Voyage in Time: The Titanic (Out of Time #9) (14 page)

Simon shook his head. “I should—”

“You should go,” she said. “You know you want to.”

“But what about …?” His eyes drifted over to both Niels and Edmund.
 

“We’ll be fine.”

Simon frowned, but she could see the smile fighting to get out. “All right,” he said as he put his hands on the table. “One match.”

Kimball grinned. “One, maybe two.” He rubbed his hands together. “I hope you’re better than Astor. Got fifty bucks on it.” He glanced at Niels and Edmund. “You two play?”

They both shook their heads.
 

“S’alright. Got my ringer,” he said as he slapped Simon on the shoulder.

Elizabeth fought down her giggle at Simon’s reaction.

“Have fun,” she told him.

He grimaced, but she knew he would enjoy playing. If he spent enough energy, perhaps even get some sleep tonight.

“You’ll be—?”

“I’ll be good,” she promised.

He grunted but said his goodbyes and headed off with Kimball.

Elizabeth signed the bill assigning it to their room and the three of them soon followed Simon outside onto the deck.

“I’m sure you two could join them if you wanted to,” she said.

“I don’t even know what they were talking about,” Edmund confessed.
 

Niels chuckled and checked his watch. “I am afraid I have an appointment elsewhere.”

“You do?” Elizabeth didn’t like the sound of that.

He held up a placating hand. “A tour of the bridge.”

“They’ll let you do that?” Edmund asked.

“Would you like to join me?”
 

The two had discovered a shared love of all things mechanical, and it was obvious Edmund would have sold his mother to join him, but he looked at Elizabeth and shook his head.
 

“I shouldn’t leave—”

“Pfft,” Elizabeth said, cutting him off. “I’m fine. You two go have fun.”

He wasn’t convinced. “Doesn’t seem right to leave you alone.”

“You can always join us,” Niels offered.

Elizabeth was tempted, but it would probably be good for them both to be with a man their own age without a woman around.
 

She looked around and saw several women she knew walking the deck. Maggie Brown was in the lead and Mrs. Sheridan and a few others followed her like geese in formation. If anyone knew of anything interesting or odd happening on board, it would be them.

“I’ll join the ladies. Take some laps. Work off that chocolate soufflé I’m going to have tonight.”

“You’re sure?”

“Go.” She turned Edmund around but whispered in his ear. “But keep an eye on him for me.”

Edmund shot her a confused, questioning look but nodded. He didn’t understand why she was asking what she was, but he would do it anyway. Niels didn’t seem to be in any immediate danger on the ship, and he would be surrounded by ship’s officers on the bridge, but a little extra caution never hurt.

She had to shoo them away, but finally they went off down the deck and Elizabeth went the other way to catch up with the ladies.

“Do you mind if I join you?” she asked.

“Not at all,” Louise said with a welcoming smile.

“More the merrier,” Maggie added and made quick introductions to the two women Elizabeth hadn’t met, Mrs. Duncan and Mrs. Eldsworth.

“I don’t think you have anything to worry about, Mrs. Duncan,” Maggie said, picking up the conversation Elizabeth had interrupted. “Girls will be strong headed at that age. Just treat ‘em like a good horse, give ‘em their heads, but remind ‘em that you’ve got the reins.”

Mrs. Duncan seemed appeased. They walked on in silence for a little while before Mrs. Eldsworth piped up.

“Oh, did you hear about the break-in?”

Elizabeth didn’t like the sound of that. “Was anyone hurt?”

“Naw,” Maggie said, “just some sticky finger work. Jewels and some cash, I think.”

“Horrible,” one of the ladies said.

“Typical though. I don’t think I’ve been on a ship where it hasn’t happened at least once. Get all these rich types together and the pickin’s too easy.”

“Shouldn’t the captain be informed?”

“He’s got bigger fish to fry, honey. Purser’s looking into it, but if I were you, I’d keep anything that mattered locked up in the safe.”

