Page 74 of Strangers in Time

“Where are you going?” Molly asked.

“Just for a walk.”

“Do you want company?”

Charlie said, “Umm…”

“That’s all right,” she said kindly. “Sometimes I like to be alone, too.”

Charlie set off at a brisk pace. He hadn’t wanted to tell Molly where he was headed because he thought she might disapprove. He liked and trusted Mr. Oliver. But he didn’t at all like the man he had seen at the bookshop that night. There was just something sneaky about him, he thought. Charlie had been around enough criminal elements to know one when he saw one. Maybe the man was trying to steal from Mr. Oliver or maybe get him to do something Mr. Oliver didn’t want to do, like Lonzo had made Charlie do. If Charlie could find out what was going on he could possibly help Mr. Oliver.

Charlie arrived at the alley and hid behind the same crate he and Molly had used previously.

A half hour later, Cedric came out from the doorway of the sad, brick-faced building. He turned left and headed out of the alley.

Charlie had to decide whether to follow the man or not. He made up his mind, and Charlie watched Cedric pass out of sight. Then he hurried over and peeked in the window. The curtains were drawn but didn’t quite meet in the middle, so he could see a sliver of a small room, where a dim light was on. He could observe no one inside.

The alleyway was quiet. Blackened windows and drab doors stared back at him.

Charlie studied the lock, then he slipped his tool from his pocket, inserted it, and listened intently as the metal scraped and slithered over the guts of the gear-and-tumbler obstacle confronting him. He finally heard a click, and he gripped the knob and turned it ever so gently. Bucking up his courage with the notion that he was helping a friend, he opened the door and peered inside. The room was dark, and, fortunately, empty.

He slipped inside, ready to run in an instant if anyone appeared. The room held a chair and a desk with a cabinet above. The square rug was dirty and thin. There was only a single lamp on a table. The only other light was from the slight gap in the blackout curtains. There was also a small bed, and pegs on the wall, from which a few pieces of clothing hung. A pair of worn shoes was on the floor next to the bed. There was only the one room, with no kitchen or loo.

He opened the desk. Inside were blank paper and a pen and some envelopes and stamps. He used his tool to unlock the cabinet door above the desk.

Blimey.

Inside the cabinet was a locked wooden box. When Charlie used his tool to open it, revealed was something that looked like a typewriter he had once seen in a shop window.

However, this one was quite odd in appearance. There was a set of letter keys below, but there was an identical set of letters above it, but they weren’t keys to push. They looked like pieces of glass with the letters showing under them. There were also things sticking out that looked like small gears, and a toggle switch that Charlie had seen on the dashboard of an automobile. And there were wires running through the inside top of the box. And between the lower keyboard and the inside wall of the box was a column of black cylinders jointed into the machine.

Most strange of all, there was no place to wind the paper in.

He looked more closely and saw a bit of white along one edge of the machine and the inner side of the box. He dipped his hand in there and managed to retrieve the single sheet of paper.

Charlie could not read or speak German, but he had seen words that he knew were German. And these were German words, he was sure of that.

He put the paper back and placed the box back on the shelf. That was when he noticed the book that was set next to it. He plucked it off and looked at the cover.

“Con-sway-low,” he said slowly, reading off the title. He openedthe book and gasped. Only the outer rims of the pages remained, leaving a large hole in the center.

He looked at the inside flap of the book and gaped. Stamped there was:

THE BOOK KEEP

COVENT GARDEN

He slowly closed the novel and put it back next to the funny machine. Then he locked up the cabinet and left, after checking from the window to make sure it was all clear to do so.

What is Mr. Oliver involved in?

REVELATIONS

BACK ATMOLLY’S HOUSE, Charlie told her everything he had found.

She looked mortified. “That was so dangerous, Charlie. What if the man had come back?”

“I know, Miss, but I thought the bloke was tryin’ to hurt Mr. Oliver or make him do somethin’ he didn’t want to do. But now… I don’t know what’s goin’ on.”

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