Twin Speex: Time Traitors Book II (16 page)

She was silent a moment before continuing, “He was cast off and stayed in China after the rest of the family returned to New York. Thing is, he was quite brilliant and became a very wealthy trader. Mother used to tell me stories of their travels, the parties my grandparents would throw… it was all quite lavish.”

She stood up and wandered over to the large picture window that looked down on the front steps of the hospital. “My grandparents died when their ship sank off the coast of Japan. Mother was alone and very rich, so naturally the family summoned her back to New York. She was married off to a distant cousin, my father,” Clem said with distaste. “He used her money to prop up a crumbling estate and eventually drank himself to death when I was still little. He wasn’t a nice man.” She gave a dismissive little wave of her hand. “It’s all very cliché, I suppose.”

“Your mother?” Ettie asked.

“Oh, she’s still living and quite well.” Clem turned from the window and walked back to sit down. “If I had my way, I would be with her now.”

“Where is that?”

“On a horse farm in Pennsylvania. She bought it with what was left of her inheritance… what wasn’t lost with my father’s estate.”

“What is keeping you here?”

Her smile was genuine as she answered, “My aunt and uncle… not really my aunt and uncle, I just call them that. Uncle Matthew was a great friend of my grandfather’s. They were sent off to study abroad together in England. This was before the family left for China. They stayed in touch over the years, and he and his wife, Abigail, were my mother’s only true friends when she came here.”

She gave a delicate little huff of disbelief. “Aunt Abigail feels certain she can get me ‘respectably affianced.’ But while I don’t look like a mixup, everyone knows my history. And unlike my mother, I have no money to speak of.”

“So why stay?” Ettie repeated, fascinated by this little archaic family drama.

She shrugged her shoulders. “I don’t want to hurt their feelings. They’re quite old now and never had any children of their own. It really wouldn’t be so bad if I didn’t have to put up with Reginald. Even Helena is mostly bearable.”

“Reginald?”

“Uncle Matthew’s nephew’s son, Reginald Winifred Ravensdale,” she intoned his name by pinching her nose and assuming a snooty accent, and then dropped her hand to her lap as they both laughed.

Ettie looked at her inquiringly. “Is Reginald so very bad?”

Clem raised her eyebrows in surprise. “You haven’t heard of him?” she uttered incredulously. When Ettie shook her head, she informed her, “He’s the catch of the season. The Duke of Easterly, his father, is extremely rich and powerful, and Reginald is very sought after. He’s the eldest son and the next duke, so he is a marquis.”

She made a disgusted little face and continued, “He’s only a couple of years older than I, but he’s so full of his own importance. He is always telling me how to go on. The nerve… when he gets up to all sorts of larks and scrapes… but of course, he’s a man, and society indulges him. It’s all to his credit that he’s so wild and daring…” She paused to take a breath from this unexpectedly heated diatribe, her cheeks tinged with red.

“Being my nearest ‘relation,’ he looks on me as his ‘duty.’ I’m to call him Cousin Reginald and be grateful that he stoops to notice me!” Her bloodstained gloves had been discarded, and Ettie saw her hands balled into fists. “So he comes around to lend me the consequence of his presence and never fails to stand up with me at a ball or dance. Of course, this just puts me out there for people to look at and whisper about.”

She stopped talking and swallowed hard. Ettie reached over to take her hand. Clem shook her head and returned the pressure of her grasp.

“Look at me, talking about my petty troubles when your father lies on the brink.”

Ettie sat up and smiled. “Your story made me forget for a little while.”

Clem shook her head again in self-reproach. “No. It is unconscionable of me. I didn’t come here to talk of myself.”

“Why did you come here?” This question had been on Ettie’s mind since the girl’s arrival. She had mentioned being a volunteer at the hospital, and she had been very helpful getting tea, asking for updates from the nurses, and generally seeing to Ettie’s comfort.

Ettie was grateful for Clem’s intervention at the cemetery and her company. She was unusual for someone of her class, but none of this explained her presence at the hospital late at night with so disreputable a person as Ettie, an act that was sure to be frowned upon by her relations and society in general.

“Because I recognized the woman Lord Westchester was talking to, and I think you may be in some trouble.”