“I’d be surprised if Mr. Astor doesn’t try to put Madeleine in one,” Mrs. Eldsworth said, winning a round of snickers from the other ladies.
 

“Now, now,” Maggie said.
 

“I’m sorry. But she’s just a child.”

“And with child.”

“I heard they were asked to leave Egypt.”

“No!”

“That’s what I heard.”

As the gossip went on Elizabeth tuned it out and tried to enjoy the scenery. The ocean was still surprisingly calm although it was a little windy and chilly on deck. She wasn’t sure what time it was, probably close to five o’clock. Despite having had tea in the afternoon it hadn’t been afternoon tea, but high tea, a snack. Afternoon tea was an actual meal. Which, as Elizabeth’s stomach gurgled, couldn’t come soon enough. She should have snagged a few of those sandwiches from Edmund.

“Don’t you think so?” Louise said.

Elizabeth shook her head and rejoined the world. “I’m sorry, I was miles away.”

They started down the stairs to the lower deck to cut across to the port side of the ship. “I was just asking if you preferred living in England or in America. Since you’re, well, collectively from both. I love England, I have relatives there, but Robert would never leave America. I’m not even sure he’ll ever leave Pennsylvania.”

Elizabeth turned back to reply, but what she saw froze the words in her mouth.

Walking across the deck was Mr. Personality.

E
LIZABETH
’
S
HEART
SEIZED
IN
her chest. Seeing the German here, now, took her breath away. She’d been so sure he wasn’t on board. But here he was and Niels was—

“Are you all right?” Louise asked.

Niels was all right. He was with Edmund and surrounded by officers.

She shifted to the right to try to see the German again. She’d only caught a fleeting glance, just the side of his face as he turned away, but she would know it anywhere.

“I’m feeling a little tired suddenly,” she said, trying to catch sight of the man in black. There he was, not more than thirty feet down the deck. “Would you ladies excuse me?”

“You’re sure?”

“I’ll see you at dinner,” Elizabeth said without looking away.

“All right, but …”

She didn’t hear the rest of what Louise had to say; she was already halfway down the deck in pursuit. Her heartbeat quickened as she wove through the crowd to keep pace with him.

She could try to find Simon, but if she did, she’d lose him and on a ship this vast, they might never find him again. Wherever he was going, she needed to follow.
 

After another twenty paces, he took a right and went inside.
 

She hurried to catch up, but she was going in the opposite direction of traffic and had to squeeze past and around people. She pulled open the doors to the First Class entrance area on B Deck. Their suite was near there.

Was he going to their rooms?
 

She scanned the crowded entrance area and staircase, but he was nowhere to be found. She turned to open the baize-covered doors to her immediate left that led to the hall with their room. But as she did, she turned back to catch one last glimpse of the stairs and saw him come out from behind a group of people as he moved past them. She let go of the door and hurried back to the stairs.

She trailed after him, careful to remain far enough back not to be seen, but close enough to keep track of him. The crowd provided good cover, but it also made it easy to lose him. She nearly did on C Deck, but caught just a glimpse of his black coat. His ghostly pale white hand gripped the banister as he made a turn and continued down the stairs.
 

The landing at D Deck was the bottom of the grand stairs. He paused there and turned to look around. Elizabeth squatted and ducked behind the railing and a rather corpulent man. He looked down at her with a mildly curious expression as if this weren’t the first time someone had hidden behind him. She waved him off and he arched an indifferent eyebrow at her before continuing down the steps.
 

When she stood again, she couldn’t see the German.
 

He could have gone in any one of several different directions and Elizabeth stood there like a dope unable to decide which way to try. Finally, she forced herself to choose and hurried to one of the hallways that led to the first class cabins on the deck.

The hall was long and empty.

She hurried back across the entrance to the other hallway and saw him. He walked slowly, meticulously, down the hall, pausing to read the numbers. He was looking for a specific cabin and she had a sinking feeling she knew exactly which one—Niels’.

A fortuitously positioned potted palm stood at the corner to the hallway. She slipped behind it and peeked around the corner to watch him.

