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Miss Holmes

An Impossible Choice

Dylan arrived ata heavy satchel

Ignoring Mrs Raskill&039;s ht hireetedtoward ht hiht stain flushed his cheeks, and he stepped back

"You&039;re wearing pants" The way his eyes traveled over my trouser-covered li to my shape I felt indecent and exposed, and the way his blue eyes filtered over me made my cheeks heat up

"Ier for me to do so first "I didn&039;t mean to embarrass you, Mina I was just surprised You look really hot-uh, really good in pants In irls-women-wear them all the time It&039;s considered completely normal"

My discomfort eased in favor of curiosity "Is that true? Wo frowned upon?"

"And a lot of other things you&039;d find scandalous Like short skirts," he added with a bashful grin

I bitback more questions that bubbled to the surface It never sees I wanted to know I&039;d have to save ation for another time-when I didn&039;t have a friend&039;s life to save

"Very well," I said "Back to the matter at hand I&039;m relieved you located the diade the development of the last twenty-four hours" I explained the events of the night before, leaving out rove-Pitt&039;s house "And so I&039; to deliver the diade with you," Dylan said He raised a hand atinto me "I&039;ve been stuck in the darned museu besides sulk You can&039;t go alone, Mina And it&039;s not because you&039;re a woan to fume "Remind me to tell you about A alone would be crazy, especially after last night You should have taken me with you, or at least told the police And besides all that, if the statue of Sekhmet is there, I want to see it Maybe I can find a way to use it to get home"

I had a variety of reactions to this pronouncement First, I found I rather liked this Dylan who spoke with such strength and passion Who didn&039;t think that sio alone And who liked the way I looked in trousers

And second, I had a sudden, brilliant idea hich only he could assistat the thought of Dylan finding his way back to the future Just as I was getting to know hiht be leaving I hadn&039;t felt such kinship with another person in a long time Perhaps ever

"Naturally I can&039;t tell Scotland Yard about this," I said "The Ankh is too s for us e arrive to e If there are any authorities in the vicinity, I&039;m certain the deal will be off Will you show me the diadem?"

Dylan pulled the iteerly It looked exactly like the drawing in the text I&039;d been reading There was no doubt that, regardless whether it had actually belonged to Sekhold filigree created a very un-Egyptian-like croo topazes were set in such a way in the front of the crown that they appeared to be lion&039;s eyes, and the slender gold rought in the shape of a lioness&039;s snout and whiskers

"It here we thought it asn&039;t it?" I couldn&039;t allow the Ankh to have it There had to be another way

I&039;d make a copy I had the equipment in my lab, and we had at least another hour before ement was delivered

"Do you have your special telephone with you?" I asked, ain on the half-for

"Yes, although it&039;s low on battery, so I&039;ve had it turned off for e it But I can still use it"

"Can you force it to emit sounds and noises at will?"

"I sure can"

"Come into the laboratory I&039;ll tell youto occupy my hands as well as my mind while aited to hear of Evaline

Time crawled, and it ell after five o&039;clock when Mrs Raskill interrupted us

"It&039;s your visitor again," she said, poking her head around the ajar door "Lands!"

Finally I&039;d been unable to containapprehension for Evaline and her safety

"At last we&039;ll find out how toat the false diadem It required only a few more adjustments, and I was confident it would easily pass muster as the instrument in question

I hurried out of the laboratory, wiping " Drat!

"Good afternoon, Miss Holmes," he said, his voice cool and unee, freckled hand His eyes widened fractionally, however, as they swept overa warht be accusto was not

"How may I help you?" I asked as Dylan appeared fro&039;s attention went to him and his expression turned stony "I&039;ve co" He spoke to me, but seemed unable to pull his attention from Dylan

"I&039;m rather busy at thereplied crisply He returned his attention to Dylan "Have you been notified when you&039;ll stand trial for the atteawked at him, shocked by his rudeness, but Dylan didn&039;t see to press charges, thanks to Miss Adler She took care of it all before she left town" He glanced at me "I meant to tell you earlier-Miss Adler had to leave unexpectedly"

I nodded and quelled an unfaone, and I was on rave error

I stopped those thoughts and turned to Grayling "I have a rather delicate project I must finish today Perhaps we could make an appoint I&039;d be alive and able to speak toht away

He fixed ave a short, sharp nod "Very well, Miss Holmes Good day"

We&039;d hardly returned to the laboratory when Mrs Raskill thudded on the door yet again "It&039;s Another Visitor Ye &039;Ave," she said, clearly capitalizing and punctuating each word And the fact that she&039;d dropped the h in have indicated her extreer who&039;d coot &039;nother e fer ye"

My attention swept over hies to his appearance

Gray dusty grit on the outside of left shoe only-he&039;d been on Pennington-street since he was here last

A shiny dark green stain low on his trousers, the faint scent of algae-he&039;d been at the dockyards within the last hour

A red-and-green paper wrapper peeked from his trouser pocket-he&039;d recently patronized Shertle&039;s Meats for one of their e?"

The folded packet&039;s exterior was identical to the first However, inside was a lock of dark, curling hair There was no doubt to whoed-Evaline&039;s curls coiled in a clockwise direction and were a deep, shiny walnut color of this precise hue

I turned e:

You have until nine o&039;clock this evening to bring

the diadem to Fannery&039;s Square

If you do not, Miss Stoker will

embrace Sekhmet for all eternity

If you do not come alone,

the deal is defunct, and she&039;ll die

"Are you to wait for a response again?" I asked

"Nay, miss Except I&039;m told ye&039;d pay me fermy observations that I didn&039;t have the attention to spare for being vexed by this assu man, sent hie and Miss Stoker&039;s hair I sniffed both the letter and her curls, and examined the latter on a piece of white paper

"Where&039;s Fannery&039;s Square?" asked Dylan, who&039;d been reading over my shoulder

"She&039;s very clever Oh, the Ankh is quite clever," I said,man returned "Fannery&039;s Square is outside London by one hour But the only way to get there is to take the train The next train leaves at seven, and there is one et us to our destination too late, so we must take the seven o&039;clock train"

"How long will it take us to get to the train station?"

I pinchedI always felt when I was getting close to soun in my belly "This means the Ankh wants to ensure we&039;re on the seven o&039;clock train, for some particular reason That&039;s why she waited so late in the day to send the e She wants us in a particular location or on a particular route at a certain time And everyone knows the Fannery train is precisely on time, so one must be at the station before seven"

I paced the roohter I recalledturned into

I didn&039;t like it

"Our e from the Ankh or someone close to her-was nowhere in the proximity of the Fannery line train today," I said "He was at the docks He spent at least the latter part of the day there, because Shertle&039;s Meats never serves their pies until after half past four And his trousers-the gray debris on the left shoe indicates he alking on Pennington-street It&039;s the only location that sort of concrete is being poured this week-I read about it in the Times That&039;s one block north of the Yeater Wharf He didn&039;t have titon and Shertle&039;s after walking along there at noon, for the algae on his trousers is fresh It hasn&039;t yet dried"

Dylan was staring atthat was just as incos he&039;d said to lish?"

"It , which was nor akin to nausea "I either follow the instructions herein, or I go where our e That&039;s where the Ankh is"

Suddenly the irove-Pitt in her housecoat and her bemused expression rose in &039;s exasperated, rigid face The nausea grew stronger

"I think"

I don&039;t believe I&039;d ever said or even thought those words before I think