On a Night Black

by Cherie Mitchell

  “The one about the Knave. You said you’d received a notification about him. How do you know that he’s planning to come back? And why would he, when it seems he can carry out his dirty work unrestricted and without any fear of being caught in 1889?”

  “Can we discuss this tomorrow night with Darcy? It’s nice to have an evening without too much shop talk. It’s not often that I get the chance to enjoy your company without work getting in the way.” She gave him a well-practiced, beguiling smile accompanied by a brief eyelash flutter, obviously well aware that he’d readily give in if she used her charms.

  He shook his head, smiling at her feminine cunning. She left the table and he sat back to watch as she strolled over to the bar, appreciating the back view from this angle. He had no intention of casting aside his plans to woo her but so far, he’d been unable to break down the rigid wall she’d constructed around her personal life - although he did like to think he’d made a small chip in it. She was certainly friendlier to him, more genial now that he’d gotten to know her better and she dipped into bossiness less often around him, but he wanted more than that. She’d managed to weasel her way under his skin, apparently without trying, and she was the only other woman other than Annie who had ever managed to do that. Not that she knew how deep his feelings went, of course. He was keeping that ace up his sleeve until he’d made at least a start on forming a romantic relationship with her.

  It never paid a man to lay down his hand all at once.

  Chapter Three

  Elliot was looking forward to the video call with Darcy. They hadn’t parted on the best of terms the last time he’d seen the man in person. Elliot had stomped off in a huff while Darcy had returned to the time machine in the woods to travel elsewhere for a meeting. They hadn’t spoken since then but that wasn’t because of the argument but rather because the opportunity hadn’t presented itself.

  He could hear Ramona speaking to someone inside the apartment as he lifted his hand to knock. He hesitated, unsure if he should interrupt if she had a guest. He was a little earlier than the time they’d agreed upon but he hadn’t thought it would matter. She’d never mentioned friends or family to him, save for Amy and the corporation although he knew from Amy that she’d briefly dated Jason, who Elliot had once met. Her personal life was an enigma but he didn’t mean for it to stay that way for too much longer. He rapped sharply on the door, intrigued to know who it was that she was talking to.

  Ramona’s voice stopped abruptly on the other side of the door but it was several minutes before he heard the turn of a key and she pulled the door open. To Elliot she seemed uncharacteristically ruffled and unkempt when she was usually so well put together and in charge of herself. Her normally immaculately glossy hair was in disarray, as if she’d been running her hands through it in frustration and her tone was blunt to the point of rudeness. “You’re early.”

  “Yes, I got bored staring at the four walls of my apartment so I decided to come over. I didn’t think you would mind.” He tried to look over her shoulder, interested to see who her companion was.

  “What are you doing?” She frowned and moved her body, completely blocking the view of the room behind her.

  “Nothing.” The sharp edge of anger in her voice surprised him. Their pub evening had ended on a high note, with plenty of laughter and banter but she was a different person today. “Are you going to invite me in?”

  She held his gaze, her expression unreadable as she folded her arms tightly across her breasts and tucked her hands under her armpits. “I’m not quite ready. Would it be too much to ask if you went to the corner shop and bought me some milk? I’m all out and I’d love a cup of tea.”

  Of course he wouldn’t refuse her request but why was she so anxious for him to leave? Again, he tried to look past her but she stepped back inside the apartment and pulled the door half closed to ensure he saw nothing. “See you in five minutes.” The door snapped shut in his face.

  Confused by her lack of warmth or welcome and feeling like an intruder, he retraced his steps and walked back out onto the street. He turned to stare up at her apartment window but the glass was blank and shadowy, making it impossible to see in from here. He lingered at the building entrance for a few minutes, waiting to see if anyone would leave while he pretended to read the screen on his phone. He was just about to walk away and cover the half block to the store when the automatic doors suddenly whispered open and an elderly woman in a headscarf with a small white dog on a lead walked out. She looked at him without interest or curiosity before hobbling slowly away in the other direction with the dog trotting peaceably along beside her.

