Margo fluffed inside and took the only chair. Her nemesis closed the door with a quiet click of the latch.
"Now. About this teacher of yours..."
"I suppose you're going to tell me how he's charging more than I can afford and what a fool I am and how I'll starve before I get my first big contract with Time Tours or some other outfit. Well guess again. He's not charging me anything but an advance on expenses and most of what I need I'm earning with the job he helped me find. He wants a partner."
Kit Carson just looked at her. He leaned against the door, crossed his ankles comfortably, and looked at her like she was the most recalcitrant, lame-brained child he'd ever encountered. It made her mad.
"Don't smirk at me, you egotistical-!"
"Margo," he formed a classic "T' shape with his hands, "time out, remember? No insults, no temper tantrums. And I'm not smirking."
"Huh. Could'a fooled me." But she subsided. He was trying to be nice for a change; the least she could do was listen. "Okay, go on."
"Skeeter Jackson has told you he's a time scout, looking for a partner. True or false?"
"True." She bit one fingernail, then folded her arms and tried not to fidget. "What of it?"
"He's not a time scout. Never has been, never will be. Frankly, he's neither crazy nor stupid and he knows his limits."
Oh, no...
"Are you calling Mr. Jackson a liar?" she asked quietly.
His smile held a certain strained quality. "Yes. And before you say anything, I'd like to point out that liar's not the worst thing he's been called. Backstabbing cheat comes a little closer."
"How dare you-"
"Shut up and listen!"
The indolent pose had vanished Margo shut up. She'd never heard such cold authority in anyone's voice. He wasn't angry just relentless. And Margo was scared.
After Billy Pandropolous ...
"Skeeter Jackson is a con artist. A two-bit operator who makes his living fleecing tourists. If there's a scam on the books, he's used it. Currency exchange scams, luggage theft, pick pocketing, black-marketeering, you name it."
Margo didn't want to hear any more. Every word he clipped off reduced her closer to the status of gullible fool-again.
"Skeeter doesn't touch 'eighty-sixers, which is the only reason Station Security tolerates him. He's probably wanted in half the sovereign nations in the world on various charges. Nothing violent, nothing dangerous ...until now."
"What do you mean?" Even Margo realized how petulant she sounded.
"If I thought all you'd lose was the shirt off your pretty back, I'd let you have all the rope you want to hang yourself. But if you keep `studying' with Skeeter Jackson, then walk through an unexplored gate thinking you're a time scout, you won't come back."
"Well, you didn't leave -me much choice, did you? I did come to you first, if you'll recall."
He nodded. "Yep. And I gave you a fair assessment of your chances. I just thought you deserved to know how deadly this little game of yours is. Walking in with eyes wide open is a little different from being conned. Like I said before, I don't want your death on my conscience.
"Thanks for caring!" Margo snapped. "I can do without your advice, if that's all you've got to say!"
He sighed and didn't offer to move.
"Well? Are you leaving or what?"
"Just what is he teaching you?"
Margo crossed her arms again. "None of your business. If you won't teach me, why should I bother answering questions you'll just charge me money to answer?"
His eyes narrowed. "Don't be insulting. Who picked out that ensemble you're wearing?"
She just glared at him. Clearly, she'd made some mistakes-and vowed she'd die a torturous death before she admitted it.
"Okay," he muttered, "the kid gloves come off. Let's say Skeeter sends you -through the `safest' tourist gate there is, just for practice. If you walk through the Britannia Gate wearing that getup, the first thing that's going to happen is some well-bred lady on the other side will either scream or faint. Whores don't generally stroll through Battersea Park."
Margo paled, then flushed bright red. "I'm not a whore! And I'm not wearing this dress in London, you'll notice! I'm wearing it for a bunch of drunken tourists in Victoria Station! Besides, what's wrong with it? Skeeter showed me photos."
"Margo, you look like a two-bit trollop in that thing. Skeeter likes skin and he doesn't have the faintest idea what decently bred Victorian women wore. If he had a photo, it was of a Denver saloon trollop. Denver cathouses are among the few down-time attractions Skeeter Jackson has visited."
Margo wanted to hide. At least she'd had the sense to tell Skeeter no the couple of times he'd suggested ...
"Margo, you've just illustrated my point for me: you don't know what you're doing and neither does Skeeter. If you'd tried walking through the Britannia Gate in that dress, here's what would've happened: After some poor, shocked matron had a fit of vapors, her outraged gentleman companion would have called for a constable. You'd either have ended up in the Old Bailey for peddling your wares in the wrong part of town or landed in an asylum. Street walkers who went mad from syphilis weren't handled particularly gently.
Margo didn't want to hear any more. Rose-colored balloons of hope broke with every word, but Kit Carson showed no inclination to stop. "Let's even suppose you didn't get nailed by the law. That by some miracle you actually found the slums where that getup might look more appropriate. Do you even know what they were called Never mind where they were? If you stumbled into them by sheer chance, you'd still be in trouble. Because some whore would carve you up for encroaching on her territory or some tough would decide to make you his meal ticket-after trying out the wares for himself first. Unless, of course, you were really lucky and the Ripper decided you were a likely looking target."
Margo went cold all over. Jack the Ripper? She couldn't help glancing at her dress, any more than she could hide an involuntary shudder. Carson, to give him his due, didn't crack a smile. He just nailed home the point like a vampire hunter pounding in the stake.
"The Ripper liked his victims helpless. Most psychopaths do. Step through the Britannia Gate without training or a guide; and you'll end up looking more helpless than any other walker on the street. Believe me, it won't be long before Red Jack starts having a bloody good time gutting you like a market fish."
"STOP!" Margo had covered her ears.
He stopped.
Margo was breathing as hard as she did after a sparring session in the dojo. Kit Carson, curse him, might have been sipping tea at a garden social for all the emotion he betrayed. I won't give up! I can't! Margo literally had nowhere else to go. And she was running out of time. Her six months were nearly one sixth gone already.
"I can take care of myself," she said stubbornly. "Skeeter's all I've got left. Any teacher's better than none and you won't help me."
He straightened up from the door. -That's right, kid. I won't. And if I let you stick with Skeeter, he'll get you killed. Not even he realizes what he's setting you up for. Believe me, when I catch up to that young fool, I'll roast his ears good."
"What?" She came to her feet, shaking to her pinched toes as panic set in. She was out of money, out of hope, out of everything. If Kit forced Skeeter to kick her out ..."You can't! If you bully him off the job ...You just can't!"
Blue eyes glinted like hard sapphires. "Oh, yes I can."
"Dammit!"
"Don't you have any brains in that decorative little head of yours?" He took a step forward, evidently intent on opening her skull to look.
She held her ground. "I will not give up! And you don't have any right to interfere! It's my life, not yours. I'll risk it as I please, Mr. Hot-Shot Retiree!"
He flushed. "Look, you stubborn little-"