The days crept on inside the bunker. Rufus watched Lucy and Wyatt's interactions carefully. The more he watched them, the more he realized that Flynn was right: Lucy hadn't fully forgiven Wyatt. Behind her smiles and small kisses exchanged between them, she held back.
Wyatt seemed oblivious to her hurt still. He had apologized, she had kissed him back, and in his world, he truly believed they had recovered from this incident. He thought he had won her back. He was the only one to see it that way.
As the team stood around with the fresh morning coffee, the bunker alarms sounded. Jiya set her mug down to rush to the computer. She typed madly at the keyboard before shouting slightly over her shoulder to the others, "October 10th, 1842, Baltimore."
Lucy's brows furrowed. "The last time we went to Baltimore...It was for Edgar Allan Poe..."
"You think Rittenhouse is trying again with this guy?" Wyatt asked, standing close to Lucy. His voice was softer than it had been in months.
She shrugged. "I don't know...Maybe? But why? I mean, Bloodstone took his wife in 1838-"
"There's nothing else of significance there?" Rufus asked.
"You'll have to figure it out when you get there," Agent Christopher announced. "Good luck."
The usual crew climbed back into the Lifeboat and headed back to a time they knew all too well to see a man they had met once upon a time.
1842
The team found themselves back to the familiar smelly streets of Baltimore. The poor light from the heavy cloud cover and wet air brought memories rushing back to the team. Lucy stopped next to the busy street, glancing passed the horse-drawn carriages to the people bustling about. She remembered spotting Edgar Allan Poe in the streets the first time they traveled here and she hoped it would be that easy again.
As Lucy realized that he wasn't within the crowds, Wyatt asked, "Does anyone remember how to get to his house?" Lucy's eyes darted over to meet his. She blinked at him. He sighed. "Of course, you do."
She cleared her throat, brushing the wrinkles from her black dress as she led them through the busy streets towards Poe's house. As she walked, her nerves began to grow. She wasn't sure why but the thought occurred to her that he might ask about his wife and that terrified her. She knew that she was a terrible liar when placed on the spot and if she had to tell him that his wife was alive when she wasn't, he might not want to help them.
Rufus had thought the same thing. He muttered, "If we can get through this mission without having to tell him about his wife-"
"Just tell him the truth," Wyatt suggested. Rufus and Lucy balked at him. He added, "She's still alive...just not in 1947."
As they rounded the corner to the small house Poe lived in, Lucy gasped out in shock. The house had become incredibly rundown - more so than it had been before. The once blue shutters to the house were barely hanging onto the windows. The wooden steps leading up to the house were warped and cracked. The white house paint peeled up and grayed. The once beautiful and lively plants were all dead.
"Are you sure he still lives here?" Rufus asked.
Before Lucy could answer, the front door flew open and Poe stood there in the doorframe staring at them. "You've returned!" He hopped down his rickety steps and approached them. "What news have you brought me?"
"Regarding?" Flynn asked an eyebrow raised.
Poe blinked up at him. "If you don't have news for me, then why have you returned to me?"
"We were kind of hoping you could tell us?" Rufus admitted.
Poe's eyes darted to each member of the team. A wave of realization washed over him. "They're back, aren't they?"
"Who?" Wyatt asked, unsure if Poe really knew.
Poe stood up straighter. "Those Bloodstone men."
"I'm sorry," Lucy started. "Do you know why they'd return?"
Poe pushed his tongue into his cheek as he thought. He motioned for them to follow him back into his house. "Watch your step."
The team carefully climbed up the decrepit steps and into the house. Inside the house wasn't much better than the outside. The dust had collected for what seemed like years. Spider webs had overtaken the corners of each room, along the stair banisters, and even on his bookshelf. The curtains carried a thick blanket of dust which told Lucy that he hadn't opened them in quite some time.
"Forgive the state of the place," Poe said. "I've been preoccupied."