  He stepped back into the lobby but it was empty again. The faint smell of floor polish tickled his nose and a drooping potted palm beside the elevator doors could do with some water, but there was nothing else to see. Perhaps he’d heard Ramona talking on the phone rather than speaking with a guest. He shrugged and turned away to run his errand, hoping her mood might have improved by the time he returned.

  Ramona was in an entirely different frame of mind by the time he knocked at her apartment door a few minutes later. Her ruffled hair was smooth and glossy and she’d slipped back behind her professional mask. She thanked him politely for the milk and asked him how his day had been so far, as if this was the first time they’d met this morning.

  “Are you alright?”

  She blinked at him, apparently confused by the question. “What do you mean?”

  “Earlier you seemed… stressed. Did you have someone here with you?”

  She whirled away to make the hot drinks, cleverly hiding her eyes in the process. Ramona was not the type of person to waste her movements. “I was on a phone call,” she said shortly, her tone abrupt enough to discourage any further questions.

  Ramona thumped a cup of coffee down in front of him a few minutes later. “I’m just about to dial up Darcy. Here’s hoping I can get through.”

  Elliot watched her closely as she fiddled with her laptop and attempted to connect with Darcy in Victorian England but she seemed more relaxed now, or at least more relaxed for Ramona. He’d probably imagined trouble when there was no need for it, created an issue where none existed. He put the earlier mild confrontation out of his mind as he drank his coffee and reminded himself why he was here. In just a few minutes, he could talk to Darcy and find out more about his mysterious upcoming assignment.

  “Ha!” Ramona grinned and bounced lightly on her chair. “I got through straight away. Hi Darcy.”

  Elliot shuffled his chair closer so he could peer at the inventor’s round, cheery face on the screen. The picture was clear today without any blurred lines or fuzziness and Darcy could have been sitting right here at the table with them. “Darcy. It’s good to see you again.”

  “Elliot and Ramona, two of my favourite people - both now and in the future. How’s the 21st century treating you both?”

  They talked for a few minutes, getting the pleasantries out of the way before the conversation took a more serious turn. Darcy agreed with Ramona that the video connection was working well today before he switched his intelligent green-eyed gaze onto Elliot. “Has Ramona told you that we’ll soon be having breakfast together once again?”

  Elliot looked sharply at Ramona but she’d developed a sudden interest in her milky cup of tea and didn’t acknowledge his astonished stare. “No, she’s told me nothing of the sort.”

  “Oh.” If Darcy was surprised to hear this, he quickly disguised it by scratching his nose and briefly glancing away. “The corporation wants you back here, and sooner rather than later.”

  A wave of conflicting emotions rushed through Elliot’s mind, taking his composure along with it. He had not expected this, not even guessed at it. This news was disappointing. This life suited him, he liked the ease of living in 2020, and besides, Ramona was here.

  Darcy chuckled. “Take that look off your face. You’re not coming back to stay forever. It makes more sense to have you here whil
e the Knave is prowling the streets of Whitechapel and causing mischief amongst people who are just trying to get on with their lives.”

  Elliot was relieved to hear that his return to 1889 wasn’t supposed to be permanent but he still had plenty of questions. “In that case, I’m more than happy to come back but why me? The Knave knows who I am and as we all know, he has thrown down his own challenges.” He meant the letter, of course. Remember me on a night black. After he told Ramona about it, she made him go and dig it out from under the potato peelings in his rubbish bin before she whisked it away. He hadn’t seen it since and he assumed it was now in the hands of the corporation. “Wouldn’t it be better to send someone else who he won’t recognise on sight? And another thing, why does he have it in for me to begin with? I have no idea what I’ve done to instigate his hatred for me. I have reason to despise him because of what he did to Annie but why should he wish any harm on me?”