Ettie looked at her silently, so she continued, “He was talking to Miss Faith Temple. She’s the personal assistant to Sir Knightly Davis.”

Ettie almost laughed aloud at the absurdity of someone called “Sir Knightly,” but sobered upon remembering that the Knightly Davis from her own timeline was a rather scary zealot and here was very likely in a leadership position among the conspirators. For it was clear from what Ettie had overheard, that neither Charlie nor this Faith Temple were calling the shots.

“What do you know of him?”

“He’s rather a mysterious person, even among his peers. Uncle Matthew refers to him as ‘shadowy.’ As Minister of Machinery and Technology, he’s very influential. He twice shut down protests at the Academy… the Academy of Science and History,” Clem elaborated when Ettie furrowed her brow in confusion. “You must remember… they were demanding greater academic freedom. Several teaching fellows were injured, one was killed. It was really quite brutal. Even Reginald was appalled, and he usually supports the King and Parliament in all matters.”

Ettie sat back, her mind racing. It would make sense that the mastermind of a time-traveling plot had his hands on mechanical and technological advances. But then Ettie remembered what Charlie had said, “
she’s
sick… out of control.” He was clearly afraid of someone, and that “someone” was a woman. Knightly Davis may be a big player or even the mastermind, but he clearly wasn’t the only one calling the shots. Ettie had a sinking feeling she already knew just where to find this dangerous woman.

“Bloody…” Clem whispered under her breath.

Ettie looked up to see them approached by Inspector Hamilton and a young man she didn’t recognize.

“Reginald,” Clem hissed with disgust under her breath.

He wasn’t at all what Ettie had expected. Of average height, he was quite muscular with the broad shoulders and slim hips of an athlete. He was dressed in cricket whites, and his tousled brown curls and reddened cheeks were a clear indication that he had recently come from a game or practice. He was good looking in an ordinary, pleasant sort of way, with rather remarkable deep green eyes. Just now they held a somewhat harassed look, with a touch of wary trepidation.

The two women stood as they came up.

“Miss Speex,” Inspector Hamilton pronounced, “I’m told your father is out of surgery and resting comfortably.”

Ettie breathed a heavy sigh of relief and tears prickled behind her eyes. Clem hugged her and stepped back with a smile.

“Can I see him?” she asked.

“Of course,” he replied. “I’ll take you to him, but first Miss Lacy must be getting home. We are fortunate that her escort has arrived.”

Reginald nodded stiffly to Ettie and said, “I’m pleased that my cousin could offer you some assistance, Miss Speex.” Then turning to Clem and using the same formal tone, “Come along Clementine, your uncle will not be easy until you are home.” It was almost as if a mask had dropped over his face. The irritated and nervous look of a boy unsure of his reception had been replaced by an expression of almost comical entitlement.

“Just so, Reginald,” Clem replied, mimicking him with an over-exaggerated crisp, upper-class accent, “but I left a message for my aunt and uncle for the very purpose of alleviating any worry. So sorry to put you out, but you see you needn’t have bothered. I’m quite capable of catching a cab home.”

“Helena felt that my presence might help mitigate any possible whiff of scandal.”

“Helena!” she exclaimed with muted outrage, “The bearer of all tales! If she’s troubled poor old Uncle Matthew—”

“No… well, yes,” he amended, “but I assured him that I would bring you home safe and sound.” His mask was slipping, and Ettie could see the green eyes take on a softened expression. She had a feeling that there were many things about his young “cousin” that he wanted to admire, but that this inclination went very much against his social programming.

Clem, on the other hand, saw nothing but officiousness and interference where it was most definitely not wanted.

Inspector Hamilton cleared his throat. They were squabbling children, and he was clearly impatient to have them gone. But one was the son of a powerful peer, so he said in an even, respectful tone, “Lord Easterly, if you please, I would like to take Miss Speex to see her father—”

“Oh, I am beastly!” Clem exclaimed, clasping Ettie’s hands. “Forgive me! Of course, you’ll be wanting to see your father. Well, I’m off then, but tomorrow I’ll come visit him. I’ll make sure he is the most comfortable patient in the entire hospital.”