"With that?" Rufus asked. He muttered under his breath, "Certainly not the maids..."
"There was a murder in New York," Poe began. "And I've been studying the details and I believe they are connected with those Bloodstone men."
Flynn's face grew serious. "What murder?"
Poe shuffled papers around the top of his desk. When he found the paper he was searching for, he lifted it and passed it over. "There was a young woman named, Mary Cecilia Rogers. She worked at a tobacco shop."
Flynn studied the paper in his hand. There was a portrait of a beautiful woman with the title 'Beautiful Cigar Girl' under her depiction. He scoffed as he recognized the face. He passed the paper over to Lucy.
Lucy eagerly took the page from him. She scanned the words before her eyes settled onto the portrait of the girl. Her dark eyes widened as she stared at the drawing before her. Her head snapped up and met Flynn's gaze, mouth agape.
Rufus and Wyatt peered over her shoulder to look. Rufus pointed to the picture. "Isn't that Cinderella?"
Poe's head lifted at the remark. He asked, "Cinderella?"
Wyatt stated, "We've seen her before."
"In the future?" Poe asked. When Wyatt nodded, Poe glanced back down to his notes. "Now that brings up some interesting developments."
"What are you talking about?" Wyatt questioned, crossing his arms over his chest.
Poe shuffled more papers around before finding another newspaper. He stated, "She disappeared on October the fourth in 1838 in New York City." He paused and turned around to the wall behind him. The team noticed for the first time that Poe had set up a pinboard, tracking the girl's movements and locations. He continued, "Then she showed back up a few days later, announcing her elopement to a naval officer."
"What's the significance here?" Wyatt asked, taking a closer look at his board.
Poe pointed to the board again. "Three years later, on July the twenty-fifth, she disappeared again. But!" he said, dramatically emphasizing the word. "She was found floating in the Hudson River on July the twenty-eighth in Hoboken, New Jersey."
"So, the husband did it?" Rufus asked.
Poe shook his head. "Her husband was found dead...ruled a suicide. The police found a remorseful note and an empty bottle of poison near his body."
"But you don't think he did it," Flynn pointed out. It wasn't a question but a statement of a fact. He could tell by looking at Poe that he didn't believe this to be coincidental.
Poe shook his head, pulling more papers from his desk. "No, I don't. In fact, some of these depictions of the murder scene show some very familiar faces."
He held the papers out. Flynn took them and glanced over the drawings. There, behind the characters drawn in the foreground, were four men dressed in identical black suits. Flynn's jaw tensed as he studied the drawings.
Flynn handed the drawings over to the others. "So, why are you so interested in this case?"
Poe studied Flynn for a moment. After a moment, he said, "I've been tracking their movements since they left here with my wife all those years ago."
Wyatt pinched the bridge to his nose. "I'm sorry but I'm a little confused here." He turned back to Lucy and pointed to the picture in her hands. "Why is Hazel Drew on that poster? What did Bloodstone want with her?"
"That is what I am trying to uncover," Poe admitted. "Something is not adding up with the evidence the police have gathered."
Lucy's eyes moved as she thought things over. Finally, her head snapped up to meet Poe's. "The Mystery of Marie Roget!"
"I beg your pardon?" Poe asked, eyes widening.
She took a step forward, depositing the papers onto his desk. "You're writing it now, aren't you?"
"Writing what?" Rufus asked. "What's going on?"
Lucy said, "He writes a fictional story over this murder and pushes newspapers to print them. He called it The Mystery of Marie Roget."
Poe looked stunned. "I'm doing it to help shed light on the men who murdered her! I just need to uncover the truth!"
"This obsession of yours will be your undoing," Flynn told him. Poe narrowed his eyes in thought at Flynn. It felt like he could see through him and it made Flynn nervous.
Wyatt cleared his throat. "Okay, so...let's go over what we know." He motioned to the drawing of Mary Cecilia Rogers. "If that is Hazel Drew, then Bloodstone brought her back here to kill her?"
