Chapter Two - Enquiries

Emiliana sighed heavily as she strolled quickly through the main door of Scotland Yard. The easy part of her job - gathering evidence - was now complete, but now came the tedious part of processing the information, creating an accurate criminal profile and, indisputably Emiliana's least favorite task, the paperwork. But as she began to make a beeline for her office, someone interrupted her.

"What is it PC Beate?"

"There's been a phone call for you while you were out, and Katrielle Layton is waiting for you in your office."

Emiliana frowned. "Who was the phone call from?"

"Er... your mother, Miss Perfetti. She wants you to call her back when you're free, ma'am."

"Oh... Thank you." Her brow furrowed slightly. "Did Katrielle say what she wanted?"

"No, ma'am. Just that she wanted to see you as soon as you got back."

"Oh... va bene. I will go there. Thanks." Emiliana nodded unsmilingly to the police constable as she set off again.

Kat, meanwhile, was sitting before Emiliana's desk, peering curiously at a framed photograph in her hand. It was what she assumed to be a family photograph, depicting several young boys, an older-looking man with a black goatee and very little hair standing in the center beside what looked like his wife, who looked strikingly like Emiliana except without the glasses and with dark brown eyes instead of grey. Kat assumed that the little girl standing beside her was Emiliana herself. She looked no older than ten years old and was actually smiling widely, her arms wrapped around her mother, who returned the embrace. Kat smiled. "Now that is a side to her that she will never let anyone see..." She put it back on the tidy desk just as she heard footsteps coming down the corridor in her direction.

The Perfect Storm herself entered the room, shutting the door behind her with a snap.

"What is it that you want, Katrielle?" she asked almost warily.

"I'm very well, Emiliana, and how are you?" Kat said brightly.

Emiliana rolled her eyes. "Whatever it is, can you please just come out with it, because I have rather a lot of work to do."

"Right, well... it's a personal matter, so..."

Emiliana crossed the room and sat at her desk, facing Kat.

"It's about my dad. You probably already know that he's missing-"

"Yes, I do," Emiliana replied. "So you want my help?"

Kat ignored the subtle smugness in her voice. "Yes, actually. I was wondering if you had access to the files in the archives."

"It depends on which section the file is stored in," Emiliana replied. "And about whom the file is about."

"I see..."

"Why not ask Inspector Hastings for help? He probably has a higher level of clearance than I do."

"Well... I just thought that you would give me a... well... a better opinion on whether my theory is correct."

Emiliana raised her eyebrows. "Is that right?"

Kat nodded. "Obviously, my theory is a long shot, even by my standards..."

"Well, I think I will reserve judgement until I actually hear it." Emiliana sat forward a little.

"... Alright. Have you ever heard of a scientist called Dimitri Allen?"

Emiliana frowned. "I'm not really sure..."

"He was a poly dimensional researcher-"

"What is that?" Emiliana asked.

"He tried to invent a time machine."

"Really?" Emiliana looked interested.

"And he nearly destroyed half of London in the process."

"Oh."

"He was released from prison about five years ago. Exactly one week before my father disappeared."

"And your father knew him, did he?" Emiliana asked.

"Yes. Er... they were in love with the same woman, apparently."

Emiliana raised her eyebrows again. "So we have a motive for kidnap?"

"Maybe..."

"Maybe?" Emiliana asked.

"Well, he tried to invent a time machine. What if he succeeded?"

Emiliana frowned. "You think your father is being held captive in another time, Katrielle?"

"Perhaps..."

"Or maybe you think he went willingly?"

"That's also possible..."

"What are you thinking, Katrielle?" Emiliana asked.

"What do you mean?" Kat replied.

"I know that look on your face, Katrielle. That look in your eyes. Tell me what you're thinking."

"I'm not sure but..." Kat hesitated. "...a lot of things happened at the same time."

"To your father?" Emiliana asked.

Kat nodded. "Dad retired the week before he disappeared."

"Perhaps he had enough of working and he felt he deserved a rest?" Emiliana suggested.

"He encouraged my sister Flora to travel abroad with my uncle, Luke," Kat added.

