Delays

Robert might’ve been pacing if there’d been any place to walk in Constable Pierce’s small office. Though the man had been there when Robert had first arrived, over an hour ago, he’d rushed off to go help some of the other security staff manage an urgent problem. He’d promised he’d be right back, but then, there really was no way of knowing how long these situations may take.
Instead of pacing, Robert sat in a chair across from the constable’s desk, tapping his fingers and trying not to fidget too much. He had to have checked the time on the clock above his head and his pocket watch a thousand times.
Finally, the door opened, and Constable Pierce bustled inside, muttering under his breath about, “damn Germans,” and taking his seat. “Now, Mr. Crawford. I do apologize for taking so long, but can you tell me precisely what happened with Mr. Anderson this time? From your perspective? I managed to speak to the young lady as well.”
Robert took a deep breath, trying to compose himself
The constable continued. “The young lady, Martha Hildegard, came by quite early this morning to tell me what happened. I’m already considering bringing Mr. Anderson up on formal charges. He could potentially end up locked up over this if the Hildegards intend to take it seriously, and I believe they will.”
Robert let that settle for a moment before he dared to open his mouth. So… when someone like Carrie was attacked by a man, it was simply a matter of telling him to knock it off, but when someone with money like Martha Hildegard spoke up, well, suddenly it was worth listening to.
“Jonathan Lane and I were out for a walk. We came across Victor Anderson pushing a young woman up against a wall, manhandling her. She told him to stop several times, but he wouldn’t take no for an answer, so I punched him in the face, simple as that.”
That summed it up well enough, in Robert’s opinion, so he sat there for a few moments staring at the constable, waiting for him to say something. Either he’d think he was being petty and ridiculous or get angry that Robert had been so direct.
Eventually, the constable’s face cracked, and he began to laugh hysterically, banging his open palm on the desk hard enough to make it shake. Robert stared at him in wild confusion.
“Well, I guess that basically sums it up, doesn’t it?” Pierce said. “Right to the point, isn’t it?”
Nodding, Robert said, “Yes, I guess so.”
“All right then.” He picked up a pad of paper and scribbled a few notes down, muttering to himself the whole time. It didn’t take long, and then, he stood, offering his hand. “Thank you for coming back down, Crawford. I hope that we can make it the rest of the way to Liverpool without any more incidents.”
“And what of Anderson?” Robert set his hands on his hips, studying the man across from him.
“I’ll file a report with the authorities as soon as we reach the coast. I have another matter I have to speak to them about.” He dropped his eyes and shook his head, giving Robert the idea that whatever this is, it was far worse than the situation with Victor Anderson. “Damn Germans,” he muttered again.
“Well,” Robert began, clearing his throat. “I’ll let you get back to other matters. Thank you again.”
“Yes, thank you, Mr. Crawford.” He patted Robert on the shoulder, but just as his hand almost reached the doorknob to open it for him, Pierce stopped. “Oh, and Crawford… be careful.”
His eyebrows furrowed, Robert stared at him for a moment, a question forming on the tip of his tongue, but he didn’t ask it.
Studying the older man’s face, Robert got the idea that he wasn’t talking about the situation with Victor. No, he was implying something more sinister for certain.
Wondering what he knew, Robert nodded and headed down the hallway, thinking he should try to find Carrie. He knew from the last time he’d checked the clock that it was well past lunchtime. She was probably back in her room reading or sitting on the deck looking at the Irish coast.
The thought had him increasing his speed a bit. They were getting awfully close to Ireland, which not only meant they’d have some beautiful views of the coast but that they needed to be more diligent. It wouldn’t make much sense for an enemy U-boat to go chase a speedy passenger liner down in the middle of the open ocean, but here, where they’d have to slow down a bit because of the proximity to land, there was a better chance of something nefarious happening.
He took the steps two at a time when he could, until he got caught behind a family going far too slowly for his liking, chatting along the way. A little boy kept asking questions about when they get back to England, and every time his mother turned to answer, she’d stop moving, and the whole family would simply stand there, blocking the way.
By the time Robert was within one flight of stairs of the hallway that led to Carrie’s room, he saw an older woman standing in the hallway with her hands under her chin, tears streaming down her cheeks.
Sighing, he turned and looked up those stairs, thinking this really wasn’t his concern, and he should go stand near a lifeboat with his arms wrapped around Carrie just in case the unthinkable happens.
Or he could help this poor elderly woman who was clearly lost.
Knowing what he had to do, he placed a smile on his face and carefully approached her. “Excuse me, madam?” She was dressed in a nice outfit, though nothing fancy, so he thought she might be a Second Class passenger. “Can I help you?”