He reached the end of the long hallway and stopped. He turned to look around to see if he was being watched and Elizabeth snatched her head back and pressed herself into the wall, hoping he hadn’t seen her.
 

She counted slowly to five and then dared to peek around the corner again. He was leaning up against the door, listening. Then, tentatively, he knocked.

Elizabeth’s heart sped up again. What if Niels had begged off the tour? What if they’d finished quickly or it had been canceled? She was just about to start down the hall when the German tried the handle. Locked. He looked at it once more, then moved on down the hall.

Elizabeth puffed out a few breaths then eased herself out from behind the plant and followed.

When she reached the end of the hall, she glanced at Niels’ doorway, just to reassure herself it was still locked, still closed. It was.

She peered around the next corner and saw the German turning to the right. That would lead him back to the entry. But why would he take the long way around like this? Unless he knew she was there? Unless …

She picked up her skirts to move more quickly down the short end of the U-shaped hall. She peeked around the last bend, but he wasn’t there. Had he gone into one of the staterooms? She moved stealthily down the hall, trying to listen for any telltale signs of what she wasn’t sure. Germanness?

She pressed her ear to a cabin door and heard voices inside, and then outside as the door opened and she nearly fell inside.

The elderly couple looked at her askance as she stumbled forward. She caught herself on the door handle and laughed. “I’m sorry. This isn’t C-23?”

“D, my dear,” the woman said kindly.

“Silly.”

The couple smiled, although the husband did give her a bit of the side-eye as he closed their cabin door. Pretending to be embarrassed, Elizabeth waved to them as they walked down the hall toward the entrance.

She turned to look the other way. “Where are you?”
 

That’s when she saw the stairwell at the corner. She’d walked right past it before. She hurried back toward it and started down. It led to a small room with another set of stairs and a doorway to the deck, deck E if she hadn’t lost track. She paused to listen but didn’t hear anything.

She poked her head out into the hallway and saw him just as he passed through a doorway at the far end of it.

“Got ya,” she whispered and went after him.
 

One hallway led to the next and the next. They passed through the area with the Second Class elevators and communal ladies bath and down another hall. Up ahead she saw him turn to the right. She followed.

Down another flight of stairs. Down, down, down. With each level, she felt the ship closing in just a little. The lower decks were more crowded, the ceilings a little lower. And now, she was pretty sure they were beneath the water line. She’d never really been claustrophobic before, being trapped in an ancient Egyptian tomb notwithstanding, but she felt it with each step now. Deeper and deeper they went.
 

She could hear voices now, lots of voices, and realized why when she reached the bottom of the next set of stairs. Long, crowded tables filled the room. This had to be the Third Class dining room. It was loud and a little raucous, but probably nicer than most of those using it were used to.
 

Through the crowd, she saw her German. He walked into the pantry and she followed. Where on earth was he going?

Sweat began to bead on her forehead. It was hotter down here and the air didn’t move as well. But she wasn’t going to turn back now. She had to know where he was going.
 

She could hear the engines more clearly now, the heavy thrum and whoosh of the enormous reciprocating arms moving up and down, up and down.

The hallway was crowded with people smoking, talking, playing games. One man played a Jew’s harp while another sang a song she didn’t recognize. Dogs howled from the nearby kennel and sang along.

The engines were even louder here. She could almost feel them. In fact, when she ran her hand along the wall, she could. The vibrations were like a heartbeat. Strong and steady.

If only hers was.

The German wound his way down the corridors and through the crowd. She lost track of how many decks down they were, how many turns they’d made. It was almost as though she wasn’t following him anymore, but he was pulling her along behind him.
 

It was a disturbing thought and for a moment, she stopped.

As if they were actually connected, so did he. He turned and she realized he’d done so just in the nick of time. She ducked back around the corner, her heart beating in her throat now. What was she doing? What was she going to do when she caught him?

But she couldn’t stop herself from looking. This time, he was gone. Had she come all this way for nothing?

She walked down the hall to the spot she’d last seen him. There was one more set of stairs. One last set.