He was a shadow of the man he’d been that day at the Ferry building—his face unshaved, his clothes unkempt.
His eyes flared with anger. “She said you’d try to interfere.”
“Who? Madame Petrovka?” Elizabeth asked.
“She’s not what she appears to be,” Simon said. “She’s a fraud.”
Graham shook his head violently. “Leave my house.”
He tried to slam the door, but Simon held onto it. “You’re not thinking clearly.”
Graham turned to one his servants who watched the scene in horror. “Get the police. Now! Go!”
The footman scurried back into the house and disappeared.
“Victor, please,” Mary said placing a hand on her husband’s arm.
Victor shook her off. “Get inside.”
Mary gave Simon and Elizabeth a look of apology and shame. “I’m sorry.”
Victor turned back to Simon and Elizabeth. His eyes were bloodshot and painfully sad. His fury seemed to have burned itself out in an instant and he leaned against the door. “Please, just go.”
“Let us help you,” Elizabeth pleaded. “You’re in danger.”
Only the barest hint of hope lit his eyes before they went dull again. “Please?”
Simon let go of the door and Graham nodded his thanks before closing it in front of them. He led her back to their carriage.
“We can’t just walk away.”
Simon kept a hold of her arm. “Getting arrested isn’t exactly going to help our cause, now is it?”
She couldn’t argue with that, but how could she just sit and wait while Graham was coming unglued. They climbed back into the carriage and Elizabeth fidgeted.
Simon was deep in thought, staring out the window when he suddenly rapped hard on the roof of the cab. “We need to move. Now!”
“What’s going on?”
Simon pointed to a buggy coming up the block. Inside was Victor Graham.
“But how?” Elizabeth asked.
“The servant’s entrance. I’d completely forgotten about it until the footman ran to the back of the house to get the police.” He opened the cab door and leaned out. “That carriage there, follow it.”
As soon as Simon was back inside, their carriage took off after Graham. The streets were surprisingly busy for a Sunday night, but the traffic thinned quickly as they headed west away from town.
Elizabeth’s heart pounded in time to the horse’s hooves. Faster and faster. They passed Golden Gate Park and turned up the coast. They drove through the heights above the Cliff House and came to a rough dirt road that led further up the coast. Their carriage rolled to a stop. Elizabeth nearly cried out in frustration. They couldn’t lose him now.
“Keep going,” Simon called through the window.
“Can’t, sir,” William said. “That buggy can make it all right, but not the coach. We’ll drop a wheel for sure.”
Simon yanked open the door and helped Elizabeth. “You all right?” he asked.
She wasn’t, but she nodded and they started down the dirt road on foot. It was tough going. The road was furrowed with deep ruts and chuckholes. Clouds blocked out most of the moonlight making the footing treacherous. Elizabeth clung to Simon’s hand for balance as they ran down the road as quickly as they dared.
It wasn’t long before the bushes and trees that lined the road gave way to a small open expanse. They found Graham’s buggy abandoned at the base of a footpath that led further up the coast. In the distance, Elizabeth could just barely make out a figure in the darkness as it moved from shadow to shadow.
“There!”
She and Simon went after Graham, winding their way through the dense undergrowth, only catching glimpses of Graham as the path veered into the open. The ocean was close. She could taste the salt on the air and feel the cold, wet wind cutting through her clothes. They were somewhere along the bluffs above the sea, but she couldn’t tell how far away it was.
The underbrush was thick and a clump of brambles caught her skirts and she nearly stumbled. With a few curses and rips she disentangled herself, but she knew she was slowing them down. Damn shoes and corset. She hated to do it, but there wasn’t any choice. She would have ripped off all of her clothes if there’d been time, but there wasn’t. Every second mattered. They couldn’t afford to lose track of Graham now.
“Go after him,” Elizabeth said. “I can’t keep up.”
“I won’t leave you.”
She grabbed him by the arms, pleading. “If you don’t, I might lose you.”
Simon hesitated, but Elizabeth pushed him ahead.
