Tales of the Scarlet Knight Collection: The Call

by P. T. Dilloway

  “Is that where the angels are?” Veronica asked loud enough that the tour guide thought the question was addressed to her.

  “That’s right, young lady,” she said.

  The elevator car was big enough for the entire tour group, but Marie insisted on carrying Veronica. She patted the little girl’s back and whispered, “This could be a little scary, but I’m going to be right here. I promise I won’t let you go.”

  “I trust you, Marie.”

  Marie kissed the little girl’s cheek. “Then we’ll see the angels.”

  The elevator started with a bang, followed by a high-pitched whir. As expected, Veronica whimpered at this. She pressed her head against Marie’s chest and cried softly into Marie’s shirt. For her part, Marie tried to maintain her balance as the elevator shot up to the observation deck.

  As they passed the eightieth floor, Veronica threw up. Marie didn’t flinch at this; at the nursing home patients threw up on her every day. She rocked Veronica gently and whispered, “It’s all right, sweetie. We’re almost there.”

  The whirring began to lessen as the elevator decelerated. There was another bang followed by a screech to bring the elevator to a stop. With a ding the doors opened at last. Marie waited until everyone else had gotten out before she carried Veronica onto the observation deck.

  They went straight to the bathroom so Marie could wash Veronica’s face and the front of her shirt. “I’m sorry,” Veronica said.

  “It’s all right,” Marie said. “It was your first time in an elevator.”

  “Can we still see the angels?”

  “Of course we can.” She took Veronica’s hand and gave it a squeeze. “Come on.”

  Marie led Veronica to a section of the observation deck that wasn’t occupied at the moment. She held Veronica up so the little girl could see over the railing. Around them was spread not only the rest of Rampart City, but also the ocean and much of the surrounding states. It was a view that never failed to give Marie peace when she saw how small her problems were in proportion to the rest of the world.

  She pointed to a fluffy white cloud in the distance that was actually below the level of the observation deck. “See that?”

  “Are there angels in there?”

  “That’s right, sweetheart. They live in the clouds and right now we’re up there with them.”

  “Can we go into the clouds?”

  “I’m afraid not, but would you like to see what the angels see?”

  “Yes.”

  Marie pressed Veronica’s forehead to the glass so she could look straight down at Executive Plaza. “The people are so tiny!”

  “I know, sweetie. That’s because we’re so far away from them.”

  Veronica began to tremble in Marie’s arms. Before Marie could pull her back, Veronica threw up again, a yellow blotch left on the glass. Marie hurried to set Veronica back on the floor, but something was wrong. The little girl’s face was clammy and pale. Marie put a hand to Veronica’s forehead and felt the warmth.

  “I don’t feel good,” Veronica whimpered.

  “I know, sweetheart. I think we’ve had enough excitement for today. It’s time to go home.” Marie knew they would have to risk a return to the apartment for the bottle of antibiotics.

  ***

  The reception was held in the main hall of the Plaine Museum. Given Dan’s specialty in South American cultures, the main hall was decorated with artifacts, as well as plants from the region. That must have been part of what Becky had talked to the florist about. If so, the florist had done a fantastic job.

  As Dan led Emma into the main hall, Becky shouted, “Attention everyone! Presenting for the first time, Dr. and Mrs. Daniel Dreyfus!”

  Emma felt her face turn warm as the hall filled with applause. Dan was much more relaxed; he waved to the crowd and forced her to take a bow with him. “You look so cute when you’re embarrassed,” he whispered into her ear, which only made her more embarrassed.

  Their table was set just a few feet in front of Alex the mastodon. A lump of stone shaped like a woman with an enormous stomach sat as the centerpiece. Emma recognized it as a fertility idol. It was probably Becky’s idea of a joke after their talk about giving Mom a grandchild.

  Once Emma and Dan had taken their seats, the best man got to his feet. He rambled about how Dan had watched Raiders of the Lost Ark as a child and developed a crush on Karen Allen, which had propelled him towards a career in archaeology. The best man finally turned to Emma and Dan and said, “But now Danny’s found himself someone even better in Emma here. Here’s to them having a long and happy life together.”