"Makes sense," Lucy replied. "I mean, we did stop them from killing her back in her own time...and I couldn't find any information on her when we returned home."
"What?" Rufus asked. "You looked her up?" Lucy nodded. He added, "And you didn't tell us?"
She shrugged. "It didn't seem important...I mean, I knew that something was wrong but I had no idea it would be this!"
Wyatt waved the debate to the side. "So, why would they bring her here?"
Poe cleared his throat. "I think I might have an idea as to why she was murdered." All eyes turned to Poe. He said, "In October 1842, a woman on her deathbed had confessed to knowing more about Mary's disappearance."
"Deathbed confessions?" Rufus muttered. "How much of those are ever true?"
Poe tilted his head. "I believe her accounts," he stated. "She said that she had seen Mary with a tall, dark man that Mary knew and wasn't a stranger, unlike most of the reports the police had been given that day."
"Who was he?" Lucy asked.
"He turned out to be a young physician from the city," Poe explained. "He said he was there to collect her for her premature delivery."
"Premature delivery?" Wyatt repeated, brows furrowed with confusion.
Lucy sighed. "It's a euphemism for abortion." She rubbed her temple. "You think she was pregnant?" Poe nodded.
Flynn shook his head. "This woman you said was on her deathbed?" Poe nodded again. Flynn asked, "What did she die of?"
Poe held his finger in the air as he stated, "That is where things start to connect." He turned around and pulled more papers from the board on the wall. He stated, "She claimed that she had been accidentally shot by one of her sons...but her statement was different when the accident happened."
"Wait, she changed her statement?" Rufus asked.
Poe nodded. "She claimed that men in black suits had confronted her over the information she knew regarding Mary...told her not to go to the police."
Flynn clasped his hands behind his back as he stood before Poe's desk. "You're saying that she recognized the man who came for Mary and wanted to lead the police that way?"
"And Bloodstone stopped her," Wyatt added.
"Hell of a way to stop someone," Rufus muttered.
Lucy shook her head. "I'm still confused...why did it matter? What am I missing?"
Wyatt asked, "Have you seen these guys since we left?"
Poe shook his head. "No, however, I'm expecting to see them if I am right about their involvement."
"You're willing to risk your life just to expose these people?" Rufus asked, in utter disbelief. He couldn't believe what he was hearing.
Poe lifted his eyes and said, "If everything was taken away from you and you had nothing left to lose, wouldn't you do everything you could to stop them?"
Lucy swallowed her nerves. "What can we do to help?"
Edgar Allan Poe had suggested that some of the team head to the house of Frederica Loss, the woman who had died confessing her knowledge of what happened to Mary. Frederica had relocated from New York to Baltimore to be closer to her family - fleeing who he believed was the Men In Black. He believed that if they could get her sons to talk, they'd be able to understand what truly happened the day she had been shot. Rufus and Wyatt headed out to the woman's residence, leaving Lucy and Flynn behind with Poe.
Lucy continued to search through and read the evidence and notes that Poe had collected since Hazel's death. As she sifted through the stacks of papers Poe had given her, she could hear him talking to Flynn.
"I have seen that look on my own expression," Poe told Flynn. "Who have they taken from you?"
Flynn's eyes lifted from the papers in his hands to meet Poe's gaze. "Excuse me?"
"I can see that hidden desperation behind your eyes," Poe told him. "If you don't address it, it will eat away at your soul until it consumes you entirely."
Flynn didn't blink. "What makes you so certain that it hasn't already?"
"Because," Poe started. "I also see some flicker of hope like a flame. It's small but it's there." Flynn clenched his jaw, averting his gaze. Poe asked, "How long has she been gone?"
Lucy bit her lower lip, trying not to interject or cry. She pretended not to hear the conversation but this had been the first time someone had pointed out Flynn's struggles with Tenley.
Flynn set a page down onto the desk. "A while."