“Go. I’ll be right behind you.”
He nodded. “You’d better be.” And then he disappeared into the brush ahead.
Cursing every fashion designer and shoemaker for the last one hundred years, Elizabeth followed behind as fast as she could. She stumbled and pricked her arm through the fabric of her sleeve. She ripped herself free and pushed on.
The bushes and trees thinned out and she could see that she was near the cliff’s edge. Pushing her heart back down into her ribcage, she ran forward. The path serpentined through the woods, jigging one way and then another. Finally, the maze of woods ended abruptly and she emerged into the open air.
Somehow, she’d ended up about sixty feet back from the edge. In the mixture of rocks and grass in front of her, she saw Graham, farthest away, and Simon closing behind him. She thought it was just a shadow from a tree swaying in the wind, but then she realized that another man had stepped out of the darkness. He surged forward and raised something above his head. He was about to swing it down on Simon’s head when she cried out.
“Look out!”
Simon reacted just in time to deflect the blow.
Elizabeth ran toward them, stumbling, cursing. She couldn’t catch her breath and knew she was going to start hyperventilating soon, but she ran forward.
It was so dark she could barely tell where one man started and the other stopped as they fought. They fell to the ground and she lost them in the tall grass.
Graham continued his march to the sea cliff.
Somewhere ahead, Elizabeth heard grunting and panting. The grass rustled back and forth as the two men grappled with each other. She saw Simon stand and then the other man. It was Stryker. Was Madame Petrovka here too? As she turned to look for her, Stryker rushed toward her. Simon grabbed him by the arm and pulled him to the ground.
“Graham,” Simon grunted as he wrestled with Stryker.
She spun around and saw him still walking toward the edge. With one last glance at Simon as he fought with Stryker, she ran toward Graham.
Graham had managed to walk out onto the very tip of a crag that jutted out above the roaring ocean below. As she got closer, the wind caught his voice and tossed it back to her. He was talking to someone.
“Don’t be afraid,” he said. “There’s no reason to be afraid, darling.”
“Victor!” Elizabeth called out. “Don’t go any further.”
“Don’t cry, my darling,” he said to the ocean. A great gust of wind came and nearly pushed him back. Elizabeth’s heart lurched, but he stood firm.
His jacket fluttered wildly in the strong wind. One more step and he’d fall. One more gust and he’d fall. Dear God, he was going to fall. The rocks below were sharp and wet with ocean mist. She got down onto her knees and started to crawl out to him, desperate to reach to him. The jagged edges dug into her knees as she inched out toward him. “She’s not there,” Elizabeth yelled. “Violet is not there.”
He seemed to notice her for the first time and turned to look back. “Don’t you hear her?” he said.
Elizabeth shook her head, but then she heard it – the plaintive wails of a child crying. She shook her head. It was impossible. It must have been the wind. Please, Dear God, let it be the wind.
“It’s a trick,” Elizabeth said. She crawled on her hands and knees further out the escarpment. “Please, Victor, listen to me.”
He turned b
ack to face the sea. Frustration and desperation pushed her forward, but he was too far away and she was moving too slowly.
He reached out into the empty air. “Just take my hand, darling.”
“Please,” Elizabeth cried. He was only a few feet away now. She reached out just as he did.
“It’ll be all right,” Victor said calmly and then stepped off the cliff and fell into the darkness.
Chapter Twenty
Elizabeth cried out as he fell. Graham’s body hit the edge of the cliff and bounced out further toward the water. The seconds stretched out as he seemed to be falling in slow motion. Falling, falling and then, with a sickening thud, he hit the rocks.
She stared down at him in shock. His body lay bent and broken in a horribly unnatural way. The rough surf tugged at his jacket and his limp arm swayed back and forth with the pull of the current.
She felt a hot flush and tingling in her whole body. The icy wind bit into her face, but she could barely feel it. Her body was frozen in place. She couldn’t wrap her mind around it. This wasn’t supposed to happen. She was supposed to save him. To save…
“Simon!”
