By the time they arrived at the Weismeier home, they had decided on what they would say and what they would keep to themselves. David understood that this wasn't lying to his family; it was self-preservation and also the right thing to do as they didn't want to confuse those people more than absolutely necessary.
David knocked on the door and waited. That was odd for him, Cordelia knew. Usually he would come home and just go inside because he belonged here.
"David..." Rose, his sister, opened the door and looked surprised. "And Cordelia..." That sounded a lot colder than the last time they had seen her.
"Who is there?" The voice of Mrs Weismeier sounded from far away.
"David and Cordelia," David said over Rose's shoulder.
"Don't stand there," David's father said, "let them in. It's not like they are Fremde."
"No, they aren't strangers, but..." Rose clearly had formed an opinion about the two runaways but she stepped aside.
The inside of the simple house felt like slipping into a comfortable coat to Cordelia, so she could only imagine how much this had to mean to David, whose mother hurried over to her son and hugged him.
"David... look at you..." she said as she stepped back and saw his clothes. They hadn't changed for this visit so they wore their British clothing. "Where have you been?" The woman looked at Cordelia. "What happened? Why were those men after you?"
"Don't trust her, ma," Rose said as she walked away from David and Cordelia. "I think she's a pack of lies."
"What makes you think that?" David put an arm around Cordelia as he looked at his sister.
"I've been down the road to see that nasty woman where she said she rented a room. The old witch never heard of a Cordelia Lexington, if that is her name at all."
"Rose, you shouldn't call that..." Mrs Weismeier started to say, but her daughter cut her off.
"She is an old witch, mother. Everyone knows that." Rose's eyes shot fire as she looked at Cordelia. "And maybe she is too. David, you should get away from her before she does something awful to you."
"Rose, listen, you're..."
"No, you have to listen, David!" Rose suddenly had a big knife in her hand and came closer to the table, keeping that between herself and the couple.
"Rose, put that knife down," Jacob Weismeier said. Rose looked at her father and only held the knife higher, determined to harm anyone who came too close to her.
"No, father. I want my brother to listen. The old witch down the road doesn't know her..." Rose stabbed the knife in Cordelia's direction. Even though there was a lot of space between them, Cordelia was shocked by the force Rose put into the movement. "And then these men show up during our picnic, and while people start fighting, she dragged David off to God knows where..."
"Cordelia did not drag me off. She said she had to leave and I decided at that very moment to go with her. It was my own free will, Rose." David's voice sounded strained, as if he worked hard to stay calm. "As it was my own free will to come back here to see how you are doing. And to find out what happened after we left. Coming back here and having my sister threaten me with a kitchen knife was not what I expected."
"I am not threatening you, David." Rose sounded a little less tensed. "It's her. She is a lying..."
"Rose." Gretchen, their mother, shook her head as she interrupted the tirade that was about to follow. "This is not the way to behave. We did not raise you like that. Have you been mingling with the wrong people in town?"
"Mother. Please. You know what she did."
"I do. She got acquainted with your brother, she has been a very kind person for us all and during the latest picnic something happened that we don't know everything about. Now put away that knife and sit down, and let Cordelia tell her side of the story. And then we can tell them what happened after they left in such a hurry. And after that we can all decide who is right and who is wrong."
Cordelia could have hugged the small woman with the sweet voice. She was making the most sense, while her husband just stood by her side, waiting for what would happen next.
Rose looked at the knife in her hand, then pointed her gaze at Cordelia again. "Very well..." Slowly she put the knife down. Everyone but Rose sat down at the table. Cordelia decided not to make a comment about that. David's sister was still angry and uncertain, so best to leave her for now.
"Now you can tell us, child." Gretchen Weismeier smiled. Cordelia took heart and told them the story she had decided on together with David. It contained as many real events from her life, which would make things a lot easier. She only left out the bits where she was from the future and that she could travel through time. If the time-agents hadn't said anything about that, things were fine. If they had, she could adjust that part. Hopefully. So she told about the man who tried to come after her and how he had died through a stupid mishap, after which she had run off, leaving everything and everyone behind.