  Emma took a sip of her champagne while Dan gulped down his glass. Waiters began to circulate with plates of prime rib and salmon. Emma had apparently ordered the salmon while Dan had ordered the prime rib. She picked at her fish without much appetite, not with so many eyes on her.

  “What’s the matter, babe?” Dan asked.

  “I’m a little nervous.”

  “About what? Tonight?”

  “No, just in general I suppose.”

  “Well settle down, babe. We made it.” He held up her glass of champagne. “A couple glasses of this will take all the edge off.”

  “I suppose so,” Emma said, but she only took another sip.

  “Hey, come on, everything will be fine, babe. You’ll see.”

  “I’m sure you’re right.” Emma forced herself to smile to put him at ease. She excused herself so she could go use the bathroom.

  It didn’t come as a big surprise to find Mrs. Chiostro already in there; she had expected the witch to turn up at some point. “Hello, dear,” Mrs. Chiostro said. She gave Emma a hug. “Congratulations.”

  “Are you here to tell me I should help you stop Marie?”

  “I don’t think I need to bother. You’ve already made up your mind, haven’t you?”

  “Yes.”

  “Then there’s nothing to discuss.”

  “So why are you here?”

  “Is it wrong to wish my favorite customer well?”

  “Am I your favorite customer still?”

  Mrs. Chiostro patted Emma’s cheek. “You’ll always be my favorite customer, no matter what happens to the timeline.”

  “Thank you.” Emma patted the dress and added, “And thank you for the dress.”

  “Some of my best work, I think. Though I’m not sure how well it suits this you.”

  “I’m starting to get used to it.”

  “I imagine so. Perhaps in time you’ll get used to being a secretary as well. Such a waste of a perfectly good brain.”

  “I can get my doctorate. I can find a better job.”

  “Yes, with Dr. Dreyfus’s money that should be fairly easy.”

  “I thought you said you weren’t trying to talk me into helping you.”

  “I’m not. I’m merely expressing my surprise. I thought after that business with Dr. Dreyfus last year you understood about not letting someone interfere with the natural order of things.”

  “I’m not the one who interfered.”

  “But you’re not trying to stop it either.”

  “I can’t. It would kill Mom and Dad.”

  “I understand. You still feel guilty for what happened.”

  “Maybe a little, but this is different.” Emma sighed and then turned away. “The way things were, I understand I didn’t kill them, but this time, if I do what you want, I will be killing them. It really will be my fault this time.”

  “I’m sorry, dear, but sometimes we have to make the hard choices.”

  Emma turned back to face Mrs. Chiostro and looked her in the eye. “What if it were Alejandro? What if it were your children and grandchildren brought back from the dead? What would you do then? Would you erase them?”

  Mrs. Chiostro considered this question and then nodded. “I don’t suppose I could.”

  “Then you have to understand why I can’t do the same.”

  “I think I do.” Mrs. C
hiostro gave her another hug. “But you have to understand I still have my duty. Eventually Sylvia and I will catch up to Marie and make her change things back.”

  “You already tried once, didn’t you? Marlin said things didn’t go so well.”

  “Yes, poor Sylvia. She spent the whole night as a lovesick teenager. It was quite sad to go through that again. But you can be sure she’s not going to make the same mistake twice. And she’ll be even more determined to find Marie now.”

  “Well, tell her I’m sorry about what happened.”

  “I’ll be sure to. In the meantime I’m sure it’s about time for you to dance with your new husband.”

  “Oh, right.”

  “Do you need any help with the dress?”

  “No, I’ll be fine. Thanks.”

  Mrs. Chiostro gave her a final hug. “Goodbye, dear. Make sure you and Daniel enjoy the time you have.”

  “I will.”

  There was a flash of white light as Mrs. Chiostro disappeared, probably back to her house. Emma used the bathroom and then returned to the main hall to find that Mrs. Chiostro had been right: it was time for her to dance with Dan. He took her hand and led her over to the space that had been cleared for a dance floor.