Elizabeth ignored the jagged rocks that tore into her hands and knees as she scrambled back from the edge. She quickly scanned the field, but didn’t see him. He was here. She refused to believe he was gone. “Simon!” she called out again.
She ran back to the spot where she’d left him fighting with Stryker. He had to be here. He was here, she told herself over and over. He had to be here.
“Simon!”
She felt nauseous, dizzy, hot and cold at the same time. How could this have happened? How could she have let it happen? Panic tightened its grip on her as she ran back and forth through the tall grass. “Simon!”
Tears stung her eyes and blurred her vision. She’d failed. She’d lost him. She wiped the tears away angrily and choked back a sob. He couldn’t be gone. He couldn’t be. “Simon?”
“Elizabeth.”
She spun around and just a few feet away in the grass stood Simon. Alive. Elizabeth’s felt her knees actually buckle a little as relief flooded through her. He was alive. She faltered and then nearly knocked him down as she hugged him. “Oh, Simon,” she said as she held on to him as tightly as she could. Tears burned her eyes and she could barely swallow. “I thought I’d lost you.”
“Down but not out,” he said rubbing the back of his head. He was a little groggy, but he was there. He was still with her. She kissed him again and again.
He pulled back from her and asked, “Graham?”
She shook her head and fought back a sob. “I couldn’t stop him. He just... Simon, he just… walked off the edge. I tried, but…” The memory of it flashed back into her mind and she felt that cold iron fist clench in her stomach again. She tightened her grip on Simon’s arms. “I don’t understand, Simon, what happened? Graham’s dead. Why didn’t time change? Why….”
“Am I still here?” he finished.
She nodded; glad he’d said it and not her.
He touched her cheek. “I don’t know, but I am. Are you all right?”
The memory of Graham falling flashed in her mind. Elizabeth winced and closed her eyes. “No. Yes. I think so. God, it was horrible.”
Simon kissed the crown of her head and pulled her to him. “I’m sorry.”
She was simply relishing being in his arms and his being in hers when she remembered. “Where’s Stryker?”
“I don’t know. We were fighting one minute, he hit me with something and then he just ran off. It’s a little foggy. Was Petrovka here?”
“I don’t know.” Elizabeth felt the bump growing on the back of his head. “Ouch.”
“It’ll be all right. At least we can leave this place now. As long as...” He reached into his waistcoat and pulled out the watch. “As long as we have this.”
Elizabeth wasn’t quite so sure, but she kept her doubts to herself. At least they still had each other. Which, she realized with a pang, was more than Mary Graham had now. That poor woman.
Simon patted his pockets and frowned.
“What’s wrong?” she asked.
“My gun.”
“It probably fell out while you were fighting.”
They searched for it, but it was too dark and the grass too dense.
“It’s all right,” Elizabeth finally said taking his hand. “We’ve got what matters.”
***
By early morning they’d finished making their police report. They’d given the authorities every detail they could remember including everything they knew about Stryker’s involvement. Shell shocked and spent, they rode back to Mrs. Eldridge’s in silence. They tended to each other’s cuts and bruises and crawled into bed.
As soon as they lay down in each other’s arms, all of the adrenaline from the day started to wear off. Elizabeth felt raw and exhausted, but her mind wouldn’t shut down. It spun with thoughts like cotton candy, gauzy and twisting away.
Was this all some ploy by the Council? Would Simon disappear when they returned to their own time? Would she ever stop seeing Graham’s body hit the rocks?
Elizabeth burrowed her head into Simon’s shoulder and tried to concentrate on the feeling of his chest beneath her hand, his arms holding her and the steady beat of his heart. Sleep came and withdrew, like waves lapping on the shore, until finally it pulled her all the way under.
***
Despite her fears, Simon was still there when she woke and back to his usual self.
“We can go south,” Simon said over breakfast, “but we’ll have to go past Monterey at the very least. Inland would better. Stockton should be far enough.”