With wide brown, tear-filled eyes, the woman looked up at him. “I can’t find my room,” she whimpered. “My daughter… she’ll be wondering where I am.”
“It’s no problem,” Robert assured her. “I’m happy to help you. Do you remember what room you were staying in?”
She rattled off a room number he thought might not actually exist, but taking his best guess, he began walking down the hallway, hoping she’d see something familiar.
They changed directions several times, going up and down flights of stairs, turning corners, and not seeming to ever get any closer to the room she insisted was the correct number. Robert tried not to get too impatient with the tiny, frail woman, but the idea that he needed to get to Carrie continued to niggle in the back of his mind.
At one point, they turned a corner to see a couple of boys coming down the stairs from one of the decks above. “I swear, I did see something in the water,” a young man was saying. “It was moving so fast, I couldn’t tell if it was a machine or a fish, but it was huge.”
“Nonsense, you didn’t see anything,” a young man with a British accent said, grabbing his mate by the collar and giving him a tug. The first fellow threw his elbow, and then they nearly collided with Robert, who was doing his best to shield the older woman from the mischievous boys.
“Beg your pardon, sir,” the taller of the two said.
Robert shook his head and motioned for the boys to go on, and they hurried on down the hallway. In the meantime, Robert spotted a couple at the other end of the hallway who seemed to be looking for something–or someone. Their heads darted around every corner as they rushed along.
When the woman’s eyes lifted and landed on the woman at his side, her expression shifted. Tugging her husband’s arm, she said, “There she is! Mother!”
“Louise!” The little old woman picked up her pace as she rushed to her daughter. Robert still wasn’t walking at his normal pace despite her rush.
When the two women finally met, they wrapped their arms around one another. “Where have you been, Mama?” Louise asked.
“I couldn’t find you,” the mother sobbed.
“Thank you, sir,” Louise’s husband said, extending his hand. “We’ve been looking all over the ship for her.”
“It’s no problem. She wasn’t quite sure of her room number, but I wanted to make sure she wasn’t alone.”
The man started to say something, but Robert was in too big of a hurry to stand there and listen to the man tell him how grateful he was for returning his mother-in-law. Robert didn’t need that many accolades in his life.
What he did need to do was to find Carrie.
Turning around, Robert hastily waved over his shoulder and then headed back toward the stairwell the two boys had been rough-housing on a bit ago. He thought he knew where he was at this point well enough to know where to go, once he was above deck and could look around the outside of the boat. While the outside of the Lusitania was large, inside, she was full of mazes with hallways and corridors that twisted and turned and what seemed like thousands of flights of stairs. He could see someone easily getting turned around if they weren’t good with directions or hadn’t spent much time on a boat. He’d been on more voyages than he could count while working for Mr. Anderson and he still managed to get turned around. Even the sister ships weren’t built exactly the same on the interior, after all.
Thinking of all the ships he’d been on had him thinking about one he’d been lucky enough to avoid–Titanic. Some of the men who’d died on that ship were friends–or business acquaintances anyway–of Victor’s. He’d heard stories from survivors about how they’d resigned themselves to going down with the ship. Looking around him at the dark hallways and stairwells, Robert couldn’t imagine what it would be like to be on a ship that was going under and trapped down here. At the moment, he was moving slowly, stuck behind another family again, but he couldn’t imagine the sheer panic of people running around trying to get out and then making it on the deck only to find out there was nowhere to go.
Robert saw the light of day shining down the stairwell and let out a deep breath. They had to be fairly close to a deck if he could see the sun’s rays. He was just about to follow the slow family out when he felt a tug on the back of his jacket. Turning around, Robert looked right into the eyes of a boy who couldn’t have been more than ten years old.
“Excuse me, sir. Can you help me find my mother?” Tears welled in the young man’s eyes as he begged for help.
Cursing himself for being so tenderhearted, Robert managed another fake smile. “Yes, of course I can. Now, don’t you worry. She must be close by. When did you last see her?”
“I don’t remember,” he sobbed.
Inhaling deeply, Robert took him by the arm and led him down the first hallway they came to. “Look at all of these women,” he nudged. “Do any of them look like your mother?”
“No.” The boy shook his head and wiped his nose on his sleeve.
Impatience welled up inside of Robert as he wondered how he became the self-appointed relocator of the entire passenger liner. But then, he heard a woman shout, “Billy!” behind him, and they both turned to see a woman rushing toward them.
For the second time in only a few moments, Robert bore witness to a happy family reunion and then rushed off praying he could finally find Carrie.