"Was she taken away from you by these Bloodstone men?" Poe asked. "Much like my wife?"
Flynn inhaled deeply. "Something like that."
Poe shook his head. "I'm terribly sorry." Flynn didn't acknowledge the man's sympathies. Poe inched closer and asked, "It's killing you inside. I can see that."
Flynn scoffed. "I don't need your pity-"
"No," Poe admitted. "You don't but you do need to face the brutal truth." Flynn glared at the man. "Until we destroy these men, we cannot save those we love."
Flynn smirked. He realized that Poe had said something similar to what he used to say when he started this whole mess all those years ago. He shook his head as he turned back to the papers. "Your situation is a bit different from mine."
Poe cocked his head to the side. "You didn't lose someone to Bloodstone?"
"Mine disappeared before my eyes," Flynn growled. "And I'm not talking about someone kidnapping her and hiding her somewhere. I'm talking about vanishing into thin air before my eyes."
Poe stared at Flynn with a mix of shock and understanding. "How does man possess such abilities?"
Flynn smirked, shaking his head as he let it fall. "Unfortunately, it's more complicated than that."
"It always is," Poe remarked. When Flynn lifted his eyes, Poe added, "Until you confront the terrors that plague you, you'll never be able to find the strength to defeat them."
Flynn watched Poe walk away. He blew a short sigh, trying to keep his emotions in check. Poe had a way of connecting with him on several fronts. The last time the poet spoke to him on a personal front had been when they discussed Iris and her ability to see the future.
Flynn ran a hand through his hair, trying to shake the emotions that threatened to burst the dam he built around Tenley's disappearance. It was becoming a struggle more and more each day. Being back in this old house didn't help matters.
In the other room, Lucy heard footsteps approaching her. She glanced up to see Poe. He sat down across from her. "How are you holding up?"
She offered a polite smile. "I'm not having much luck finding-"
"I meant from a personal standpoint," the poet clarified.
"Oh," Lucy said, forming the word with her lips.
Poe glanced over his shoulder to see that Flynn remained by the desk. He said quietly, "Your friend seems conflicted." He turned back to Lucy. "As you do."
"I'm fine," she lied.
Poe laughed. "I saw it on your face the moment you showed up here," he told her. "You are anything but fine." She exhaled slowly, shifting in her seat. He continued, "I think you are struggling, just like your friend in the other room, and as strange as it seems, I wonder if it isn't the same struggle."
Lucy's eyes filled with tears. She wiped the loose hair away from her forehead. "I am not sure how you figured it out."
"I'm an author," he whispered. "I study people for a living." He raised his eyebrows as though he had just shared with her an inside joke. She chuckled and he asked, "Does it have anything to do with his vanishing girl?"
Lucy bit her lip. "Yes..." Her eyes darted into the other room. Flynn hadn't moved from his spot. She said, "The person who vanished is close to both of us - well, actually to three of us for different reasons...and..."
"The third," he began. "The other gentleman who was here...Wyatt?"
Lucy nodded. "We had a pretty big fight and he thinks we're okay again."
Poe's head tilted to the side as he listened to her. "He apologized?" She nodded and he pointed out, "He apologized for the wrong thing."
"How did you-"
"Because I've been there myself with my wife," he told her. "Sometimes, we see things differently than those of the fairer sex. As men, we want to repair the broken things but we struggle to admit that we might be the ones responsible for breaking it in the first place." Lucy took in his words, nodding slowly. He added, "If he's apologized for what he thinks he is responsible for, know that he believed that to be the issue and all else is naught."
"But that's the thing," Lucy started. "What he didn't apologize is why I can't trust him-"
"How can he win back the favor of your trust," Poe started. "If you refuse to give him the chance to do so?"
Lucy opened her mouth to retort but found the words stuck. Poe smiled before standing up and heading back to his desk, leaving her with much more to think about than Hazel Drew's death.