"But how do you explain that you never had a room with the old hag?" Rose asked sharply.
Cordelia had forgotten that for a moment and tried to think of something, when David explained she had lived in the old barn in the wheatfield for some time.
"No one goes there, so it was safe for her. Until I had to go there one day," he finished. "That was the day I met her."
For a while everyone was silent. Cordelia was glad they hadn't come up with a bunch of lies and tried to look at her hands, folded on the table. She was tense and very curious how the family would react.
"You should not have stayed in that barn for so long," Jacob said. "We have neighbours who would gladly have let you a room in exchange for some housework." His wife nodded.
"And what happened after we had run off?" David asked the question in a calm way.
"The two men were beaten up badly," his father said. "They were yelling in a most impolite way, as if they were in charge, and with the Bronson boys in the party you just know that doesn't end peacefully." Cordelia had only heard of the Bronson boys so she couldn't remember if they had been with the picnic-party. They were four brothers who were more often than not the source of some uproar in town. "The men didn't seem to be very upset about getting the beating. The fact that you took their gun away was clearly a bigger problem for them." Jacob looked at Cordelia, hoping for an explanation on why that might be the case.
"I understand why," Cordelia said. "I know these people and their weapons, and I wanted to make sure they wouldn't use it on innocent people."
Gretchen Weismeier looked worried. "Young ladies shouldn't run around with such things, Cordelia."
"I'm sorry, Mrs Weismeier, but this young lady does. Sometimes you have to do things that society doesn't agree with."
Jacob slowly nodded in agreement. "That goes for David as well. Running away isn't proper behaviour, and running away with a woman certainly isn't. Which reminds me: Barnaby Huckleston has been here, asking about you, son."
Cordelia knew the name. It was the son of the man on whose farm David worked. Or used to work.
"I told him you had left. His father sent word that you are welcome to return to the farm although Barnaby looked as if he wanted to hurt you. What is it with that young man?"
David sighed. "Thank you for telling him so, father. I don't think I will go back there after being gone from there without a word of explanation." There had been no time, even if David had wanted to say anything.
"You could still go there and talk to them," Rose said, whose temper seemed to have calmed down. "If you want."
"I guess, by now, they know I won't be back, Rose. Let's just keep it at that."
Cordelia wondered if she should give her opinion on this as well, but this was something David would have to get done with first. When he said he didn't feel like going there anyway, she felt good. They hadn't been together very long, but these few days had told her she and he just fit together. She had ideas and he would pick up on them and work with her. And he tried to make her ideas even better. And she loved him, just like he loved her. For a moment she felt odd, thinking about this sitting here at the table with his family.
"So what are you two going to do now?" Jacob turned to Cordelia as he asked that, which was special. She knew that in this time, in the land, women didn't often had the chance to speak out this way. David was his son, they were in his family's house, and still his father asked her. "There are two people after you, Cordelia. After being beaten up, they left after telling everyone they wouldn't stop that easily trying to find you." The older man looked at her in a special way. "Is there something in your past that is unspeakable, Cordelia? Have you done something bad?"
"No. As we said, someone tried to do something bad to me, and through a mishap he died. The only bad thing I did, perhaps, was to run away after he died, because I feared, and I still do, that his family - his wife - wouldn't believe my story." Cordelia felt her heartbeat go up as she talked, seeing flashes of what had happened in 2251. "And they sent those two people after me, to bring me back, I think. For their version of justice."
"But you were in your right, if things really went how you say," Rose said, surprising Cordelia with her sudden change to being in favour of her case.
"They are how I said, but there were no witnesses. And what good is my one voice against a wealthy, influential family?" Cordelia cautioned herself not to get too engaged in this conversation. She knew herself; if she didn't stay on top of this, she would say too much. "And that is why I think no one should know where I am, so no one can tell the wrong people where I am. Even by accident."
"But that is not a good way to live," Gretchen said. "You need to be able to settle down and live a happy life without having to look over your shoulder every day. You should not live your life as a criminal." Her words hit Cordelia hard as that was exactly what she wanted, but what wasn't possible. Not now. And perhaps never.