  She didn’t recognize the song the band played. It was a pop song, one Emma had heard once or twice on the radio. Apparently in this timeline it was their song.

  She let Dan sweep her around the dance floor, her head on his shoulder. He stumbled over her big feet a couple of times, but managed to keep both of them upright. “I love you,” she whispered into his ear after one stumble.

  “I love you too, babe,” he said. “Even if you can’t dance.”

  She giggled and said, “Thanks. That’s very generous of you.”

  “I’m a generous guy.”

  The song wound down and the guests erupted with applause. Dan kissed Emma on the lips, a longer one than in the church. Her face turned so warm that she thought she would faint. She managed to stay conscious as he pulled back to reveal her father behind him.

  “Mind if I cut in?” Daddy asked.

  “Of course you can, Daddy,” Emma said.

  Instead of a pop song, Emma heard the strains of a cello. She saw her mother on the bandstand with her instrument. “What’s this?” she asked her father.

  “A little surprise.”

  Emma recognized the piece her mother began to play as an Elgar concerto. It wasn’t really appropriate for dancing, but neither Emma nor her father could dance well anyway. They clung to each other and tried not to step on the other’s toes as they swayed to the music.

  “Your mom and I thought you might get a kick out of this.”

  “It’s wonderful.”

  “Listen, I just wanted to say I know we haven’t always seen eye-to-eye on things—”

  “Daddy—”

  “No, it’s true. We’ve had some disagreements, but I’ve always been proud of you.”

  “Mom said that too.”

  “Well, she’s a smart lady, isn’t she?”

  Emma looked over her shoulder at her mother as she played the cello, her eyes closed, her hands an extension of the instrument. “She certainly is.”

  “You had to get it from somewhere, I suppose.”

  “Oh, Daddy.”

  “Don’t you start crying on me, kiddo. You’ll get me started and we’ll end up flooding this whole place.”

  Emma couldn’t help but laugh at this. “I won’t.”

  “And listen, you make sure this guy treats you right. If he doesn’t, you’re always welcome to come home.”

  “I know, Daddy. Thank you.”

  They hugged as the music ended. Emma kissed her father’s cheek. She thought of what Mrs. Chiostro had said and hoped she could enjoy her new husband and her parents for a long, long time.

  ***

  In the elevator, Veronica threw up yet again. By the time they reached the ground floor of Robinson Tower, she couldn’t stand up on her own. She had to lean against Marie in order to stay upright. Marie put an arm around Veronica’s waist to keep her steady. “It’s going to be all right, sweetie. We’re going home now.”

  “I want Mama,” she whined.

  “I know, but first we have to go home so you can take your medicine.”

  Another time Veronica might have launched into a tantrum, but she clearly didn’t have the energy for it. She could only cry silently and continue to plod ahead with Marie. Veronica’s doll dragged behind her on the floor until it finally slipped out of her hand.

  Before Marie could grab the doll, a middle-aged woman snatched it. “Here you go, little girl. You dropped this.”

  “Thank you,” Veronica mumbled. She took the doll with her free hand and then clutched it to her chest.

  “Oh my, she doesn’t look good,” the woman said.

  “She’s just a little sick from the elevator,” Marie said.

  “It looks like more than that. It looks like she’s got a fever.”

  “She just needs to go home and rest.”

  The woman reached into her purse. Marie braced for her to take out a gun or a police badge, but it was only an ID for Rampart General Hospital. The badge identified the woman as Dr. Wixom—Pediatrics. “If you don’t mind, I’d like to examine her.”

  “I do mind,” Marie said. From experience she knew what doctors would do if Veronica told them the truth. They would put her in the psych ward as they’d done to Marie and then Marie would never see her again. “She just needs to go home and rest.”

  Dr. Wixom looked down at Veronica and then up at Marie. “Are you this girl’s mother?”

  “Marie’s not my mama. She’s my friend,” Veronica said.