  “Haven’t you told him anything?” Darcy darted a puzzled glance at Ramona, who hurriedly cleared her throat and shifted uneasily in her chair. “I wasn’t sure how much I should reveal,” she muttered. “The corporation’s confidentiality agreement is very strict. You know that as well as I do.”

  “Ramona, Elliot is a key figure in all of this. You should have been more forthcoming with your explanations. You can’t keep him in the dark forever.” Darcy scolded her gently before again turning his attention back to Elliot. “I know we’ve touched on this in the past. We’ve disrupted several versions of the future through our meddling with time and space. In one version of upcoming events, you are the person responsible for the Knave’s eventual incarceration. In another version, your actions lead to the man tripping himself up. Whichever way we look at it, Elliot Cinder is pivotal to this operation and that won’t ever change. The Knave is aware of this too. We don’t have to like him in order to admire his cleverness.”

  “So I’m walking into danger?” Walking on the wrong side of trouble. The words twisted, coiled, and snaked their way through his brain.

  “Hopefully not. We have made some advances with our tools of trade in the past few weeks, which should be of benefit to you. For example, you’ll bring with you a mobile phone that you can use to contact me when you’re away from the house while you’re here, and a tablet preloaded with the Com-Dec app so you can make contact with Ramona if you need to.”

  “Pffft.” Ramona’s stuttered burst of annoyance made her sound like a hissing, spitting cat and Elliot looked at her in surprise, startled by her strong reaction. “You’re making it sound as if the equipment is reliable and well tested. The communication system is patchy and prone to dropping out and he knows that already. He’s watched it happen often enough during our aborted conversations with you. You can’t call the Com-Dec a benefit. If Elliot does go back he’s basically on his own.”

  Darcy ignored her outburst and continued. “Once again Elliot, we’d like you to divert harm away from the Knave’s potential victims rather than have you approach him directly. We know the two of you have never spoken face to face and we’d like to keep it that way. There’s absolutely no need for you to come physically close enough to talk to him.”

  Ramona aimed a kick at Elliot under the table. He struggled to control his grimace of pain as her foot connected with his tender anklebone. It seemed his aloof and hard-to-read friend hadn’t told anyone about his conversation with the Knave at the wine bar and the idea that they shared a secret gave Elliot a certain sense of victory. A shared secret was a bond of sorts, wasn’t it? He lifted his chin determinedly and met Darcy’s gaze with confidence. “Whatever you say, Darcy. Just give me my instructions and I’ll take it from there.”

  Chapter Four

  Elliot was spending the day with the vivacious and outspoken Amy, who wanted to pay another visit to the British Museum. Elliot was more than happy to tag along, pleased to have some company to help fill in his time while he waited for his assignment to begin. As Darcy had explained during their video call the other day, there were a few more details to finalise – one of which was getting the time machine back to the present day to enable Elliot to use it to travel to 1889 – before he could make the journey.

  Unfortunately, the connection had bottomed out not long after that, leaving Ramona fuming again about the poor quality equipment in the corporation’s store cupboard and Elliot with his usual handful of unanswered questions. Elliot had stayed for a while, hoping that Ramona might ask him to stay for lunch or maybe spend the afternoon hanging out together, but the hoped for invitation didn’t come. He left soon after that, when Ramona made it apparent that she had work to get on with and would appreciate some peace and quiet.

  “Hey, you gorgeous man.” Amy walked up behind as he waited outside the museum and looped her arms around his waist, giving him a quick, affectionate squeeze before she released him again. “Are you ready to take a step back in time?”

  He whirled around to face her, grinning to see her familiar welcoming smile and pretty, animated face. Amy was unlike any friend he’d ever had before and he was platonically in love with her cheerfulness and ready wit, if such a thing was even possible. “Did you hear about that?”

  She frowned at him, pushing her hair back off her face as a mischievous wind picked up several strands and tossed them around. “Hear about what?”

  “You just asked if I was ready to take a step back in time. I thought you knew.”

  “I meant the museum.” She looped her arm through his and dragged him up the wide concrete steps and between the ribbed columns. “What are you talking about?”