"I know, Mama," Cordelia said, carefully using the title Gretchen had once granted her to use, "but sometimes life does strange things."
"But we will do what it takes to make life better," David said, surprising Cordelia in a nice way. "And in the meantime we hope we can visit here once in a while, so you know we are well and we know you are well."
"Of course, son," said Jacob, "but where will you stay? There aren't many places near here where you can live without being seen and recognised."
"Don't worry, father. We have a place that is good for us. No one will find us there so we will be safe."
Cordelia admired how David managed to reassure his family they were well taken care of without telling them too much. That was what she had feared the most. Then her mother asked where that place was. She would like to know in case there were problems, even when she didn't make it clear where those problems would emerge.
"I think it is better when no one knows, Mama. That way no one can accidentally say a few words too many." Cordelia put her hand on one of Gretchen's thin, small hands and smiled at the woman. "We'll come and visit as often as possible. I promise."
Gretchen and Jacob didn't look entirely happy with that idea but they seemed to understand that there was nothing they could say to change the couple's mind. Even Rose agreed in the end that they were right.
David and Cordelia stayed with the family for a while longer and left when they saw the older ones were getting tired. Cordelia understood it had to be quite late, so it was time for her and David to get back as well. Tomorrow Mr Brown would show up and she wanted to be awake and ready for him.
"I'm glad they behaved that way," Cordelia said as they were on their way back to the barn. "Do you think they understand the urgency of our situation?" They had done their best to make that clear.
"I hope so. We can only assume they do."
~
The next day, Mr Brown was at the door quite early, despite her sayinghe should show up in the afternoon. He almost never had the patience to wait, which she knew and liked as that saved her a lot of time. Cordelia had put his package on the table in the living room so she could hand it to him quickly. She wanted the man out of the street as quickly as possible.
When the man had left, grateful for her prompt service, Cordelia sat down on the couch with David. "We forgot to ask for coffee," she said. "Yesterday. Remember?"
"I do. I remembered as we walked back to the STAR. We'll do that next time."
"Good plan." Cordelia toyed with the idea of going somewhere to the future to get coffee. She had thought about that plenty of times since she had arrived here but each time she had come up with a reason not to do it. "Maybe we should make a plan to go see those two men who want to see us. Brown has been here so he's no longer a worry."
They retrieved the note on the odd, light-grey grellum and looked at it again. "So we should get to that place and date early," Cordelia decided. "Ten in the morning at the latest." David reminded her that the note said noon. Cordelia nodded. "Which is why I want to get there first. To see when they arrive. What their STAR looks like. And to have the benefit of being there before them."
"We should prepare then. And go." She liked David's way of approaching this. No troubles, not many issues, just plan and do it.
"I'm all in favour of that but I need to change into something more suitable. The jumpsuit, remember?" Cordelia frowned for a moment. The thing was in dire need of being replaced. Perhaps they should make a quick stop halfway to October 2200 and see if there was something she could wear instead. No, she told herself. Better do that afterwards when they were less worked up. The jumpsuit had to do for now.
David told her he'd wait for her in the cellar so she hurried up to the bedroom and got out of the relatively cumbersome dress, even when this was an easy one for this time. The jumpsuit welcomed her like an old, comfortable glove. Cordelia opened a small drawer that David had never seen and slipped a bracelet on her wrist. It was a little reassurance she had once designed and built herself, in case things didn't go as planned. She felt as prepared as they could be because they also had the Skreller as a convincing argument.
"Let's do this," she told her mirror image. She walked down the stairs and joined David who was waiting near the STAR as he had promised.
"Are you ready for this?" Cordelia looked at him. "If you feel uncertain, I can understand. This must be totally weird for you." David told her he would be with her whatever happened.
"I came with you for a good reason, Cordelia," he said as he sat down in one of the passenger seats. She smiled and bent over to kiss him. As if by magic, he got up again and so they stood there for a while. A strange way to start off this journey, but a nice one.
