Out of Time 01 - Out of Time

cadence in the city night.
    Simon pulled back the curtain and looked down into the darkness, willing her slender silhouette to walk down the sidewalk. Not a soul was there. Slumping back into his chair, he absently felt for the gold watch in his pocket. The feel of the etched case under his fingers wasn’t as calming as it had been a few short days ago.
    He took a deep breath and tried to content himself with waiting. As the minutes grew into an hour, an uneasy sense of foreboding welled deep inside him. He should have protested her accompanying Lester on Charlie’s errand, but he knew it would have fallen on deaf ears, or worse yet, driven her further away.
    He’d been an absolute fool. He’d pushed her away and then idiotically wondered where she went. He should have gone after her tonight. The niggling voice in the back of his mind whispered his darkest fears. Was tonight the night his nightmares became reality?
    The room was empty without her. He was empty without her. He should have laid his heart out for her, but he’d run away. Simon pushed the chair back and stood. Time to bloody well stop running.
    He retraced the path he’d taken home—up Market Street and down Madison. He vaguely thought of calling Charlie at the bar, when he realized pay phones weren’t commonplace in the twenties. He rounded a corner when he heard a voice filtering up the street. He stopped for a moment and listened. There it was again. He crossed Madison and the sounds grew more distinct—a low guttural moan and a higher voice talking in hurried, anxious tones. His long legs quickened their stride and came to a sudden stop at the mouth of an alley.
    Lester lay on his back, and the small huddled form of Elizabeth bent over him.
    “Dear God,” Simon choked out.
    Elizabeth swung her head around at the sound. Her eyes were wide with fear and a trickle of blood on her forehead stood out in stark contrast to her pale skin.
    “Simon,” she gasped in relief. “How did you...” Her voice trailed off, and her expression changed. Her eyes hardened. “What are you doing here?” she asked and turned back to Lester, who moaned and tried to lift his head. “It’s all right, Les.”
    Simon managed to get his legs to move again. It was all he could do not to take her into his arms. He knelt down next to her and tried to slow his thundering heart. “You’re hurt. What happened?”
    Ignoring him, she gently touched the side of Lester’s face, below the growing knot on his forehead. “How do you feel?”
    “Like I went twenty with Sullivan,” he croaked.
    He reached for his breast pocket and his thick brow furrowed when he found it empty. “Damn. You okay, Lizzy?”
    “Of course, she’s not,” Simon barked. “Look at her.”
    She glared at Simon before smiling back down at Lester. “I’m okay.”
    “What happened?” Simon asked, as she raised a shaky hand to her ashen face. She wasn’t all right, and he damn well wished she’d stop pretending she was. He helped Lester push himself into a sitting position, but his eyes never left Elizabeth.
    “Old-fashioned mugging,” she said in a tremulous voice that belied the flippancy of her words.
    Simon’s heart took another step into his throat as images of Elizabeth being thrown against the hard, brick wall flashed through his mind. “Mugged?”
    “Naw, they musta followed us,” Lester said.
    “Followed you?” Simon asked.
    “Musta known about the deposit,” Lester said as he tentatively felt the mouse growing on his forehead. “Charlie’s gonna skin me alive.”
    Elizabeth put a comforting hand on his arm. “Money can be replaced.”
    Lester laughed and then winced in regret. “Not this money, but I was talkin’ bout you. Charlie made me promise six days to Sunday I’d look out for ya.”
    Simon bit back the derisive comment that rolled on his tongue. He was in no position to cast stones; his glass house had shattered days ago.
    Lester leaned against the wall and managed to stand up. “You sure you’re okay?”
    “I’m fine,” she said and ignored Simon’s offer of help as she got to her feet.
    Lester shook his head and sighed. “Guess I better go face the music.” He looked at Simon and his dull eyes glinted in the lamplight. “You take care of her?”
    Simon didn’t trust his voice and simply nodded.
    Elizabeth took a shaky step toward the street. “We’ll walk you back.”
    Simon was at her side in a moment and held her elbow for support. Whether