  “I’m headed back to 1889. The corporation have decided that I can be useful back there, at least as long as the Knave is walking through those Victorian streets and causing trouble for the unwary.”

  She dropped his arm and turned to face him, her expression serious now. “You are? How do you feel about that?” Amy never hedged around the hard questions. She was as open as the pages of a book, speaking whatever was on her mind without hesitation or guile and he found her approach refreshing.

  “I have mixed feelings,” he admitted honestly, comfortable enough in her company to reveal his inner thoughts. “I’ll be pleased to see my friend Robert again, and Darcy too, but there isn’t much else to pull me back there. I had also hoped never to cross paths with Annie’s murderer again but it seems my life is interwoven with his whether I like it or not.”

  “I’m going to miss you. I’ve gotten used to having you around.”

  “I’ll miss you too. You’re a good friend to me and I’m not sure what I’d do without you. I will be back though – I’m not planning to stay away for too long. I like it far too much here to leave forever.” I’ll be leaving a piece of my heart with Ramona as it is. The thought came unbidden, prompting a foolish grin. It seemed it wasn’t only his belly that was getting soft.

  Amy’s glum expression suddenly cleared and she grabbed excitedly at his arm again. “We should have a going away party for you! Let’s do it!” Her eyes gleamed as she released his arm to clap her hands, childishly applauding herself for her inspiration. “We’ll have a Victorian Christmas theme and we’ll dress up. This will be amazing!”

  It was difficult to resist her infectious excitement so why bother trying. “I’d like that. Who will you invite?”

  She began to tick names off on her fingers as they walked on. “I’ll invite everyone you know and a couple of others. It’s about time you met some more people. Ramona, Lani – you remember Lani, she was the other woman that you trailed during your test assignment and she’s one of the corporation’s most trusted agents – she also has great hair - Jason…”

  The man’s name was unexpected and definitely not appreciated. “Jason? Is Ramona still seeing him?” Could Jason have been Ramona’s mysterious visitor, the one she hadn’t wanted Elliot to see? If there had been anyone in her apartment, of course. She’d told him she was on a phone call but he didn’t completely believe her, even if the thou
ght that she’d deliberately lied was an uncomfortable one to manage.

  “No. I mean, he’d like it if she was interested in him but Ramona is resolutely single for now. She doesn’t give her heart away easily.”

  Amy’s casual remark lifted Elliot’s spirits as if they were attached to a skyward bound hot air balloon. He made sure to keep his voice offhand and only mildly interested. “No man on the scene at all?”

  “No one at all,” she confirmed. She nudged him to take a turn and they began walking across the expanse of floor tiles towards the Victorian section. “Looks like you still have a shot at the prize, Elliot Cinder.”

  “What?” He stopped walking and stared at her, wondering if he’d heard her correctly. According to the buzz of his era decoder against his wrist, her cryptic statement meant that he still had a romantic chance with Ramona. “How did you know that was I wanted?”

  She giggled merrily, poking fun at his startled expression. “I’m not stupid.”

  “I didn’t say you were but I thought I’d done a better job at hiding my intentions.” Did Ramona also know how deeply his emotions ran? Yes, he had tried to tell her and to lay his heart bare but they hadn’t quite managed to finish the conversation he’d been trying to have with her since he’d made up his mind she was who he wanted. Ramona had a way of turning the conversation around whenever it came too close to what he needed to say and she had point-blank insisted that none of their meet ups could be called a ‘date’.

  “You haven’t done very well in hiding them from me. Your voice changes when you talk about her – you sound eager and upbeat. I think it’s cute.”

  “Has Ramona said anything about how she feels about me?” he asked, hopeful of a sign that his pursuit of his attractive young boss wasn’t entirely in vain. Amy and Ramona were friends, and didn’t female friends gossip with one another about their suitors? Idle chatter was a fundamental part of the feminine psyche, a girlish characteristic that no amount of so-called equality could change. Everyone knew that.