was dark. I crossed my fingers that he had stepped out to help his wife find a cab to take her home, but I had a bad feeling.
I led Kiernan toward the inner edge of the stairs and we crept upward to the dark third floor of the hotel. When we reached the landing, I gave Kiernan’s shoulder a little squeeze and moved the two of us in front of Katherine.
“What are you doing?” she asked, in a barely perceptible whisper. “I’m the one who knows which way we’re going.”
“Do you have martial arts training?” I snapped. “If not, we stand a better chance if I go first. Just in case. You take the rear, Kiernan in the middle. If we all stay close, you can nudge me when we need to turn.”