"That doesn't tell us anything," Emiliana said dismissively.

"And he told my brother Alfendi and me that we were adopted, that he isn't our real dad," Kat finished. "He told us that the day before he disappeared."

Emiliana said nothing.

""If you're not really my child, then who exactly are you?" I don't know... it just feels like he wanted to distance himself from us, to sever ties with his family. But why?"

"I'm not sure Katrielle." Emiliana looked uncomfortable.

"It worked as a distraction, at any rate. I was so immersed in the search for my real parents, and Alfendi was so bloody angry about the whole thing that neither of us spoke to Dad for a few days. I stayed at Alfendi's flat at the time, I just needed some space. But when I went to see him a few days later, he was gone. He'd been gone a few days, that much I know..."

"But why does that mean that he travelled through time?" Emiliana asked skeptically.

"Alfendi had all of London searched and everyone questioned, and there was no sign of him anywhere," Kat replied. "We looked through CCTV footage from all railway stations, bus stops, airports and taxi ranks, but still no sign of him. We checked the cameras outside his house and traced the registration numbers of all the cars that were in his vicinity at the time, and we traced every last one of them back to London. It appears as though he just left the house and never came back..."

"You think he went to see Allen?" Emiliana asked dubiously.

"Yes, I believe so," Kat replied.

"And you also believe that Dimitri Allen had the resources and capabilities to build a fully functional time machine in the space of one week?"

"No," Kat replied. "I think he had help on that."

"Who?" Emiliana asked.

"Bill Hawkes."

Emiliana looked at her incredulously. "Wasn't he a prime minister?"

"Yes. He started out as a scientist, working in the same lab as Dimitri. When their time machine prototype failed and exploded, he sold on the technology behind the machines power source for some serious money on the backs of everyone who died in said explosion. Behind Dimitri's back."

"That's how he got to power?" Emiliana asked.

"Yes," Kat replied. "Unfortunately for him, it was when the public found out about this that they demanded his resignation. His fall from grace was a hard, fast one."

"You think he helped Allen to build a time machine?"

"He lost a lot that day. I think he wanted to go back and change a few things, relive the old dream. I think he needed Dimitri to help him, so he got him to issue him instructions, with the promise of release if the machine was successful."

"The promise of release?"

"According to the newspaper article published on the day of his release, he was supposed to serve a forty year sentence," Kat explained. "I think sometime while he was brooding over what could have been in prison, he got a visitor - Mr. Hawkes - who made him an offer he couldn't refuse, in exchange for freedom. Hawkes may not have had any more political power, but he was still rich from that sale. He could easily hire a top barrister and bribe any jury into freeing anyone from prison."

"But what has any of this got to do with your father?" Emiliana asked.

"He was the one who exposed Hawkes for what he really was. I dare say he wanted Dad out of the way, and what better way to do it than holding him captive in the one place no one can ever go?"

"I don't know Katrielle," Emiliana said, giving her an odd look.

"Have I been wrong yet?" Kat asked.

"Of all the theories you've ever had, this one takes the cake, Katrielle."

Kat smiled. "But you don't deny that it's plausible?"

Emiliana scowled as Kat laughed.

"Why should I help you?"

"Well, because... Well..."

Emiliana raised her eyebrows.

"What is it you always say... "Hard evidence is the quickest way to solving any case." But the only way I can get said hard evidence is if you let me see that file. So..."

Kat trailed off as she saw the corner of Emiliana's mouth quirk a little.

"All I need you to do is let me look at his file with his prison record in it. That should mention who visited him, what his behavior was like, along with the terms of his release. And it probably has his address in it as well, and that's a start."

"...Alright," Emiliana said hesitantly. "I just need to make a quick phone call and I'll be right with you."

"I'll wait outside," Kat obliged.

Once Kat had left the room, Emiliana quickly dialed a number on her desk phone and waited while it rang, tapping her foot impatiently on the floor.

"Zero Perfetti qui, lascia un messagio."

Emiliana sighed. "Sorry Mamma, I will have to call back later." She hung up.