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June 30th, 2003 Midtown Manhattan
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ANYA’s appearance startled the secretary who was sitting at the reception desk on the forty-ninth floor —the same lobby Anya had just stepped into, three years in the past. The woman who’d been filing her nails and looked up to see Anya standing where nobody had existed a moment ago gave a little yelp before recovering herself.
“Oh, I hadn’t heard the elevator. What can I do for you?”
Anya shook her head and reached behind her to hit the call button for an elevator going down. “I got off on the wrong floor. Sorry.” No need to mention that she’d gotten off three years ago.
Turning to face the elevator doors and wait, Anya took the opportunity to check the locator app on her watch and was relieved to see only a red bar indicating the closest Travel device lay to the east, not a blip showing someone close on her heels. The device to the east was probably Nye. Still, if Anya had taken her pursuer along with her back to twenty-oh-three, the spatial dislocation would likely place him outside of her immediate range. But she did not see how he could have been in range to Travel with her at all.
No, she must’ve managed to leave the man with those cold, hard eyes and Kirin’s watch three years in the past. It was all over now. Her mission to save the professor had been a complete failure. She had not even been able to bring the man who had struck and killed him to justice. Rather, Anya had run and now had to count escaping from that same man as a triumph—it was her only success. There was nothing left to do but go home.
She heard the ding of the elevator and waited as the doors opened before stepping into the car with a weary sigh. She shuffled to the rear, then leaned up against the railing. They stopped at two more floors to let on more passengers before dropping down to the ground level.
The doors opened to the lobby, and she let everyone else surge out ahead of her and followed with a tired tread. I think I’ll call Ralph to come and pick me up. It would be easier than taking the train.
But Anya found her way blocked—by throngs of people who were being held back from the middle of the lobby by a couple of security guards. She heard plenty of murmuring and complaining, but nothing to explain what the problem was. Not until a guard had grown exasperated with everyone pushing forward and snapped out his own protest.
“Look—you all have to stay away from the body. You can’t leave the building before the cops come to take control of the scene anyway, so why not return to your offices, or go to the café on the second floor? You’re all going to be here for a while.”
Anya had a sinking feeling in her stomach. She checked her watch again, and this time there was a blip almost in the center of the locator screen—right on the other side of these people.
Pushing her way through those ahead of her until she could see what everyone was staring at, what she saw looked like the man who had been pursuing her. It was hard to tell for sure, because he was still many meters away and lying in a heap on the lobby floor, and definitely dead. But the Travel device on his wrist had not been destroyed, or he wouldn’t be showing up as a blip on hers.
Despite her best efforts, she must have Traveled this unknown watchbearer along with her. She had been so sure she’d put enough distance between the man and herself, she hadn’t even bothered to check her locator screen before she left two thousand.
At least now she realized why none of the others had met this mysterious man back in the past. Anya herself had brought him three years forward to his death.
The man must have gotten onto one of the other express elevators just after her to have been so near that he’d been caught up in the field she had generated. And when she’d left two thousand, he must’ve still been soaring upward, and retained his momentum into two thousand three. The spatial separation must have materialized him in the lobby. And then his momentum would’ve propelled him up in the air before gravity brought him back down to the marble floor. At least he hadn’t hurt anyone else in his fall. And Anya needn’t worry about him anymore.
What Anya was concerned about was that watch of Kirin’s on his wrist. She couldn’t get close enough to his body to remove the device. And since she had depleted the charge on both batteries, Traveling his corpse away was out. Even if that would accomplish anything other than moving the watch farther from her and making it more difficult to retrieve.
Now the police were coming, and Anya thought she’d better leave the lobby before they showed up. Since she couldn’t exit the building, she pushed her way back through the crowd and joined the handful of others who were waiting for the elevator. Again. She needed to figure out where she was going.
That café on the second floor that the guard had mentioned sounded appealing, as Anya was starting to feel peckish. But she had a more serious problem on her hands—what to do about that watch. Maybe she should’ve tried to deal with that in the past, instead of running, but now she had an opportunity to do something. If only she could think how.
Of course, following her own counsel up to this point hadn’t worked out too well. That thought reminded Anya of the reason she’d had to be familiar with this building to begin with—Mr. Hollingsworth had his office on the fifty-fourth floor. Maybe it was time she consulted with her lawyer.
Anya got on one of the slower elevators without thinking, and it seemed to stop at almost every floor on its way up. That was good for her stomach—but bad for her brain, because she had plenty of time to review all the mistakes she had made this morning, and there were plenty. While she had tried to think through every eventuality and prepare for anything, it hadn’t been enough.
She’d exercised bad judgment up and down the line, but her first and most egregious error had been trying to save the professor. She didn’t know if she had really been the cause of the accident, or if he’d have died anyway, but the professor had warned her not to try to change history—and yet Anya had stubbornly gone ahead with her reckless plan. The only difference she could see she had made was to Travel the man who had hit and killed John back to the future. And even that wasn’t to her credit—she hadn’t been aware of what she was doing. Providence had used her reckless behavior to execute justice.