Ettie smiled and returned the pressure of her hands. “Thank you again for all your help. I really don’t know what would have become of me if you had not intervened.”

Clem waved away her thanks, but beamed at the praise and announced, “I’m ready, Reginald.”

She swept regally past him and nimbly avoided his guiding hand on the small of her back. Two swift strides brought him alongside her, and they left the waiting room together.

Ettie unobtrusively put the piece of paper Clem had pressed into her palm in her pants pocket before asking, “Will I be able to speak with the doctor?”

“I believe Doctor Grayson is waiting to talk with you.”

They walked down the long hallway lined with hospital rooms on either side of the corridor. Finally, they reached one situated at the very end with two guards stationed on either side of the door.

Ettie raised her eyebrows in surprise. “Do you think he is still in danger?”

They had rounded the doorway as she spoke, and Ettie felt the room shift and blur. The bed on which her father lay looked like the strange hybrid offspring of an old-fashioned cot and modern day hospital bed. The I.V. pole with its blinking lights wavered in and out of focus, and the heart monitor looked no more substantial than a shadow. She gasped and reached out to steady herself on the doorframe.

Misinterpreting her sudden weakness as a reaction to her father’s condition, Inspector Hamilton and the doctor quickly led her to a chair, murmuring words of solace.

“I know it’s a shock, Miss Speex,” Doctor Grayson consoled. “He was stabbed multiple times. But we have been able to stop the bleeding, and he should recover fully.”

Ettie pressed the palms of her hands hard against her eyes. In all the trauma and excitement of the last few hours, she hadn’t thought to check the phantasometer. She had never felt this disoriented during a shift; it was as if she were being split in two.

She pulled in a few deep breaths and dropped her hands from her eyes. The scene before her was thankfully in focus, but the prime timeline was clearly unable to reassert itself as her father lay on an old-fashioned hospital bed with the crisp, white curtain pulled back. There was an I.V. pole, but it looked like a metal hall tree. A glass bottle hung from it, the liquid dripping into a rubber tube inserted into her father’s arm.

Ettie smiled reassuringly at the two men hovering next to her. She got up a little shakily, and walked over to her father’s bedside. She was unsettled by how small he looked. Only a few days before, they had dined together in a city that was fading further and further away. She took his hand in both of hers and leaned over to kiss him gently on the forehead.

On the ride over, Inspector Hamilton had told her some of what had happened. “He was attacked in his own apartment. There was no forced entry, so we assume it was by someone he knew or who appeared nonthreatening.”

He’d had to stop the car to let her throw up when he described the manner of attack and number of wounds. Nothing more passed between them during the rest of the ride.

Doctor Grayson said, “It is best you go home and get some rest. He will sleep for many more hours yet.”

“Do you have anyone you can stay with?” asked Inspector Hamilton.

“I left my dog with a neighbor. I can stay with her tonight.”

Inspector Hamilton looked at her searchingly. She returned the look and thought randomly that he was younger than she had at first supposed. His long, gaunt frame seemed always to be encased in an overcoat, bestowing upon him a middle-aged silhouette. Like most of his class, he was clearly of mixed race. She calculated his age to be somewhere in the mid to late thirties, and with his thin physique, dark skin, wide brown eyes, and long straight hair he had the makings of a sixties-era rocker.

It seemed he had made a determination of some sort, for he said, “One of his neighbors saw who we think might be the assailant at his door.”

Ettie had the feeling that his next words were not going to be pleasant, but prompted, “And…?”

“She thought it was you. But she wasn’t sure, because the woman looked older.”

Ettie felt numb, but forced herself to breathe and said calmly, “So you think I had something to do with this attack.”

He shook his head. “Actually, I know you had nothing to do with it.”

She sighed wearily. “Then what, Inspector?”

“I’ve had officers on you most days since your brother disappeared—”

“Odell had nothing to do—” she interrupted heatedly

He held up his hand, not to be distracted. “That’s why we were so close when the guard reported your assault. So you see, Miss Speex, you are in the clear. But your brother’s absence is troubling. Albeit, Mister Speex is not a slender blond woman, so I think he is unlikely to be your father’s attacker as well.”

“Thank you for that! But you forget that he has no motive to hurt either of our parents, regardless of his size or gender.”