Elizabeth pushed a strawberry around her plate with her fork. She didn’t want to go. Despite all of Simon’s arguments, and there were plenty, she knew this wasn’t over. There was something she was missing. Graham’s death had to mean something.
The memory flashed into her head and she closed her eyes. Poor Victor. And poor Mary. Elizabeth still had Simon, but Mary Graham had lost her husband.
“We could go to Santa Barbara,” Simon suggested. “See the old neighborhood. You’d like that.”
“That could be interesting,” she said half-heartedly.
Simon put down his teacup and fixed her with one of his patented Simon stares. “Elizabeth.”
With that one simple word, so innocuous on the outside, Elizabeth felt her stomach tighten. Simon had a way with words. Not so much the ones he chose to say, but the way he chose to say them. Her name could mean anything from “Thank God you’re here, Dr. Wendell is boring me out of my skull” to “Don’t you realize how gauche it is to put ketchup on your eggs?” And sometimes, like now, it was something that meant trouble.
“There’s no rush, is there?” she said.
Simon raised an eyebrow. “No, of course not. One of the worst disasters in modern history is only two days away, but why rush?”
“There, you said it. Two days. As long as we leave the city by Tuesday night, we’ll have plenty of time. That leaves us a whole day and a half.”
Simon narrowed his eyes and looked like he was about to deliver a giant pinprick to her idea balloon, when he sighed and wiped his mouth with his napkin. “All right.”
Elizabeth expected a fight, at the very least token resistance, but not complete and immediate submission. It was suspicious.
He must have read her expression because he smiled and said, “No tricks. I’m trying to be supportive. Even if it is a foolish and unnecessary risk.”
She smiled. That was the Simon knew and loved.
“But you have to promise me,” he continued. “We will leave this city no later than Tuesday evening. No arguments.”
“Deal.”
“Good.”
“By the way, I’ve already spoken Mrs. Eldridge about the earthquake,” Elizabeth said and immediately held up a hand to stave off Simon’s rebuke. “But, apparently, I didn’t need to. Her husband had already
told her about it.”
“Good, when is she leaving? I assume she’s taking that idiot nephew with her.”
“She’s not. I tried to tell her what it was going to be like, but she said that she wanted to stay and help. At least we know the house survives the earthquake. Her husband assured her it would. I don’t know about the fires though.”
“I’m afraid not very much survived the fires.”
“I’ll talk to her again,” Elizabeth said taking a bite of her elusive strawberry. “But she’s stubborn.”
“Is she?” Simon said with a smirk. “So, pray tell, what exactly do you plan on doing with your reprieve?”
Elizabeth put her napkin on the table and pushed back her chair. Simon stood and pulled out her chair for her.
“I’m going for a walk,” she said. “Have some noodling to do.”
“In that case,” Simon said. “I think I’ll pay Harrington a visit.”
Elizabeth arched an eyebrow.
“And see what else his contacts have found out about Madame Petrovka,” Simon continued. “We should also check on Mary Graham later today. I’m sure she’d welcome any support she can get. We might not have been able to save Graham, but we might be able to save Petrovka’s next victim from the same fate.”
Elizabeth slipped her arms around his waist. “You’re a big softy.”
He pulled her closer. “No reason to be insulting.”
She kissed his cheek. “Your secret is safe with me.”
***
“I’ve got a secret!”
Elizabeth jumped at the voice. “Teddy! You’ve got to stop doing that.”
She’d gone out for a walk through the quiet streets of Nob Hill and was completely lost in her thoughts when Teddy had appeared at her side.
“I’m sorry,” he said, obviously having no idea what he was apologizing for.
“It’s all right,” she said. It was impossible to stay angry with Teddy. “So you have a secret?”
“It’s amazing!” he shouted, like a ten year old who just got his first Xbox.
Elizabeth laughed. “Shhh. It won’t be a secret if you shout about it like that.”
“It’s amazing,” he whispered. “Do you want to see it?”
Out of Time Series Omnibus (Out of Time: A Paranormal Romance & When the Walls Fell) Page 46