The constant dinging of the elevator kept interrupting her thoughts, and she tried to ignore it. She almost missed it then when the car finally arrived at the fifty-fourth floor, and Anya had to scramble out before the doors closed. Instead of a lobby, only the blank purple wall met people coming off the elevator, and a corridor stretching in either direction.
Anya turned right and strode down the hallway until she arrived at the large oak door with a gilded plaque proclaiming ‘Hollingsworth and Everett, esquires’ in tasteful elegance. She knocked first, then turned the knob and walked into the outer office.
The russet-haired woman seated behind the reception desk was middle-aged and sturdy, reminding Anya of herself, except for the color of her hair, and occupied on the phone. Anya nodded to the receptionist and removed herself to the far side of the room and waited. Too anxious to sit down, she just stood and stared at one of the abstract paintings on the wall.
After a while she heard the click of the receiver being replaced and Ms. Cooper’s voice behind her.
“How are you this morning, Anya?”
Turning around, Anya smiled at her. “I’m sorry I don’t have an appointment, but this problem came up rather suddenly—and I happened to be nearby. I thought if I stopped by there might be a chance you could find a way to squeeze me in for brief chat with him.”
The secretary smiled. “For you, Ms. Walker, I’m sure he’ll manage something. He has another client with him right now, though, so it might be a bit of a wait.”
“I don’t mind.” She would have to wait anyway, somewhere doing something. “I’m not in any rush.” If only that had been true earlier, maybe Anya could have avoided the mess she was in now.
Turning around again, she forced herself to sit down in one of the plush armchairs lined up against the wall. And had nothing to do other than watch to see when Mr. Hollingsworth’s client left, or observe Ms. Cooper, who had already gone back to her work. She and the lawyer would make a good match. Anya wondered why he’d never married—which was none of her business, only her mind trying to distract her from other thoughts. Less pleasant ones.
If she hadn’t gone back to try to save the professor, would he have died? Now that she’d had some experience traveling through time, she realized that the professor’s disorientation right before the accident was not a natural reaction for a seasoned Traveler like John. It had been her dual appearance that must have confused him.
She also had to acknowledge that if she had not gone back in time, trying to change things, that sinister watchbearer wouldn’t have had anyone to lead him to the spot. Maybe some other driver would’ve hit the professor, even if he hadn’t been disoriented by Anya’s actions, but she’d never know.
She forced herself to confront her own timidity. Alright, trying to save the professor had been a mistake—but one she may have needed to make. It certainly had given her an opportunity—to take care of several things which she hadn’t known needed to be dealt with, or hadn’t imagined she would ever have the chance to address.
One of those issues was the question of the person who’d hit and killed the professor. At the time she’d just assumed it to be an accident, and that the authorities would take care of everything. And then the police had tried to pin his death on her—an allegation she now knew had more behind it than those detectives could’ve known. And somehow in all that mess, no one had ever been brought to account. Until now. She had discovered the truth and inadvertently delivered some justice.
Then also, Anya believed she’d discovered what had happened to Kirin’s missing watch—she’d been given a chance to retrieve the advanced future technology from someone who certainly shouldn’t have been in possession of it. And blew it.
Throughout it all, Anya had been a coward. She had balked at throwing herself into traffic to try to save the professor like she’d planned. She’d chased that hit-and-run driver, but only until she’d realized he was a danger to her. And then, instead of trying to find some way to deal with him and get the watch back, she’d just run away. When she was supposed to be a leader.
Get a grip on yourself. She was a leader, so she needed to start acting like one. One of their Travel devices needed to be retrieved, and Anya would just have to find a way to get it back.
Ms. Cooper calling her name brought Anya out of her self-examination. “Mr. Hollingsworth is free for a few minutes now. Just go right on back. You know the way.”
Anya stood and smoothed her skirt. She smiled at the secretary and straightened her spine. Marching over to the door beyond Ms. Cooper’s desk, Anya turned the knob and walked down the short corridor to the lawyer’s spacious corner office.
His door stood open, and he’d risen to stand behind his desk. He nodded and smiled in his genteel way. “It’s good to see you again, Miss Walker, even if you’ve gotten yourself into some more trouble.”
Anya stepped in and then stopped, as always, to appreciate the breathtaking view of the city out the wall of windows that took up one side of the office. “I’m not sure if that’s supposed to be a compliment or not, Mr. Hollingsworth.”
He combed his finger down his salt-and-pepper mustache and grinned. “You should take it as one—but maybe it’s one of your colleagues who’s in trouble this time?”
She smiled as she sat down in one of the leather chairs facing his desk. Waiting until he’d sat down himself, Anya shook her head. “It’s me. At least I’m the one who needs your help, but it’s not really trouble. Just a rather thorny problem.”
“As long as you remember my advice to not tell me more than I ought to know.”
“Of course.” He’d told Anya she shouldn’t ever lie to him, but that sometimes there were things he was better off not knowing. “And you’ll let me know what it is you need from me.”
“Alright, then. What’s this problem, and how is it you think I can help?”
“If you haven’t heard already, you will soon—a man died not long ago in the lobby of this building. When I was down there, I heard the police had been called and were on their way.”
“I hadn’t heard. And the police have surely arrived by now. Are they your problem?”