Before leaving, Cordelia took the Skreller-gun from its hiding place and handed it to David. "You know how to handle it. Let's hope we don't need it." She sat down and set the coordinates. "Two hours before the time they suggested. That should be enough." She asked David once more if he was ready. He said he was so she pressed "Go".
~
"Damn it!" The first thing Cordelia saw on her monitor was a STAR and two men sitting in foldable chairs next to it. "They knew I was going to do this." For a moment she considered making a jump several hours back, but they had seen her now. Somehow that felt as if going back was more of a joke than something serious. She also saw she had to preserve the energy of her STAR. "Let's go outside." On the monitor, the two men had already gotten up.
After leaving the STAR, Cordelia and David stayed close to their machine. The distance to the two men was a bit more than would be comfortable for a talk but it would do.
"Miss Brown... Or do you prefer Miss Lexington?" The two men came closer and didn't seem to feel threatened by David's presence or that of the Skreller-gun. They wore the odd, long coats of the police force from home. Coats with lots of hidden pockets that could harbour many nasty surprises. "We are glad you decided to come here, on this amazing morning." The speaker pointed to the side where the view was spectacular. A long mountain range caught the light of the sun and gave the impression they were looking at a stone sea.
"That is close enough," Cordelia said as the two men kept walking. "One more step and we will be gone."
"Very well," said one of the men, raising his hands. "We only want to warn you." Slowly he took off his coat and dropped it to the ground. His partner did the same. "As you see, we are not armed." As if he was in a fashion show, he turned around so Cordelia could see there were no weapons behind his back.
"What is all this?" she asked. "You must have a good reason to drag us over here to such a deserted place."
"We do, Miss Brown. Allow me to introduce myself. Parker, and this is my associate, Hendrix."
Associate? That didn't sound much like police, so why were they dressed like that?
"Nice to meet you." Cordelia hoped her voice sounded as cold as the occasional breeze that hit them. The sunshine was nice but it was no match for the wind up here and she regretted wearing her jumpsuit. "Why are the temporal police after me?" Such a stupid question, Cordelia.
"Oh, no, Miss Brown, we're not temporal police. They have more important things to do than to follow up on closed cases."
"What?" Cordelia stared at Parker. "Closed cases? Then what are you?"
"We are hired agents. Our mission is to locate you and warn you."
Cordelia wished the man would keep talking; she didn't want to drag each detail out of him this way. As if he understood her, he continued.
"We were approached by Mrs Marybeth Orwald." That name made Cordelia freeze to an extent the wind would never be able to do. "She asked us to inform you that a bounty hunter has been sent after you. This bounty hunter has to locate you and return you home so you can face punishment for what you did."
At that point, Agent Hendrix took over. "You see, Miss Brown, the case against you has been closed on the official side of the law. After word got out that Monroe Branson was found dead on the factory floor and you had disappeared, it was assumed that you were the one who had murdered him. Some parties were quite pleased with that rather fast decision on the side of the law and pushed for the police force to locate and apprehend you. A few months later however, several ladies stepped forward and claimed that the deceased Mr Branson had approached them in an indecent fashion and they were convinced the same happened to you. Mrs Marybeth Orwald ordered a more thorough investigation to the case and during that it came to light that Zeta-plasma had been found on the soles of Mr Branson's shoes. The same plasma that was on the walkway where your presence was last registered."
Zeta-plasma was a problem in the factory, Cordelia knew. That was one of the reasons why everyone was required to wear special footwear. Zeta-plasma was the ultimate in slippery. It ran inside each STAR's tubes but it often leaked while a STAR was being filled up. Branson hadn't worn the footwear he had ordered everyone in his factory to wear, which had become fatal for him. Cordelia got a little satisfaction from that, but still it didn't explain why his own wife would send those two people to warn her about the bounty hunter, which was a problem in itself.
"And who sent that bounty hunter?" she asked. "Do you know who it is?"
Hendrix shook his head. "My apologies for that, Miss Brown. The name of the individual is not known to us. We do know, from Mrs Orwald, that the bounty hunter was sent off by request of Mr Branson's brother and sister, Leo and Melana."