  “Then I think we should let her mother decide what care she needs.” The doctor again reached into her bag, this time for a cell phone. “Do you have her number?”

  “No.”

  “No? Then how—?”

  Before Dr. Wixom could finish, Marie had brushed the hair from her special eye. She focused it on the doctor. “You used to be a surgeon in the emergency room. You stopped when you lost a patient. He died of an aneurysm. You could have saved him, but you didn’t see the damaged blood vessel on the X-ray. The hospital absolved you of wrongdoing, but you knew it was wrong. That’s why you became a pediatrician, so you wouldn’t have to risk losing another man on the table.”

  “It wasn’t my fault,” Dr. Wixom whined. “The X-ray was unclear. It was the radiologist’s fault!”

  The doctor ran away in tears, which only drew more attention to Marie and Veronica. A knot of people whispered amongst themselves and glanced at Marie and Veronica. A security guard began to walk towards them. Marie scooped Veronica up and then hurried to the revolving door. Veronica showed no reaction as she went through the door this time.

  No one followed them outside. Marie let out a sigh of relief. Now if they could just get back to the apartment for the pills—

  “Marie Marsh?” a man’s voice whispered in her ear.

  She spun around and saw a man right next to her; she had no idea how he’d managed to get there unnoticed by her. He had skin almost as black as the shirt and pants he wore. Even stranger were his eyes—they were the dark yellow of honey. When he smiled at her, she saw white teeth that were unnaturally sharp. “Who are you?”

  “Just a friend of the Watchmaker. He needs your help.”

  “That’s too bad for him. My friend is sick. I need to get her home.”

  “I’m not asking you. I’m telling you we’re going to pay him a visit.” The man flashed those sharp teeth again. Veronica whimpered in Marie’s arms and buried her face in Marie’s chest.

  “It’ll be all right, sweetheart,” Marie said. She shook the hair back from her special eye and focused on the man. A monstrous black creature with bat-like wings, fangs, and claws jumped out at her. Marie lurched back a few steps before she realized the monster wasn’t real. Or rather the creature that had jumped at her wasn’t real. It
was what lurked in this strange man. At any moment he could unleash it upon her and Veronica. “What are you?”

  “You’ll find out. When we get to our destination.”

  “I’m not going anywhere with you.”

  She took a step back, into someone else. Another man’s voice hissed, “It’s not like you have a choice, little girl.”

  She didn’t turn, but she knew this was another monster. When she looked around, she saw they had surrounded her. Perhaps she could scream for help, but what would she say? The police would never believe her. They would have her taken for psychiatric evaluation and Veronica would be admitted to the hospital.

  “I’ll go with you, but only if you help my friend first,” Marie said.

  “Don’t worry, we’ll take care of her,” the monster in front of her said.

  “You aren’t going to hurt her, are you?”

  “That’s up to you.”

  Veronica shivered in Marie’s arms. From the smell of it, the little girl had soiled herself too. Marie couldn’t blame her for that. “It’s going to be all right,” she whispered into Veronica’s ear. “These nice men are going to take us home, so you can get better. Isn’t that right?”

  “Sure, kid,” the monster said.

  A black SUV pulled up to the curb. The monster behind Marie opened the back door. She saw another of the creatures inside. With a sigh, Marie got into the car.

  Chapter 19

  The Watchmaker heard the raven fly through the window. He didn’t look up from the book until he heard the messenger say, “We’ve apprehended Marsh and her friend.”

  “She went quietly?”

  “We didn’t have to harm her or the child.”

  “Good.” The Watchmaker finally looked up from the book and turned to the black man who stood in the doorway. “She’s being taken to the safe house?”

  “She’ll be there within the hour.”

  “I trust you’ve got an escort with her?”

  “Yes. She won’t escape us.”

  “It’s not her I’m worried about so much as some of her friends, in particular a young woman named Dr. Emma Earl.”

  “Who?”

  “She’s a geologist at the Plaine Museum. According to the illustrious Miss Marsh, Dr. Earl also happens to be the latest incarnation of the accursed Scarlet Knight.”