Timepiece

Chapter 22

We ran, working our way through the crowd, and managed to get onto the same trolley car as Poe. He headed toward the front and slid into a red leather seat. I followed Lily to the back.

“What’s he doing?” I asked softly.

She held on to one of the silver standing poles and swung to the left a little. “Not enjoying the ride like everyone else. He’s looking at his phone, texting.”

“Now that we’re on here,” I asked her, “what’s your plan for when we stop?”

“Just act like you know what you’re doing.” She said the words through her fake smile while pretending to point out the window at something in the water.

I grinned back, sure it looked more like a painful grimace. “How about you act like you know what you’re doing, and I’ll stand behind you?”

Her body tensed, and her eyes darted to the side. “Crap.”

I’d turned my back to hide from Poe, and I didn’t like what I could feel coming from the other end of the trolley car. “Is he looking at you?”

She gave me an imperceptible nod.

I put my hand on her waist and tried to look possessive. “Laugh, not too loud, but like I just told you a secret or said something inappropriate.”

She did, and for a quick second, I wished the situation were different. That I’d made her laugh like that for real.

Poe might not have noticed Lily before, but his spike of interest told me he definitely had now. “Damn.”

“What are you getting from him?” She shivered slightly. “Something about his eyes… he’s scaring me.”

“Good.” I pulled her closer and spoke just above her ear, into her hair. It was as soft as it looked, and smelled like grapefruit. “You should be scared. He’s not a nice guy.”

We rode through six stops, people climbing on and off the trolley, the muscles in my shoulders growing more knotted by the second. Poe didn’t look in Lily’s direction again.

When the driver reached the seventh stop, Lily grabbed my hand.

“Showtime.”

We followed thirty feet behind him.

“The Pyramid Arena,” I said, when I realized where he was going. “But it’s closed. Totally empty since the Grizzlies moved to the FedExForum.”

“The Pyramid might be closed, but the parking lot is hopping. Looks like some kind of festival. And can you smell that?” She took a deep breath and exhaled. “Barbecue. We never had lunch.”

There were at least twenty red-and-white-striped tents set up in a semicircle. Just over a football field’s length away, workers were setting up a stage, complete with speakers and lighting.

“What do we do now?” Lily asked, staring at the closest barbecue stand.

“Watch, wait, and follow.” We still held hands. I pulled her away from the food, even though my stomach was grumbling, too. “We’ll eat later.”

Taking a slow stroll around the perimeter of the activity, we kept at least twenty-five feet between Poe and us. When he broke away and headed toward the Pyramid itself, we hung back and watched.

He completely ignored the huge statue of Ramses the Great at the entrance and took the stairs to the building two at a time. Lily and I rushed to the base of the statue, watching as he pushed through a main door and disappeared inside.

“How are we supposed to follow him?” I asked. “That’s not the kind of place you can sneak into. Every single sound will be amplified.”

Lily ignored me and walked up the stairs to the entrance, pushing open the main entry door as if she owned the place.

“All righty.” I followed.

She let the door shut softly behind me before turning to the left. “He went this way.”

“You’re following his boots again, aren’t you?”

She grinned.

“You take risky to a whole new level.” My whispered words echoed off the concrete walls. “And you’ve got some serious cojones.”

“Yes, I do.” When she pulled up short, I almost barreled over the top of her. She held a finger up to her lips and pointed. A sign on the wall said executive offices.

No one in sight. My heart beat so loudly I was certain anyone in the building could hear it. Lily remained cool and composed.

Impressive.

She took my arm and dragged me down the hall, looking into each open door, finally ducking into one. It turned out to be a well-appointed office, empty of people, with a perfect view of the Mississippi River. And Mud Island.

“What are you doing?” I asked. “Why did you stop here?”

She pointed. “Because of those.”

The far wall was full of backlit shelves, every single one featuring hourglasses.

A few were made of glass and sand, simple, exactly like the kind you could buy in a department store. Others were more detailed. Etched glass, bases carved out of wood or formed from metal. The sand inside several had a different reflective quality from anything I’d ever seen. It shone like crushed diamonds.

One hourglass, carved from ivory, completely drew me in. I had a strong desire to touch it, but some instinct made me recoil from it at the same time. I stepped as close as I dared.

Discovered the spindles that connected the top and bottom of the base weren’t ivory but bones. What looked like human bones.

The base was formed from carvings of tiny skulls, each one with black, gaping eye sockets and a wide-open mouth. The mouths seemed to be moving. Seductive whispers in my head grew louder and louder. I raised my hand to touch. So close.

“He’s coming.” When Lily took my arm, real voices overtook the imaginary ones. She opened a narrow slatted door, pulled me inside, and shut it behind us.

Five seconds later, Poe and a dark-haired woman walked into the office.

Lily leaned against the wall in a half-sitting position. A stack of boxes ended at the back of her knees. She couldn’t stand up straight. I didn’t know how long we’d be stuck in the closet, but she couldn’t hold that position forever, especially if we needed to run once we got out.

The woman’s voice was unnaturally soft, yet there was no mistaking her disdainful tone. “I thought this was your specialty.”

Through the slats in the door, I saw Poe pull his mouth to the side, making his nose curve more prominently than it had the night he’d paid his visit to the Phone Company. “It’s been in my possession a week. Stop making me your errand boy and I’ll work on it.”

Her laugh was as soft as her voice. “Your skills and those errands are the only reason you’re still alive.”

“I suppose I’m to be grateful to you, then?” Poe looked much younger in the light of day than he had the night of the masquerade. “Since it’s thanks to you I still draw breath?”

“Yes.”

Poe set his jaw. His anger spilled across the thick carpet and seeped between the slats of the closet door.

“Have you made any progress?” the woman asked. “At all?”

“It shorts out everything I use. So, no.” He held up a slim silver device that looked like a laptop computer but was half the size. “Did you call him?”

“Only because you said ‘please.’”

Lily tried to stand up straight, and the boxes behind her shifted when her weight was no longer on them. She wobbled and almost fell when they hit her calves. I put one arm around her to keep her upright, and the other against the wall to brace us. It made a slight thudding sound.

The woman frowned and looked in the direction of the closet.

She tossed her dark hair over her shoulders and started walking toward us. Lily squeezed her eyes shut. I tensed in preparation, planning to get us out alive, no matter who I had to hurt. I didn’t know if I could get us both past Poe, but Lily would go free.

Teague walked past the closet and went to the office door. I heard a new voice.

“Hello, Teague.”

The woman was Teague. And the man addressing her was Dr. Turner.