Anya shook her head. “I don’t think so. Not directly. But the dead man had something in his possession that did not belong to him, and I need to get it. I doubt the police will just give it to me.”
Mr. Hollingsworth nodded. “I see. Well, if it’s become a police investigation, I’m afraid that they’ll insist on holding onto it as evidence. How long that might be will depend on if and when they determine it isn’t relevant to any potential prosecution. What’s this property you need to retrieve?”
“It’s a watch. A special kind of watch that looks like mine.” He should remember that well enough.
“If this man is another Travelers’ Trust recipient, that will help. Since I represent the trust I can make official inquiries.”
Anya shook her head. “He’s not, and the watch isn’t as special as mine. It can’t generate the access codes for the bank.” Or do other special things. “I can’t leave it in the wrong hands though.”
The lawyer leaned back in his chair. “If the man is dead, surely that’s not a problem anymore. Or do you think the authorities are the wrong hands?”
“I don’t know. They might give it to anyone, so I need to make sure it gets into the right hands.”
“Alright. If and when the police determine that this watch isn’t relevant to their investigation of this man’s death, it could be claimed by his next of kin. I don’t suppose that’s you?”
If Mr. Hollingsworth meant that she might represent herself inaccurately as this man’s family, he’d be disappointed. “I don’t even know who he is. Not even his name.”
The lawyer looked at her without blinking for a few long moments. “That will make it difficult. But I suppose I can make some inquiries to discover his identity and locate his family and see what might be arranged with them.”
Anya took a deep breath and let it out slowly. “I have the resources to pay whatever they ask for, as I am sure you’re aware. But since it doesn’t belong to him, there shouldn’t be any question of sentimental attachment.” She looked her lawyer straight in the eye. “I’ll pay what anyone wants, and since it’s not his property, I won’t feel any qualms. Whatever you have to do to get it back for me.”
He grinned. “I do like to have a free hand, Miss Walker. But I won’t do anything illegal. You understand?”
“I wouldn’t want you to break the law, Mr. Hollingsworth. But I know you know your way around the law, and if there’s a way, you’ll find it.”
“How can I possibly disappoint such confidence in my abilities? I’ll do my best. Now let’s see what I can do about your other problem.”
Anya blinked. “What other problem?”
“You said you were down in the lobby with this man’s body. There are surveillance cameras covering the whole floor, so the police will at least want to talk to you. Can you tell them anything about how he died?” He gave her a meaningful look.
Anya marked the precise words he had used. “I can’t tell them that, no.” Now she needed to choose her own words carefully. “I wasn’t anywhere nearby when he died. By the time I’d gotten off the elevator into the lobby, the security guards had cordoned off the body and sealed the exits.”
Hollingsworth nodded. “The surveillance video is time-stamped, so they will be able to see that for themselves. But they’ll be looking through the video to follow every movement the dead man made, from the minute he first entered the building. They’ll try to track his movements before that even. Will they see you having any interaction with him?”
Anya found herself blushing as she recalled how she’d run through the lobby with that man chasing her, but that was three years in the past—she didn’t think anyone would still remember that. “No, they won’t. But I’m afraid they won’t see the man entering the building at all.” Or Anya herself coming in, not unless they kept the video for three years, which she doubted, and went to the trouble of looking that far back.
Thinking about the investigation from that perspective made Anya wonder what they would see on that video. Will they see him appear out of thin air? And then fly upward for no apparent reason? Anya shook her head. “I think the authorities are going to have a real mystery on their hands, figuring out how he died and where he came from.”
Mr. Hollingsworth opened his mouth, and Anya could tell he wanted to ask her what she knew about it, and how the man had died. But he thought better of it, and shook his head instead. “If that’s the case, they’ll likely end up contacting everyone who might have any information—including you. I’m sure they will be collecting the names and addresses of everyone who was in the building around the time of this man’s death. Are you going back to your place up in Chickadee?”
“No, I’ll be staying at my rooms at the Ngaio until you can get the watch.”
“Good. Because if and when they get around to questioning you, or asking you to make any kind of statement, I want to be there. Do you understand?”
Anya smiled. “Of course. But since I have nothing to say, that shouldn’t be a problem. My problem is that watch. And I do hope you can find a way to get it.”
He fingered his mustache again, trying to hide a grin. “Since the police were never able to keep their hands on either of your watches in that other investigation, I can’t see how they’d connect you up with this dead man’s watch.”
Anya shook her head. “No, it seems impossible that they should. But I want that watch before they start taking a close look at it.” And start getting any ideas.
“Regardless, I’m going to keep close tabs on this investigation.” He stood with a sigh. “You do make my life interesting.” He walked around his desk and gestured for her to precede him out of his office. “I think I’d better walk you out of the building. I don’t imagine there will be any difficulties, but if I’m with you I know there won’t be.”
All well and good, Anya thought. But although he’d do his best to get ahold of that watch for her, it might not be enough. She’d leave her lawyer to keep her out of trouble with the authorities, while she did what she could to retrieve that watch, or try to, herself. At least she no longer had to worry about that very dangerous-looking man and what he might do with the watch. But Anya had a responsibility to get it back. There had to be something she could do.